This out-of-print Inner City LP mostly duplicates material available on two Original Jazz Classics CDs although it does include one song ("Deltitnu") not included because trumpeter
Clifford Brown does not solo. Three of the songs (plus two alternate takes) feature a big band headed by altoist
Gigi Gryce and have both Americans from the 1953
Lionel Hampton Orchestra (including
Brown, trumpeter
Art Farmer, trombonist
Jimmy Cleveland and tenorman
Clifford Solomon) and French players (such as pianist
Henri Renaud and bassist
Pierre Michelot). "Brown Skins" and the tradeoffs by
Brown and
Farmer on "Keeping Up with Jonesy" (which was arranged and composed by the young
Quincy Jones) are noteworthy. The second side showcases
Brown and
Gryce in a sextet with four songs plus two alternates; "I Cover the Waterfront" and the two versions of "All the Things You Are" are among the highpoints. But since the material is available elsewhere, this hard-to-find Lp can be skipped by.
–
Scott Yanow, Rovi