Jazz Impressions of Folk Music

AMG Review of Jazz Impressions of Folk Music

Jason Ankeny
All Music Guide

Released at the commercial apex of the folk revival, Jazz Impressions of Folk Music far transcends its cash-grab origins. Harold Land reinvents traditional favorites including "Tom Dooley," "On Top of Old Smokey," and even "Hava Na Gila" from the ground up, navigating a superlative supporting cast including trumpeter Carmell Jones, bassist Jimmy Bond, pianist John Houston, and drummer Mel Lee through a series of fiery hard bop performances light years away from the sounds emanating from the Greenwich Village coffeehouse circuit. And although Land's name sits above the title, Jazz Impressions of Folk Music is first and foremost a showcase for Jones, who turns in some of the most imaginative and vibrant work of his career. It's not without good reason that when the session finally resurfaced on CD, it appeared as part of Mosaic Select's three-disc Carmell Jones retrospective.