Billboard : 04/28/1956
Spotlight on… selection

A formidable collection of jazz talent was assembled for this recent date. Despite the long careers of all concerned, some rather surprising “first” occurred that will be of interest. For instance, this is the first pairing (on records) of Lester Young and Roy Eldridge, and the first time Dickenson has recorded with either Young or Eldridge, and the first date of Young and Teddy Wilson together in over 10 years. The combinations of such familiar stylists result in some very stimulating jazz of a very fundamental kind, with kicks for fans of almost all schools.

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Cashbox : 05/05/1956

This corner doesn’t have any qualms concerning the set’s title. Certainly the jazzmen here are Titans of today’s jazz scene. The fellas on this disk give a lot of added meaning to the Norgran label with a series of delectable jazz performances. Most of the stuff is soft and warm. The only number in which the boys take off on is the snappy run through of Gigantic Blues. It’s all a mighty gratifying showing for Lester Young, Teddy Wilson, Roy Eldridge and Co. A superior jazz entry.

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Army Times
Tom Scanlan : 07/14/1956

Six of the world’s greatest jazz musicians are together in an album called Jazz Giants ’56 (Norgran 12-inch LP 1056). Group is made up of veterans Lester Young, Roy Eldridge, Teddy Wilson, Vic Dickenson, Jo Jones, Freddie Green, and Gene Ramey.

This has been called “one of the records of this or any other year” by a leading jazz writer, and I’d like to agree because the first six musicians listed above number among my personal favorites. But as good as it is, it is not what one would expect it to be, considering the musicians involved. Perhaps the most disturbing thing about the record is Lester’s tone. Ten to 15 years ago, Pres had one of the loveliest saxophone tones imaginable, but his tone on this record is harsh and thin.

Although Wilson and Eldridge have some exciting solos, star of the album, to my mind, is Vic Dickenson, the vigorous inventive trombonist.

Songs are I Guess I’ll Have To Change My Plan, I Didn’t Know What Time It Was, Gigantic Blues, This Year’s Kisses and You Can Depend On Me.

Recording balance is not what it might have been. For one thing, Green’s guitar is under-recorded.

Norgran is to be congratulated for getting these men together for a record date and, despite the quibbling above, there are kicks to be had from this record, of course.

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High Fidelity
John S. Wilson : June, 1956

Those who harbor fond memories of that series of recordings made by various groups under Teddy Wilson‘s leadership for Brunswick in the thirties, usually with Billie Holiday as vocalist, will find a heart-warming echo on this disk. It brings together five of the men who appeared frequently on those records – Wilson, Lester Young, Roy Eldridge, Jo Jones, and Freddie Green. Their playing has much of that easy but challenging quality that marked those old sessions. Young hasn’t played on records with as much fire in years as he does on this disk (he charges into Gigantic Blues as if he were back with Basie) and his slower work is cleaner, less inclined to fray at the edges than usual. The revived Young proves to be a catalyst, for both Eldridge and Wilson play with more interest and direction than they have shown lately. Vic Dickenson‘s humorous, slurring trombone fits in well more often than not.

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Kansas City Call
Albert Anderson : 08/10/1956

Another great Norgran release is The Jazz Giants ’56, featuring such outstanding instrumentalists as Teddy Wilson, Roy Eldridge, Vic Dickenson, Jo Jones, Freddie Green and Gene Ramey. Despite the long careers of all concerned, some rather surprising “firsts” occurred that will be of interest. For instance, this was the first time Lester Young and Roy Eldridge have appeared together on the same record, and the first date for Young and Teddy Wilson together in 10 years. The combination of such familiar stylists result in some very stimulating jazz of a kind that has kicks for fans of almost every school.

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Miami Herald
John Sherman : 10/07/1956

Sticking with virtuosi, Norgran has an album that is a showcase of outstanding talent. It’s The Jazz Giants ’56. Lester Young sets the theme on the opening track, as he does on four of the five numbers here. His meaningful solos on the ballads are really first-rate. But this is a showcase album big enough for Roy Eldridge, Teddy Wilson, Freddie Green, Jo Jones, Vic Dickenson and Gene Ramey.

There is very little here of a blending of talent. Mostly it’s the hornmen and Wilson taking off with the rhythm section on solo flights that would be show stoppers in any regular session.

Jones has one great bit of drumming in the one non-ballad track, Gigantic Blues, by the Pres. This is one freewheeling effort by Young. From there the group goes into This Year’s Kisses; and you almost need a decompression chamber to handle the change of pace. And when you hear Wilson on this one, you find yourself wondering why more of the piano wasn’t worked into what sound like head arrangements.

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Saturday Review
Whitney Balliett : 05/02/1956

A near-classic session that features Lester Young, Roy Eldridge, Vic Dickenson, Teddy Wilson, Freddie Green, Gene Ramey, and Jo Jones. There are four standards and one up-tempo blues, all of which are delivered in solo form with no ensembles of any sort. A good deal of the excitement that you might expect from such a collision of similar minds and experiences is here, particularly in the work of Wilson, Jones, and Eldridge. There is also the loose-limbed flow that is so rare in modern jazz and that seems second nature to these men. What keeps this from being first-rate, however, is the lack of superstructures and some handsome clinkers.

