Recorded back in 1961, this album features two of the most distinguished-sounding alto saxes in jazz history, making for inspiration and comparison, the soul bopper Cannonball Adderley and the master of classy swing, Benny Carter. Each band gets three songs to show the joyful reaches of the reeds.
In 1961, Adderley was between his long jams of his Riverside SFO recordings and his big hit “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy”, just about to release his classic Know What I Mean? Album. His with brother Nat/ct, Victor Feldman/p-vib, Sam Jones/b and Louis Hayes/dr, giving a gospel tinged groove to the hit “This Here” and sounding kinda blue on the evocative “New Dehli” with Cannonball in Baptist pulpit form.
Charter member of the Swing Era, veteran Benny Carter had just released own classic album Further Definitions and sound inspired with his team of Karl Drewo/ts, R aymond Droz/tb, Francis Coppierters/p, Erich Peter/b and Stuff Combe/dr on a trio of standards. Carter ishis usual classy self on “Rose Room” and displays an Old School vibrato for “ Laura” while the team swings with authority on “It’s Wonderful” as if they grew up on the song. Hey, they did!