At a time when West Coast jazz was primarily associated with young, white, college-educated jazz musicians who had graduated through big bands such as Stan Kenton and worked by day on the Hollywood sound stages and at night in jazz clubs such as the Lighthouse on Hermosa beach, Katanga! seemed like an explosion. Here was an alternative vision of West Coast jazz that was uncompromising hard-bop-into-post-bop that was unequivocal in its conception and execution.

There is a moment on the opening track ‘Katanga!’ where time seems to stand still. Dupree Bolton on trumpet takes the first solo and in only 96 bars of improvisation – lasting less than a minute an a quarter – he creates a solo of enormous impact. At the brisk tempo his solo has an ease of execution that's expressed with both confidence and deep invention. It is the sound of a trumpeter who seemed destined for greatness. All but one of the six tracks are by Amy or Bolton, but it's Bolton who steals the show – on ‘Native Land’ he gradually moves to an exultant climax before resolving his line in the low register while ‘Amyable’ contains another fine example of his playing.

Who is this guy? Well, he'd previously appeared on Harold Land's 1960 album The Fox and threatened to steal the show there, but promptly dropped out of sight. Drugs offences put him in the slammer, only to emerge again in Amy's sextet. He also appeared throughout the 25-minute 1962 telecast Frankly Jazz with Amy and again he seemed too good to be true. But those three tantalising glimpses are all he left for posterity since drugs derailed his career. He disappeared off the stand during a gig with Amy's group at Shelley's Manne Hole and that was that – hopelessly addicted, he even spent time in San Quentin. In the 1980s there were sightings of him jamming with musicians and busking on the streets – he once had talent in abundance, but had let it go, his death unnoticed on 5 June 1992.