by Scott Yanow
This 72-minute CD starts off with one of the underrated gems of the 1960s, an exciting matchup by tenors Sonny Stitt and Paul Gonsalves. Other than the brief throwaway &Theme from Lord of the Flies& (producer Bob Thiele's idea), this is very much a jam session set, with &Salt and Pepper& being a heated medium-tempo blues and the two competitive tenors stretching out on &S'posin'& and a lengthy &Perdido.& Actually, the most memorable selection from the date is the one on which Stitt switches to alto, &Stardust.& His beautiful playing behind Gonsalves' warm melody statement raises the session to the classic level. Also included on this consistently exciting CD is a Sonny Stitt quartet set originally titled Now! Although Stitt (doubling on alto and tenor) recorded scores of quartet sessions, he sounds particularly inspired here, especially on such offbeat material as &Estralita,& the Dixieland standard &Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone,& and &My Mother's Eyes.& Highly recommended to bebop and straight-ahead jazz fans.