In its brief history, Debut Records managed to record a galaxy of bop and progressive-minded jazzers of the time, and this four-CD box set is a great way to get a taste of almost all of the label's releases. A handful of tracks predate the label; they are mostly poorly recorded live snapshots of
Charlie Parker, but the sound quality picks up considerably thereafter. The selections go through some quirky
Charles Mingus and
Max Roach-led sessions that simply reek of the hip early-'50s bop underground, before sampling the famous 1953 Massey Hall concert with
Bud Powell,
Dizzy Gillespie,
Parker,
Mingus, and
Roach, the records that put Debut on the map. Some of the exciting four-trombone bop sessions with
J.J. Johnson,
Kai Winding,
Bennie Green, and
Willie Dennis are here, as are three downcast excerpts from
Miles Davis' sole Debut LP Blue Moods. Besides
Roach, we hear trumpeters
Kenny Dorham and
Thad Jones, pianists
Paul Bley and
Alonzo Levister, trombonist
Jimmy Knepper, singer
Ada Moore, clarinetist
Sam Most, and saxophonist
John LaPorta in their debuts as leaders. In a curious jumping-of-the-gun, a description of some
Teo Macero Quintet tracks is left in the booklet, even though Fantasy couldn't obtain the rights to the music. By and large, the set is dominated by first-rate bebop, with sprinklings of avant-garde experiments like some really odd, dissonant stuff from
the Mingus Octet & Orchestra and
LaPorta's offbeat group concepts. Ultimately, The Debut Records Story paints a compelling picture of a quirky yet courageously uncompromising label that catered to what amounted to a small dissident sect in a conformist decade. ~ Richard S. Ginell