Crossovers between pop and jazz have been occurring for years in both directions, as this disc demonstrates. It combines two 1960 blowing sessions that suggest how Curtis Ousley, who was already the king of rock and roll tenor saxophonists, also could have reigned in the soulful jazz realm of Gene Ammons and Stanley Turrentine. The experienced supporting cast, including Nat Adderley, Wynton Kelly, and Paul Chambers or Sam Jones, contributes to the strength of these sessions, but the tenor man's own rhythmically charged, deeply passionate playing on ballads, up-tempo swingers, and a mess of blues are all that is needed to reveal King Curtis as a jazz artist to the manner born.

with Nat Adderley, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, Sam Jones, Oliver Jackson, Belton Evans