FEBRUARY 23

               PEE WEE RUSSELL

                 Jazz Reunion

                 Recording Date:
                      February 23, 1961

                 Personnel:
                     Emmett Berry        TP 
                     Bob Brookmeyer    TB 
                     Coleman Hawkins   TS 
                     Milt Hinton             B
                     Jo Jones                D 
                     Nat Pierce              P 
                     Pee Wee Russell     CL

                  LINK Retired

Review by Scott Yanow
This LP (whose contents have been reissued on CD) features a reunion between tenor-saxophonist Coleman Hawkins and clarinetist Pee Wee Russell; they revisit "If I Could Be with You," a song they had recorded together in a classic version back in 1929. Russell was beginning to perform much more modern material than the Dixieland music associated with the Eddie Condon players and on this set (which also features trumpeter Emmett Berry, valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer, pianist Nat Pierce, bassist Milt Hinton and drummer Jo Jones), he plays a couple of Duke Ellington tunes, two originals and "Tin Tin Deo." Hawkins is also in fine form and this somewhat surprising program is quite successful.