Tom Talbert - Bix Duke Fats (1994)

This is a classic album which has fortunately been reissued on CD by Ken Poston's Modern Concepts label (and later by Sea Breeze). Talbert, best-known at the time as a freelance arranger who had worked for Stan Kenton, recorded three separate sessions devoted to reworkings of originals by Fats Waller, Bix Beiderbecke, and Duke Ellington; in addition he performed his own "Green Night & Orange Bright." These fresh charts cast new light on such songs as "In a Mist," "Prelude to a Kiss," and "Keepin' Out of Mischief Now" and feature such lyrical soloists as trumpeter Joe Wilder, trombonists Eddie Bert and Jimmy Cleveland, and altoist Herb Geller. The colorful ensembles in particular make this a memorable set.