Quincy Jones - The Quincy Jones ABC/Mercury Big Band Jazz Sessions (5CD BoxSet) (2007)

There was never any problem finding audiences eager to hear what Quincy was thinking, or what musicians like Art Farmer, Zoot Sims, Curtis Fuller, Phil Woods, Freddie Hubbard, Benny Golson, Art Blakey, and Hank Jones were blowing. And listeners today will discover just the same joy. The set includes all of his 1959-60 studio and 1961 live Mercury sessions, as well as an earlier set from 1956 for ABC-Paramount and a 1961 date for Impulse. The 1956 date for an ABC-Paramount release was a masterpiece of arranging and band leading. You hear him creating his new sound in what is the core of the set, the 1959-60 studio recording that comprised Quincy's "The Birth of a Band" release and later sessions. The final dates were a reunion of sorts, for a tour in Europe and a performance at Newport and an expanded orchestra for a studio session on Impulse. Even though recordings spanned a number of years, from New York to Zurich to Paris to Newport and back to New York, we were able to track down every original tape master. In writing for the big band, Quincy concealed a great deal of harmonic and rhythmic complexity in his charts. He really was reinventing big band music for a new decade and a new generation of listeners. His pieces sounded youthful and vibrant, and could be technically demanding almost beyond belief; more the writing you'd expect a five-piece band to conquer, not one comprising 17 or 18 or 20 musicians. But his bands rose to the challenge, showing there is great swing in precision, and a way of creating excitement by playing both loose and tight at the same time. The set includes an essay by Brian Priestley and a complete discography, as well as many rare photographs by Chuck Stewart. But what it mostly contains is a fountain of youthfulness, in an unlikely, illogical, unprecedented and entirely delightful way that could only belong to Quincy Jones.