An early masterpiece by Quincy Jones

Quincy Jones' album "The Birth Of A Band" is the first real jazz record I bought, on 8 February 1964, Musikhaus Kraus in Mühlacker (Baden-Württemberg). On the delivery I had to wait at least four weeks.

The reason for this purchase was "Moanin '," a hard bop Soul jazz tune by Bobby Timmons, for the first time at Art Blakey famous LP "Moanin'" (1958) appeared. The track "Moanin '" could be heard every four weeks in the run by Peter Mordo "Wednesday Party" the Süddeutscher Rundfunk, on average, a mission that played plates, the young guests had brought with them into the broadcasting studio. This piece, exactly in this recording, I absolutely had to have on record, not just a noisy band.

The plate of the past has suffered greatly over the course of more than four decades - bad turntables, lending to friends, dust, wet play. My Xiban VPI HW-17 does have the dirt away quite well, but the groove modulations are but partially badly damaged.

Fortunately, there are these recordings now available as CD.

The engineers from Mercury led by Hal Mooney worked exemplary 1959. It launched its sixteen-piece band with the microphones Telefunken U-47 (3 times), Altec 639C and RCA 44BX (3 times). Recorded was 350-2-tape machine with an Ampex.

The music is on the same level. Although the pieces are all relatively short, but they are excellent - Quincy Jones, Nat Pierce, Al Cohn and Melba Liston - arranged and played as excellent. Other highlights in addition to "Moanin '" are "The Birth of a Band", "Tuxedo Junction", "I Remember Clifford," "Whisper Not" and "Tickle Toe". The Horn Section are extremely precise, the solos by Zoot Sims, Jerome Richardson, Clark Terry, Frank Wess, Phil Woods, Harry Edison and Sam Taylor are con fuoco, even in slow pieces. The rhythm section of Patricia Anne Bown (piano), Milt Hinton (bass) and Sam Woodyard (drums) plays as a person.