The Gellers

Saxophonist Herb Geller and his wife Lorraine made some of the freshest and most exciting jazz of the 1950s, and would have certainly continued to do so if Lorraine hadn’t died tragically of a heart condition at age 30 in 1958. Their eponymous album as a couple finds them playing standards at brisk, boppish tempos but in a cool and accessible style. Herb was an outstanding alto player, but Lorraine’s sparkling and inventive piano stylings are the real center of this album; she had a quicksilver musical mind and sounded like she was playing with 20 fingers. Their sheer joy in playing together is evident through every track of this marvelous album.