Two more beautifully-presented and splendid-sounding reissues from UK indie New Land, who, after the recent Mingus box set (see review in last issue), seem to be on something of a roll right now.

The all-star Dorham session is my favourite recording of his; always a lyrical and thoughtful player, never prone to boisterousness, Dorham could occasionally sound rather washed-out with certain material (as on the overrated Quiet Kenny album of 1960), but here he’s in sparkling form. Bolstered by the presence of Rollins, Roach, Jones and Pettiford (with on-point contributions from harpist Glamann on the more overtly balladic material on Side Two, ‘But Beautiful’ proving especially lovely), the virtuosic side of Dorham’s to the fore, skilfully deconstructing familiar material and adding his distinctive lyrical lines. The two lengthy cuts on the first side, ‘Falling In Love With You’ and ‘I’ll Remember April’ are the undoubted highlights, with the rhythm section adding real energy to the proceedings, and the in-synch Rollins and Dorham playing off each other superbly. The sound on the session, engineered Jack Higgins and produced by Orrin Keepnews, is here a big improvement on earlier reissues.

John Wright (1934-2017), an under-anthologised and underappreciated talent, embodied the soulful early 1960s ‘Chicago sound’ before leaving the jazz scene to become a librarian at Cook County Jail in Chicago in the early 1980s.

So this reissue of Nice ‘n’ Tasty, his best LP, is most welcome, especially as the New Land crew are releasing this record on vinyl for the first time globally since its initial release. Like Jazz Contrasts, it’s mastered directly from the original tapes by Kevin Gray and housed in deluxe reverse-board packaging, featuring a photographic print with a previously unseen image. It’s a gorgeous presentation of a gorgeous-sounding recording (the set was engineered by Rudy Van Gelder and supervised by Esmond Edwards).

And what of the music? Well, if saxophonist Cannonball Adderley played piano, this what he’d sound like. In fact, Adderley’s classic ‘Things Are Getting Better’ kicks things off, with lithe but meaty, soulful piano that perfectly mirrors the composer’s sax playing on the original. ‘Witchcraft’ and ‘Darn That Dream’ meanwhile combine assertiveness with light-touch virtuosity, the rhythm section unflappable in their rock-solid support.

But it’s on his own four compositions that the pianist really shines. He’s a writer of serious talent: ‘You Do It’ has an opening theme that’s a real earworm, before Wright veers off into a wonderful, almost gospelly direction; the stately blues ‘Pie Face’ has a lolloping, inventive groove; the call-and-response motif that begins ‘The Wright Way’ grabs the attention straightaway; and the majestic ‘Yes I Know’ reveals Wright’s roots in the church and gospel music. This is soulful jazz of the very highest order.

A shout-out too, for the rhythm section of Wendell Marshall and JC Heard: never flashy, their contributions are always perfectly judged. Essential.