Shelly Manne & His Men, Vol. 2 (1953)

About this title: Shelly Manne's second "workshop" 10" LP is even more advanced than his first, at times reaching outside the West Coast cool jazz idiom toward contemporary classical music -- with no cover tunes this time. Where the first album was centered on a sax ensemble, Vol. 2 is devoted to a four-man brass group -- with Russ Freeman or Marty Paich on piano and Joe Mondragon on bass -- and this seems to have unleashed a wilder surge of creative freedom among Manne's six arrangers/composers. Indeed, some pieces virtually abandon jazz altogether. Bill Holman's "Lullaby" amounts to a gentle, free-flowing ... read more

Tracks:

1. Dimension in Thirds [Paich]
2. Shapes, Motions, Colors [Rogers]
3. Alteration [Giuffre]
4. Divertimento for Brass & Rhythm [Cooper]
5. Lullaby [Holman]
6. Etude de Concert [Montrose]
7. Concerto for Clarinet and Combo: 1st Movement [Smith]
8. Concerto for Clarinet and Combo: 1st Movement [Smith]
9. Concerto for Clarinet and Combo: 1st Movement [Smith]

Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is further described below.