This CD includes the early steps of Bobby Jaspar as a jazz musician, when he started on clarinet and then tenor saxophone, as he formed the young award-winning Belgian band they called “Bob Shots” —the first in Europe to play “be-bop” back in 1947 under the guidance of Jaspar's influence, Don Byas. One year later he met Lucky Thompson onstage in an enriching experience, and he became his new inspiration. These two encounters helped Bobby grow musically in a way that would make him a success everywhere, a blend of styles that was a compromise between the turbulence of Thompson, Lester Young, Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis, etc., and the rhapsodic style of Byas and Hawkins.
Casualties of Cool is a project by prolific musician/producer Devin Townsend, who handles vocals, guitars, bass, and keyboards on the album, and Ché Aimee Dorval who handles vocals, and guitars. The duo is helped out by a varity of session musicians.
With Casualties of Cool, Devin Townsend's experimentation with ambient grooves, ghostly beauty, mellow compositions, and mature instrumental performances has reached a grand new height. We heard it as a diversion on Ki, in the empty spaces on Ghost, and sprinkled through out other albums - but Casualties of Cool absolutely sends chills up the spine with elegant class. Not only is it Devin's best "quite" album, it's one of his best albums…
This is the definitive Cool. Grab it and run. You won't find a better compilation. Remixed and including notes by Mr Cool himself, Ross 'The Boss' Wilson, it sounds better than you'll ever remember. The 'hits' are on side 1 and include the extended version of 'Come Back Again'. Side 2 has live performances and some rare studio stuff. This, together with the impressive 2004 release ''The New Cool'', might be all you'll ever need to realign your swagger and cool, unless they release another.