Randy Weston: With These Hands/The Modern Art Of Jazz/Jazz A La Bohemia auf 2 CDs

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When these well-crafted mid-fifties sessions were made, Randy Weston had a working trio and he and Cecil Payne were frequent partners, which accounts for the music's general air of ease. It's particularly true of the studio dates, With 'These Hands' and 'The Modern Art Of Jazz', in which Payne's fluently mobile, surprisingly light and legato baritone makes an effective balance to Weston's more percussive piano. Weston, recognised as one of the most original voices to emerge from under Thelonious Monk's umbrella, lives up to the praise heaped on him, while the marvellous Payne rivals perhaps his greatest baritone contemporary, Serge Chaloff.

Highlights include the debut of Weston's gorgeously exotic "Little Niles", "The Man I Love" and "These Foolish Things" (taken much faster than usual) and the calypso-like "Run Joe", to which trumpeter Ray Copeland ebulliently adds a Mexican spice. The live 'Jazz A La Bohemia' is a relaxed affair, with Weston especially striking in a trio version of "You Go to My Head". Piano and baritone are spurred on by the exuberant calypso "Run Joe" and stretch out rewardingly on "Just a Riff". The most intriguing performance is Weston's minor key but uptempo "Chessman's Delight", with both stimulated to produce possibly their best work on the date.