- Format: CD
- Label: Fantasy
- Genre: Jazz
By 1949, when the first of these tracks was recorded, Al Haig had made it clear that he was a major jazz artist. He was a favorite colleague of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Fats Navarro, and Stan Getz. He was in demand by dozens of other leading players as their accompanist of preference. Many of his peers considered him second only to Bud Powell among bebop pianists. This CD brings together sessions that Haig led for minor labels and for which he employed sidemen who were decidedly not minor. They included Wardell Gray, Stan Getz, Roy Haynes, Bill Crow, Gene Ramey, and Jimmy Raney. Whatever the tempos--and some are breathtaking--the consistency of Haig’s assurance, relaxation, and creative flow is amazing.
Track listing: Just One of Those Things, Yardbird Suite, Taboo, Mighty Like a Rose, S’Wonderful; Just You, Just Me; The Moon Was Yellow, ’Round Midnight, Sugar Hill, Five Star, It’s the Talk of the Town, In a Pinch, Skull Buster, Ante Room, Poop Deck, Pennies from Heaven with Bill Crow, Lee Abrams, Stan Getz, Tommy Potter, Roy Haynes, Wardell Gray, Jimmy Raney, Charlie Perry, Terry Swope, Gene Ramey, Carlos Vidal
