CD of the Day - "Kai Winding: Jazz For Playboys"

CD of the Day
Kai Winding: "Jazz For Playboys" (Verve JazzClub) 2008
Delightful compilation by the German jazz expert Matthias Künnecke (with special assistance from Douglas Payne) including 20 tracks recorded by one of the world's top trombonists ever for the Verve label, during the 60s, under the aegis of superproducer Creed Taylor. Among the featured sidemen: Ron Carter, Grady Tate, Bucky Pizzarelli, Romeo Penque, Hubert Laws, Bill Watrous, Ross Tompkins and Russell George (the underrated bassist who currently works as a violin player with Ed Reed in San Francisco!) The arrangements were mostly written by Winding himself, but Oliver Nelson scored Henry Mancini's "Hatari".
There are three Brazilian tunes in the repertoire: Jobim's "Once I Loved" (aka "Amor em Paz"), Djalma Ferreira's "Recado Bossa Nova" and Carlos Lyra's "Lugar Bonito", also covered for Verve by Astrud Gilberto on the "Look to the Rainbow" album. Anyway, there's a lot of bossa nova tinge in other tracks such as Kai's own "I'm Your Bunny Bossa Nova". The versions of "Laura", "Playboy's Theme", "Un Homme et Une Femme", "A Time for Love" and "Just for Tonight" also deserve attention.