Perfection: Quincy Jones - Funk Junction

On December 7, 1954, Quincy Jones was conducting a band playing his arrangements backing vocalese artist King Pleasure. During the session for Prestige, two Jones instrumentals were slipped in—"You're Crying" and “Funk Junction."

The additions were either needed to complete the album because there weren't enough King Pleasure tracks—or there was time remaining on the session and Jones figured he'd use the spare minutes to squeeze out B-sides for King Pleasure's A-sidees for jukeboxes.

Or both assumptions may have be true. Funk Junction wound up as the B-side of King Pleasure's vocalese A-side, Don't Be Scared. Musicians on Funk Junction were J.J. Johnson and Kai Winding (tb), Lucky Thompson (ts), Danny Bank (bar), Jimmy Jones (p), Paul Chambers (b), Joe Harris (d) and Quincy Jones (arr,dir).

What I love about this blues, in addition to its elegant swagger and instrumentation, is that you can hear every single musician and how important their signature sound was to the winsome song. Kai Winding takes the first trombone solo, J.J. Johnson takes the second. Winding had a more blaring attack while Johnson's was fleshier and more syncopated.

And Lucky Thompson and Jimmy Jones are sublime, not to mention Paul Chambers's bass solo. Danny Bank's anchoring baritone saxophone can be heard on the bottom when all the instruments come together.

Here's Funk Junction...