Nineteen-seventy-eight was the year Tommy Flanagan decided he had had enough of accompanying singers for a living and began concentrating on what every attentive listener knew the pianist was meant for: full use of his gift as a soloist. As if to release years of bottled-up energy and creativity, Flanagan recorded Something Borrowed, Something Blue, still one of the finest collections in his discography. His repertoire is made up of classic compositions by Dizzy Gillespie, Horace Silver, Thelonious Monk, Tadd Dameron, and Wes Montgomery, a Thad Jones piece that sounds like pure Charlie Parker, and Flanagan's blues-inflected title tune. Accompanying Flanagan are veteran bassist Keter Betts and the crisply swinging Jimmie Smith on drums.

with Keter Betts, Jimmie Smith