AMG Review of Jug & Dodo

Scott Yanow
All Music Guide

This CD (which completely reissues a double LP with the same title) is a bit unusual for it teams together the great tenor Gene Ammons with the very talented (but now obscure) bop pianist Dodo Marmarosa whose mental problems kept him from pursuing his career. Actually Ammons is only half of this set (which also includes bassist Sam Jones and drummer Marshall Thompson) but Marmarosa is in top form; it's strange that the music was not released for the first time until the mid-'70s. This historical curiosity contains plenty of hard-swinging performances (including two versions apiece of "Yardbird Suite" and "Falling in Love with Love") and is worth picking up.