1959 was not a bad year for Curtis Fuller.

Meeting Benny Golson at the end of 1958 opened a few avenues for him, together they recorded around 8 albums in the span of a year, starting with ‘The Other Side of Benny Golson’ and culminating with Fuller’s ‘Sliding Easy’. Those two hit it off on more than one memorable album that year and laid the foundation for The Jazztet, commonly associated with Art Farmer and Benny Golson, but the title of this album suggests otherwise. His Savoy album Blues-ette is considered his masterpiece, and ‘The Curtis Fuller Jazztet with Benny Golson’ follows suit. It’s highly swinging hard bop with an on-fire Lee Morgan very aptly backed by Wynton Kelly, Chambers and Charlie Persip on drums. Chambers and Fuller knew each other very well, featuring on each others albums frequently.

I rate this on a par with ‘Blues-ette’, Fuller’s strength as a composer shows here, ‘Arabia’, which Fuller brought with him to Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers two years later has quite a resemblance to Miles Davis’s ‘Freddie Freeloader’ recorded a few months earlier and featuring of course Kelly and Chambers.

1. It's Alright With Me - 7:39 (Porter)
2. Wheatleith Hall - 14:05 (Gillespie)
3. I'll Walk Alone - 6:57 (Cahn, Styne)
4. Arabia - 6:35 (Fuller)
5. Judy's Dilemma - 5:51 (Fuller)

Recorded at the Van Gelder Studios, Englewood Cliffs New Jersey on 25. August 1959

Lee Morgan, Trumpet
Curtis Fuller, Trombone
Benny Golson, Tenor Sax
Wynton Kelly, Piano
Paul Chambers, Bass
Charlie Persip, Drums

Please feast your ears on Arabia in the player.