Highly enjoyable jazz with a great bunch of players. This is Oliver Nelson’s debut album. I have a couple of other titles with him as a leader and both are great, as is this.
It’s blues drenched at times, melancholy at times, up-tempo and energetic at times. In other words a nice mix of different flavors.
I truly dig Nelson’s tenor. It’s smooth and has a pleasant tone. He plays really good. Love that Dorham and Taylor are on this as well, they are always great.
There’s quite a few original compositions by Nelson on this and it’s a nice taste of what was to come later. My favorite tune on this album is not a Nelson original though. It’s called “What’s New” (originally titled “I’m Free”, an instrumental from 1938), composed in 1939 by Bob Haggart, a dixieland double bassist.
This title is worth checking out if you haven’t before.