Booker Little and Friend is the final album led by American jazz trumpeter Booker Little

Booker Little

Booker Little, Jr was an American jazz trumpeter and composer.-Biography:Despite his premature death from kidney failure at the age of 23, Little made an important contribution to jazz. Stylistically, his sound is rooted in the playing of Clifford Brown, featuring crisp articulation, a burnished...

 featuring performances recorded in 1961 for the Bethlehem

Bethlehem Records

Bethlehem Records was a record label based in New York and Hollywood founded by Gus Wildi in 1953. It was bought by King Records in the early 1960s....

 label. The CD reissue added two previously released alternate takes.

Reception

The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow

Scott Yanow

Scott Yanow is an American jazz commentator, known for many contributions to the Allmusic website, for writing ten books on jazz and for reviewing jazz recordings for over 30 years.-Biography:...

 awarded the album 4½ stars and stated "Booker Little is generally the top soloist on the harmonically advanced hard bop date and he is in peak form throughout".

Track listing

All compositions by Booker Little except as indicated

1. "Victory and Sorrow" - 5:56
2. "Forward Flight" - 6:18
3. "Looking Ahead" - 7:25
4. "If I Should Lose You
   If I Should Lose You
   "If I Should Lose You" is a song composed by Ralph Rainger, with lyrics by Leo Robin. It was introduced in the 1936 film Rose of the Rancho.-Notable recordings:*Georgia Brown - Georgia Brown Sings Gershwin/Georgia Brown...
   
   " (Ralph Rainger
   Ralph Rainger
   Ralph Rainger was an American composer of popular music principally for films.-Biography:Born Ralph Reichenthal in New York City, Rainger embarked on a legal career before escaping to Broadway where he became Clifton Webb's accompanist...
   
   , Leo Robin
   Leo Robin
   Leo Robin was an American composer, lyricist and songwriter. He is probably best known for collaborating with Ralph Rainger on the 1938 Oscar-winning song "Thanks for the Memory," sung by Bob Hope in the film The Big Broadcast of 1938.-Biography:Robin was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and...
   
   ) - 5:11
5. "Calling Softly" - 5:39
6. "Booker's Blues" - 5:16
7. "Matilde" - 5:55
8. "Matilde' [alternate take 4] - 8:27 Bonus track on CD reissue
9. "Matilde" [alternate take 7] - 8:15 Bonus track on CD reissue
   • Recorded in New York City, Summer 1961 .

Personnel

• Booker Little
  Booker Little
  Booker Little, Jr was an American jazz trumpeter and composer.-Biography:Despite his premature death from kidney failure at the age of 23, Little made an important contribution to jazz. Stylistically, his sound is rooted in the playing of Clifford Brown, featuring crisp articulation, a burnished...
  
   - trumpet
  Trumpet
  The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
  
  
• Julian Priester
  Julian Priester
  Julian Priester is an American jazz trombonist and composer.He has played with many artists including Sun Ra, Max Roach, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane and Herbie Hancock.-Biography:...
  
   - trombone
  Trombone
  The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
  
   (tracks 1-3 & 5-9)
• George Coleman
  George Coleman
  George Edward Coleman is an American hard bop saxophonist, bandleader, and composer, known chiefly for his work with Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock in the 1960s.-Biography:...
  
   - tenor saxophone
  Tenor saxophone
  The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
  
   (tracks 1-3 & 5-9)
• Don Freedman  - piano
  Piano
  The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
  
  
• Reggie Workman
  Reggie Workman
  Reginald "Reggie" Workman is an American avant-garde jazz and hard bop double bassist, recognized for his work with both John Coltrane and Art Blakey....
  
   - bass
  Double bass
  The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
  
  
• Pete LaRoca - drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....