This LP (whose contents have been reissued on CD) features a reunion between tenor-saxophonist
Coleman Hawkins and clarinetist
Pee Wee Russell; they revisit "If I Could Be with You," a song they had recorded together in a classic version back in 1929.
Russell was beginning to perform much more modern material than the Dixieland music associated with the
Eddie Condon players and on this set (which also features trumpeter
Emmett Berry, valve trombonist
Bob Brookmeyer, pianist
Nat Pierce, bassist
Milt Hinton and drummer
Jo Jones), he plays a couple of
Duke Ellington tunes, two originals and "Tin Tin Deo."
Hawkins is also in fine form and this somewhat surprising program is quite successful. ~ Scott Yanow