Lucky Thompson creates a host of spectacular improvisations on the 16 songs on this wonderful CD reissue. It is comprised of two 1956 sessions; one features
Thompson heading a trio backed by bassist
Oscar Pettiford and guitarist
Skeeter Best, and the other has him heading either a quartet or quintet including the great trombonist
Jimmy Cleveland.
Cleveland's smooth, superbly articulated phrases and statements rank alongside
Thompson's gliding lines in their brilliance, and pianist
Hank Jones (on three cuts) also sparkles with some marvelous solos. But
Thompson is the star on this date, his elegant yet robust and exuberant playing demonstrating again what a loss his voluntary departure from the scene has constituted. ~ Ron Wynn