Características
"Comin' Home Baby" - that's how the LP begins and catapulted it into charts. Not to a top spot, but from that point on Herbie Mann was one of the superstars of the Atlantic jazz stable. 'Our man with the flute' he called himself or was titled and the critics of the early 60s were full of praise. He became even more famous and probably rich through soundtracks and later sometimes quite commercial productions. Let it be granted to him.
'The Mann' delivers jazz of the purest water on this live recording from the Village Gate, no wonder with a rhythm section of the caliber of Ahmad Abdul-Malik and Rudy Collins. The composer of "Comin' Home Baby" Ben Tucker then appears as a guest before the two Gershwin compositions from "Porgy And Bess" offer plenty of room for pure rhythm.
Willis Conover, a part-time spokesman for the Newport Jazz Festival - older jazz fans will remember his baritone voice from AFN broadcasts - describes in detail in the cover text the ethnic backgrounds of all the musicians, which range from Romania to Puerto Rico. But a commonplace music are the three titles at no second, but rather a mouthy flute cocktail.
This true rarity from the Atlantic trove of the early sixties has long been on the wish list of many fans; now, finally, it's within reach again.
Herbie Mann (fl); Hagood Hardy (vib); Ahmad Abdul-Malik, Ben Tucker (b); Rudy Collins (dr); Chief Bey (dr, perc); Ray Mantilla (cga, perc).
Recording: November 1961 live at The Village Gate, New York City by Tom Dowd & Phil LehleProduction: Nesuhi Ertegun
Side One
1. Comin' Home Baby
2. Summertime
Side Two
1. It Ain't Necessarily So