Pete Christlieb: For Heaven’s Sake

For the first time in 17 years Pete Christlieb has recorded as a leader! No wonder the credits read like a who’s who of Hollywood studios. Christlieb chose wisely: arrangers such as Bill Holman, Johnny Mandel, Dennis McCarthy, Eddie Karam, John Bainbridge; sidemen the likes of Conte Candoli, Tom Scott, Lou Levy, Tom Ranier, Roy McCurdy, Andy Martin, Gary Foster, Bill Ramsay.

Christlieb swings superbly over big band sounds and rhapsodizes over impressionistic woodwinds. It’s a dream session in which the monster tenor man must keep pinching himself, asking, “Am I in heaven?”

Originally Published October 1, 2000