Source Jazz Legacy***

Benny Green's first trio album as a leader since 2001 is a primer in bop piano and forgotten examples of its repertoire written by some of its greatest exponents: rarities by Sonny Clark, Carl Perkins, Kenny Drew and, to stretch a point, Duke Pearson. Two choices are predictable – Bud Powell's Tempus Fugitand the Horace Silver blues, Opus De Funk. But there are also little-known pieces by Dizzy Gillespie, Donald Byrd and Benny Golson, and Mel Torme's Born to Be Blue. Green, who shares a combustible chemistry with the Washingtons, Peter (bass) and Kenny (drums), has a full, plangent touch, and his pure bop lines and time recall past masters Wynton Kelly, Phineas Newborn, Tommy Flanagan and the rest. The session has an almost messianic zeal to it. Remember, this music is the message; this is the real deal. One of them, anyway. See jazzlegacyproductions.com