Details
Track Listing
1. Au Privave
2. Zig-Zag
3. Outer View, The
4. Outer View, The - (alternate take)
5. You Are My Sunshine
6. D. C. Divertimento
Album Notes
Personnel: George Russell (piano); Sheila Jordan (vocals); Don Ellis (trumpet); Garnett Brown (trombone); Steve Swallow (acoustic bass); Pete La Roca (drums); Paul Plummer.
Recorded in August 1962. Originally released on Riverside (9940).
By all rights, pianist/composer George Russell should be more widely known outside the jazz world. His LYDIAN CHROMATIC CONCEPT, one of the first music-theory books written by a jazz musician, influenced such players as Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Russell's compositions are not mere frameworks for improvisation. Though filled with unexpected twists and turns, his thoughtful, knotty tunes never sacrifice drive and passion.
On THE OUTER VIEW, a session from 1962, Russell's pieces elicit inspired, committed performances from his sidepeople. Don Ellis' trumpet crackles on the title track, which goes back-and-forth between smooth yet high-flying swing and quirky dissonance. In the hands of Russell's band and guest jazz-singer Sheila Jordan, sentimental chestnut "You are My Sunshine" becomes an exploratory soundscape. The musicians take this standard where it has never gone before, stretching the song out and warping it, leading it down bluesy alleys and up into innovative skyscrapers, as Jordan's sensuous voice draws from gospel, blues, and country. Throughout the album, Steve Swallow and Pete LaRoca provide the anchor of a powerful rhythm section while soaring along with the music.
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