Don Byas was one of the great tenor saxophonists in jazz history but, due to his decision to move permanently to Europe in 1946, he remains very underrated in the jazz history books. This superlative set (in which he is backed by pianist
Bent Axen, bassist
Niels Pedersen and drummer
William Schiopffe) finds
Byas stretching out in a club on five jazz standards; listen to him tear into "Anthropology" and "Billies's Bounce." It is hard to believe, listening to this heated music, that
Byas (who would live until 1972) only would be recorded twice more as a leader.