Other than two selections put out on a sampler and the soundtrack from the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival, this LP is quite significant for having the first recordings of
Eric Dolphy with
the Chico Hamilton Quintet.
Dolphy's solos (on alto, flute and bass clarinet) are brief, but he already sounded fairly distinctive. The third version of
Hamilton's popular Quintet also included the drummer/leader, cellist
Nate Gershman, guitarist
Dennis Budimir and bassist
Wyatt Ruther. On this album, half of the tunes are played by the basic quintet, while the remaining five songs have an added string section. The West Coast jazz chamber music generally holds one's interest, but has been out of print for some time.