Milt Jackson and the Thelonious Monk Quintet

Wizard of the Vibes
Wizard of the Vibes
Studio album by Milt Jackson
Released	1952
Recorded	July 23, 1951; April 7, 1952;
Genre	Jazz
Label	Blue Note; BLP 5011
Producer	Alfred Lion
Thelonious Monk 10-inch LP chronology

Milt Jackson and the Thelonious Monk Quintet
Milt Jackson and the Thelonious Monk Quintet
Compilation album by Milt Jackson
Released	1956
Recorded	July 2, 1948; July 23, 1951; April 7, 1952;
Genre	Jazz
Label	Blue Note; BLP 1509
Producer	Alfred Lion
Milt Jackson chronology

Milt Jackson and the Thelonious Monk Quintet is an album by American jazz vibraphonist Milt Jackson, recorded on July 2, 1948, July 23, 1951 and April 7, 1952 and released on Blue Note in 1956. The latter two sessions were originally released on ten-inch LP as Wizard of the Vibes (1952).

Background

Recording

The sessions were the work of The Thelonious Monk Quintet (the July 2, 1948 and July 23, 1951 sessions) and The Modern Jazz Quartet plus Lou Donaldson (a 1952 session). The album has been recompiled and expanded three additional times, with various tracks from these sessions added and deleted.

The tracks from the Modern Jazz Quartet plus Lou Donaldson consisted of John Lewis on piano, Percy Heath on bass, Kenny Clarke on drums, Milt Jackson on vibraphone, and Lou Donaldson on alto saxophone. The tracks with the Thelonious Monk Quintet were Thelonious Monk on piano, John Simmons on bass, Shadow Wilson on drums, and Milt Jackson on vibraphone—with Kenny "Pancho" Hagood singing on the tracks "All the Things You Are" and "I Should Care".

Release history

The original 1952 10" LP was expanded to a 12" LP in 1956, and retitled Milt Jackson and the Thelonious Monk Quintet with a cover designed by Reid Miles, his first for the label. In 1989, the cover and title of the 1956 version were used for a CD featuring the complete 1948 and 1952 sessions, but the 1951 Monk Session was moved to Monk's Genius of Modern Music: Volume 2. The 2001 album Milt Jackson: Wizard of the Vibes used the cover art and title of the original 1952 album, but contained a re-ordered and remastered version of the contents of the 1989 CD.

In each formulation, the album contained Blue Note Thelonious Monk-led performances unavailable on the parallel editions of Genius of Modern Music.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[1]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz	^[2]

The Penguin Guide to Jazz described the tracks with Monk as "classics, rising to their greatest height with the riveting version of 'I Mean You'."^[2]

The AllMusic reviewer wrote that "Jackson's inventive playing throughout both dates makes this an important CD in his considerable discography, so it should be a part of any bop fan's collection."^[1]

Track listings

Original release (Blue Note BLP 1509, 12", 1956)

Side 1
No.	Title	Music	Date recorded
1.	"Lillie"		April 7, 1952
2.	"Tahiti"		April 7, 1952
3.	"What's New?"		April 7, 1952
4.	"Bags' Groove"		April 7, 1952
5.	"On the Scene"	Lou Donaldson	April 7, 1952
6.	"Willow Weep for Me"	Ann Ronnell	July 23, 1951

Side 2
No.	Title	Date recorded
1.	"Criss-Cross"	July 23, 1951
2.	"Eronel"	July 23, 1951
3.	"Misterioso" (alternate master)	July 2, 1948
4.	"Evidence"	July 2, 1948
5.	"Lillie" (alternate master)	April 7, 1952
6.	"Four in One" (alternate master)	July 23, 1951

CD reissues

All music is composed by Milt Jackson, except as noted.

1989 reissue
No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Date recorded	Length
1.	"Tahiti"			April 7, 1952	3:26
2.	"Lillie"			April 7, 1952	3:13
3.	"Lillie" (alternate take)			April 7, 1952	3:15
4.	"Bags' Groove"			April 7, 1952	3:03
5.	"What's New?"	Johnny Burke	Bob Haggart	April 7, 1952	3:08
6.	"What's New?" (alternate take)	Burke	Haggart	April 7, 1952	3:10
7.	"Don't Get Around Much Anymore"		Duke Ellington	April 7, 1952	2:58
8.	"Don't Get Around Much Anymore" (alternate take)		Ellington	April 7, 1952	2:56
9.	"On the Scene"		Lou Donaldson	April 7, 1952	2:40
10.	"Evidence"		Thelonious Monk	July 2, 1948	2:31
11.	"Misterioso"		Monk	July 2, 1948	3:11
12.	"Misterioso" (alternate take)		Monk	July 2, 1948	2:43
13.	"Epistrophy"		Kenny Clarke Monk	July 2, 1948	3:05
14.	"I Mean You"		Monk	July 2, 1948	2:44
15.	"All the Things You Are"	Roger Hammerstein II	Jerome Kern	July 2, 1948	2:57
16.	"I Should Care" (alternate take)	Sammy Cahn	Axel Stordahl Paul Weston	July 2, 1948	3:00
17.	"I Should Care"	Cahn	Stordahl Weston	July 2, 1948	2:59

The 2001 RVG edition restores the ten-inch cover and title, and appends the alternate takes to their respective sessions.

Milt Jackson: Wizard of the Vibes (Blue Note LP 5011, 10", 1952)

All music is composed by Milt Jackson, except as noted.

Side 1
No.	Title	Music	Date recorded
1.	"Tahiti"		April 7, 1952
2.	"Lillie"		April 7, 1952
3.	"Criss-Cross"	Thelonious Monk	July 23, 1951
4.	"Willow Weep for Me"	Ann Ronnell	July 23, 1951

Side 2
No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Date recorded
1.	"What's New?"	Johnny Burke	Bob Haggart	April 7, 1952
2.	"Bags' Groove"			April 7, 1952
3.	"On the Scene"		Lou Donaldson	April 7, 1952
4.	"Eronel"		Monk Idrees Sulieman Sadik Hakim	July 23, 1951

Personnel

Musicians

July 2, 1948

Milt Jackson – vibraphone
Thelonious Monk – piano
John Simmons – bass
Shadow Wilson – drummer
Kenny "Pancho" Hagood – vocals ("All the Things You Are", "I Should Care")

July 23, 1951

Thelonious Monk – piano
Sahib Shihab – alto saxophone
Milt Jackson – vibraphone
Al McKibbon – bass
Art Blakey – drums

April 7, 1952

Milt Jackson – vibraphone
Lou Donaldson – alto saxophone (except "Lillie", "What's New?")
John Lewis – piano
Percy Heath – bass
Kenny Clarke – drummer

Technical personnel

Original

Alfred Lion – producer
Harry Smith (1948), Doug Hawkins (1952) – recording engineer
Rudy Van Gelder (1956) – remastering
Reid Miles – design
Francis Wolff – photography
Leonard Feather – liner notes

Reissue

Michael Cuscuna – producer
Ron McMaster – digital transfers

References

^ ^a ^b Dryden, Ken. "Wizard of the Vibes - Milt Jackson | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
^ ^a ^b Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 754. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.

[AM-1] Dryden, Ken. "Wizard of the Vibes - Milt Jackson | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 28 December 2011.

[Penguin-2] Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 754. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.

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