About This Item
Limited 180gm vinyl LP pressing housed in deluxe tip-on jacket. The brilliant arranger, composer, and pianist Gil Evans had already collaborated with Miles Davis on Birth of the Cool and Miles Ahead and made his own debut album Gil Evans & Ten for Prestige when he signed with World Pacific Records in 1958 and made the first of two albums for the tag New Bottle Old Wine with featured soloist Cannonball Adderley. The next year Evans was back in the studio to record the follow-up Great Jazz Standards with two different ensembles featuring the likes of trumpeter Johnny Coles, trombonists Curtis Fuller and Jimmy Cleveland, soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy, tenor saxophonist and clarinetist Budd Johnson, guitarist Ray Crawford, drummer Elvin Jones, and others. As the title promises, the album presents a program of great jazz standards leading off with Bix Beiderbecke's InchDavenport Blues,Inch a showcase for Coles, before launching into a shimmering version of Thelonious Monk's InchStraight No ChaserInch where Coles, Lacy, Fuller, and Evans all get the spotlight. A stunning presentation of Fran Landesman and Tommy Wolf's InchBallad of the Sad Young MenInch and a no-nonsense take on Clifford Brown's InchJoy SpringInch close out the first side. On the flipside, John Lewis' InchDjangoInch gets an impressionistic arrangement full of surprises, while a modernistic version of Don Redman's InchChant of the WeedInch is a solo vehicle for Johnson's clarinet. The album culminates with a soaring performance of the Evans original InchTheme,Inch later known as InchLa Nevada.Inch Mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analog master tapes. Album Tracks 1. Davenport Blues 2. Straight No Chaser 3. Ballad of the Sad Young Men 4. Joy Spring 1. Django 2. Chant of the Weed 3. Theme
