Howard McGhee was an interesting musician in the contemporary jazz scene of the early 1960s. A hold over from the previous era of big bands having come through with Andy Kirk’s band, he was one of the few Swing Era musicians to make a convincing transition into bop, with his solo feature with the band, ‘McGhee Special’ (which last appeared on Andy Kirk and his Clouds of Joy Big Band Boogie on Affinity), revealing the technical prowess and imagination that allowed him to develop into one of the first bebop trumpeters a matter of three years later.

However, he didn’t make life easy for himself, dropping out of the scene through drug addiction in the 1950s, hence the album title, announcing a comeback in 1961, with Maggie’s Back in Town!! a fascinating document that alongside Together Again!!! with Teddy Edwards from the previous month. They reveal a spirited, inventive musician who has avoided any stylistic allegiances to contemporary brass musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie and Clifford Brown with a style he could call his own – in fact, on the bright tempo of ‘Softly As In A Morning Sunrise’ from Maggie’s Back In Town!! his thematic organisation seems to have taken account of Lester Young.

This album, and Together Again!!! are also important because they include pianist Phineas Newborn Jr as a sideman. Although there are no shortage of Newborn albums as sideman, he is nevertheless an overlooked great who never received the recognition his exceptional talent warranted. Indeed, he is part of an exceptional rhythm section with Vinegar and Manne which make this album a little gem rescued from the Contemporary archives by Craft. This is a quality 180 gram vinyl pressing in a reproduction sleeve whose William Caxton colour photo maintains the exact colour saturation of the original.