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Down Beat : 05/30/1956
Jack Tracy : 5 stars

The Jazz Giants ’56 comprise Lester Young, Roy Eldridge, Teddy Wilson, Vic Dickenson, Jo Jones, Freddie Green, and Gene Ramey, and a better-knit assemblage would indeed be hard to conceive. As the notes point out, this is the first time Pres and Roy have recorded together, and for some 20 years, someone has been goofing.

This is one of the records of this or any other year, and it is difficult to imagine a group playing much better than this one gets on You Can Depend on Me. All the good qualities which we usually ascribe to jazz – vitality, swing, ingenuity, rhythmic variety, and impeccable improvisation – are present here. Rest of the tracks are not far below this remarkable level, and it is really unfair to pout out high spots, although the unvarying consistency of Roy and Pres should be mentioned. Especially note Young’s opening statement on This Year’s Kisses – it contains all the loveliness and feeling for music one could wish.

Suffice it to say that this collection belong in any and every library.

The notes err, by the way in stating that Pres and Dickenson never have recorded together before – they appeared on some Philo sides under Pres’ leadership a decade ago.

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Liner Notes by Unknown

Imitation, as a wise man once put it, is never competition. Accordingly, imitation with neither understanding nor technique can bring woeful results to the young musician. To put the theory to test, no other saxophonist has had quite so strong an influence on modern-day tenor saxophonists than Lester Young, otherwise known as the “President.” For many saxophonists, however, the influence has not necessarily been a good one, simply because the limitations have been merely surface.

To play a saxophone in the Lester Young manner requires – well, it requires a Lester Young, which is to say an artist with his roots immersed deeply in the mainstream of jazz. Or that failing, a musician with at least a feeling for jazz’ muscular, swinging tradition. An error committed so frequently as to become commonplace finds the imitator concerned more with sound than substance.

The Lester Young sound is a very special thing, certainly, and with it is associated a kind of languor, a sophistication that often belies its basic blues foundation. But the guts of the blues – and its purposeful vigor – is also a vital part of the Young style. And without it, without this strength that is suggested rather than expressed boldly, the would-be Lester Youngs create little more than hollow, superficial and often quite banal mimicry.

The imitators could learn considerable from this album, entitled with justification The Jazz Giants ’56. For in this one, Lester illustrates more graphically than ever just where the “Lester Young school” has been errant. By no means is this, as they say in the television commercials, a “new” Lester Young, but it is a Lester Young with a stronger approach than has been his very recent custom. The tone remains, lean and cool (in the best sense), but the vigor is unmistakable and the jazz ideas are, as always, fresh and imaginative.

Generally, one doesn’t often think of Young as a catalyst (as, for example, Lionel Hampton who by his mere presence will force others around him to swing). But the catalytic properties – or, perhaps, an infectious enthusiasm – must have been in action on this record date, Jan 12, 1956. Listen, here, to the piano of Teddy Wilson, normally the most sedate of musicians. With no loss of his neat individuality, the calm and measured Teddy Wilson style emerges with something more – a very moving sense of excitement, expressed with typical subtlety.

In a number of ways, this proved to be a session bulging with “firsts.” Remarkably enough, this is the first time Young has ever recorded with Roy Eldridge, the trumpeter; the first time trombonist Vic Dickenson has recoded with either Lester or Roy, and the first time in some 10 years that Teddy and Lester have matched talents together on record. On that occasion, they were providing background for Billie Holiday on Brunswick; one of Billie’s songs then was This Year’s Kisses (an Irving Berlin hit of 1937) and Lester had the sentimental notion the song might be an effective one for jamming by his septet, which explains its presence here.

Taking them individually, Teddy Wilson rates as one of the foremost although – in these days – curiously neglected pianists in jazz, a veteran of the Swing Era, whose approach remains scholarly and swinging and yet (again in the best sense) cool. Chicago-born Jonathon “Jo” Jones, a subtle drummer and an inspiration for any number of other drummers, first hit prominence with the Count Basie band as did Freddie Greene and Gene Ramey. Still another Basie veteran of note, trombonist Vic Dickenson has earned a staunch reputation among fellow musicians for his versatility; with ease and aplomb, Dickenson crosses from traditional or Dixieland to a more contemporary style and in all of this retaining a fiery intensity on uptempo tunes and enormous warmth on the blues and ballads. Trumpeter Roy Eldridge is, of course, a formidable jazz giant – his longtime appellation of “Little Jazz” notwithstanding – whose career extends fully 30 years (he was born in 1911 and was playing with the Horace Henderson band in 1926). The three decades on the jazz scene includes tours with Jazz at the Philharmonic and with the bands of, to name only a few, Artie Shaw, Gene Krupa and Benny Goodman‘s sextet. Among jazz historians, Eldridge is generally considered an eloquent link between Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie.