Today’s Vinyl: Roy Eldridge & Dizzy Gillespie

Beautiful day here and a fine morning for digging into the jazz archives. I was fortunate back in college to date a girl who worked with a professor whose vinyl jazz collection was damaged when his home flooded. He decided to unload anything that had visible water damage, so I picked up a stack of records that had a few stains on the sleeves but were otherwise in good shape (you can see the water damage toward the bottom of this one). Most of the records are from the 50s and early 60s and a few of them have never been reissued or remastered. This one can be tracked down as part of a vintage Clef/Verve double LP at Dusty Groove but is otherwise unavailable in any modern form, as far as I know.

Despite the militant title, Trumpet Battle is a relaxed record with good interplay between the two soloists. The recording is a straight up, mid 50s, laid-back jam session supported by Oscar Peterson, Herb Ellis, Louis Bellson, and Ray Brown. Side two features my favorite track from the session: an extended, five-tune Ballad Medley where the two horn players trade off on classics like I’m Through with Love and Can’t We be Friends. Dizzy acknowledged Eldridge as one of his major influences, and the affection the two had for each other is clear in the way they play off each other on this record. Good stuff.