Billboard : 01/19/1957
Album Cover of the Week

Sometimes the simplest design is the most fetching, and this is an example of that principle. The repeated titles, playing on the typographical design of the widely spaced letters, create a stark modern pattern of uncommon appeal. Has unaffected “class” and can be used effectively in display.

—–

Billboard : 01/19/1957
Score of 87

Four members are from one of the earliest 10-inch MJQ sets, which included Vendome. Four are from a later Jackson date in which Horace Silver replaced John Lewis on piano, and trumpeter H. Boozier was added. P. Heath and K. Clarke are on all tunes, with Jackson. The stuff sounds better than ever, and the contrast of the gentle quartet material with the funky quintet sides is most intriguing. This 12-incher should do better than the original issues. In fact, this should be a big one.

—–

Liner Notes by Ira Gitler

Today, Milt Jackson is internationally acknowledged as the premier artist on his instrument. This LP shows off his many attributes in two different settings.

Milt Jackson’s singular style has both toughness and tenderness to it. The toughness is in his muscular forays into the the blues, the “I got rhythms” and other originals of medium and up tempo. The sinews, I might add, are easy to masticate and readily digestible. The tenderness is evident in his ballads, and lucidity is ever present together with wideness and depth of soul. Being funky is never a conscious effort on Milt’s part. It is a natural segment of his musical personality and emerges in exactly that manner.

On four of the selections, Milt is presented in the setting in which most present day jazz listeners are used to hearing him, the Modern Jazz Quartet. These recordings, in fact, are the first made by the group under their, then, newly adopted name.

The natural beauty of Jerome Kern‘s All The Things You Are is enhanced by Milt’s long flowing lines, John Lewis‘ brittle piano and the rhythmic underlinings of Heath and Clarke.

La Ronde, originally recorded as Two Bass Hit by Dizzy Gillespie, is an energetic workout for Kenny Clarke’s drums. Milt and John solo the middle section.

The frugal Vendome, one of John Lewis’ important compositions, with its minor solemnity has an uplifting beauty in the very joy of its weaving lines and Milt’s solo moments.

Rose Of The Rio Grande has Milt stating the melody against a counter melody set down by John and Percy. Then Milt and John pursue Rose along the banks of the Rio Grande upon a loping horse with Percy as the front end and Kenny as the rear.

The other four numbers are from 1954 session with Milt, Percy, Kenny, Horace Silver sitting in for John Lewis and an added starter in trumpeter Henry Boozier.

The earthy road is travelled here. Silver, Heath and Clarke were recording frequently as a unit in this period and the power of their cohesion is like a benevolent tidal wave as it sweeps everything along.

Horace Silver, whose wonderful comping is like a section all by itself, is also a major contributor to the library for this date. His Opus De Funk (a jazz standard by now) and Buhaina (dedicated to Art Blakey) are excellent vehicles for improvisation in a mainstream groove. Milt’s written efforts are the blues Soma, which helps us in facing new worlds bravely, and the bittersweet ballad I’ve Lost Your Love.

Henry Boozier, economically forced to work in R&B bands, is heard in solo on all but Buhaina where he only helps with the line. On the ballad he reminds us of Freddie Webster with a fat, open sound and occasionally chokes a note in the exact manner of Miles Davis. On Opus De Funk you’ll hear a resemblance to Milt in the way he shapes his lines but his sound and style are generally distinctive however.