A glance at this CD's cover might cause collectors to have a double take for it looks similar to the original
A Night at Birdland album by
Horace Silver and
the Jazz Messengers from the mid-'50s. The Birdland in this case is a jazz club in Hamburg, Germany and the music is not hard bop but hard-driving swing. The excellent young tenor
Harry Allen is heard leading a quintet that also includes trumpeter
Randy Sandke, pianist
Brian Dee, bassist
Len Skeat and (in one of his final sessions) drummer
Oliver Jackson.
Allen has an attractive and passionate tone and is heard in excellent form throughout the nine standards; he and
Sandke make for a very effective team. A rewarding release (as is the second volume) from the German Nagel-Heyer label. ~ Scott Yanow