Teddy Edwards and Howard McGhee, Together Again!!!!
This was either the first or second jazz recording I ever bought, and I’ve listened to it countless times over the past 25 years. A lively studio session recorded over two days in 1961, it features Howard McGhee on trumpet, Teddy Edwards on sax, the amazing Phineas Newborn Jr on piano, Ray Brown on bass and Ed Thigpen on drums. This re-issue seems to be a new mix (the reverb on the CD version I bought in 2000 is absent) done from the original tapes: the label’s website refers to “(AAA) lacquers cut from the original master tapes by Bernie Grundman[.]”
The sound is great: crisp and dry. The instruments are panned pretty hard left and right, which means this mix is perhaps better suited to listening on speakers rather than headphones. It makes sense if the primary audience is vinyl buffs listening on home setups. It’s also available digitally on Apple Music, Spotify and as lossless audio files. I’d welcome a Dolby Atmos mix for the ultimate listening-on-headphones experience.
There is a review by Joseph Neff at The Vinyl District.
Also newly remastered for 2024 is Maggie’s Back in Town!!, recorded under McGhee’s name in 1961 a month after the Together Again!!!! sessions. (Maggie also features Phineas Newborn Jr on piano.)
Edwards and McGhee would be together again (again) in 1979, where they recorded material that was released as Young at Heart (1983) and Wise In Time (1985). Both were remastered and issued in Japan in 2015 and 2016 respectively. You may still be able to buy them on import.