Plas Johnson's playing has a place on almost every American's mental hard drive, even if you don't know his name (he was the piccolo player on Bobby Day's "Rockin' Robin," the tenor sax on The Pink Panther and The Odd Couple themes, etc.).
Red Holloway has a higher profile in the jazz world, but like
Johnson, chose to confine himself mostly to Los Angeles. Together, in their seventies, they journeyed out to
Rudy Van Gelder's studio in New Jersey to match wits on another Bob Porter-produced soul-jazz cooker, effortlessly suggesting tenor battles of the past. They are a most compatible duo, with
Johnson displaying a slightly lighter, more overt rhythm & blues tinge, and their sure-footed note selection makes them a pleasure to hear. The battle royal reaches a peak on
Arnett Cobb's fortuitously titled "Go Red Go," fading on one ecstatic, repeated, unison, A flat note. There are also solo ballad tracks for each player, where
Holloway reaches deep down into warm, majestic
Illinois Jacquet/
Gene Ammons territory in "Serenade in Blue" and
Johnson opens up his lower-register timbre on "Cry Me a River." The rhythm section virtually defines this idiom, with down-home veterans like guitarist
Melvin Sparks (who offers killer obbligatos in "Pass the Gravy"), Hammond organist
Gene Ludwig, and drummer
Kenny Washington keeping the pot boiling. Also, the 24-bit sound that
Van Gelder was getting in 2001 projects everything with an oomph and clarity that is astounding even for this master engineer. ~ Richard S. Ginell