On October 4, Craft Recordings adds tenor saxophonist Teddy Edwards and trumpeter Howard McGhee’s Together Again!!!! to the label’s already impressive Contemporary Records Acoustic Sounds Series. Originally released in 1961, the set’s sturdy and energetic bop maneuvers are invigorated through the support of pianist Phineas Newborn, bassist Ray Brown, and drummer Ed Thigpen. Pressed on 180 gram vinyl, this deserving reissue serves up a fine one-stop introduction to the co-leaders, both of whom are in sharp form throughout.
In the category of tenor saxophonists from the original bebop era, Teddy Edwards is right up there with Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray, but not as well-known as either, partly because once Edwards made his way to Los Angeles (after touring around the south in the band of Ernie Fields, he pretty much stayed there. Upon joining McGhee’s band (hence Contemporary’s titling here) Edwards switched to tenor sax, and after cutting a handful of sides as a leader, recorded a killer tenor battle with Gordon for Dial (“The Duel”) that’s been somewhat overshadowed by Gordon’s team-ups with Gray from the same era.
If not a groundbreaker a la Dizzy Gillespie, Howard McGhee is an essential figure in the development of Modern Jazz trumpet, right up there with Fats Navarro and Idrees Sulieman. But after struggling with drug addition, he recorded infrequently in the 1950s; a few comeback attempts resulted in some recordings for the Bethlehem label but not much in the way of sustained productivity, at least until the turn of the decade, when he caught creative fire for a sustained period.
Together Again!!!! is part of that stretch, a sensible co-billing at the time given the spark of interest in players from bop’s early days who were still around and up to the task (Doin’ Allright, Gordon’s first in a long string of Blue Note classics, was also released in 1961). Contemporary quickly followed up this LP with Maggie’s Back in Town, which Craft Recordings reissued earlier in 2024 (for a deeper dive into McGhee’s artistry, please check out our review of Maggie’s Back in Town in this column).
Pairing McGhee with Edwards was perhaps a cautious move, but ultimately a successful one as the dual horn front line delivers a deeper bang (while Maggie’s Back establishes that McGhee can carry a record on his own). Together Again!!!! is a concise LP, with six selections divided equally per side but opening (the title track sans exclamation points, an Edwards’ composition) and closing (“Sandy,” written by McGhee) with strong up-tempo statements, each breaking nine minutes.
This gives the horn players ample opportunity to stretch out and shine, but Brown’s bass is huge and swinging, Thigpen’s rhythming is impeccable (and often with a Latin touch on the toms), and Newborn (the only player whose services were retained for Maggie’s Back) excels at anchoring, accenting, and taking expressive solo flights of his own.
“Perhaps,” a song from the book of Charlie Parker, opens side two, a smart choice strengthening the bop foundation (both Edwards and McGhee played with Parker). But interestingly, the standard “You Stepped Out of a Dream” radiates a little Gillespie-esque Latin flavor in its thematic statements (think “A Night in Tunesia”). Slowing it down with “Misty” may seem like a safe option in retrospect, but the Errol Garner tune wasn’t even seven years old at the time, and they pull it off with aplomb. Edwards’ playing is especially strong, cultivating a sophistication that’s very ’70s.
“Misty” is given a tidy reading, but the Ray Brown composition “Up There” is even shorter, moving at a spirited pace that’s reminiscent of those Dial and Savoy session of yore. Together Again!!!! doesn’t better the early work of these two underrated giants, but Edwards and McGhee are fully engaged and up to date.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
