Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis & Johnny Griffin: Griff & Lock (Complete Studio Recordings) auf 2 CDs

The three studio albums recorded for Jazzland by the aptly named Tough Tenors, Johnny Griffin and Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis, and their calorific Junior Mance-Larry Gales-Ben Riley rhythm section epitomize what this incendiary group was about. As Gene Lees put it succinctly in Down Beat magazine at the time, "This is five men swinging up a storm, and jazz is fortunate that such men exist to feed it." It's hearty, full-blowing jazz of the kind now associated with the partnership of contrasting tenor styles.

Here at the height of their game together, Griff and Lock stand as two swaggering swingers in a take-no-prisoners quintet greatly enhanced by the down-home soulfulness of Mance's piano. Brusquely disposed of by the leaders, the tunes are jumping off points for combative improvisations in which both tenors display a sinewy, elastic muscularity that enables them to create roaring, vital, driving jazz.

Half a century on, these ebulliently swinging collaborations possess a joie de vivre that is well nigh irresistable.