Sold Date: March 4, 2014
Start Date: February 25, 2014
Final Price: $30.15 (USD)
Bid Count: 6
Seller Feedback: 38651
Buyer Feedback: 189

SONNY CLARK Cool Struttin'
Used Vinyl Record
Sleeve/Vinyl: EX/NM

Record Label: King Records/Blue Note ST 81588 (Japan)

1978 (Originally Released In 1958). Original Japanese King Records/Blue Note Issue.

Condition: Record jacket shows very little wear. Corners have light wear but are sharp. Small chipping on spine near top left corner, otherwise Spine, top and bottom are solid. There are no spindle marks on the label. Vinyl is clean and plays very well.

1. Cool Struttin
2. Blue Minor
3. Sippin' at Bells
4. Deep Night

Review: With the single exception of Kind of Blue, Sonny Clark's Cool Struttin' is almost certainly the coolest jazz album of all time. Whereas Kind of Blue gets its vibe from modal jazz, Cool Struttin' depends mainly on the blues, relatively simple and straight ahead. Calling this 'hard bop' is correct but this does not do justice to the chemistry at work here. It is one of those rare recorded moments, as on "Kind Of Blue", where everything is in a state of sublime balance, when the music making is made to seem so effortless that you could easily miss the brilliance of it all. The two albums were made within twelve months of each other.

The pairing of Art Farmer (trumpet) with Jackie McLean (alto sax) on Cool Struttin' is the second great contributor to the making of this great jazz album. They had played together in the mainly mainstream blues based Gene Ammons band for a number of years before the Cool Struttin' session and the rapport between them is noticeable. Art Farmer's sophisticated trumpet sound is an excellent complement to Jackie McLean's altogether more direct alto sound, drawing Jackie McLean more 'inside' than he was to be on almost any of his subsequent recordings. Their unison playing, breaking into occasional harmony, as on the title track or on "Blue Minor", is the signature sound of the album. ~ 100 Greatest Jazz Albums