Mike Bryan And His Sextet

Now here's an album which I stumbled onto.  I have a couple of local thrift shops which I check weekly, and came upon this during my last visit.  Truthfully I had never even heard of Mr. Bryan, so I bought it based on the strength of the Storyville label.  Turned out to be a good move!!

The notes are included, and give the overview of his story, so I won't venture to deep into it.  Firstly, he is a guitar player which threw me for a loop because he's not pictured on the cover of his own album!  Nope, that's Georgie Auld in the foreground and Doc Severinson behind him.  Basically, Bryan played with Benny Goodman for a spell and then while in California, was influenced by the bop movement.  What we get here is a really progressive mainstream side, with leanings towards bop.

Side 1 is a studio session, and side 2 a live set.  Great playing from all... a really tight swing, upbeat, with fun soloing by all band members.  Mike Bryan stretches out on a couple tracks and is an excellent guitarist with a really nice tone.  If you're looking for something "new", this will fill the void.  A really great side with excellent fidelity to boot.  Ripped at 24/44.1 wav and dithered to 16/44.1 FLAC... enjoy!!

Storyville  SLP-4015
1981