Craft Vinyl & CDs

Review: Together Again!!!! reunites trumpeter Howard McGhee and saxophonist Teddy Edwards in a jazz collaboration originally released in 1961 that is as energised and electric as the title with all its many exclamation marks. This reissue is part of the Acoustic Sounds Series and showcases the exceptional talents of McGhee and Edwards alongside Phineas Newborn Jr. on piano, Ray Brown on bass, and Ed Thigpen on drums. It has been cut from the original master tapes by Bernie Grundman so the AAA lacquers enhance the album's rich sound. It's a mini-classic of the jazz world and it never sounded better.

Review: The pioneering American jazz trumpeter Howard McGhee was one of the first to do bebop and this is often noted as a legacy for which he never truly did receive credit by the history books. Maggie's Back In Town!!, however, released in 1961 on the Contemporary label, is the most likely candidate for piercing this occlusive remainder; it's a tight, light tsk-tsker, on which McGhee's playing is never once heard getting ahead of itself or biting off more than it can chew. The mood is laconic and muted, as if to demonstrate McGhee's relaxed persona and long-awaited return to town. Phineas Newborn Jr (piano), Leroy Vinnegar (bass) and Shelly Manne (drums) add to the hoo-hah with their virtuosic but subtle sang-froid.