Western Suite is an album by American jazz composer and arranger Jimmy Giuffre which was released on the Atlantic label in 1960.
[2][3] Featuring an unusual trio of clarinet, guitar and valve trombone, the first half of Western Suite is devoted to Giuffre's country music/folk-inspired suite, while the second half features a lengthy and abstract version of the big band standard "Topsy" and a Thelonious Monk song.
Thom Jurek of Allmusic states: "Giuffre, ever the storyteller, advanced the improvisation angle and wrote his score so that each player had to stand on his own as part of the group; there were no comfort zones.
It swung like West Coast jazz, but felt as ambitious as Copland's Billy the Kid".
[4] In his 1961 review for DownBeat, Ira Gitler says, "The interaction among the three is remarkable" and concludes: "What is found in this set are lyricism and depth of emotion.