Jutta rocks but this is Zoot's show!
Robert D. Savage | 08/02/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I had never heard of Jutta Hipp prior to purchasing this album but I am glad to have given this album a try. She provides a great supportive role on piano to Zoot's blowing - substantial but never intrusive, yet this album really belongs to Mr. Sims.
And what a great team they make on this collaboration, along with Jerry LLoyd on trumpet, Ahmed Malik on bass and Ed Thigpen on the skins! The covers are mostly standards, which are interpreted through straight ahead bop playing that lovers of this music will truly appreciate. If you like straight ahead, bop jazz, this one is a must have!!!
The headlined artist has made her statement with this recording and should be remembered as not a jazz "star" but as one who understood the music, making her contribution without fanfare, who has left behind a true gem, that should be owned and remembered by true jazz fans everywhere."
Zoot Sims with an interesting lady at the piano
Nikica Gilic | Zagreb, Croatia | 06/11/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Although Jutta Hipp (who unfortunately retired from jazz not long after this album was recorded) is billed as a star, it is actually Zoot Sims who gives the most impressive performance here...
He shines at jazz standards, like "Violets for your furs" (although he is great at originals as well) and Jutta gives a very nice; modern, restrained but at times also very subtle support. The trumpeter Jerry Lloyd is, in my opinion, the weakest link in this nice straight ahead band, recorded in 1958.
BTW; Jerry Lloyd-attributed original "Down Home" is actually a reworking of an well known standard "(Back Home Again in) Indiana"...
If your buying this, try to get the editions with bonus tracks ("These Foolish Things" and "'S Wonderful"); with them the album has 8 tracks."