In late 1959, 26-year-old trumpeter/arranger
Quincy Jones was engaged to conduct a jazz band for a musical called Free and Easy, the songs for which were written by
Harold Arlen and
Johnny Mercer. The unusual intention was to tour Europe before coming to Broadway, but the show never finished its engagement in Paris, closing down amid recriminations and stranding the cast and the orchestra. Though
Arlen's biographer, Edward Jablonski, states that only
Jones came out of the situation well, touring Europe successfully with the band,
Jones remembers things differently, calling the experience one that brought him closer to contemplating suicide than any other. Eventually,
Jones was forced to disband the group, but he first fulfilled the show's engagement at the Alhambra Theatre, and this album, originally issued as a bootleg disc, was recorded at the final performance. This is not the music from the abortive musical, but rather a set of
Jones originals and jazz standards. The band, which features such notable figures as
Clark Terry and
Phil Woods, is accomplished, and the music is performed in the mold of the
Ellington and
Basie bands, albeit with the flair that
Jones was even then showing as an arranger. This is not really the historic find
Jones seems to think it is, but it isn't a vanity release either. It's a curio, with some fine blowing from a band that often seems directionless. ~ William Ruhlmann