{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox album | name = Kessel Plays Standards | type = Album | artist = [[Barney Kessel]] | cover = Kessel Plays Standards.jpg | alt = | released = 1956 | recorded = June 4 and July 1, 1954, and September 12, 1955 | studio = Contemporary Records Studio, Los Angeles, California | venue = | genre = [[Jazz]] | length = | label = [[Contemporary Records|Contemporary]]<small> C3512</small> | producer = [[Lester Koenig]] | chronology = [[Barney Kessel]] | prev_title = [[Easy Like]] | prev_year = 1953-56 | next_title = [[To Swing or Not to Swing]] | next_year = 1955 }}
'''''Kessel Plays Standards''''' (subtitled '''''Barney Kessel Volume 2''''') is an album by guitarist [[Barney Kessel]] released on the [[Contemporary Records|Contemporary]] label and featuring eight tracks originally released on the ''Barney Kessel Volume 2'' 10-inch album which were recorded at sessions in 1954 along with an additional four tracks from 1955.<ref name="Contemporary Records discography">{{Cite web |title=Contemporary Records Catalog: 3500/7500 series |url=http://www.jazzdisco.org/contemporary-records/catalog-3500-7500-series/#c-3512 |access-date=2026-03-23 |website=www.jazzdisco.org}}</ref>
Kessel wrote in the liner notes that it was his purpose "in this album to use an instrumentation that hadn't been recorded before, or at least rarely recorded, and to capture some different sounds, combinations of different instruments."<ref name=":0">Kessel, Barney (1956). ''Kessel Plays Standards'' (liner notes). Barney Kessel. Los Angeles: Contemporary Records. Back cover liner notes.</ref>
The cover photograph was taken by California jazz and fashion photographer [[William Claxton (photographer)|William Claxton]].<ref name=":0" />
==Reception== {{Music ratings | rev1 = ''[[Allmusic]]'' | rev1Score = {{rating|4.5|5}}<ref name="Allmusic"/> |rev2 = ''[[The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings]]'' |rev2score = {{Rating|3|4}}<ref name="Penguin">{{cite book |last1=Cook |first1=Richard |authorlink1=Richard Cook (journalist) |last2=Morton |first2=Brian |authorlink2=Brian Morton (Scottish writer) |title=[[The Penguin Guide to Jazz|The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings]] |year=2008 |edition=9th |publisher=[[Penguin Books|Penguin]] |isbn=978-0-141-03401-0 |page=820}}</ref> }} The [[Allmusic]] review by Scott Yanow states: "Inventive frameworks and the utilization of Cooper's jazz oboe (a real rarity in jazz of the time) give the otherwise boppish reissue its own personality".<ref name="Allmusic">{{AllMusic|first=Scott |last=Yanow |class=album |id=mw0000188271 |title=''Kessel Plays Standards'' – Review |accessdate=May 25, 2015}}</ref>
==Track listing== # "[[Speak Low]]" ([[Kurt Weill]], [[Ogden Nash]]) - 2:45 # "[[Love Is Here to Stay]]" ([[George Gershwin]], [[Ira Gershwin]]) - 3:26 # "[[(I'd Like to Get You on a) Slow Boat to China|On a Slow Boat to China]]" ([[Frank Loesser]]) - 3:18 # "[[How Long Has This Been Going On?]]" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) - 3:20 # "[[My Old Flame]]" ([[Arthur Johnston (composer)|Arthur Johnston]], [[Sam Coslow]]) - 3:39 # "[[Jeepers Creepers (song)|Jeepers Creepers]]" ([[Harry Warren]], [[Johnny Mercer]]) - 3:51 # "Barney's Blues" (Barney Kessel) - 3:00 # "[[Prelude to a Kiss (song)|Prelude to a Kiss]]" ([[Duke Ellington]], [[Irving Gordon]], [[Irving Mills]]) - 3:13 # "[[A Foggy Day]]" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) - 3:10 # "[[You Stepped Out of a Dream]]" ([[Nacio Herb Brown]], [[Gus Kahn]]) - 2:53 # "[[I Didn't Know What Time It Was]]" ([[Richard Rodgers]], [[Lorenz Hart]]) - 3:57 # "64 Bars on Wilshire" (Kessel) - 3:17 *Recorded at Contemporary's studio in Los Angeles on June 4, 1954 (tracks 1, 3, 8 & 9), July 1, 1954 (tracks 2, 4, 7 & 12) and September 12, 1955 (tracks 5, 6, 10 & 11).
==Personnel== *[[Barney Kessel]] - [[guitar]] *[[Bob Cooper (musician)|Bob Cooper]] - [[tenor saxophone]], [[oboe]] *[[Claude Williamson]] (tracks 1–4, 7–9 & 12), [[Hampton Hawes]] (tracks 6, 10 & 11) - [[piano]] *[[Monty Budwig]] (tracks 1–4, 7–9 & 12), [[Red Mitchell]] (tracks 5, 6, 10 & 11) - [[double bass|bass]] *[[Shelly Manne]] (tracks 1–4, 7–9 & 12), [[Chuck Thompson (drummer)|Chuck Thompson]] (tracks 5, 6, 10 & 11) - [[drum kit|drums]]
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Barney Kessel}}{{Hampton Hawes}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Contemporary Records albums]] [[Category:Barney Kessel albums]] [[Category:1956 albums]]