This is Terry's third album for Riverside, and this vastly talented and inventive horn man has made each a valid and thoroughly different contribution. Serenade to a Bus Seat (RLP 12-237) was a joyful swinger — one reviewer noted with surprise that it proved that bop didn't have to sound angry ! In Duke with a Difference (RLP 12-246), a group entirely composed of present and past Ellingtonians (Clark has been featured with the band since 1951) offered some of Duke's tunes in definitely non-Duke-style treatments. The present album spotlights Terry's fairly recent affection for the fluegelhorn, an instrument that has of late intrigued several jazz trumpet men. But few have paid sufficient attention to this tricky but potentially rewarding horn — Clark, for example, is one of the few to bother using the proper, broader fluegelhorn mouthpiece, instead of a trumpet mouthpiece. Most importantly, he has gone well beyond the usual initial feeling that it is limited to “a nice sound for ballads.” The horn does have a lovely, mellow tone — although shaped rather like a mildly swollen cornet, its sound is closest to a French horn — but to someone with the facility to really get around on the valves, it can also give a unique flavor at swift tempos. (Note such as "In Orbit", "Pea-Eye" and "Buck's Business" — Terry originals that would defeat less adept men attempting them on trumpet, cornet, pennywhistle, or what-have-you).
(From the original liner Notes)
Clark Terry
Thelonious Monk
In Orbit
(RLP 12-271)
Tracks
1 In Orbit (Terry) 4:45
2 One Foot in the Gutter (Terry) 7:22
3 Trust in Me (Ager, Schwartz, Wever) 4:33
4 Let's Cool One (Monk) 4:58
5 Pea-Eye (Terry) 4:32
6 Argentia (Terry) 6:15
7 Moonlight Fiesta (Mills, Tizol) 2:37
8 Buck's Business (Terry) 3:26
9 Very Near Blue (Cassey) 3:09
*
Personnel
Clark Terry - flgh
Thelonious Monk - p
Sam Jones - b
Philly Joe Jones - dr
Recorded in New York City ; May 7 and 12, 1958