AVID Jazz continues with its Five Classic Album series with a re-mastered 2CD release from Mundell Lowe, complete with original artwork, liner notes and personnel details
“Guitar Moods”; “TV Action Jazz!”; “Porgy & Bess” “A Grand Night For Swinging”and “Satan In High Heels”
Perhaps unsurprisingly for a jazz guitar player, our next musical hero, Mundell Lowe spent much of his career playing in large bands, accompanying solo artists and doing session and TV work. Amazingly he did also find time to produce many fine albums under his own name. His musical career started at age 16 when he found himself performing at the famed Grand Ole Opry. From there he went on to play in the bands and orchestras of Jon Savitt, Benny Goodman and Ray McKinley. His TV session work was complimented by his weekend work on the jazz circuit where he played with the likes of The Dorsey Brothers, Bill Evans, Billie Holiday, Charles Mingus as well as both “Bird” and “Pres”! He also was a key accompanist to the great jazz singer Carmen McCrae (AMSC1125). Our albums feature Mundell in a number of settings including a film soundtrack, a show tribute, a TV themes set, a more typical Lowe-ish mellow guitar album and unusually a more swinging outing appropriately titled “A Grand Night For Swinging”. This last album is one of the treasures of the set being a very rare, hard to find album (check out the prices on CD!). A few key names found among these grooves are Art Farmer, Gene Quill, Don Elliott, Donald Byrd, Clark Terry, Ed Shaughnessy, Ed Thigpen, Osie Johnson, Eddie Costa, Bew Webster, Billy Taylor and Doc Severinson.
Check out: Kenny Burrell (AMSC1327), Grant Green (AMSC1065), Tiny Grimes (AMSC1188), Django Reindhart (AMSC920 & 1020), Don Elliott (AMSC1185) and Billy Taylor (AMSC1200).
CD1
1-12: ‘Guitar Moods’
1. Speak Low
2. We’ll Be Together Again
3. Memories Of You
4. Ill Wind
5. You Don’t Know What Love Is
6. I Dream Too Much
7. June In January
8. I’ll Take Romance
9. It’s So Peaceful In The Country
10. Our Waltz
11. I’m Old Fashioned
12. Goodbye
13-20: ‘TV Action Jazz!’
13. Peter Gunn
14. Riff Blues
15. Perry Mason Theme
16. 77 Sunset Strip
17. M-Squad
18. The Thin Man
19. This Is The Naked City
20. Fall Out
21-26: ‘Porgy & Bess’
21. Summertime
22. Bess, You Is My Woman
23. I Loves You, Porgy
24. I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin’
25. Where’s My Bess
26. Redheaded Woman
CD2
1-4: ‘Porgy & Bess’
1. My Man’s Gone Now
2. It Takes A Long Pull To Get There
3. It Ain’t Necessarily So
4. There’s A Boat Dat’s Leavin’ Soon For New York
5-11: ‘A Grand Night For Swinging’
5. It’s A Grand Night For Swingin’
6. Blues Before Freud
7. Easy To Love
8. It Could Happen To You
9. Love Me Or Leave Me
10. You Turned The Tables On Me
11. Crazy Rhythm
12-21: ‘Satan In High Heels’
12. Satan In High Heels
13. Montage
14. The Lost And The Lonely
15. East Side Drive
16. Coffee, Coffee
17. Lake In The Woods
18. From Mundy On
19. The Long Knife
20. Blues For A Stripper
21. Pattern Of Evil
