Urbie Green - Let's Face the Music and Dance (2016)

Urbie Green is backed by an orchestra for this ballad-dominated album, recorded over three sessions in December 1957 and featuring arrangements by either Al Cohn or Irwin Kostal. The trombonist is in great form, though the charts are a bit uneven, often bordering on the sound of a sweet band from the 1940s, particularly in the somewhat corny treatment of "You're My Everything." Aside from "Love Walked In," most of these compositions have long since fallen out of favor with jazz musicians, especially "Show Me the Way to Go Home." Though no personnel list is provided, Cohn plays baritone sax throughout all three dates (instead of his normal tenor sax), and the band includes such talented musicians as Gene Quill, Hal McKusick, Hank Jones, Milt Hinton, and Billy Byers. This is a pleasant but hardly essential part of Urbie Green's discography, last available as a Fresh Sound LP reissue.