In 1966 producer Don Schlitten imported Sonny Criss to New York for a recording session with a rhythm section handpicked for their ability to swing and for their understanding of the bebop methods that drove Criss. Determined to enhance the career of an alto saxophonist he considered an overlooked genius of the modern era, Schlitten thus provided the circumstance for one of Criss's great albums. To many listeners, This Is Criss! was a revelation; it presented a fully matured soloist who had overcome the uneven conception and time problems that many of them remembered from his brilliant but erratic earlier work. Highlights include the grit and emotional directness of his playing on the blues and his inventiveness on the beautiful and harmonically demanding "Skylark."

with Walter Davis, Paul Chambers, Alan Dawson