Herb Ellis - Herb Ellis Meets Stan Getz, Roy Eldridge, Art Pepper & Jimmy Giuffre (2009)

In spite of the somewhat misleading title of this CD, the tracks within are all solo features for the quintessential guitar of Herb Ellis, with beautifully voiced arrangements by Jimmy Giuffre, the exception being Giuffre's abstract riff tune "Remember." While it seems odd that musicians with the caliber of Giuffre, Jim Hall, Bud Shank, Art Pepper, and Richie Kamuca aren't more prominently featured, this meeting of Ellis and Giuffre is very successful. Ellis is unaccompanied on his tasty original ballad "Patricia," and also wrote the understated blues "A Country Boy." They collaborated on the perky opener "Goose Grease," and there are also impressive takes of old favorites "My Old Flame" and "When Your Lover Has Gone." This long-unavailable date was reissued as a Verve Elite limited-edition CD in 1999, so the opportunity to acquire it at a reasonable price will be relatively brief; don't wait long to buy it.