DONALDSON, LOU - Lou Takes OffLP)

180 gram vinyl. Recorded on December 15, 1957, 'Lou Takes Off' features Donald Byrd on trumpet, Curtis Fuller on trombone, Sonny Clark on piano, George Joyner on bass and Art Taylor on drums. The album features two original extended compositions by Lou Donaldson, 'Sputnik' and 'Strollin' In' and shorter accounts of Charlie Parker's 'Dewey Square' and Dizzy Gillespie's 'Groovin' High'. This recording marks a period in his development prior to a stylistic shift away from bop and toward a stronger rhythm and blues emphasis. The best jazz musicians build improvisations based on little themes and ideas that happened in a composition's main melody recorded by Rudy Van Gelder.