Two altoists with histories similar in some respects and dissimilar in others, who had rarely crossed paths since the mid-1950s despite spending so much time resident in Europe – 40 years in Geller's case by the time of this date, and 30 in Mariano's. Although both are post-Parker players (and, let's not forget, post-Adderley on this evidence), Geller made his living as a denizen of the studios and remained stylistically conservative, while Mariano was capable of enhancing both Mingus’ band and the farther reaches of world-jazz, which he played a considerable part in creating. Unusually, then, he was asked by Herb to take part in this one-off duo where Charlie chose the all-standard repertoire, and a friendly, not-toocompetitive jam session ensued with Geller's German rhythm-section. The previously unissued radio recording keeps track of who plays what, with Mariano having the slightly stronger and more emotive instrumental tone, and each altoist has two numbers to himself (‘Deep In A Dream’ and ‘Spring Is Here’ for Charlie, ‘Handful Of Stars’ and ‘Tickle Toe’ for Herb). Worth hanging on to.