AMG Review of Kelly Great

Scott Yanow
All Music Guide

Pianist Wynton Kelly teams up with trumpeter Lee Morgan, tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Philly Joe Jones for a fine, advanced hard bop date. There are four originals (all virtually forgotten decades later) by Kelly, Shorter and Morgan but it is the lone standard, a playful version of "June Night" (which has some puckish Morgan trumpet), that is the standout. At 35 minutes, this CD reissue of a former LP is pretty brief, but what is here on the formerly rare session should satisfy collectors of the style.