The second of two CDs that reissue the music from three
Art Blakey LPs plus additional material (reshuffling the order to make it more logical), this set features trumpeter
Woody Shaw,
Carter Jefferson on tenor and soprano,
Cedar Walton on keyboards, bassist
Mickey Bass,
Tony Waters on congas and the drummer/leader plus three guests: guitarist Michael Howell, trombonist
Steve Turre and (on "Moanin"' and "Along Came Betty"), singer
Jon Hendricks.
Shaw is in excellent form and
Blakey propels and inspires his sidemen as usual. In addition to the two vocals, the nine instrumentals (which had originally been divided between the LPs Buhaina and Athenagin) are consistently swinging and well worth hearing. ~ Scott Yanow