There is a kind of poetic imagination at work in the early solo recordings of Jimmy Giuffre. He knew what sound he was looking for; could hear it in all its breezy complexity; but had to experiment for a number of years before hitting upon it: a varied and rich tapestry that may be overlooked by mainstream jazz fans who are still goo-goo-eyed over all the '50s had to offer; but shouldn't be. Taken in part or as a whole, The Complete Capitol and Atlantic Recordings of Jimmy Giuffre, (six CDs-worth from the Four Brothers sessions), reveal truly original statements sung by a master of dynamic, harmonic, and timbral invention and counterpoint. Giuffre (and Dave Brubeck) studied counterpoint with French composer Darius Milhaud, and it shows. The music contained here is considered, even today, with its strange lineups and odd ghostly voicings, to be sometimes quirky or iconoclastic.
CD1
1. Do It!
2. All for You
3. I Only Have Eyes for You
4. Nutty Pine
5. Sultana
6. Four Brothers
7. Wrought of Iron
8. Iranic
9. Someone to Watch Over Me
10. A Ring-Tail Monkey
11. Chirpin' Time
12. Scintilla II
13. This Is My Beloved
14. Scintilla I
15. Lazy Tones
16. Scintilla IV
17. Scintilla III
18. The Leprechaun
19. Rhetoric
20. Finger Snapper
CD2
1. Down Home
2. My Funny Valentine
3. Quiet Cook
4. So Low
5. The Sheepherder
6. The Side Pipers
7. Fascinatin' Rhythm
8. Deep Purple
9. A Fugue for Music Inn
10. Serenade
11. Fun
12. Da Capo!
13. Fine
CD3
1. The Quiet Time
2. Blues in E Flat
3. In a Mellow Tone
4. Marian the Librarian
5. Seventy-Six Trombones
6. Goodnight, My Someone
7. My White Knight
8. Till There Was You
9. It's You
10. Shipoopi
11. The Wells Fargo Wagon
12. Iowa Stubborn
13. Gary, Indiana
14. Lida Rose (Will I Ever Tell You)
CD4
1. Gotta Dance
2. The Train and the River
3. The Song Is You
4. That's The Way It Is
5. Two Kinds of Blues
6. Crazy She Calls Me
7. My All
8. Crawdad Suite
9. Voodoo
10. Travlin' Light
11. The Lonely Time
12. Pickin' 'Em Up and Layin' 'Em Down
13. The Green Country
14. The Swamp People
15. Show Me The Way To Go Home
16. Forty-Second Street
17. California, Here I Come
CD5
1. Pickin' 'Em Up And Layin' 'Em Down
2. The Green Country
3. The Lonely Time
4. Trav'lin' Light
5. Forty-Second Street
6. Show Me The Way To Go Home
7. The Swamp People
8. California, Here I Come
9. Blue Monk
10. Topsy
CD6
1. Western Suite
2. Come Rain or Come Shine
3. Ode to Switzerland
4. I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues
5. Space
6. Cabin in the Sky
7. Memphis in June
8. Four Brothers
9. Old Folks
10. Blues in the Barn
