Monday, September 6, 2010

George Russell Sextet: At Beethoven Hall II Guest Don Cherry, 1965


George Russell kicks off this album with a 10+ minute long cover of You Are My Sunshine that ranges from very abstract to almost straight ahead. He always amazes me with his compositions and arrangements. He had been exploring the sextet format for some years by this point and you really get the sense how comfortable he was with a combo of that size by the time of this recording (although there are actually 7 musicians on this session.) As far out as this album is, you still get the sense that every note is perfectly placed. Strong performances all around.

George Russell: piano, leader, composer, arranger
Don Cherry: trumpet
Bertil Loevgren: trumpet
Brian Trentham: trombone
Ray Pitts: tenor saxophone
Cam Brown: bass
Al Heath: drums

You Are My Sunshine by Easyjams

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