Gigi Gryce & The Jazz Lab Quintet “Gigi Gryce & The Jazz Lab Quintet”

Gigi Gryce & The Jazz Lab Quintet

“Gigi Gryce & The Jazz Lab Quintet”
( LP Riverside Records, 1957 )
Catalog # RLP 12-229
*Also Riverside RLP 1110; Fantasy OJC 1774, OJCCD 1774-2

Tracklisting:
01 Love for Sale
02 Geraldine
03 Minority,
04 Zing Went the Strings of My Heart
05 Straight Ahead,
06 Wake Up!

Personnel:
Donald Byrd (tp)
Gigi Gryce (as)
Wade Legge (p)
Wendell Marshall (b)
Art Taylor (d)
Recorded in NYC, February 27, March 7, 1957

Review :
During 1957 altoist Gigi Gryce and trumpeter Donald Byrd co-led a quintet that sought to extend and come up with new variations to bebop. Unfortunately the group did not survive the year but Gryce and Byrd did combine for several memorable recordings, including an excellent Prestige LP reissued on this set. Their quintet (with pianist Wade Legge, bassist Wendell Marshall, and drummer Art Taylor) turn “Love for Sale” into a jazz waltz (an innovation for 1957), introduce Gryce’s best-known composition “Minority,” swing “Zing Went the Strings of My Heart,” and perform a tricky but memorable blues line “Straight Ahead.” This is exciting and still fresh-sounding bebop.
By Scott Yanow (AMG)

By Rob