ProJazz.net

Altoist Marshall Royal led relatively few sessions in his career, just three full albums of his own, with the second one not released until 1978. For this project from 1960, Royal, who was still with Count Basie’s big band, is backed by a string section, an occasional choral group (which sometimes gets in the way), and a rhythm section (partly from Basie’s orchestra) on arrangements by Gordon Jenkins. Jenkins was best known for his lush charts for commercial settings, and the music on this CD reissue is not that much of a stretch for him. He essentially frames Royal’s alto as if it was a voice. Royal, who sounds a lot like Johnny Hodges, plays well on the concise performances although much of the time he sticks near the melody. There are a few medium-tempo numbers included but this is mostly a ballad set. The overall results are nice if not particularly challenging (Scott Yanow/AllMusic).

Track listing:

1 Caravan 2:15
2 Ain’t Misbehavin’ 3:20
3 Birth Of The Blues 3:28
4 Take The A Train 4:54
5 When I Grow Too Old To Dream 3:25
6 Intermezzo 4:30
7 Blue Prelude 3:26
8 Battle Royal 2:45
9 Goodbye 3:30
10 Pagan Love Song 2:47
11 Black Coffee 3:32
12 Blues For Beverly 4:05

Personnel:

Alto Saxophone – Marshall Royal
Bass – Eddie Jones
Coordinator – Roger Kash
Drums – Sonny Payne
Guitar – Freddie Green
Liner Notes – Leonard Feather
Piano – Gordon Jenkins, Hank Jones
Presenter – Gordon Jenkins With His Orchestra
Reissue Producer – Paul Klein
Remastered By – Rick Pantoja

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Label: Empire Musicwerks – 545 450 855-2, Re Records – 545 450 855-2, Universal – 545 450 855-2
Format: CD, Album
Country: US
Released: 2006