At last on CD, these sought-after albums were both recorded at Rudy Van Gelder's pad in Hackensack, the New Jersey studio immortalised in song by an earlier visitor, Thelonious Monk. The first is a quartet featuring Stitt with that admirable pianist Hank Jones, who died in 2010. Elder brother of trumpeter Thad and drummer Elvin, he was an excellent all-rounder whose crisp touch, tasteful lines and infallibly accurate harmonies were an asset to every session. Think of Tommy Flanagan on ice. Generally this was a low-key session of slow-to-medium-pace standards, but Sonny is as suave as ever, spinning out his pearls of boppish wisdom with unrivalled fluency, even when turning a series of turnarounds into a neat finish, as on ‘Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone’. As always he sounds more inspired on alto, his natural instrument, than on tenor, the instrument he reluctantly selected to avoid odious comparisons with Charlie Parker. The second album, presented on later tracks with a similar rhythm section and Ellington's top tenorman Paul Gonsalves, is an altogether livelier affair. Stitt loved a challenge – remember his heavyweight sax duels with Dexter Gordon and Gene Ammons? – and the title track, a medium-fast blues goosed along by Johnson's ultra-clean stickwork, is packed with juicy jamsession licks for all ages. Gonsalves, with a touch of Coleman Hawkins in his sound, has the gruffer and more powerful tone, so it's easy to distinguish him from Sonny at all times, including the chases and breaks. ‘Theme from Lord of the Flies’ was a baffling choice, best overlooked, but their sax duet on ‘Skylark’, with Stitt on alto, is a peach.