Kai Winding

INCLUDES FREE MP3 ALBUM DOWNLOAD

PLUS 1 BONUS TRACK - 4 STARS DOWNBEAT MAGAZINE

PERSONNEL:

J.J. JOHNSON, trombone
KAI WINDING, trombone
BILL EVANS, piano
PAUL CHAMBERS, bass (on A1, A3, A6 & B1)
TOMMY WILLIAMS, bass (on A2, A4-A5 & B2-B5)
ROY HAYNES, drums (on A1, A3, A6 & B1)
ART TAYLOR, drums (on A2, A4-A5 & B2-B5)

Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, November 2 (A1, A3, A6 & B1),
November 4 (A2, A5, B2 & B5) and November 9 (tracks A4, B3 & B4), 1960.

*BONUS TRACK (B6):
J. J. Johnson & Kai Winding (tb), Dick Katz (p)
Bill Brown (b), Kenny Clarke (d).
New York, July 18, 1956.

Side A:
1 THIS COULD BE THE START OF SOMETHING BIG (Steve Allen) 3:14
2 GEORGIA ON MY MIND (Hoagy Carmichael-Stuart Gorrell) 3:51
3 BLUE MONK (Thelonious Monk) 4:31
4 JUDY (J.J. Johnson) 4:06
5 ALONE TOGETHER (Arthur Schwartz-Howard Dietz) 3:35
6 SIDE BY SIDE (Harry Woods) 3:06

Side B:
1 I CONCENTRATE ON YOU (Cole Porter) 4:03
2 THEME FROM “PICNIC” (George W. Duning) 4:04
3 TRIXIE (J.J. Johnson) 5:10
4 GOING, GOING, GONG! (Kai Winding) 3:11
5 JUST FOR A THRILL (Lil Armstrong-Don Raye) 3:19
6 ‘S WONDERFUL (George & Ira Gershwin) 3:08*

A frontline of two trombones was an atypical combination for jazz prior to the groundbreaking collaborations of J.J. Johnson (the first and primary exponent of bebop on his instrument) and Danish-born Kai Winding (a brilliant trombonist in his own right). The duo’s first recording together was almost casual, consisting of a couple of tracks from a January 3, 1949 reunion of the Metronome magazine award winners. Although they both participated on a number of sessions together from 1949 to 1954, J.J. and Kai’s success as a duo began with the album Reflections, which was taped on August 24-26, 1954. From that point forward –while continuing to record their own individual projects– they took time to explore the myriad of possibilities of this new two-trombone format. J.J. and Kai participated on more than 20 recording sessions together between 1954 and 1958, including a number of quintet albums backed by a rhythm section of piano/bass/drums. They also played numerous gigs including long stays at Birdland and concerts at the Newport Jazz Festival. They also toured Europe in 1958. Their final reunion took place in Japan in September 1982, as part of an all-star octet that also included Dexter Gordon on tenor sax, Clark Terry on trumpet and flugelhorn, Tommy Flanagan on piano, Kenny Burrell on guitar, Richard Davis on bass and Roy Haynes on drums.