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Jam Session, Vol.1 on CD

Physical troubles ended trumpeter Buck Clayton's playing career in the late 1960s. However, he had long been a talented arranger, and he began to emerge from his involuntary retirement (at least as a writer) by the early 1970s. Hank O'Neal of Chiaroscuro Records suggested that Clayton organize and write for some jam sessions that would be in the same spirit as his legendary jams of the mid-'50s. There would be three projects, one in each year from 1974-76. The 1974 jam, reissued on this CD, features such major individualists as pianist Earl Hines (who emerges as the top star), trumpeters Doc Cheatham and Joe Newman, trombonist Urbie Green, altoist Earle Warren, tenors Zoot Sims and Budd Johnson, baritonist Joe Temperley (subbing for an ailing Harry Carney), bassist Milt Hinton and drummer Gus Johnson. The group performs four of Clayton's originals, including a 26-minute version of "Lazy Blues" and, even if the music overall does not reach the great heights of Clayton's earlier sessions, this is a worthy reissue that should interest mainstream jazz fans.