Billboard : 06/24/1957
Score of 80

Freshness and inventiveness of performances on these recordings justify their re-release from 10-inchers. Guitarist Raney, framed in quintet context – trumpet and rhythm – on one side, just rhythm on the other, enmeshes well with his colleagues. A musically valuable modern jazz collection that could do well with the cognoscenti.

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Pittsburgh Courier : 09/14/1957
Harold L. Keith : 3 stars

Ira Gitler pens most of the linear notes for Prestige, and does a fine job… but, on Jimmy Raney A Mr. Gitler has overstepped his bounds in stating that the capable Mr. Raney is the peer of contemporary guitarists.

It must be agreed that Raney puts forth highly listenable sounds on a fine album which is done in fine company with Hall Overton, Teddy Kotick, John Wilson and Art Mardigan. In fact, Minor, Double Image and Someone to Watch Over Me are particularly fine tracks. But, Raney’s style is not calculated to win over those folks who have had an opportunity to dig such folks as Ken Burrell, Skeeter Best and Joe Cinderella.

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Liner Notes by Ira Gitler

There are many fine guitarists playing in jazz today such as the veterans Tal Farlow, Chuck Wayne, Herb Ellis, Billy Bauer and Barney Kessel and newcomers Kenny Burrell, Dick Garcia, Jim Hall and Rene Thomas. To my mind, Jimmy Raney stands out as the finest of them all.

During a conversation I had with a musician prominent on the modern scene, he has this to say about Jimmy’s work and I think it bears repeating.

“A couple of guitarists try to imitate his gimmicks but melodically I think he’s pretty far ahead of almost anybody. (Here he included soloists on other instruments too). He’s got some fantastic melodic connections along Bird lines. Without using Bird “licks” so much, he is closer to that kind of long, amazing connection, chord to chord, that Bird did which no one else could do.”

It is this combination of fluid phrasing and extended melodic thinking together with an acute sensitivity that makes Raney number one.

From his first records with Stan Getz on the old Sitting In label (As I Live And Bob, Interlude In Bebop) in 1948, it was obvious that here was an improviser of very high caliber. Due to his consistency as an artist, his records have been a good indicator of his growth and high achievement. In Jimmy’s case records are more important than in that of a musician who travels around the country a great deal. For the last three years (1954-1957) he has been a member of the Jimmy Lyon trio which is more or less of a fixture at The Blue Angel, a smart Eastside New York club which does not have a jazz policy. The trio does play jazz but their role is of a secondary nature and the club’s prices are prohibitive to the average jazz fan. So it is not only the out of towner but also the New Yorker who must depend on recordings for his Raney.

Jimmy does not limit his playing to the job and record dates. He does participate in jam sessions which are sometimes held at the loft studio of Hall Overton. Overton is a unique figure in music. There is no one as well versed in classical music who is as equally aware in jazz. This is true of Hall as an observer but more importantly as a composer in the former idiom and a performer in the latter. In the two record dates represented in this LP, he shows the intelligence, emotion and personal approach which make a jazzman well worth the listening.

Another excellent jazzman who is heard on all tracks here is the expert craftsman, bassist Teddy Kotick. In addition to his excellent rhythmic support, Teddy also solos on Double Image, On The Square, Minor and Some Other Spring. Solos are a rarity with Teddy; the quality of these make me wonder why.

One time Woody Herman drummer, Art Mardigan, a native Detroiter who was once accurately described as “ephemeral” (and where has he been lately?) but who drumming, equally effective in small and large bands, is never that, completes the quartet (or should I say quintet) for Double Image, On The Square, Minor, and Some Other Spring.

The reason I say quintet is that in the opening and closing sections of the compositions (the first three are originals by Raney, the fourth a seldom done ballad once recorded by Billie Holiday), a second guitar line has been added by Jimmy. In the originals, this second line is partly written and improvised. In all cases, each of the two lines has its own singular power while complementing the other beautifully in the counterpoint. There is also an admirable section of wholly improvised counterpoint between Raney and Overton in On The Square.

The second session is composed mostly of standards. What’s New, Someone To Watch Over Me, and You Don’t Know What Love Is are treated in their ballad style and tempo. Cross Your Heart, the old Artie Shaw Gramercy Five number, lends itself well to the sound and style of the group as do the more familiar Spring Is Here and A Foggy Day. Staying in the weather vein is the first of Jimmy’s two originals, Tomorrow, Fairly Cloudy, a swinger of harder nature than the rest. His other original, One More For The Mode, is an exposition of a Bach two-part invention that was originally in waltz time. Nick Stabulas, most often heard with George Wallington and Phil Woods, is the able drummer here while John Wilson (no kin to the critic), at the time with the Les Elgart orchestra, handles the trumpet solos.

In the face of all the tunes concerning themselves with the weather or time of year, there is only one sensible thing to do… own this album and really enjoy the Raney season.