Blue Note 1557, makes my top 5 list.

Oh, what can I say about this wonderful album. It makes my top 5 best albums of all time, for sure. It's a beautiful example of hard bop from the classic era. Lee Morgan, as you know, my favorite trumpeter of all time absolutely smokes on the trumpet. The tunes are all composed and arranged by Benny Golson. Which makes me wonder why I haven't got more Golson material in the collection. All tunes are great. My favorite picks from this set is the up-tempo "Domingo", where the spot when Golson comes in, in the beginning of the tune, with his tenor sax and blows is extremely nice, and the wonderful, haunting ballad "I Remember Clifford", dedicated to the superb Clifford Brown. Morgan plays stunningly beautiful on this homage to his fellow trumpeter. And who else could have been better to pay tribute to Clifford than him. Both were masters.

The sound is first class on this, as can be expected. An original 1st pressing, with the NY23 labels, in fantastic condition, makes this one of my most treasured gems. It's very rare, perhaps one of the rarest of the Blue Notes. The 1st pressings comes up very seldom on the market in great condition. This LP boasts an all-star line up, with Morgan on trumpet, Gigi Gryce on alto, Golson on tenor, Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers on double bass and the superb Charlie Persip on drums. I truly dig Persip, a great drummer. When it comes to drums in jazz, he is one of my favorites, up there with Art Taylor, Philly Joe Jones, Elvin Jones, Shelly Manne and so on.

This LP, to me, is a real must to have in any jazz collection. If you're after the 1st pressing it's, of course, very difficult to find but if you do find it, make sure you don't let it slip away. This is a true gem.

Have a nice rest of the weekend and I'll be back soon with more interesting stuff.

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