Nabbed this puppy used a while back and have finally gotten around to checking it out in depth the last few weeks. AMG gives it 2.5 stars, but that's just wrong.
Despite his notorious flamboyance over the years, Hamp could flat-out PLAY when the time came, and in this loose-but-together, informally structured (and very well-recorded) 1953 jam session, the time came. Divided between vibes/bass/guitar trios (Buddy Montgomery & Billy Mackel) and larger groups (which include, a.o., Jimmy Cleveland, Mezz Mezzrow, & Clifford Scott), Hamp is an endless font of ideas throughout. Quiet as it's sometimes kept, Hamp was one of the more harmonically advanced Swing Era players, and his playing here is rife with alterations and substitutions, as well as a seemingly endless rhythmic flow. No bebop from him, but so what? Ideas and swing know no genre limitations. In fact, on this session, he plays with a freshness and inventiveness that many more "modern" players would be hard-pressed to match. He just goes and goes and goes and goes, and the results are never cheap or boring. The larger groups find everybody in excellent form also (Cleveland in particular seems fired up and good to go). French tenorist Alix Combelle, a new name to me, is a real treat, playing gritty, hard-swinging tenor in the Hawk-via-Ben manner. A VERY solid player he seems to be, and I'd like to hear more of him sometime. His playing really seems to get to Hamp, who is heard offering him noticable calls of approval and encouragement.
Not a "landmark" disc, or anything like that, but certainly one that many here will find to their liking, and one that might well surprise those who know Hampton more by his reputation than by his playing.
This is damn good stuff. Check it out.