Hank Jones - Complete Original Trio Recordings (1953-61) [2008]

01. Medley (You Go to My Head) (Coots, Gillespie) 2:49
02. Thad's Pad (Jones) 2:59
03. Things Are So Pretty in the Spring (Jones, Jones, Harris) 3:40
04. Little Girl Blue (Rodgers, Hart) 2:48
05. Odd Number (Jones) 3:33
06. We're All Together (Jones) 4:10
07. Odd Number (Jones) 4:33
08. We Could Make Such Beautiful Music Together (Manners, Sour) 4:52
09. Now's the Time (Parker) 3:32
10. Cyrano (Cadena) 5:19
11. There's a Small Hotel (Rodgers, Hart) 8:15
12. My Funny Valentine (Rodgers, Hart) 5:54
13. When the Hearts Are Young (Goodman, Romberg) 4:17
14. Little Girl Blue (Rodgers, Hart) 5:37
15. Pretty Brown (Wilkins) 3:33
16. Four and Six (Nelson) 5:00
17. The Party's Over (Comden, Green, Styne) 4:24
18. Have You Met Miss Jones ? (Rodgers, Hart) 3:21

Hank Jones - Piano
Johnny Smith - Guitar
Charles Mingus, Ray Brown, Wendell Marshall, Aaron Bell, Oscar Pettiford - Bass
Max Roach, Kenny Clarke, Art Davis, Elvin Jones, Ed Thigpen – Drums

I am both a fan of piano trio music (especially from the 50s), and of Hank Jones whom I consider to be among the great jazz pianists.

Piano trios, by their nature, are self-contained rhythm sections that also handle melody. When they are comprised of superior musicians they also do wonderful things with harmony. The musicians on this album are all superior. On bass Hank is paired with the best of the era, including Charles Mingus, Ray Brown, Wendell Marshall, Art Davis, Aaron Bell and Oscar Pettiford. Top names to be sure.

The drummers on these tracks include the same caliber of musician: Max Roach, Kenny Clarke, Hank's brother Elvin Jones, Charlie Smith, and Ed Thigpen. Allow me to provide comments about Charlie Smith who may sound like a nobody in the foregoing list. He is anything but! I first came across him in a video shot in 1952 when he was backing Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie playing Hot House and I was so impressed that I immediately set out to learn more about him. Sadly, there is a dearth of information about him, which is a shame.

Hank also did a trio session with guitarist Johnny Smith, which is on the track titled Thad's Pad (no doubt named for his trumpeter brother, Thad Jones.) Nat King Cole pioneered the piano-bass-guitar trio format, and Oscar Peterson adopted it when he started out with Herb Ellis on guitar paired with Ray Brown. This track works as well as anything Nat or Oscar was doing during the period.

All of the tracks were recorded between 1951 and 1953. Although recording technology back then was relatively crude, the sound quality of this album is - at least - adequate. I was able to clearly hear and enjoy every note on every track. If you have any concerns listen to the sound samples above, which are a fairly accurate indication of the quality of the album.

For me this is a no-brainer. The music and the musicians on the album make this a treasure because I am a fan of Jones, the other musicians and the trio format, as well as a musician who studies this era. --- Mike Tarrani, amazon.com

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