Alone Together: The Best of the Mercury Years

Allmusic's John Bush noted "Verve's two-disc collection of the best recordings from the Clifford Brown-Max Roach Quintet recorded for Mercury/Emarcy between 1954 and 1956 includes a parade of Brown-Roach classics ...The second disc, which doesn't include Brown at all, reels through a highlight film of Max Roach's varied quintets of the late '50s after the death of Brown in 1956. Of course, Roach's sessions during that time feature many great recordings – trumpeter Booker Little is a competent replacement for Brown, and tenors Sonny Rollins, Hank Mobley, and Stanley Turrentine all have great spots – but record buyers expecting this set to live up to its title might be disappointed". The Penguin Guide to Jazz selected this album as part of its suggested Core Collection. ==Track listing==

Disc one • "Cherokee" (Ray Noble) – 5:43 • "Joy Spring" (Clifford Brown) – 6:51 • "What's New?" (Bob Haggart, Johnny Burke) – 3:25 • "Mildama" (Max Roach) – 4:32 • "September Song" (Kurt Weill, Maxwell Anderson) – 5:46 • "What Am I Here For?" (Duke Ellington, Frankie Laine) – 3:09 • "Sandu" (Brown) – 4:55 • "Daahoud" (Brown) – 4:02 • "Born to Be Blue" (Robert Wells, Mel Tormé) – 5:15 • "Jordu" (Duke Jordan) – 7:46 • "Gertrude's Bounce" (Richie Powell) – 4:10 • "Stardust" (Hoagy Carmichael, Mitchell Parish) – 3:24 • "Parisian Thoroughfare" (Bud Powell) – 7:19 • "Blues Walk" (Brown) – 6:46 Disc two • "Dr. Free-Zee" (Roach) – 2:07 • "Just One of Those Things" (Cole Porter) – 7:21 • "Valse Hot" (Sonny Rollins) – 14:28 • "Tune-Up" (Eddie Vinson) – 7:46 • "Yardbird Suite" (Charlie Parker) – 3:54 • "A Night in Tunisia" (Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Paparelli) – 8:15 • "La Villa" (Kenny Dorham) – 6:17 • "Max's Variations" (Harold Farberman) – 2:20 • "Prelude" (Consuela Lee) – 5:08 • "Juliano" (Julian Priester) – 5:43 • "Lotus Blossom" (Arthur Johnston, Sam Coslow) – 5:34 • "The Left Bank" (Brown) – 3:17 • "Never Leave Me" (Gordon Jenkins) – 6:49 ==Personnel==

• Max Roach – drums (All tracks except Disc One: tracks 5 & 9) • Clifford Brown (Disc One), Kenny Dorham (Disc Two: tracks 1–5), Booker Little (Disc Two: tracks 6, 7 & 9), Tommy Turrentine (Disc two: tracks 10–13) – trumpet • Julian Priester – trombone (Disc Two: tracks 9–13) • Ray Draper – tuba (Disc Two: tracks 6 & 7) • Herbie Mann – flute (Disc One: track 5) • George Coleman (Disc Two: tracks 6, 7 & 9), Harold Land (Disc One: tracks: 1–2, 4, 6–8, 10 & 13–14), Hank Mobley (Disc Two: tracks 4 & 5), Paul Quinichette (Disc One: track 5), Sonny Rollins (Disc One: track 11, Disc Two: tracks 1–3), Stanley Turrentine (Disc Two: tracks 10–13) – tenor saxophone • Danny Banks – baritone saxophone (Disc One: track 9) • Barry Galbraith (Disc One: tracks 3, 9 & 12) – guitar • Ray Bryant (Disc Two: tracks 1, 2 & 13), Jimmy Jones (Disc One: tracks 5 & 9), Richie Powell (Disc One: tracks 1–4, 6–8 & 10), Bill Wallace (Disc Two: track 3) – piano • Joe Benjamin (Disc One: track 5), Bob Boswell (Disc Two: tracks 10–13), Nelson Boyd (Disc Two: track 5), Art Davis (Disc Two: tracks 6, 7 & 9), Milt Hinton (Disc One: track 9), George Morrow (Disc One: tracks 1–4, 6–8 & 10–14, Disc Two: tracks 1–4) – bass • Roy Haynes (Disc One: track 5), Osie Johnson (Disc One: track 9) – drums • The Boston Percussion Ensemble – percussion (Disc Two: track 8) • Abbey Lincoln (Disc Two: track 13), Helen Merrill (Disc One: track 9), Sarah Vaughan (Disc One: track 5) – vocals • Unidentified string section (Disc One: tracks 3 & 12) • Irving Faberman (Disc Two: track 8), Neil Hefti (Disc One: tracks 3 & 12), Quincy Jones (Disc One: track 9), Ernie Wilkins (Disc One: track 5) – arranger and conductor ==References==