Exceptional
Richard Wirtz | Knoxville, TN USA | 08/09/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"At the time this recording was made, Jimmy Giuffre was at the top of his game. He was a talented reed player (mostly clarinet) with his own unusual style, and an extraordinarily gifted composer and arranger. Here he appears with two other musicians with whom he traveled in the Fifties, Bob Brookmeyer on valve trombone and Jim Hall on guitar. An improbable combination to be sure. No piano, no bass, no drums; just three able musicians interacting in an almost magical way.
The CD is a mixture of Giuffre originals and standards. The standards are almost as good as the originals. (Any group that can turn "California, Here I Come" and "Show Me a Way to Go Home" into rousing jazz performances has a claim to fame.)
At the risk of gushing: this CD is on my list of CD's-you-could-bring-with-you-if-you-were-stuck-on-a-desert-island-and-could-only-bring-five.
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