LPCDreissues: Looking forward to the past

In his notes for More Party Time, LeRoi Jones calls Arnett Cobb "an old swinging work horse stomper." That is a fair description of a tenor saxophonist who came roaring out of Texas in 1942 to replace Illinois Jacquet in Lionel Hampton's band and for five years played arsonist solos with Hampton before establishing a swinging group of his own. Here, in one of his most popular albums, Cobb surrounds himself with younger men who established their credentials in the late Fifties as leading players on the New York jazz scene. Tommy Flanagan is the pianist on most tracks, with Bobby Timmons on one. Sam Jones and Arthur Taylor are the bassist and drummer. The repertoire includes standard songs, a gospel number, and an archetypal Cobb blues. To all of them he brings the expansiveness of his tone and spacious Southwest style.Lover, Come Back to Me; Blue Lou, Swanee River, Down by the Riverside, Blue Me, Sometimes I'm Happywith Tommy Flanagan, Bobby Timmons, Sam Jones, Arthur Taylor, Danny Barrajanos, Buck Clarke