Alto saxophonist/arranger
Gigi Gryce and trumpeter
Donald Byrd's innovative, but unfortunately short-lived Jazz Lab Quintet recorded several sides during 1957, seven of which were released on this excellent Columbia album (a handful of other titles were collectively made for Riverside, Verve, and RCA). The nucleus band of
Gryce,
Byrd, pianist
Tommy Flanagan (a spot also filled by
Wade Legge and
Hank Jones), bassist
Wendell Marshall, and drummer
Art Taylor are augmented on four cuts here by trombonists
Benny Powell and
Jimmy Cleveland, French horn player
Julius Watkins, baritone saxophonist
Sahib Shihab, and tuba player
Don Butterfield. The expanded ensemble turn in fleetly swinging renditions of
Horace Silver's "Speculation" and
Gryce's "Nica's Tempo," while varying the mood a bit with a ballad reading of
Benny Golson's "I Remember Clifford" and a Far East-tinged waltz take on
Randy Weston's "Little Niles" (shades of
Miles Davis' Birth of the Cool group are heard in the complex, yet featherweight arrangements by
Gryce). The quintet tracks include
Gryce's "Sans Souci" and a provocative version of "Over the Rainbow." With some of the best arrangements heard in jazz and excellent solos by
Gryce,
Byrd, and
Flanagan,
Jazz Lab makes for an excellent introduction to the hard bop catalog. ~ Stephen Cook