Carmell Jones - Jay Hawk Talk

2000 CD reissue.

Trumpeter Carmell Jones (1936-1996) first gained fame on the Los Angeles jazz scene and spent more than a decade of his career in Europe; but he was a native of the Jayhawk State–Kansas City, Kansas, to be exact–and his melodically engaging, hard-swinging style is firmly grounded in the grand jazz tradition that was nurtured across the border in Kansas City, Missouri.

The band Jones assembled for this 1965 date also proves how Midwest jazz verities became the music’s common coin, as Philly’s Jimmy Heath, Detroit’s Barry Harris, Florida’s George Tucker, and Pittsburgh’s Roger Humphries (like Jones a member of Horace Silver’s quintet at the time of this session) create with uncommon unity. Three of the tracks, including the evocative "Dance of the Night Child," are Jones originals, while the standards include a moving feature for the leader on "Willow Weep for Me."