Meet Benny Bailey

When trumpeter Benny Bailey died this year it didn't generate much attention because Bailey, like the great tenor saxophonist Don Byas, nipped off to Europe early in his career and stayed there. I think much of jazz journalism in the U.S. short shrifts musicians working outside the country and generally those from other countries, which is short sighted given the wonderful jazz produced in Europe and elsewhere and the market for it overseas.

I bought Bailey's "Big Brass," Candid, last month, and gave it its second listen this week. The CD is a 1960 session of straight-up hard bop that kind of reminds me of "Birth of the Cool" only with more of an edge and from a septet, versus a nonet, that includes saxophonist Phil Woods (who gets in some nice solos, including on Bailey's "Maud's Mood") as well as Tommy Flanagan on piano and Julius Watkins on French horn, big hitters both.

Bailey is comparable to a Clifford Brown or Freddie Hubbard and sounds more like Clark Terry than Miles Davis when he goes to the mute. Nice guitar work by Les Spann on "Alison" and he plays some excellent flute on "Maud's Mood," too. Buddy Catlett on bass and Art Taylor on drums are a textbook rhythm section on this disk, which is a good one to get to know Benny Bailey.