MG-36024: The Gellers / Herb Geller and Lorraine Geller

	Label Type :	blue EmArcy type B silver rim
	Matrix Number :	SIDE-A	YMG36024A 2 MF2    A1    I
		SIDE-B	YMG36024B MF1    A1    I

Comments

Some of the tunes are also available on EP-1-6162.

YMG pressing - one of the very early copies and sounds great!

Inside The Groove

Herb Geller's (probably) the best performance left on the EmArcy label.

Personal Impression (and brief notes)

Herb Geller, one of the greatest West-Coast alto sax stylists, was spending his creative peak in the middle 1950s. He was born in Los Angeles, but he spent in his late 1940s in New York as a member of Claude Thornhill band. Then he came back to the West Coast in the early 1950s.

His own group (with his wife Lorraine Geller) left one 10-inch LP and three 12-inch LPs on EmArcy label. This album, his 1st 12-inch LP release (2nd LP in recorded order), captures his finest plays of this era in a form of quartet. His smoothy and fluent alto improvisations are really great. Backing stuffs are all talented and capable players, including Herb's wife Lorraine (who plays boppish and horizontal piano), Keith Mitchell (known as Red Mitchell)'s sure running bass, Mel Lewis' steady rhythm - this fine rhythm section actually backs up Herb Geller's flawless improvisations.

A great Jazz album in the 1950s.

Strictly Personal Rating (to what extent I could enjoy this album)

10 out of 10

Track Listing

Personnel

Personnel/recorded date/master numbers confirmed with the Ruppli's discography.
(“The Mercury Labels - A Discography” by Ruppli and Novitsky, Greenwood Press, 1993)

A-3, A-4, B-4, B-5, B-6:
Herb Geller (as), Lorraine Geller (p), Keith Mitchell (aka Red Mitchell) (b), Mel Lewis (ds).
Recorded in Los Angeles, CA on April 20, 1955.

A-5, A-6, B-2, B-3:
same personnel as above.
Recorded in Los Angeles, CA on April 21, 1955.

A-1, A-2, B-1:
same personnel as above.
Recorded in Los Angeles, CA on April 26, 1955.

The Artist Also Appears on...

Jackets

Front	Back

Labels

Side A	Side B