The only recording of
the J.C. Heard Orchestra (a Detroit-based big band that the drummer had founded in 1981) finds the veteran
Heard (just two years prior to his death) mostly playing high-quality hard bop with his 13-piece big band. Of the eight songs (best-known are "Nica's Dream" and
Woody Shaw's "Sweet Love of Mine"), four are the leader's originals. Among the sidemen, trumpeter
Walter Szymanski makes the biggest impression. Pianist
Earl Van Riper is the only musician with even a slight "name," but
the J.C. Heard Orchestra had a hard-driving and appealing sound.