Woody Herman: Everywhere

The most majestic trombone solo ever recorded. After a fanfare, Woody Herman's star sideman Bill Harris assays his own melody in pretty Tommy Dorsey style with rich vibrato. But Harris could also be grandly operatic, a fact arrangers Ralph Burns and Neal Hefti exploit. "Everywhere" builds inexorably to the dramatic climax of Harris's triumphantly outlandish elephant call, and then, as quickly as a passing summer thunderstorm, calm is restored. Harris was blessed to have the incendiary Herman band as his platform. But Woody was blessed to showcase the era's most distinctive trombonist. "Everywhere" is for everyone and for all time.