Calling Gerry Hemingway a drummer is a little like calling John Coltrane a saxophonist. The description is apt, of course, but barely approximates what's going on behind the instrument. In Hemingway's case, he's spent years playing with Anthony Braxton, enlisting fellow Braxton bassist Mark Dresser in this quintet, his most monstrously talented band. Though this is just one dimension of Hemingway's past, it's illustrative of his approach to blending composition and improvisation. With Dutch superstars Wolter Wierbos (trombone) and Ernst Reijseger (cello) alongside expat Michael Moore (alto sax, clarinets), the quintet's front line is given to fat 'bone solos that squiggle and blurt, not to mention looping reed interludes that seem hand-in-glove with the cello. There's always room for Hemingway to steer and plenty of places to head while he's at the helm. Waltzes moves from a kind of slow, uphill climb to various descents, each into territory riveted to the beat by Dresser and Hemingway, who verily pounds his drum kit with great heft. —Andrew Bartlett

Volume One of a Classic Gerry Mulligan Quartet Recorded Live in Paris During the Summer of 1954. Featured in the Quartet Were Bob Brookmeyer (Valve Trombone), Red Mitchell (Bass), and Frank Isola (Drums). Songs Include My Funny Valentine, Love Me Or.

This 1959 recording brings together two fine musicians from worlds that one might not usually connect, with Gerry Mulligan's light and airy baritone representing the "cool" and Ben Webster's richly burred tenor possibly standing for the epitome of a very "warm" swing. When this was recorded, however, the quintet was actually a working band. Mulligan had a profound appreciation of Webster's talent, and the two shared an affection for the music of Duke Ellington and his composing partner Billy Strayhorn, both of whom are represented here. With the accomodating Jimmy Rowles on piano and the fine rhythm team of bassist Leroy Vinnegar and drummer Mel Lewis, this is consummate small-group jazz that's beyond classification. There's something unique in the ensemble sound of the two horns, with all the gravity concentrated in the higher tenor, but this is very much a blowing session, with Webster at his lyric and passionate best. The two-CD set offers a host of alternate takes that are a fine display of the improvisers' art. —Stuart Broomer

High-definition premium 180gm vinyl pressing of this classic Jazz album. Wax Time Records. 2010. What Is There to Say?, was one of the best albums made by Gerry Mulligan with his piano-less quartet featuring Art Farmer. Mulligan had developed the piano-less, small-group sound in a variety of settings with, among others, trumpeter Chet Baker, trombonist Bob Brookmeyer, and saxophonists Paul Desmond and Zoot Sims. The repertoire includes some familiar tunes, like "My Funny Valentine", a standard normally associated with Chet Baker. "What Is There to Say" and "Just In Time", the other standards given the Mulligan overhaul here, are balanced by Mulligan's "As Catch Can", "Festive Minor", and "Utter Chaos", as well as Farmer's "Blueport" and Crow's "News From Blueport". In his 1991 biography of Gerry Mulligan, Listen! Gerry Mulligan, An Aural Narrative In Jazz, Jerome Klinkowitz sang the praises of this album as the "flawlessly executed album that caught the high point of [Mulligan's] improvisatory lyricism." Mulligan's career was almost 14 years along at this point and this was his first work as a leader for major-label Columbia. Mulligan was just coming into his prime as a player, writer and arranger, with What Is There To Say? providing what Klinkowitz described as a slice of "pure Mulligan ... exquisite proof of Mulligan's gift as a writer and arranger ... as clear an insight into the man and his music as four decades of listening might provide." As a bonus, we have added a rare live version of the title song by the same quartet performed in Sweden shortly after the studio version was made.

The pianoless Gerry Mulligan Quartet, which launched the careers of Mulligan, Chet Baker and Chico Hamilton, lasted only one year (June of '52-'53). These two remastered CDs cover all 42 tracks that the quartet recorded for Pacific Jazz in that one year in which the band invented itself, evolved, hit the big time and then disappeared. Recorded live at the Haig and in various studios, this music is essential modern jazz.