For this early hard bop date, altoist
Phil Woods and trumpeter
Donald Byrd were co-leaders. In fact, the music had at one point earlier on been released with
Byrd getting first billing. Since the spirited altoist contributed four of the six tunes (including "House of Chan" and "In Walked George") and consistently takes solo honors, it is only right that the date finally appeared under
Woods' name. With pianist
Al Haig (who did not record that extensively during this period), bassist
Teddy Kotick, and drummer
Charlie Persip offering stimulating accompaniment, this is an easily recommended release (despite its brief LP length) for straight-ahead jazz collectors. ~ Scott Yanow