The West of The Imagination

The success of the Dave Pell Octet was one of the fairy-tale stories of the West Coast jazz of the Fifties. Founded by Pell in 1953, this small jazz group, drawn from the nucleus of Les Brown’s orchestra, was among the most popular jazz outfits in Southern California within months. The Octet’s first library had the stimulating and ingeniously voiced arrangements of Shorty Rogers and Wes Hensel, which gave this group the feel of a big band. “We used the guitar as a voice in unison with trumpet,” Pell explained, “and so the Octet sound had a successful formula which allowed us to play a tempo that was danceable and yet still had a jazz feel.”

Whether as a trumpeter or singer, Chet Baker was always the subject of controversy among jazz listeners, a victim of fashion who was doomed in his lifetime to be either over- or underrated. These Pacific Jazz recordings from the mid-1950s present Baker the instrumentalist at the height of his popularity. While his coolly passive treatments of ballads like "Imagination" and "Stella by Starlight" may play to the languid stereotype of West Coast jazz, there's boppish fire and invention on the medium- and up-tempo tunes, with Baker emphasizing the middle register that was his forte. Altoist Art Pepper and valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer turn up among the supporting cast, and there's a good choice of material by boppish heads from both coasts, including Carson Smith's "Carson City Stage," Jimmy Heath's "C.T.A.," and Al Haig's "Jumping Off a Clef".

Nick Walters - Active Imagination (2020) {22a Music}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44.1kHz - Digital Download -> 274 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 109 Mb | Cover | 5% repair rar
© 2010 22a Music | 031
Jazz / Spiritual Jazz / Modern Creative / Trumpet

Trumpeter and composer Nick Walters returns to 22a with his second album for the label - a free and spiritual journey into avant-garde jazz! 'Active Imagination' is the result of the bringing together of musicians for a day in the studio, with minimal rehearsal, to collectively experiment and improvise in the moment - in contrast to the more composed and structured recordings of the Paradox Ensemble album 'Awakening' released on 22a back in January of this year. All musicians contributed their distinctive and individual voices, creating a united force of spiritual, free-form jazz.