It’s a safe bet that in the year 2004 there is one, and only one, person in the entire world who can claim that his crackling drums inspired the groundbreaking likes of Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Sarah Vaughan, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Stan Getz, and Pat Metheny. That man is Roy Haynes, who for the past half-century has played with virtually every major figure in jazz. Still a marvel as he approaches 80, Haynes (b. 1925) has also led numerous top-flight record dates, including the two paired herein, his only albums for Galaxy. Recorded almost exactly a year apart in July 1977 and 1978, these stellar sessions range from duo to septet. The collective result is at once very much of its time (electric keyboards, fuzz-tone guitar by the gifted, if little-known, Marcus Fiorello, multiple percussion; the Zappa-esque theme that is "Venus Eyes") and timeless (deep-song ballads like "Sweet Song," featuring Bobby Hutcherson's radiant vibes, "Wonderin'," and "More Pain Than Purpose," plus a jauntily swinging "Invitation," with tenor saxist Joe Henderson in peak form). Whether the cadence is tango, samba, funk, rock, or jazz, Roy Haynes is a master of all he rhythmically surveys.

with George Cables, Ron Carter, Stanley Cowell, Joe Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson, John Klemmer, Milcho Leviev, Cecil McBee, Kenneth Nash, and others