Physical troubles ended trumpeter
Buck Clayton's playing career in the late 1960s. However, he had long been a talented arranger, and he began to emerge from his involuntary retirement (at least as a writer) by the early 1970s. Hank O'Neal of Chiaroscuro Records suggested that
Clayton organize and write for some jam sessions that would be in the same spirit as his legendary jams of the mid-'50s. There would be three projects, one in each year from 1974-76. The 1974 jam, reissued on this CD, features such major individualists as pianist
Earl Hines (who emerges as the top star), trumpeters
Doc Cheatham and
Joe Newman, trombonist
Urbie Green, altoist Earle Warren, tenors
Zoot Sims and
Budd Johnson, baritonist
Joe Temperley (subbing for an ailing Harry Carney), bassist
Milt Hinton and drummer Gus Johnson. The group performs four of
Clayton's originals, including a 26-minute version of "Lazy Blues" and, even if the music overall does not reach the great heights of
Clayton's earlier sessions, this is a worthy reissue that should interest mainstream jazz fans. ~ Scott Yanow