Six Disciplines Excellence Gary Harpst

The first-ever album from vibist Gary Burton - a very young player at the time of recording, but one who's definitely worth the "new vibe man" promised in the title! The style here is maybe a bit more conventionally swinging than some of Burton's records from later years - a trio setting with Gene Cherico on bass and the great Joe Morello on drums - but both rhythm players are already pretty hip with their timings, and really push Burton into spacious, chromatic territory that's completely sublime - a sound that already marks the musician as really bringing something fresh to his instrument.
A year before New Vibe Man in Town was recorded, Gary Burton joined guitarist Hank Garland for Jazz Winds from a New Direction, which is added as the last six tracks on this CD…

The first-ever album from vibist Gary Burton - a very young player at the time of recording, but one who's definitely worth the "new vibe man" promised in the title! The style here is maybe a bit more conventionally swinging than some of Burton's records from later years - a trio setting with Gene Cherico on bass and the great Joe Morello on drums - but both rhythm players are already pretty hip with their timings, and really push Burton into spacious, chromatic territory that's completely sublime - a sound that already marks the musician as really bringing something fresh to his instrument.
A year before New Vibe Man in Town was recorded, Gary Burton joined guitarist Hank Garland for Jazz Winds from a New Direction, which is added as the last six tracks on this CD…

Veteran alto and soprano saxophonist Gary Bartz's debut recording for the Dutch Timeless label is one of his finest efforts as he enlisted the services of pianist Benny Green, bassist Christian McBride, drummer Victor Lewis, and tenor saxophonist Willie Williams on three selections to perform an unusual program of one Bartz composition, three jazz classics, two movie themes, and one radio theme. Bartz's strong tone, sense of swing, and improvisational imagination place him within the ranks of jazz's finest saxophonists, and he proves it throughout this recording. Favorites include the title track, which is actually two Bartz compositions, one medium, one up, joined by an excellent McBride bass solo; John Coltrane's "Song of the Underground Railroad," performed up-tempo, in the spirit of Coltrane all the way down to a blistering sax-drums duet; McCoy Tyner's "Peresina," a medium Afro-Latin number with the melody played by the not-heard-enough combination of tenor and alto sax; and Wayne Shorter's "Children of the Night" where the melody is played over a hip groove by McBride and Lewis and features one of the best Bartz solos on record.