J. J. Johnson - Plays Mack The Knife And Other Kurt Weill Songs (1961)

The LP "Plays Mack the Knife" (1961) presents J. J. Johnson fronting a quartet that includes André Previn on piano, Red Mitchell on bass and Frank Capp on drums - quartet recordings are not especially common in Johnsons discography - playing songs by the celebrated Kurt Weill.

As the original liner notes clearly indicate, recording a jazz version of "Mack the Knife" in 1961 wasn´t an easy bet, for many other artists had already made their versions (the most celebrated ones were those by Ella Fitzgerald in Berlin in 1960, and by Louis Armstrong, both alone with his All Stars and in a 1955 vocal duet with Lotte Lenya, for whom the song had originally been written). Previn and Johnson succeed in giving this music a new distinctive sound (although always respectful of the original melodies).

Tracklist:

A1	Bilbao-Song	4:05
A2	Barbara-Song	6:10
A3	Overture	5:05
A4	Seeräuberjenny	4:23
B1	Mack The Knife (Moritat)	4:55
B2	Surabaya-Johnny	4:17
B3	Wie Man Sich Bettet	6:03
B4	Unzulänglichkeit	4:55

J. J. Johnson - Plays Mack The Knife And Other Kurt Weill Songs (1961)
(320 kbps, cover art included)