(Boyd Raeburn - One of the greater unknowns of Jazz)

Mellow, as promised. This one features Boyd Raeburn and His Orchestra from 1944. The track is Bobby Sox, although it bears a striking resemblance to a Gerry Mulligan composition Bernie's Tune.

Raeburn was one of those musicians, like his contemporary Claude Thornhill, in whose ranks were some of the greats of the Jazz world. Case in point - this track is rumored to feature a young Dizzy Gillespie on trumpet solo. Raeburn was experimental and, like Thornhill, was a master at shading and color in his arrangements and he was never afraid to try new things. He came along at a time when the whole Jazz idiom was about to undergo a great change.

He was there to help point it in the right direction.