Milt Jackson: La Ronde Suite-Quadromania Jazz Edition

Read About This Recording

Milt Jackson was the dominant influence on the vibraphone for 50 years. Born in 1923, Jackson started out on guitar, piano, and also performed as a gospel singer. He did not play vibes until he was a teenager. At the time, Lionel Hampton and Red Norvo were the vibes' main innovators. Jackson came up with own sound and adapted easily to bebop. In 1946, Dizzy Gillespie discovered him playing in Detroit and hired him for his sextet and big band. Jackson became the main vibraphonist (along with Terry Gibbs) during the bebop era, working with the who's who of bop including Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk and Woody Herman's Second Herd. His 1951 quartet evolved into becoming the Modern Jazz Quartet in 1952. While always having a solo recording career, Jackson toured with the MJQ for 22 years, only stopping in 1974 when he caused its temporary breakup by quitting. He returning in 1981 for another decade and remained active up until the time of his death in 1999.

The four-CD La Ronde Suite traces Milt Jackson's career during 1946-54. He is heard with Gillespie in a variety of settings (including live in concert), with Thelonious Monk, leading his quartet in 1951, in a quintet with Monk and Miles Davis, and on the earliest recordings of the Modern Jazz Quartet. While these are most of his earliest recordings, Milt Jackson already comes across as a mature giant, one who was taking the vibraphone into modern jazz. This well-conceived sampler is easily recommended.

-Scott Yanow

Contents

Imported from Europe!

Remastered!

CD 1 (TT: 60:37): Dynamo B; 'Round About Midnight; 52nd Street Theme; Anthropology; Smokey Hollow Jump; Night Music; Stop Time Blues; Misterioso; Epistrophy; I Mean You; All the Things You Are; I Should Care; I Should Care (Alternate Take); Symphonette; Conglomeration; Bruz; You Go to My Head; Hearing Bells; Bluesology; Bubu.

CD 2 (TT: 56:33): Tahiti; Lillie; Bags' Groove; What's New; Don't Get Around Much Anymore; On the Scene; Bags' Groove; Bemsha Swing; The Man I Love; Swing Spring.

CD 3 (TT: 57:31): Milt Meets Sid; D&E; Yesterdays; Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea; Autumn Breeze; Moving Nicely; Bluesology; 'Round About Midnight; Love Me Pretty Baby; Heart and Soul; True Blues; Ralph's New Blues; All of You; I'll Remember April; Gershwin Medley: Soon; For You, For Me; Forevermore; Love Walked In; Our Love is Here to Stay.

CD 4 (TT: 62:19): Softly As in a Morning Sunrise; Concorde; Django; One Bass Hit; La Ronde Suite; The Queen's Fancy; Delaunay's Dilemma; Autumn in New York; But Not for Me; Milano; All the Things You Are; La Ronde; Vendome; Rose of the Rio Grande.

Milt Jackson, Vibes; Dizzy Gillespie, Dave Burns, Fats Navarro, Kenny Dorham, Bill Massey, Miles Davis, Trumpets; Julius Watkins, French Horn; John Brown, Lou Donaldson, Alto Saxes; Lucky Thompson, Don Byas, James Moody, Allan Eager, Billy Mitchell, Tenor Saxes; Al Haig, Hank Jones, Thelonious Monk, Tadd Dameron, Walter Bishop Jr., John Lewis, Pianos; Bill De Arango, Guitar; Ray Brown, John Simmons, Curly Russell, Nelson Boyd, Percy Heath, Basses; Stan Levey, J.C. Heard, Joe Harris, Shadow Wilson, Kenny Clarke, Roy Haynes, Al Johns, Drums; Kenny Pancho Hagood, Vocals; Tempo Jazzmen; Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra; Ray Brown Orchestra; Howard McGhee Sextet; Tadd Dameron Band; The Modern Jazz Giants.