The Cats

VINYL FORMAT. 1957 may have been a watershed year for jazz, but this session, recorded for Prestige on April 18 at the Rudy Van Gelder Studio in NJ, was still a cut above the rest. While Coltrane may be the big name draw here, this session was actually led by pianist Tommy Flanagan, who would go on to be Ella Fitzgerald's accompanist in the sixties, and appear on a number of historic jazz sessions including Coltrane's Giant Steps, and Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus. In fact, every composition on this album was written by Flanagan, except for Gershwin's "How Long Has This Been Going On?", performed here in trio form. Also features some truly superlative trumpet playing by Idrees Sulieman, best known for his association with Coleman Hawkins.