Search - Sir Charles Thompson :: Takin' Off

Traditional jazz at a crossroads, and overlooked as a result

MG Nagy | 07/22/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

""Sir" Charles Thompson isn't one of your jazz houshold names. This disc probably has more notoriety from the musicians playing on the three studio dates with Thompson: Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon, Leo Parker, Pete Brown, and a host of others. That's a real shame, because this record really rocks.



That's not a term I would normally use to describe a jazz record. This release covers three dates from 1945 to 1947. The conventional wisdom on what "made" jazz was being seriously challenged. Big bands were on the way out, and Bebop was making inroads.



Sir Charles mixed big band horn arrangements with Bebop, Jump Blues, Swing, using a fairly large band (seven to ten players). The styles on these dates are all over the place, and yet it all hangs together perfectly.



On the technical side, Delmark had the good sense to use CEDAR for the remastering of the record. I don't know what condition the original parts were in, but the sound quality is great, all things considered. There is plenty of detail, with a bit of background chatter picked up in places. There isn't much by way of dynamic range. This has more to do with the mic quality and placement than mastering. There is a bit of surface noise on some tracks. Overall, I've heard far worse sound quality on AM radio. For those of you with low watt tube amps, this record will really shine."