SHELLY MANNE Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Award-winning American jazz pianist Hampton Hawes joins forces with Barney Kessel on guitar, Red Mitchell on double bass and Shelly Manne on drums pn this 1956 release that has since been dubbed a jazz classic. With performances that have been described as perfect all round, each song is a progressive epic that feels like its own organic sphere, the instruments communicating to each other from across the room, the microphone placed right next to the piano - the session being recorded in the golden era of stereo channel separation - as Hawes absolutely demolishes the keys unlike anything you've ever heard. The control is unparalleled in the way he occasionally holds a note, briefly pauses or just plays at blinding speeds. Truly an ace of all trades when it comes to jazz piano mastery.