Jack Marshall & Shelly Manne

This is the final effort in the Sounds! series of duet albums Manne & Marshall did together during the early 60s. Manne was a drummer who always followed a different beat and was quite a bit more experimental than contemporaries like Buddy Rich and Louis Bellson. It was due to this bohemian bent that he proved the perfect percussionist for what amounts to sound-centred stereo test records that also provided an enjoyable listening experience.

The series was experimental to start with and was conceptualized as a showpiece for the fledgling Hi-Fi stereo sound consumers were still adopting at the start of the 60s and was envisioned as a way to demonstrate the frequency range and cutting-edge studio techniques of the era.

While Marshall has an exquisite tone and picks clean as a whistle throughout, Manne does his very best David Van Tieghem and pounds on whatever is at hand, whether shoe-boxes or sheet metal, giving the proceedings an avant-garde flavour belying the simple melodic strings Marshall effortlessly floats atop the percussion.