On his second album, muscular tenor saxman Lin Halliday continues to excel by sticking with what he does best: unapologetic hard bop greatly influenced by Sonny Rollins' recordings of the late '50s. The insightful Windy City support he'd enjoyed on Delayed Exposure reunites with him on
East of the Sun:
Ira Sullivan (who is heard on trumpet, flugelhorn, tenor sax, and alto flute), pianist
Jodie Christian, bassist Dennis Carrroll, and drummer George Fludas. As intensely as Halliday swings on "I Found a New Baby," his warm and very personal lyricism on "Corcovado," "Indian Summer," and "Will You Still Be Mine" indicate that he's a romantic at heart. Like its predecessor,
East of the Sun makes listeners wish a label had offered Halliday a deal 20 or 30 years earlier. ~ Alex Henderson