Search - Al Cohn :: Four Classic Albums

Rare and precious stuff

Nikica Gilic | Zagreb, Croatia | 05/05/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Another Avid company's winner; collection of 4 great LPs showcasing Al Cohn in various surroundings, playing tenor, but also some clarinet and baritone, composing and arranging at the peak of his powers, collaborating with some of the finest white jazz musicians (most notably Bob Brookmeyer, Zoot Sims, Gene Quill and Mose Alison), but also with Joe Newman, Coltrane and Donald Byrd...



We have MR MUSIC album, where Al is a true star; complete musician heading a small big band (with Joe Newman, Frank Rehak, Gene Quill...), a true testament to his tallent. And then there are two albums with Bob Brookmeyer (the one under Brookmeyer's name otherwise not available on amazon), one of Al's albums with Zoot Sims (where both play some jubilant clarinet on one track), PLUS two tracks from "Poll winners" album, featuring Coltrane, a very promising young tenorist, Donyld Byrd, Gene Quill and Al on baritone sax (he was high in Downbeat polls on that instrument that year...).



Some of tracks are excellent cool jazz, some are plain mainstream, most are very swinging and ellegant! Highly recommended to all tenor sax fans, Al Cohn fans, cool jazz fans, mainstream jazz fans, Bob Brookmeyer fans, Zoot Sims fans.... At the time I'm writing this, it's very much available on British amazon, for a price much lower than any single album."

Buyer beware

JPF | 07/24/2010

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I had to return my copy because the CDs skipped in several places. Also, the remastering job done by Avid Records is terrible; annoyingly harsh, bright sound. As to the music, I'd rate it about 4 1/2 stars if I could, but this is supposed to be a review of the product as a whole. The albums contained in this set are available as single CDs; they have much better sound on those versions. I know - I own two of them."