Jazz Lab by Donald Byrd/Gigi Gryce Rare Columbia white label 6 eye demo Lp 1957
  $   50

 


$ 50 Sold For
Oct 8, 2014 Sold Date
Oct 1, 2014 Start Date
1 Number Of Bids
  USA Country Of Seller
eBay Sold at
 
save auction  

Description

Alto saxophonist/arranger Gigi Gryce and trumpeter Donald Byrd's innovative, but unfortunately short-lived Jazz Lab Quintet recorded several sides during 1957, seven of which were released on this excellent Columbia album. The nucleus band of Gryce, Byrd, pianist Tommy Flanagan (a spot also filled by Wade Legge and Hank Jones), bassist Wendell Marshall, and drummer Art Taylor are augmented on four cuts here by trombonists Benny Powell and Jimmy Cleveland, French horn player Julius Watkins, baritone saxophonist Sahib Shihab, and tuba player Don Butterfield. The expanded ensemble turn in fleetly swinging renditions of Horace Silver's "Speculation" and Gryce's "Nica's Tempo," while varying the mood a bit with a ballad reading of Benny Golson's "I Remember Clifford" and a Far East-tinged waltz take on Randy Weston's "Little Niles" (shades of Miles Davis' Birth of the Cool group are heard in the complex, yet featherweight arrangements by Gryce). The quintet tracks include Gryce's "Sans Souci" and a provocative version of "Over the Rainbow." With some of the best arrangements heard in jazz and excellent solos by Gryce, Byrd, and Flanagan, Jazz Lab makes for an excellent introduction to the hard bop catalog.

                                                        –– Stephen Cook, All Music Guide/All Music Guide

Sleeve slight wear. Vinyl looks new. Photos are of actual product.

 

THE WHITE LABEL PROMO, RADIO STATION-, AUDITION OR DEMONSTRATION COPIES AND RELEASES (such as the one we have here) were often distributed to the radio stations before the record was released to the public, sometimes as much as four months ahead. These records are generally considered to be the "first among equals": the VERY FIRST generation and the VERY FIRST pressings of the particular title; a PROTOTYPE and the earliest known official pressing of the record.


price rating