Sunflower

by Milt Jackson

Product Description:

Personnel includes: Milt Jackson (vibraphone); Don Sebesky (conductor); Freddie Hubbard (trumpet, flugelhorn); Phil Bodner (piccolo, flute, alto flute, English horn); George Marge (alto flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, English horn); Romeo Penque (alto flute, oboe, English horn); Max Ellen, Paul Gershman, Emanuel Green (violin); Charles McCracken, George Ricci (cello); Margaret Ross (harp); Herbie Hancock (piano); Jay Berliner (guitar); Ron Carter (bass); Billy Cobham (drums); Ralph McDonald (percussion).

Producer: Creed Taylor.

Reissue producer: Didier C. Deutsch.

Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey on December 12 & 13, 1972. Includes liner notes by Stever Futterman.

Digitally remastered by Tom Ruff (Sony Music Studios, New York, New York).

Recorded in 1972, SUNFLOWER has a very different feel than Milt Jackson's late-'50s/early-'60s hard-bop albums. In large part, this is due to the presence of players Herbie Hancock (electric piano), Ron Carter (bass), Billy Cobham (drums), and Freddie Hubbard (trumpet), younger musicians then in the vanguard of contemporary jazz. The record also features lush, tasteful string arrangements by Don Sebesky. Additional instruments--including guitar, harp, English horn, auxiliary percussion, and a battery of reeds (piccolo, flute, oboe, and clarinet)--flesh out the distinctive sound here.

Jackson's carefully calibrated expressions on the vibraphone tie these disparate elements together, bridging the stately classicism of the orchestral instrumentation and charts with the progressive playing of the core group. The first two cuts are almost cinematic, painting rich soundscapes on a spacious canvas, while the open rhythmic frames leave plenty of room for impressionistic playing. These tracks are contrasted by a funky take on the Stylistics' "People Make the World Go Round" and Hubbard's own complex tune, the Latin-tinged "Sunflower," which showcases all the players to remarkable effect. One of a handful of top-drawer CTI records from this era, SUNFLOWER is superb, and utterly unique in Jackson's discography.