Wizard of the Vibes is a Blue Note Records compilation of performances by jazz vibraphonist Milt Jackson. The sessions were the work of The Thelonious Monk Quintet (the July 2, 1948 and July 23, 1951 sessions) and The Modern Jazz Quartet plus Lou Donaldson (a 1952 session). The album has been recompiled and expanded three additional times, with various tracks from these sessions added and deleted.
The tracks from the Modern Jazz Quartet plus Lou Donaldson consisted of John Lewis on piano, Percy Heath on bass, Kenny Clarke on drums, Milt Jackson on vibraphone, and Lou Donaldson on alto saxophone. The tracks with the Thelonious Monk Quintet were Thelonious Monk on piano, John Simmons on bass, Shadow Wilson on drums, and Milt Jackson on vibraphone -- with Kenny "Pancho" Hagood singing on the tracks "All the Things You Are" and "I Should Care."
The original 1952 10" LP was expanded to a 12" LP in 1956, and retitled Milt Jackson and the Thelonious Monk Quintet with a cover designed by Reid Miles, his first for the label. In 1989, the cover and title of the 1956 version were used for a CD featuring the complete 1948 and 1952 sessions, but the 1951 Monk Session was moved to Monk's Genius of Modern Music: Volume 2. The 2001 album Milt Jackson: Wizard of the Vibes used the cover art and title of the original 1952 album, but contained a re-ordered and remastered version of the contents of the 1989 CD.
In each formulation, the album contained Blue Note Thelonious Monk -led performances unavailable on the parallel editions of "Genius of Modern Music."
Famous quotes containing the words wizard of and/or wizard:
“I’ve tried to open the door. My knock isn’t that big a sound. But it is like the knock in “The Wizard of Oz.” It set up this echo through the halls until it was heard by everyone.”
—Shannon Faulkner (b. c. 1975)
“The fabulous Wizard of Oz
Retired from his racket because,
What with up-to-date science,
To most of his clients
He wasn’t the Wizard he was.”
—Anonymous.