Top Brass

Top Brass (subtitled Featuring 5 Trumpets) is an album by American jazz composer and arranger Ernie Wilkins featuring performances recorded in 1955 and first released on the Savoy label.^[1][2] The album consists of five original selections with trumpeters Ray Copeland, Idrees Sulieman, Donald Byrd, Ernie Royal and Joe Wilder followed by five standards featuring each individually.

Top Brass
Studio album by Ernie Wilkins
Released	1956
Recorded	November 8, 1955
Studio	Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey
Genre	Jazz
Length	37:52
Label	Savoy MG 12044
Producer	Ozzie Cadena
Ernie Wilkins chronology
Flutes & Reeds (1955) Top Brass (1956) The Drum Suite (1956)

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]

The AllMusic review by Ken Dryden awarded the album 3 stars stating "If there's any complaint about this studio date at all, it is the excess reverb used at times, which is surprising due to Rudy Van Gelder's usually impeccable sound".^[3]

Track listing

All compositions by Ernie Wilkins, except where indicated.

1. "58 Market Street" (Earl Van Riper, Ernie Wilkins) - 4:26
2. "Trick or Treat" (Manny Albam, Wilkins) - 5:22
3. "Speedway" - 4:43
4. "Dot's What" (Johnny Mandel) - 5:41
5. "Top Brass" - 3:22
6. "Willow Weep for Me" (Ann Ronell) - 2:16
7. "Imagination" (Jimmy Van Heusen, Johnny Burke) - 4:41
8. "It Might as Well Be Spring" (Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II) - 1:01
9. "The Nearness of You" (Hoagy Carmichael, Ned Washington) - 2:37
10. "Taking a Chance on Love" (Vernon Duke, Ted Fetter, John La Touche) - 3:43

Personnel

• Ernie Wilkins - arranger, conductor
• Ray Copeland (tracks 1-5 & 10), Idrees Sulieman (tracks 1-5 & 7), Donald Byrd (tracks 1-5 & 8), Ernie Royal (tracks 1-5 & 9), Joe Wilder (tracks 1-6) - trumpet
• Hank Jones - piano
• Wendell Marshall - bass
• Kenny Clarke – drums

References

1. Savoy Records Catalog: 12000 series accessed February 5, 2016
2. Discography of the Savoy/Regent and Associated labels accessed February 5, 2016
3. Dryden, Ken. Top Brass Featuring Five Trumpets – Review at AllMusic. Retrieved February 5, 2016.