Dizzy Gillespie Meets Phil Woods Quintet
Timeless****

JAZZ:This long-unavailable album is a potent reminder of altoist Phil Woods's brilliant mid-1980s band of Tom Harrell (trumpet/flugelhorn), Hal Galper (piano), Steve Gilmore (bass) and Bill Goodwin (drums). It's a session usually overlooked, probably because it was a pick-up studio date, with Dizzy Gillespie guesting with the quintet. The great man, who plays well enough, is outmanouvered by his in-form, younger rival, Harrell. With DG on board, the emphasis was more on bop, an idiom that suited the quintet, though, left to their own devices, they tended to push the envelope a bit. But bop requires energy as well as invention and technique, and the quintet is explosively good here, typified on Love for Saleand Harrell's bluesy Terrestris, while Round Midnight is fresh, personal and respectful without drowning in reverence. Competitive, but it sounds like they had a ball. www.propernote.co.uk