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As soon as you hear "Sunny Side of the Street," you know you're in for a good time. It's a great, joyful song that's enlivened by Dizzy's appealingly fractured vocal. "Eternal Triangle" is appropriately named as all three of these great improvisers fire up zesty solos made in hard bop heaven. The contrast of sounds between the tenors and Gillespie's darting trumpet is wonderful.
My favorite cut, however, is a definitive blues workout, "After Hours." It's a classic approach that allows the horns to play the set refrain together, and then bow out on a recurring vamp, leaving one soloist to take his turn blowing the blues. None of the three horns gets cheated. Pianist Ray Bryant enriches the mix, not only with a fine solo but with his perfect comping.
This is one of those releases that I've never gotten tired of. It's a classic from three of the premier practitioners of bop, each of whom help to bring out the best in one another. A must for any serious jazz collection.
Diz, Newk and Stitt are at the pinnicle of their creative careers. Dizzy is like bubbling oiled fire. Rollins...raw, biting, searching. Stitt...smooth as butter, funny, fast. One of the two strokes of genius on this date...the pairing of these two tenor titans. Their styles are so totally different yet they compliment one another.
The other stroke of genius is the use of blues oriented jazz pianist Ray Bryant who adds a solid mood that anchors this session.
"On The Sunny Side Of The Street" opens the set at a business man's bounce. Stitt takes the first solo followed by Diz using a Harmon mute. Rollins jumps in with all fours and the out melody is sung by (who else) Dizzy embelishing the lyrics with "Dizzyisms".
A Stitt original "The Eternal Triangle" flys. Faster than my metronome (208). Stitt takes the first solo and is off. The ideas just gush out. His tone is so beautiful and his rhythm is right on the money. Dizzy and Rollins throw in shout riffs behind him to build the energy. Stitt's solo ends when Rollins busts through the door and they begin trading "fours". As Joe Bob Briggs might say..."then they got pissed". Each tries to outdo the other and succeeds, the result is an exremely exciting and climactic romp through this tune. After they trade "eights" Dizzy tepidly enters on unmuted horn and cools things down before launching into one of the most inspired solos of his life. He squeezes out screeching high notes, half valves it, jerks the rhythm and finally ends by trading fours with drummer Chas Persip ending the head with a blazing tag.
Ray Bryant has made the Avery Paris! h tune "After Hours" his own with this recording. The Bryant touch is so blue it profounly affects the horn soloists. Each tune shows Dizzy's musical stamp with small ensemble riffs sometimes launching a soloist. This tune is no exception. A classic.
Another workout for bassist Tommy Bryant is "I Know That You Know". Sonny Rollons "stop time" solo on this showcases his ability to hear the chords and rhythm in his head and jettison the band for several choruses.
This is a good CD to turn a novice on to jazz or perk up some jazz die hard. It doesn't get any better than this! A ten on the groove-o-meter.