€ 11.95 (USD 14.21)

United Artists, 1958

Bethlehem, 1961

Featuring George Coleman: Complete Recordings

Booker Little

Contains two complete LPs:
- "Booker Little 4 & Max Roach" (United Artists, 1958)
- "Booker Little and Friend" (Bethlehem, 1961)

This exceptional release features Booker Little’s complete recorded discography as a leader with tenor saxophone virtuoso George Coleman. The October 1958 album Booker Little 4 & Max Roach and September 1961 release Booker Little and Friend mark the trumpeter’s recording debut as a leader and his final album respectively. The listener is thus afforded here the rare opportunity to chart the development of one of jazz’s greatest instrumentalists on one single CD.

It is interesting to note Booker Little’s evolution as both a composer and improviser by comparing his first album Booker Little 4 & Max Roach with his last, Booker Little and Friend. While the former album is excellent, the latter gives testimony to the fact that Little’s playing had arrived at a new plateau. The exquisite compositions Victory And Sorrow, Looking Ahead and Matilde also show just how far the young trumpeter had grown as a writer.


Tracklisting:

01. Victory and Sorrow
02. Forward Flight
03. Looking Ahead
04. If I Should Lose You
05. Calling Softly
06. Booker's Blues
07. Matilde
08. Milestones
09. Sweet and Lovely
10. Rounder's Mood
11. Dungeon Waltz
12. Jewel's Tempo
13. Moonlight Becomes You

Total Time: 73:44


“What you’ll hear from his trumpet is a virtuoso technique and a tremendous harmonic subtlety allied to an unforgettably vivid imagination. Forgetting his age…he’s one of the greatest trumpet soloists in all of jazz, his characteristic smoothness of delivery never vitiating the essential adventurousness of his approach.”
– Richard Williams