We're not sure we've ever heard trumpeter Joe Newman and tenorist Zoot Sims work together on a record – and certainly never as striking a setting as this – a record that really gives both musicians a chance to open up and blow! Despite the title, the players are less "locking horns" here than really working together in the lead – hitting the kind of tight head arrangements that you might hear on some of Sims material with RCA, but getting a grittier groove from both the Roulette Records style of recording, and the efforts of a cool rhythm trio that features Adrian (Johnny?) Acea on piano, Oscar Pettiford on bass, and Osie Johnson drums. Newman's horn has an especially gutbuckety quality, and Sims follows suit with some deeply soulful work on his solos – on titles that include "Corky", "Mambo For Joe", "Midnite Fantasy", "Tater Pie", "Oh Joe", and "Oh Shaye". LP, Vinyl record album

With solos by Milt Hinton, Earl Hines, Joe Newman, Zoot Sims, Urbie Green, Buddy Tate, Lee Konitz, Vic Dickenson, Sal Nistico, and many others. LP, Vinyl record album

Later Atlantic Records material from the legendary Ray Charles – a set that definitely lives up to the genius of the title, in that it shows a real sense of development in Ray's music! Charles has moved from the shorter R&B of his early Atlantic singles, to embrace some greater jazz-based sophistication – served up here with players who include Paul Gonsalves and Zoot Sims on tenor, Clark Terry and Joe Newman on trumpets, Melba Liston and Al Gray on trombones, and Freddie Greene on guitar – all players who really shift things towards a richer, fuller sound – setting the stage for Charles 60s growth at ABC Records, but with less of the country modes. Titles include Charles takes on classics like "Just For A Thrill", "Don't Let The Sun Catch You Cryin", "Am I Blue", and "It Had To Be You" – and the record also features a young Marcus Belgrave delivering a trumpet solo on "Alexander's Ragtime Band". CD