CBS/Sony · in the Kissa Kissa racks

Nica's Tempo

Recorded	Oct 15-22, 1955
Label	CBS/Sony
Released	1955
Personnel	16 credited players
Discogs	master 373209

The record

A hard-bop workshop dressed in unusual colors -- french horns and dueling baritones framing Gryce's alto amid a rotating cast of Monk, Silver, Blakey and Clarke. The title nods to the Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter, patron saint of bebop's after-hours brain trust, and the session captures Gryce's arranging ambitions at their sharpest.

Session personnel

Gigi Gryce — alto saxophone
Cecil Payne — baritone saxophone
Danny Bank — baritone saxophone
Oscar Pettiford — bass
Percy Heath — bass
Art Blakey — drums
Kenny Clarke — drums
Gunther Schuller — french horn
Julius Watkins — french horn
Horace Silver — piano
Thelonious Monk — piano
Eddie Bert — trombone
Jimmy Cleveland — trombone
Art Farmer — trumpet
Bill Barber — tuba
Ernestine Anderson — vocals

Contemporary reception

No period review located yet. The vintage-press pipeline searches DownBeat, Cash Box, and Billboard for this session.

Pressings

We hold no original-era LP for this title. The earliest on file is a 1965 UK CBS mono reissue, RM 52223, and everything after it is a reissue too -- a 1974 Japanese CBS/Sony promo, SOPU-3-SY, then the 1985 Japanese Savoy, MGJ-12137, also mono. Two undated French BYG copies, BYG 529153, close the list. Buy one of these for the music, not for the pressing.

1965	CBS · RM 52223 — Vinyl, LP, Album, Mono, Reissue earliest on file
1974	CBS/Sony · SOPU-3-SY — Vinyl, LP, Album, Promo, Reissue, Mono
1975	CBS/Sony — MONO
1985	Savoy Records · MGJ-12137 — Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Mono
1991	Savoy Jazz · SV-0126 — CD, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Mono
1992	Savoy Records · COCY-9027 — CD, Album, Reissue, Mono
2013	Sinetone AMR · AMR 2851 — File, MP3, Album, 320 kbps
—	BYG Records · BYG 529153 — Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue
—	BYG Records · 529 153 — Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue
—	Savoy Jazz · SV-0126 — CD, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Mono