MILT JACKSON: BALLADS & BLUES

Performer: Milt Jackson, vibraphone; Lucky Thompson, tenor saxophone; John Lewis, piano; Barney Kessel, Barry Galbraith, Skeeter Best, guitar; Oscar Pettiford, Percy Heath, double bass; Kenny Clarke, Lawrence Marable, drums
Composer: Milt Jackson
Number of discs: 1
Barcode: 4260019715777
Label: Speakers Corner
Format: LP
Genre: Jazz
Year: 2019

Whenever he could free himself from the “yoke” of the Modern Jazz Quartet and its imaginative leader John Lewis, Milt Jackson devoted himself entirely to his two great passions: ballads and the blues. This is exactly what happened in 1956 when he entered the legendary Rudy Van Gelder Studio. For that recording session, Jackson was free to choose the musicians who would accompany him without any budget constraints—a significant detail that allowed him to bring in different high-level bands across three separate sessions.

With Lucky Thompson on tenor saxophone (unfortunately only on three tracks), Barry Galbraith, Barney Kessel, or Skeeter Best on guitar, Oscar Pettiford or Percy Heath on double bass, and Kenny Clarke or Lawrence Marable on drums, Milt Jackson takes us on an exhilarating journey through jazz history. John Lewis remained discreetly in the background, giving “Bags” (Jackson’s nickname) many opportunities to shine as a soloist.

Selecting the repertoire required no effort: a series of songs by Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, and Jerome Kern, plus a piece from the Duke Ellington Songbook, together form a very pleasant foundation on which all the musicians performed brilliantly. Three compositions by Milt Jackson himself demonstrate his considerable compositional talent.

If you don’t own this LP—or perhaps any Milt Jackson record—this album offers an extraordinary opportunity to fill that gap. The author would give this recording five stars out of five! This remarkable reissue from Speakers Corner was produced entirely with analog technology, using the original analog tapes and a fully analog remastering process from master to lacquer. Notably, the German label also paid all royalties and copyright fees, something far from guaranteed today.

Recording dates: January 1956 in New York by Tom Dowd; February 1956 at Rudy Van Gelder Studio by Rudy Van Gelder and producer Nesuhi Ertegun.

Tracklist:

1. So In Love
2. These Foolish Things
3. Solitude
4. The Song Is Ended
5. They Didn't Believe Me
6. How High The Moon
7. Gerry's Blues
8. Hello
9. Bright Blues