One of the many sturdy jazz players from the Pittsburgh scene, Albert Aarons was a fixture in Count Basie's band, a sideman with jazz heavyweights such as vocalist Ella Fitzgerald and tenor saxophonist Gene Ammons, and was one of the older dudes in the studio for later jazz-funk fusion projects such as School Days by Stanley Clarke. He began studying music in his hometown in the late '40s, and by the mid-'50s was playing with multi-instrumentalist Yusef Lateef and pianist Barry Harris, both based out of Detroit in that period. In the early '60s, his solos were propelled by the intense jazz organ of Wild Bill Davis, following which his gig with Basie took him to the end of that decade. During that time, there are some tasty jazz side projects with the likes of saxophonists Frank Wess and Frank Foster, the latter man also one of Basie's favorite arrangers. When he finished working with Basie in 1969, he relocated to Los Angeles where he hooked up with steady money from the television music and recording studio industries. His jazz contacts continued on a high level with a 1971 collaboration with vibraphonist Milt Jackson, one of his best efforts. In the early '70s, he also recorded with both Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan, and later in that decade he blew some high notes behind Maria Muldaur on her over-produced Sweet Harmony album. Several top-notch arrangers and film composers liked working with this trumpeter, including Henry Mancini, Gerald Wilson, and Buddy Collette. Aarons felt a great empathy with the latter artist, a superb flutist and reed player as well as arranger and composer. The trumpeter started his own label, modestly calling it Legend. With the sheer number of available jazz recordings of superb quality, it is difficult to ascertain whether a particular one is the stuff of legends. Yet the 1973 Now and Then is vintage Collette, and contains some of Aarons' best soloing on record as well, appropriate enough since he had to shell out the doolah to press the thing. The relationships with the aforementioned arrangers and film music bigwigs happened consecutively, rather than concurrently, allowing the trumpeter to focus on patches of steady employment at key times. While the late '70s were a bit of a commercial lull for jazz, Aarons kept up appearances in a combo with swing tenor giant Zoot Sims. Studio work under the baton of Wilson begin kicking in during the mid-'80s. Even though he used to shine on a Basie arrangement entitled Easin' It, the trumpeter is no relation to the Albert Aarons who sang background vocals on the intentionally awful Keith Carradine song entitled I'm Easy. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi