Personnel:
Zoot Sims (ts), Bob Brookmeyer (vtb), Hank Jones (p, celeste), Wyatt Ruther, Bill Crow (b), Gus Johnson, Jo Jones (d)
Reference: FSRCD 549
Bar code: 8427328605496
-Tonite's Music Today
"Valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer's musical partnerships in the 1950s with Stan Getz and especially Gerry Mulligan were celebrated but he also recorded three fine albums with tenor-saxophonist Zoot Sims in 1956 that are quite enjoyable, feature colorful jammed ensembles and hard-swinging yet cool-toned solos that owe as much to the swing tradition as to the innovations of bebop. This Storyville set finds Zoot and Brookmeyer accompanied by pianist Hank Jones, bassist Wyatt Reuther and drummer Gus Johnson. Highlights include "I Hear a Rhapsody," "Blue Skies" and Sims's first ever recorded vocal on a "Blues." This release is easily recommended."
Scott Yanow -All Music Guide
Theses fine sessions demonstrate not only the considerable solo jazz capacities of Zoot Sims and Bob Brookmeyer, but also the stimulation they enjoyed in each others musical company, which inspired skillful, bracing and deceptively casual interplay. In blowing of the highest caliber.
Brookmeyers thoughtful, swinging subtlety is a just complement to Zootsbig-boned, fully-fleshed horn. The rhythm sections are flexible and swinging. Hank Jones solos with his usual refreshing combination of clear, flowing articulation, swinging taste, and structural sense.
These two sessions remain among the most relaxed and informal small combo sessions produced by George Weins Storyville Records.
