In January 2008, Montpellier, a label that specializes in the reissuing of uncommon big-band jazz recordings from the mid-'50s, dug up a CD's worth of vintage late-period
Boyd Raeburn and released it under the title
Get Out of Town. Recorded for Columbia between January 5 and July 19, 1956, these 18 tracks typify
Raeburn's
Eisenhower-era approach to bandleading. Six different sessions resulted in both honest jazz and simplistic pop music as
Ginny Powell sang
Billie Holiday's "Fine and Mellow" and
George Gershwin's "Summertime," then found herself backed by a vocal group billed as
the Classmates on "Playing with Fire" and "Mississippi Mud." Tenor saxophonist
Sam "The Man" Taylor was featured on "Harlem Nocturne." The band's lineup also included such worthy and accomplished improvisers as trumpeters
Charlie Shavers,
Buck Clayton,
Ernie Royal, and
Billy Butterfield; trombonist
Lawrence Brown; reedmen
Hal McKusick and
Herbie Mann; guitarist
George Barnes; pianists
Johnny Eaton and
Nat Pierce; and bassist
Oscar Pettiford.
Get Out of Town comes as a pleasant surprise as well as proof that
Boyd Raeburn made good records for labels other than Savoy.
–
arwulf arwulf, Rovi