Prelude

by Scott YanowPianist Benny Green's debut as a leader (the first of two Criss Cross releases) was indeed a prelude to his long string of Blue Note recordings. Already a brilliant player who had been in Betty Carter's group and with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers for a year, Green was at 24 on the brink of jazz stardom. He holds his own with some notable sidemen (trumpeter Terence Blanchard, tenor saxophonist Javon Jackson, bassist Peter Washington and drummer Tony Reedus), performing Duke Ellington's "Take the Coltrane," a pair of obscurities and two of his originals. The music is advanced hard bop and easily recommended to straight-ahead jazz fans.