“IN HIGH PROFILE.” Dick Katz. Bee Hive...

“IN HIGH PROFILE.” Dick Katz. Bee Hive BH 7016. A respected pianist/composer who has racked up innumerable credits in New York (and who co-founded Milestone Records with Orrin Keepnews, annotator of the present album), Katz is presented here in two attractive settings: a trio, with Marc Johnson on bass and Al Harewood on drums; and a quintet for which the award-winning trombonist Jimmy Knepper and the tenor saxophonist/flutist Frank Wess were added.

This well-planned, hard-swinging, post-bop but pre-avant-garde collection ranges from originals to Gershwin, Coltrane, J.J. Johnson and Thelonious Monk. The trombone-flute blend is particularly beguiling. Knepper is so persuasive that one wonders why the trombone seems to have fallen out of favor as a jazz solo vehicle. As for Katz, he is neither Monk or Evans nor anyone else, having evolved a dazzling style of his own. 4 stars.