John Tapscott

R.I.P. I always enjoyed Curtis Fuller's playing. A wonderful trombonist. One of the very best. The only time I saw him live was with the Basie Band. I really enjoy this record which is now part of the Beehive Mosaic box set.

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Mel Lewis' playing here is incredible. To put it bluntly, this is a perfect example of someone swinging his a$$ off! I saw Mulligan's 1980 Concert Band in concert. A little different than the 1960 version, no big "'star" musicians like Zoot or Clark Terry or Brookmeyer, but still swinging with Gerry's wonderful comp/arrangements and his great baritone playing, still understated as far as typical big bands go, but still really good, perhaps for that very reason.