An enjoyable collection of airshots from four BBC broadcasts of the late 1950s. Humphrey Lyttelton’s band appears in concerts from 1956 and 1957. The first, which features also the clarinet and saxophone of Bruce Turner, is a genially swinging date bridging traditional and swing idioms, the material ranging from “Christopher Columbus” and “Cheek to Cheek” to “Bucket’s Got a Hole in It.” The second date has a welcome glimpse of the 23-year-old Tony Coe, who replaces Turner (except on “Ole Miss Rag,” where Turner sits in). Like his countrymen Ronnie Ball and Peter Ind, Turner studied under Tristano, and on the 1960 quartet date under his own name here he demonstrates a much more forwardlooking and idiosyncratic vision than in the context of Lyttelton’s band. Turner’s pianoless quartet – alto, trombone, bass and drums – sounds like an offbeat merger of Gerry Mulligan’s quartet with John Kirby’s band, and Turner cements the comparison by covering Charlie Shavers’ “A Flat to C.” Turner’s own two tunes are quite ambitious small-group compositions, especially “Exhibition at the Pictures,” which effects a merger between Mussorgsky, “Sweet Georgia Brown” and the blues! It’s engaging stuff, and it’s a pity there’s only three tracks from this session. The last session, from 1958, is by the Fairweather-Brown All-Stars, and while it’s again something of a stylistic amalgam the most overt influence is Count Basie, whose book supplies four tunes, including Neal Hefti’s “Li’l Darling,” from the then just-released Atomic Basie album. The session unfortunately only has a few solos by the great, maverick clarinetist Sandy Brown, but he does get one tune to himself, a wonderfully offbeat “Ol’ Man River.”

Nate Dorward

Cadence, December 2002