Gil Evans

• TONE POET SERIES

• 180 gram vinyl LP pressing

• MASTERED FROM THE ORIGINAL ANALOG TAPES

The brilliant arranger, composer, and pianist Gil Evans had already collaborated with Miles Davis on Birth of the Cool and Miles Ahead and made his own debut album Gil Evans & Ten for Prestige when he signed with World Pacific Records in 1958 and made the first of two albums for the label: New Bottle Old Wine with featured soloist Cannonball Adderley.

The next year Evans was back in the studio to record the follow-up Great Jazz Standards with two different ensembles featuring the likes of trumpeter Johnny Coles, trombonists Curtis Fuller and Jimmy Cleveland, soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy, tenor saxophonist and clarinetist Budd Johnson, guitarist Ray Crawford, drummer Elvin Jones, and others. As the title promises, the album presents a program of great jazz standards leading off with Bix Beiderbecke’s “Davenport Blues,” a showcase for Coles, before launching into a shimmering version of Thelonious Monk’s “Straight No Chaser” where Coles, Lacy, Fuller, and Evans all get the spotlight.

Recorded in New York City on February 5, 1959

TRACKS & PERSONNEL ON SIDE A

• A1. CHANT OF THE WEED
• A2. JOY SPRING
• A3. BALLAD OF THE SAD YOUNG MEN
• A4. THEME

• Johnny Coles - (trumpet)
• Louis Mucci - (trumpet)
• Danny Stiles - (trumpet)
• Jimmy Cleveland - (trombone)
• Curtis Fuller - (trombone)
• Rob Vevitt - (trombone)
• Earl Chapin - (french horn)
• Bill Barber - (tuba)
• Steve Lacy - (soprano sax)
• Budd Johnson - (tenor sax)
• Ray Crawford - (guitar)
• Tommy Potter - (bass)
• Elvin Jones - (drums)
• Gil Evans - (piano)
• _________________________________

TRACKS & PERSONNEL ON SIDE B

• B1. DAVENPORT BLUES
• B2. DJANGO
• B3. STRAIGHT NO CHASER

• Johnny Coles - (trumpet)
• Louis Mucci - (trumpet)
• Allen Smith - (trumpet)
• Curtis Fuller - (trombone)
• Bill Elton - (trombone)
• Dick Lieb - (trombone)
• Bob Northern - (french horn)
• Bill Barber - (tuba)
• Al Block - (woodwinds)
• Steve Lacy - (soprano sax)
• Chuck Wayne - (guitar)
• Dick Carter - (bass)
• Dennis Charle - (drums)
• Gil Evans - (piano)