One of the hardest-swinging drummers on the New York scene, Jones is probably best known for his lengthy stint with Roy Hargrove's Quintet. His own Sextet, recorded live a couple of years ago at Dizzy's Club Coca Cola, specialises here in uptempo, rip-roaring straightahead takes on tunes loosely associated with the late great Roach over a period from 1951-68, including George Russell's ‘Ezz-Thetic’ and Gary Bartz's ‘Libra’, which open the album. After fiery tenor solos on these two, Dillard, such an undervalued player, switches to soprano for a quietly stated melodic original (‘Equipoise’) by pianist Stanley Cowell, currently with The Cookers, which Roach recorded for Atlantic and it also has some warm mellow Curtis Fullerish trombone from Davis. The triumphant 12-minute ‘Freedom Day’, with really ferocious tenor work, has a quite extraordinary piano solo by Reed, who plays on every track with unusual intensity and robust swing. There's a long intelligent drum solo, too – as on most tracks – which tells its own story, followed by a contrapuntal section featuring the three horns. Roach's 12-bar blues, ‘Mr X’ has some tongue-twisting trumpet by Pelt and boppish Reed piano, followed by the only ballad of the set, Leon Mitchell's poignant tribute to Billie Holiday, where Jeremy solos achingly as only he can, before the CD closes with one of the Roach Quintet's favourite perennial arrangements, ‘I Get a Kick Out of You’. A special word for Dezron Douglas' relentless drive and time-keeping on all these early bop speed tempos. A dynamite rhythm section indeed.