AVID Jazz here presents three classic Junior Mance albums including original LP liner notes on a finely re-mastered and low priced double CD.
“Junior”; “The Soulful Piano Of Junior Mance”; “At The Village Vanguard” and7 of 9 tracks from “Big Chief”
Welcome to the natural unforced piano stylings of Junior Mance. Recorded in New York in 1959 “Junior” finds Mance in the company of Lex Humphries on drums and the inimitable Ray Brown on bass. Junior has a new trio for the 1960 date “The Soulful Piano Of Junior Mance”. Joining him are Ben Tucker on bass and Bobby Thomas on drums who form a tightly knit trio as evidenced in the mere 2 ½ hours it took them to record the album! February 1961 saw the club debut of a new Junior Mance Trio at the Village Vanguard. Alongside Junior was bassist Larry Gales and drummer Ben Riley both on “loan” from the bands of Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis and Johnny Griffin. The Mance Trio, having played with all the above musicians as a quintet was able to create its own strong impression, as noted in the original liner notes “he may not have a big band but he does have a very big trio”. “Big Chief” recorded in New York in 1961 finds Mance in another trio with Jimmy Rowser on bass and Paul Gusman on drums. On this set the trio play the music of WC Handy and Thelonious Monk.
All four albums have been digitally re-mastered.
CD1
1-10: ‘Junior’
1. A Smooth One
2. Miss Jackie’s Delight
3. Whisper Not
4. Love For Sale
5. Lilacs In The Rain
6. Small Fry
7. Jubilation
8. Birk’s Works
9. Blues For Beverlee
10. Junior’s Tune
11-18: ‘The Soulful Piano Of Junior Mance’
11. The Uptown
12. Ralph’s New Blues
13. Main Stem
14. Darling, Je Vous Aime Beaucoup
15. Playhouse
16. Sweet And Lovely
17. Oo-Bla-Dee
18. I Didn’t Care
CD2
1: ‘The Soulful Piano Of Junior Mance’
1. Swingmatism
2-9: ‘At The Village Vanguard’
2. Looptown
3. Letter From Home
4. Girl Of My Dreams
5. 63rd Street Theme
6. Smokey Blues
7. 9:20 Special
8. Bingo Domingo
9. You Are Too Beautiful
10. Big Chief! from Big Chief
11. Love For Sale from Big Chief
12. The Seasons from Big Chief
13. Fillet Of Soul from Big Chief
14. Swish from Big Chief
15. Summertime from Big Chief
16. Ruby, My Dear from Big Chief
