This long out-of-print Famous Door album was finally reissued by the Progressive label nearly 30 years after its initial release.
Bill Watrous has long been known as one of
jazz's top trombonists (having a beautiful tone and a very fluent command of the bebop vocabulary) and it is always a joy to hear veterans tenor saxophonist
Al Cohn, pianist
Hank Jones, bassist
Milt Hinton, and drummer
Steve Gadd. However, the biggest surprise of this set is the brilliant playing of the vastly underrated trumpeter
Danny Stiles, who often competes with
Watrous for solo honors. The original five-song program, which includes "Just Friends" (mistakenly credited to
John Klemmer rather than
John Klenner!) and a lengthy "Snafu," is expanded slightly with the inclusion of a second (and previously unreleased) version of
Watrous' "Don't Tell Me What To Do." A fine bebop date most notable for the playing of the late
Danny Stiles. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
