New Bottle Old Wine Explained

New Bottle Old Wine
Type:studio
Artist:Gil Evans
Cover:New Bottle Old Wine.jpg
Released:October 1958[1]
Recorded:April 9 and May 26, 1958
Genre:Jazz
Label:World Pacific
Producer:George Avakian
Chronology:Gil Evans
Prev Title:Gil Evans & Ten
Prev Year:1958
Next Title:Great Jazz Standards
Next Year:1959

New Bottle Old Wine is an album by jazz composer, arranger, conductor and pianist Gil Evans recorded in 1958 by Evans with an orchestra. The album is a suite of songs written by and/or associated with major jazz musicians and composers, in original arrangements by Gil Evans (conceptually similar to several albums Evans made with Miles Davis, including Miles Ahead, Porgy and Bess, and Sketches of Spain).[2] Cannonball Adderley (Davis' alto saxophone player at the time) is featured as the main soloist. The orchestra also featured a number of important players including Bill Barber, Frank Rehak, Johnny Coles, Art Blakey, and Paul Chambers (Davis' bassist at the time).[3]

Reception

The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 4½ stars and states "This is near-classic music that showed that Gil Evans did not need Miles Davis as a soloist to inspire him to greatness" [4] and The Penguin Guide to Jazz described the album as "one of [Adderley's] finest hours".

Track listing

  1. "St. Louis Blues" (W. C. Handy) - 5:26
  2. "King Porter Stomp" (Jelly Roll Morton) - 3:19
  3. "Willow Tree" (Fats Waller, Andy Razaf) - 4:40
  4. "Struttin' With Some Barbeque" (Lil Armstrong) - 4:34
  5. "Lester Leaps In" (Lester Young) - 4:17
  6. "'Round Midnight" (Thelonious Monk) - 4:08
  7. "Manteca!" (Dizzy Gillespie, Gil Fuller, Babs Gonzales) - 5:18
  8. "Bird Feathers" (Charlie Parker) - 6:57

Personnel

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Billboard. November 10, 1958.
  2. Original LP sleeve notes
  3. http://sudo.3.pro.tok2.com/Quest/cards/G/GilEvans/NewBottleOldWine_x.html Gil Evans discography
  4. Yanow, S. [{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r138484|pure_url=yes}} Allmusic Review] accessed February 1, 2010.