Another dip into the now legendary cache of unreleased tapes recorded by the Free Trade Hall's in-house sound engineers. Truly this was a magic evening in Manchester when the Messengers supported the Thelonious Monk Quartet – at around a couple of quid a ticket! As to be expected, the Messengers performed a carefully thought out crowd-pleasing programme of seven finely arranged selections which kicked off with ‘It's Only A Paper Moon’ and included ‘Dat Dere’, ‘Are You Real’, ‘The Summit’ plus three from their Blue Note album A Night In Tunisia that took in the thunderous title track plus ‘Like Someone In Love’ and concluded with ‘Kozo's Waltz’. As other recordings from this memorable European tour substantiate, this much recorded edition of the Messengers was consistently on the money especially Lee Morgan who was in complete command of his considerable abilities. His reasoning is beyond question as he virtually sizzles throughout solo after solo. Meanwhile, the everadventurous Wayne Shorter plays things close to his chest leaving Bobby Timmons to deliver ‘Dat Dere’ to the delight of a packed house. I've written at length about the Messengers within these pages and on each occasion I've lauded them (along with Horace Silver's bands, arguably the most accomplished of hard bop purveyors). This marvellous release hasn't altered that opinion.