LPCDreissues: Looking forward to the past

George Russell is listed in the Encyclopedia of Jazz as "composer, piano, educator" and all of these are accurate descriptions of this dynamic musical revolutionary. But in the early Sixties he also spent some exciting years as a bandleader, presenting his Lydian and pan-tonal concepts in action and helping vitally in the rise to prominence of two significant innovators of the period: Eric Dolphy and Don Ellis. Both men play major roles in this 1961 album by probably the best of Russell's small groups, which includes one of Dolphy's most lasting celebrated recorded efforts--his astonishing bass clarinet solo on the Thelonious Monk classic, "'Round Midnight."
Track listing: Ezz-thetic, Nardis, Lydiot, Thoughts, Honesty, 'Round Midnight