Benny Carter Quartet - Sax A La Carter (2004)

Benny Carter - sax, Jimmy Rowles - piano, Leroy Vinnegar - bass, Mel Lewis - drums. Recorded at Radio Recorders in Los Angeles on February 5, 1960.

This is the great American alto saxist and composer Benny Carter, who died last year (2004) at 95, breezing along with a fine quartet in LA in 1960 - with that genius of piano accompaniment, Jimmy Rowles. Carter's sound seems to embody the pragmatically sensual, life-embracing ease that characterises the jazz of the pre-bop era - though as an immensely sophisticated musician, Carter's improvising was full of modern audacities.

This is a conventional and easy-swinging set - but the pleading romantic tremor in the ballad playing, the suggestively swivelling slurs and the almost Bird-like brittleness on For All We Know all testify to a master in his prime. ~John Fordham