Two rare jazz classics from the Atlantic catalog! Handle With Care is one of the first recordings by the legendary Clark-Boland Big Band – and although it was a pre-MPS session released by Atlantic, all the core elements of the band's classic sound and style are present. Gigi Campi produced and supervised the session, and the group includes CBBB stalwarts like Benny Bailey, Derek
Humble, Jimmy Woode, Shahib Shihab, Idrees Sulieman, and Fats Sadi. Tracks include "Long Note Blues", "Speedy Reeds", "Sonor", and "Om Mani Padme Hum". Western Suite is an incredible record from modernist reedman Jimmy Giuffre – who's playing here in his classic piano-less trio format, in a group with Jim Hall on guitar and Bob Brookmeyer on trombone. The group was perhaps his best, and they achieve a perfect blend of free-flowing improvised lines, while still managing to retain a jazz swing (something that didn't always happen on Giuffre's other records). The centerpiece of the set is the extended "Western Suite" (don't be fooled by the name, because there's no sort of "Country & Western" tinge to it), and the record also includes beautiful long versions of "Blue Monk" and "Topsy". The whole thing is one of the most amazing jazz records ever recorded, and has an insane array of tones, colors, and sound shapes.