When serious jazz enthusiasts talk about quintessential bebop, it’s impossible not to mention this album. Bird and Diz may be the only record that acquired more claim than Clifford Brown and Max Roach (note: it was released two years earlier by the truest bebop pioneer of them all, Charlie Parker). Clifford Brown tragically died one year after the release of this spectacular album (along side band member and pianist Richie Powell, no less) while Harold Land would perform and record into the new millennium. Who knows what magic this duo would have created otherwise. Max Roach also lived a long and fruitful life well into his 80’s and is widely regarded as one of the greatest jazz drummers of all time. I hope you take the time to enjoy all eight compositions on this album, especially the bass feature/ballad, “These Foolish Things”. The mixing of the levels for the bass was not very consistent, so there are times when hearing exact notes was difficult. As many of you know by now, I do my best but never guarantee 100% accuracy. Regardless, I implore you to memorize many of George Morrow’s lines and dig into his feel alongside Roach. A good bassist should match the feel and note choices of Morrow’s playing. Notice how his pitch accuracy is almost always on point, even if that means sacrificing creativity with line structure (a technique that wouldn’t become mainstream until the 1960’s with Ron Carter’s playing). As a wise man named Ray Brown once told my former teacher: “Roots on one will keep you working!”