Critic's Review
Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
A CD sampler taken from five former LPs, this fine CD features Joe Williams doing three songs from Duke Ellington's play Jump for Joy, five numbers at the 1963 Newport Jazz Festival (during which he is joined by trumpeters Clark Terry and Howard McGhee, and tenor greats Coleman Hawkins, Zoot Sims, and Ben Webster), four blues numbers backed by an all-star jazz group, and five ballads in front of an orchestra. Although it would be preferable to have each of the five original albums intact, this superb collection features Joe Williams on a wide variety of material, and he is heard close to his peak throughout.
