condition (records/cover): NM / NM

Gatefold sleeve. 

Two records, two faces of Lester Bowie, 1982: the first disc a band session continuing the gospel-soul-avant fusion of The Great Pretender, with vocals and deep grooves and that unmistakable trumpet wit presiding; the second - subtitled The One And Only - Bowie completely alone, an entire LP of solo trumpet vocabulary: whispers, valve pops, half-valve moans, brass speech of every kind, a whole theatre company living in one horn. Few trumpeters in history could sustain a solo side without exhausting the listener; fewer still could make it this entertaining, this varied, this human. Together the two discs map the full Bowie territory, from showman to laboratory scientist, and make the case that the two roles were always the same job.

ECM 2LP edition, handsomely produced. For trumpet obsessives, AEC completists and anyone who likes their experimentation with a grin and a backbeat within reach.