Mono Mondays: Milt Jackson, Plenty, Plenty Soul

This week’s Mono Mondays release comes from the catalog of a top-notch vibraphonist, back when your average musician knew right off the top of his or her head exactly what a vibraphonist was. Kids, if you’re not in the know, you can see a vibraphone by clicking here…and once you’re done taking a gander, be sure to come back here and continue your education by learning a bit about Milt Jackson and his 1957 album, Plenty, Plenty Soul.

The story of Milt Jackson – known to his friends and fans as “Bags” – goes a little something like this: he was discovered by Dizzy Gillespie, who hired him for his sextet in 1946, soon found himself working with the likes of Woody Herman, Thelonious Monk, and Charlie Parker, and within half a decade, he, pianist John Lewis, bassist Ray Brown, and drummer Kenny Clarke had founded the group that would come to call itself the Modern Jazz Quartet.

In addition to his work with the Quartet, however, Jackson did a fair amount under his own name as well, including this week’s Mondo Monday release. Not unlike his other efforts, Jackson had an all-star cast of musicians working alongside him on Plenty, Plenty Soul, starting with the title track, which he co-wrote with Quincy Jones, who arranged that song as well as the two subsequent numbers, “Boogity Boogity,” a Jones composition, and “Heartstrings,” a Jackson original.

Those first three tracks also featured the legendary Cannonball Adderley on alto saxophone, Jimmy Cleveland on trumpet, Frank Foster on tenor sax, Sahib Shihab on baritone sax, Percy Heath on bass, and Art Blakey on drums. For the rest of the album’s songs – Adderley’s “Sermonette,” Jackson’s “The Spirit-Feel” and “Ignunt Oil,” and Jones’s “Blues at Twilight” – you’ll find Lucky Thompson on tenor sax, Oscar Bettiford on bass, and Connie Kay on drums.

It should also be noted that you’re hearing Joe Newman on trumpet and Horace Silver on piano for the whole blessed affair, and as Scott Yanow noted in his review of the album on AllMusic.com, with Silver helping out on both sessions (Tracks 4-7 were recorded on January 5, 1957, and Tracks 1-3 were recorded on January 7), “these all-star dates still sound fresh and enthusiastic decades later.” In other words, if you’re in need of some good vibes, then Plenty, Plenty Soul provides plenty of ‘em.