During 1957 altoist
Gigi Gryce and trumpeter
Donald Byrd co-led a quintet that sought to extend and come up with new variations to bebop. Unfortunately the group did not survive the year but
Gryce and
Byrd did combine for several memorable recordings, including an excellent Prestige LP reissued on this CD. Their quintet (with pianist
Wade Legge, bassist
Wendell Marshall, and drummer
Art Taylor) turn "Love for Sale" into a jazz waltz (an innovation for 1957), introduce
Gryce's best-known composition "Minority," swing "Zing Went the Strings of My Heart," and perform a tricky but memorable blues line "Straight Ahead." This is exciting and still fresh-sounding bebop.