Various Jazz At The Philharmonic: Seattle 1956 Vol.2

Anyone who has taken even a modest interest in post-war jazz will be aware of the extraordinary series of concerts and tours, initiated by the great jazz impresario Norman Granz and spanning several decades, called Jazz At The Philharmonic. Beginning on July 2nd, 1944, at the Philharmonic Auditorium in Los Angeles, the JATP concerts encompassed 18 National Tours in the USA through until 1959 and expanded into Europe with annual tours between 1952 and 1959. The tours continued intermittently, to Europe and Japan thereafter, with the last shows taking place in Tokyo in October 1983. The concert featured here was part of the 17th National Tour in the autumn of 1956. The line-up of artists was true to form for JATP events, with a stellar bill of top-flight and renowned performers providing both classic examples of music from their established line-ups and highly entertaining performances from some of the mix-and-match agglomerations. Some of these were groups that had performed together in some form or other many times in previous JATP concerts - the 5th European Tour had taken place in Spring 1956, featuring a number of the same artists. The 2nd volume in our series follows directly on from the first (ACRSLP1607). Both sides start with a spoken intro by Granz himself as he presents two sets from the legendary Modern Jazz Quartet. In keeping with the traditions of the JATP concerts, Side B sees the MJQ joined by three giants of jazz - Sonny Stitt, Stan Getz and Dizzy Gillespie.