Billboard : 12/31/1955
Spotlight on… selection

Differently oriented as Lionel Hampton and Stan Getz are in their basic approach to jazz, this first record session of theirs together is surprisingly successful. Hampton is the strong spirit of the two, and under his spell, Getz plays a guttier, less inhibited horn horn than usual. At their best – as in Cherokee – they drive each other on frantically, one outdoing the other in brilliant, tricky solos. Jazz fans of the “go-man-go” type will be knocked out by this high-voltage stuff. Shelly Manne, Lou Levy and Leroy Vinnegar make up the excellent rhythm section.

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Army Times
Tom Scanlan : 01/14/1956

Lionel Hampton proves once again that he swings as few can on a new 12-inch LP (Norgran MG N-1037) made with tenor man Stan Getz, of all people. This is the first time Hamp and Getz have recorded together. The record was made while the two were working in “The Benny Goodman Story” move in Hollywood. All in all, it’s a happy and swinging side and is highly recommended here.

Hampton and Getz have been associated with different schools of jazz, Hamp with the Basie–Goodman swing style and Getz with the cool sounds. Thus, among other things, the album proves that two fine musicians from these two schools can blow up a storm and have a ball together whatever difference in approach they may have.

Hampton’s great beat probably inspires Getz to play “hotter” than he usually does. Note, in this respect, Jumpin’ at the Woodside and Cherokee, both taken up. Stan, however, sounds more at home with the ballads Tenderly and Autumn in New York. Probably the most satisfying things in the album are the old standards Louise and Hampton’s tune Gladys, both played at a comfortable, intermediate bounce tempo.

The rhythm section, made up of drummer Shelly Manne, bassman Leroy Vinnegar and pianist Lou Levy, is a good one.

Hampton, especially, plays magnificently throughout. It’s one of the best sides the grunter has made in years.

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Saturday Review
Whitney Balliett : 02/11/1956

The framework here is not much more than bones of swing, but within it Hampton and Stan Getz work well together, Hampton injecting into Getz a shout and brusqueness not usually found in his style. S. Manne, L. Levy, and L. Vinnegar round out the date, and are uniformly steady. Seven standards and one original.

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Down Beat : 01/11/1956
Nat Hentoff : 4 stars

Hamp and Getz, the first time the two have recorded together, resulted from their summer presence in Hollywood for the Benny Goodman film biography. On this date, their able rhythm section consisted of Shelly Manne, Lou Levy, and Leroy Vinnegar. Levy also takes several first-rate solos. Everybody swings hard on the opener, but that swift an up-tempo isn’t usually the most comfortable for Getz in terms of the quality and consistency of his conception. He sounds much better in the succeeding ballad medley. Lionel is in fine form on this session on both wailers and ballads.

Louise is wonderfully relaxed, one of the most pleasant tracks of the year. Woodside moves well though again, the tempo is somewhat too fast to produce Getz at his best, though he does wail rhythmically and his conception here is still better than most. Incidentally, Getz blows with more force than usual on the two up-tempos on this date and even comes close to stomping in several places. Gladys, an ode to his wife by Hamp, is a light, graceful theme, imaginatively improvised on by all. Recording-wise, the engineers could have done better by Hamp’s vibes. The set is highly recommend, and is close to the full five.

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Liner Notes by Unknown

In common with so many things in life, this record is largely the result of a geographical accident. Not quite an accident, in reality. For certainly the makers of “The Benny Goodman Story,” the Universal-International movie, were acting with calm deliberation when they assembled a group of topflight jazz musicians to work in the film.

As it so happened, two of these jazzmen were Lionel Hampton and Stan Getz. Ordinarily, Hamp and Stan are separated rather widely by the divergence in their approach to jazz. Possibly the most remarkable vibraphonist to come along since jazz began, Hampton is frenetic, hard-hitting, a driver. Timeless though it may be, Hamp’s jazz has its roots deep in the Swing Era, the 1930s.

By contrast, Stan Getz owes his allegiance to the cool, cool moderns. The Getz style on tenor saxophone is anything but frenetic; it’s relaxed and singing, relaxed in fact almost to the point of languor – but always, as it were, with a swinging undercurrent.

So there they were together on a movie lot, Hamp and Stan, and when the suggestion arose for a recording date – well, difference in styles, difference in jazz theories be hanged, they lept at the opportunity.

What emerges in this, the first time Hampton and Getz have recorded together, is an interesting and exciting blend of the two styles with neither artist losing his individuality. However, you might discern the slightest measure of change in Getz’ saxophone. If anything, he is playing here with more vigor than usual and this reveals itself in a tone that’s a shade stronger, more full-bodied, more emphatic than is customary Getz.

It’s not altogether obvious, but something you have to listen for quite closely, and with an ear for past Getz recordings. But it’s there, all right. And the suspicion grows that old catalytic agent of jazz, Lionel Hampton, has been making his weight – and his contagious power-drive – felt.

This is especially evident on Cherokee, a more or less high-voltage version of the Ray Noble standard. In the ballad medley that follows, each artist gets his chance at an extended solo; Getz plays Tenderly and Autumn In New York, while Hampton checks in with East Of the Sun and I Can’t Get Started. Also here are Louise, Jumping At The Woodside and Gladys from Hampton’s pen.

Three jazzmen from the West Coast’s top rung comprise the rhythm section – Shelly Manne, drums; Lou Levy, piano, and Leroy Vinnegar, bass.