An excellent MPS big-
band session, in a mode that's sort of a mix between the firey hardbop of the Clarke-Boland ensemble, and the more modernist work of
George Gruntz. The
band is directed by
Gruntz – and is co-led by
Gruntz, Franco Ambrosetti, Flavio Ambrosetti, and Daniel Humair. The players are a mix of top-notch Americans and Europeans – also in the Clarke-Boland mode – and include Dexter Gordon, Woody Shaw, Dusko Goykovich, Benny Bailey, Virgil Jones, Ake Persson, Herb Geller, and Sahib Shihab. Tracks are all long originals, with a hard driving style that's a mix of modal jazz and hardbop – with slight touches of funkiness, thanks to some Fender Rhodes work by
Gruntz. Titles include "Our Suite Dig", "Witch Stich", "Gravenstein", "Saint Charity", and "The Age Of Prominence".
(Japanese pressing, with obi! Note that one of the two records is a white label promo.)