Both are gorgeous impressions of soul, jazz and blues, brought together through the legacy of standards and new compositions. The tonality of Gene Ammons in particular is transfixing and it is with…

In 1956 drummer Art Taylor formed a group called Taylor’s Wailers. Donald Byrd and Charlie Rouse were members of the working group that debuted at The Pad, a Greenwich Village nightclub on Sheridan…

For this early hard bop date, altoist Phil Woods and trumpeter Donald Byrd were co-leaders. In fact, the music had at one point earlier on been released with Byrd getting first billing. Yet Woods,…

Besides his importance as one of the first bop pianists, a major jazz composer, and a prototypical trio player (as heard on The George Wallington Trios), for a time pianist George Wallington was also…

The perennially underrated Bill Hardman (1932-90) was one of the unsung trumpet heroes of the modern era. His raw sound and tense, “running” attack were featured in three separate…

Alto saxophonist Phil Woods had recorded with Jimmy Raney and with his own quintet featuring trumpeter Jon Eardley but this was the first date where he was carrying the load as the lone horn, and…