Teo Macero With The Prestige Jazz Quartet Teo Vinyl Me, Please Edition

Why you'll love it...
Jazz is an art form that routinely asks performers to be the guy behind the guy. Louie, Basie, Dizzy all played for others before they became names themselves. Another famous guy behind the guy, Teo Macero, has a little less complicated, but he had more to do with shaping and re-shaping modern music than just his work with Charles Mingus. Part of the reason “Take Five” is considered one of the most famous songs of the 20th century is how Dave Brubeck and his Quartet played it, but it’s also because Macero was behind the glass, slowly turning knobs moving things up at some points, and down at others. It would be enough to produce Time Out, but he also helped mold Thelonious Monk’s sound during his time on Columbia in the 1960s into one of the master’s most fruitful periods. The man also produced Bitches Brew — yes, Bitches Brew, too! Macero isn’t one of the marquee names in the Bible of American Music, but he was an apostle for several of its greatest prophets. Then, in 1957, came Teo. Macero’s warm tenor sax playing is a big part of that, but so is Mal Waldron’s piano, Teddy Charles on the vibraphone, Jerry Segal on drums, and, trusted Mose Allison sideman. Everybody on this album knew exactly what they were meant to do, and they came together to create something lovely that deserves more appreciation than it has been given since its release in ’57.