by Scott Yanow
The title of this exciting meeting between the tenors of Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt was rather poignant, because this recording was released in the late '60s, when Ammons was serving a long jail sentence for possession of heroin, and it appeared that he and Stitt might never meet up again. Backed by pianist John Houston, bassist Buster Williams, and drummer George Brown, Ammons and Stitt (who had co-led a regular group a decade before) proved once again to be a perfect team, jamming on a variety of standards, blues, and ballads while also revisiting &New Blues Up and Down.& The two tenors always brought out the best in each other, and luckily, they would get back together in the early '70s. This is high-quality bebop.