Spanish Eyes Flip Phillips Artist

This 1975 session, which originally was released as {|Phillips' Head|} by {|Choice|}, marked {|Flip Phillips|}' first date as a leader after a nearly a dozen years, although he had been recording during the period. With pianist {|Mickey Crane|}, bassist {|Milt Hinton|}, and drummer {|Mousie Alexander|}, {|Phillips|} ventures into a mix of vintage and current songs with great results throughout the date. A swinging rendition of {|Spanish Eyes,|} written by {|easy listening|} bandleader {|Bert Kaempfert|}, became a favorite of the tenor saxophonist. His melodious takes on {|This Is All I Ask|} and {|Nancy (With the Laughing Face)|} bring {|Ben Webster|} to mind. One surprise is the lively version of {|Hugo Montenegro|}'s {|Jeannie,|} which is the theme to the 1960s sitcom {|I Dream of Jeannie|} starring {|Barbara Eden|}. He switches to bass clarinet (an instrument on which he excelled but played only occasionally on record dates) for several tracks. He performs an inspired call-and-response duet with {|Hinton|} on {|Nature Boy,|} a rather novel approach to a tune that can easily become hackneyed in the wrong hands, with the rest of the group joining him after a couple of choruses. His original {|blues|} {|Fat Tessie's Ass|} is a swinger with a fine solo by {|Hinton|}, while his use of the instrument on {|Everything Happens to Me|} adds to the already morose nature of this classic {|ballad|}. This 1997 reissue by {|Candid|} adds several alternate takes to this already worthwhile disc. ~ Ken Dryden