The apparent discrepancy between the dates in the title of this album and the dates of recording are because this is a compilation of the seven LPs released under Flip Phillips’ name by Norman Granz on his Clef label (plus one JATP jam), and the tracks are presented as they appeared on the records, by date of album release. There are actually 15 separate sessions included here ranging from a trio with Buddy Rich and Hank Jones to two different nonets, one with four trombones and one more conventional one with trumpet, trombone, three reeds and rhythm.

When I heard Flip in the 1980s, on a rare trip north from his Florida home to Boston, he looked like a mild, neat, off-duty, but smartly-suited bank manager, until he let fly with a torrent of notes and ideas that marked him out as a truly great player. That same energy and drive 30 years earlier are most apparent where he works as a solo horn with rhythm, and so the quartets and trios here are among the most rewarding work in the 56 tracks in the collection. Right from the opening numbers in the set, with Jones, Ray Brown and Rich, he also shows off his trademark of well-fashioned intros that weave into the texture of a song, and of modifying a melodic line to make it more like a saxophone lick (‘Lover’ is a case in point). A dramatic upward run, mirrored in a deft falling phrase by Ray Brown, opens a sumptuous ballad version of ‘My Old Flame’ by his ‘Boptet’ (co-led with Howard McGhee, who doesn’t appear on this track).

A trumpeter who makes a dramatic contribution to the set is Billy Butterfield with a marvellous chorus on ‘Be Be’ with Phillips’ Septet, ushering in a terse solo from Bennie Green on trombone. But here, and on other small groups with Charlie Shavers and Sweets Edison as his respective front-line partners, it is always Phillips who shines. The transfers are of good quality and this is a valuable collection of work by a great tenorist in his early career prime.