Hal McKusick's final recording as a leader mixes three separate sessions with
contributions by four great arrangers. The cast of musicians varies from one
date to the next, although
McKusick and pianist
Bill Evans are present on every track, while
Art Farmer,
Milt Hinton, and
Barry Galbraith also make strong impressions. This music has held up extremely well over the decades, especially
George Russell's forward-thinking treatment of "You're My Thrill" and his sauntering, somewhat atonal, blues "Stratusphunk." Also valuable are the charts by
Jimmy Giuffre,
George Handy, and
Ernie Wilkins. The blend of the saxophones in
Handy's upbeat "The Last Day of Fall" almost sound like an accordion. Most of this music was reissued on the CD Now's the Time (1957-1958), although two brilliant arrangements by
Jimmy Giuffre ("Yesterdays" and his own "Sing Song") were, unfortunately, omitted from that compilation, making it worth the effort to search for this elusive Decca LP. ~ Ken Dryden