condition (record/cover): NM / EX

Insert and obi included.

1956, the final studio testament of the Clifford Brown - Max Roach quintet, now with a young Sonny Rollins in the tenor chair - which makes this one of the great front lines ever assembled in the history of the music, full stop, no inflation. "What Is This Thing Called Love" gets the definitive hard bop treatment, Brown and Rollins trading at a level that still makes musicians laugh out loud in disbelief; Richie Powell's arrangements give the band new orchestral depth, the writing finally catching up to the soloists. Months later Brown and Powell were both gone on the same Pennsylvania Turnpike night, and this record became a monument nobody wanted. Listen past the shadow and what remains is pure joy: two giants at the summit trading choruses like gifts, with Roach building the ground beneath them and the future - Rollins's imminent great run - already audible.

Japanese EmArcy pressing, quiet and true. Essential by any measure that matters.