by Scott Yanow
This is an odd LP. The first session is a conventional one with vibraphonist Milt Jackson, tenor-saxophonist Jimmy Heath, pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist Richard Davis and drummer Connie Kay performing Heath's recent &Gingerbread Boy,& Duke Ellington's &I Got It Bad& and a pair of Jackson originals. The flip side substitutes two guitars for Flanagan's piano and uses bossa nova rhythms in hopes of getting a hit. Milt does play well on &I Love You& and Lillian Clark's vocal on &Jazz 'N' Samba& is fine but &The Oo-Oo Bossa Noova& is strictly for those listeners who are nostalgic for Car 54, Where Are You.