SIDE 1

　1.Clark Terry Quartet:

　　Fluegeiln’ the Blues (6:57) (Clark Terry)

　2.Blue Mitchell Quintet:

　　Studio B (7:18) (Paul Cambers)

　3.Chet Baker Sextet:

　　Early Morning Mood (9:00) (Chet Baker)

SIDE 2

　1.Chet Backer Quartet:

　　Soft Winds (6:25) (Benny Goodman)

　2.Nat Adderley Quartet:

　　Mammy Yokum (7:20) (Gene Harris)

　3.Kenny Dorham Quintet:

　　Optional (7:47) (Kenny Dorham)

　　　The blues, it has been noted on many occasions, offers about as good a way as you can think of to measure the worth of a jazz musician. By the way he deals with the standard 12-bar form (or any variation thereof), you can learn a lot about what a man has to say and how he feels about life, and you can form some pretty accurate conclusions as to just how highly he should be rate din the world of jazz.

　　　The blues itself is a pretty amazing creation. At first glance it would seem a rather limited, rigid, stylized form. Yet it turns out to be capable of endless variety and to be just about immortal, having begun with country singers and guitar-scrapers of a pre-jazz era and having lasted right on down to the present without showing even the slightest signs of old age.

　　　This album presents a half-dozen aspects of present-day instrumental blues, as played by varying groups led by five outstanding horn men. These selections all came into being as “extras” made during the course of a number of different Riverside recording sessions: none have been preciously issued. Each gives a good glimpse of the blues style of the leader (and of an impressive group of co-workers), and demonstrates vividly why each of the five is either a top star of today or well on his way to a near-future position of importance.

　　　As further connective link, all five play trumpet – an instrument that has always been one of the most expressive of blues voices. In the interests of strict accuracy, of course, “trumpet” must be qualified in two cases here. CLARK TERRY, for several years a vital part of Duke Ellington’s trumpet section, displays to great advantage his more recently acquired skill on the closely-allied fluegelhorn. He is ably assisted by some brilliant, high-spirited piano work by the great Thelonious Monk. Sam Jones is on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums in this May, 1958 recording. NAT ADDERLEY’s instrument is the cornet, slightly higher pitched cousin of the trumpet: he uses it here to project a deeply “down home” feeling on a blues written by pianist Gene Harris. The other members of this quartet are Harris’ colleagues in the tightly-knit trio known as “The Three Sounds” – bassist Andy Simpkins and drummer Bill Dowdy. (Recorded in September, 1958.)

　　　CHET BAKER, most celebrated of West Coast trumpet stars, is heard on two numbers. On Benny Goodman’s Soft Winds (recorded in September, 1958), the only non-original composition in the album, he is backed by a fine all-Eastern rhythm section: Al Haig, piano; Paul Chambers, bass; and again Philly Joe Jones on drums. The leisurely Early Morning Mood (December ’58) is by a larger group that includes the rich baritone sax of Pepper Adams and the truly lyrical piano of Bill Evans, with Chambers again on bass and Connie Kay (of the Modern Jazz Quartet) on drums.

　　　RICHARD “BLUE” MITHCELL, one of Riverside’s newest discoveries, is a trumpeter with a sound of his own and a feeling for the blues that is echoed by four highly blues-conscious colleagues, with full-toned tenor sax by Benny Golson, Chambers’ bass, piano by promising newcomer Cedar Walton, and the remarkable drumming of Art Blakey, who appears through the courtesy of Blue Note Records. (Recorded in December ’58.) The final selection features KENNY DORHAM, recognized for over a decade as one of the foremost of modern trumpets. On this August ’58 number he is joined by the brilliant young trombonist, Curtis Fuller, with Walton on piano, Sam Jones on bass, and G. T. Hogan, drums.

　　　Another collection of previously unissued blues is –

BLUES FOR TOMORROW: with Coleman Hawkins, Sonny Rollins, Herbie Mann, Art Blakey, Billy Taylor,

Bobby Jaspar (RLP 12-243)

　　　Riverside “anthology” albums, with selections specially chosen from various jazz LPs, include –

SAXOPHONE REVOLT: featuring Gerry Mulligan, Cannonball Adderley, Sonny Rollins, Coleman

　　　Hawkins, John Coltrane, Johnny Dodges, Johnny Griffin, Benny Golson (RLP 12-284)

RIVERSIDE DRIVE: Thelonious Monk, Kenny Dorham, Clark Terry, Donald Byrd, Johnny Griffin,

Hank Mobley, etc. (RLP 12-267)

　　　Other LPs by the horn stars featured here include –

CHET BAKER in New York (RLP 12-281)

Jazz Contrasts: KENNY DORHAM Sings & Plays; with Curtis Fuller (RLP 12-275)

Branching Out: NAT ADDERLEY; with Johnny Griffin, ‘The Three Sounds’ (RLP 12-285)

Big Six: BLUE MITCHELL; with Griffin, Fuller (RLP 12-273)

Out of the Blue: BLUE MITCHELL; with Benny Golson, Art Blakey (RLP 12-293)

Duke with a Difference: CLARK TERRY; with Johnny Hodges (RLP 12-246)

In Orbit: CLARK TERRY; with Thelonious Monk (RLP 12-271)