Peter Friedman

Dvorak - String Quartets No.11 and No.13 - Guarneri Quartet

Op.18/1 and Op.95

Blue Mitchell's albums on the Mainstream label were (to my ears) generally terrible. The one I had hoped would be the exception was this one -Vital Blue. With Joe Henderson as a sideman my expectations were quite high. It turned out that the album was a mixed bag. About half the tracks were (to my taste) quite enjoyable. The remaining half were spoiled by a vocal obligato that made me want to quickly move on. All of this is disappointing as I have greatly enjoyed Blue Mitchell's playing as leader and sideman on numerous albums on a variety of labels other than Mainstream.

Here are some CDs by Dan Barrett That I like: Dan Barrett Octet - Strictly Instrumental - Concord Dan Barrett - Blue Swing - Arbors Dan Barrett and His Jazz Bears - Being A Bear - Arbors