Echoes of Giants

Claude Bolling is a classical pianist who demonstrated an affinity for jazz with numerous recordings in crossover settings. But this 1972 session recorded for Phillips is strictly a solo piano affair in which Bolling salutes the greats of jazz piano, including Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Thelonious Monk, Willie "The Lion" Smith, Jelly Roll Morton, Earl Hines, Erroll Garner, and Horace Silver. He primarily sticks to a stride piano setting, which gives a whole new flavor to Silver's "The Preacher," while his interpretations of the works of stride pianists like Smith are technically polished but seem just a tad mechanical, lacking a true improviser's touch…

This 2-CD set presents the legendary valve trombonist acting as co-leader with Zoot Sims on the January 1956 album "Tonite's Music Today" and as leader of three separate studio groups on the self-titled "Brookmeyer" from October of the same year. He's leader of the BB Quartet on "The Blues - Hot and Cold" from June 1960, and finally shares leadership on "Stan Getz/Bob Brookmeyer" from September 1961.