Pure Delight: The Essence Of Quincy Jones And... Review

07/13/2005 6:36 AM, AMG


The Razor & Tie collection Pure Delight focuses on the Quincy Jones' Orchestra as one of the quintessential post-modern big bands, comfortable in any musical setting, location, or format, and including a retinue of excellent players with no regard for race, gender or nationality. Culling most of its tracks from Jones' solid -- yet still long out of print -- albums for Mercury of the early '60s (The Birth of a Band, Jazz Abroad, I Dig Dancers, Big Band Bossa Nova), the collection hits many highpoints with dozens of top-flight guests. Several of the best include a 1959 version of "I Remember Clifford" with Clark Terry on flugelhorn; "Tickle Toe" (from the same session) with Terry, Zoot Sims, and Joe Newman; "Comin' Home Baby" from 1963 with Terry, Burrell, and Roland Kirk; and last but not least "I Had a Ball" from 1964 with a truly killer lineup: Dizzy Gillespie, Milt Jackson, James Moody, Roland Kirk, and Art Blakey. In all, Pure Delight compiles some of the most elegantly swinging selections of Quincy Jones' entire career. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide