Charlie hot and unamplified before Bossa Nova
Douglas A. Nickerson | Cotuit, MA USA | 05/09/2000
(4 out of 5 stars)
"One of my favorite Charlie Byrd albums. The setting is intimate, the playing is very good, the guitar is umamplified--or nearly so. These two sets reveal that Charlie Byrd was a skillful and mature guitarist two years before his association with Stan Getz. The arrangement of "Why Was I Born," is a very nice guitar arrangement (key of A) and shows that Charlie knew how slowly a ballad can be played--many musicians would have been unable to keep the tempo down and still be creative. Some nice improvising and Charlie's trademark crazy classical tricks on Ellington's Just Squeeze Me. A pleasantly warm trio in a real setting. Buy it and transport yourself to a small club in the Village in the early, early sixties, before life was complex!"
The Absolute Best of Byrd
GWB | NYC | 08/24/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I first found this album, on vinyl, in a used record store in Manhattan in 1966. It was so impressive, it has been my favorite Jazz Guitar album ever since. The "Fanatasia on Which Side Are You On" is a journey you'll never forget. It is a masterpiece."