Search - Terry Gibbs :: Plays Jewish Melodies in Jazztime (Spec Pk)

Terry Gibbs's best-known dream band was the big band documented on an acclaimed series of unearthed recordings from the late 1950s and early '60s. His least-known dream band is the one featured on this long out-of-print album, which combines a bop-minded jazz quartet headed by Gibbs (on vibraphone and marimba) and a quartet devoted to traditional Jewish music led by his older brother, drummer Sol Gage. (Born Julius Gubenko, Gibbs started out in his violinist father Abe Gubenko's Radio Novelty Orchestra, which Gage later inherited.) The album's stylistic division of labor--bop-driven jazz sections trade off with straightforward Jewish parts--sometimes reduces the music to a battle of the band. But it's a lively experiment that anticipates the recent klezmer revival in jazz; just listen to the swinging and soaring takes on "Bei Mir Bist du Schön" and "My Yiddishe Momme"--and let's not forget Ziggy Elman's "And the Angels Sing." Adding to the offbeat nature of the session is the presence on piano of Alice McCord, later to be known as Alice Coltrane. --Lloyd Sachs