Benny Carter - Skyline Drive and Towards (2020)

The bulk of this CD reissues a brilliant 1982 session featuring altoist Benny Carter with the tenors of Plas Johnson and Jerome Richardson, plus a variety of top European mainstream players including altoist Arne Domnerus, clarinetist Putte Wickman, trumpeter Jan Allen, and pianist Bengt Hallberg. Some of the music is reminiscent of Carter's famous European four-saxophone session of 1937, and these renditions of "Doozy" and "Easy Money" are quite definitive and exciting. In addition to the eight original selections on the LP, eight other numbers from the 1929-1939 period have been added to the set to double its length. These include examples of Carter's work on both alto and trumpet with McKinney's Cotton Pickers, the Chocolate Dandies, and Lionel Hampton in Europe in the 1930s, and with Teddy Wilson/Billie Holiday ("Sugar"). All in all, this CD acts both as a reminder of how strong Carter's 1982 date was, when he was a mere 75, and as a retrospective of his musical legacy.