Being impressed by the recent Atlas soul and blues reissues, I thought I’d take a chance on this one, even though I didn’t recognized even one artist on the 25-track anthology. I wouldn’t call the style here so much jazz as I would smooth Fifties instrument R&B in the tradition of Sil Austin, Lucky Thompson and Earl Bostic. L.A.’s Jackie Kelso proves to blow an aggressive, but disciplined, tenor sax on his material. Tracks like “Easy Pickin” and “Rat A Tat” have an after hours feel that’s quite appealing. New York pianist, Freddy Washington has more of a be-bop style, particular when he’s joined on “8-9-10” by vocalist June Davis. If you’ve not heard tenor man Charlie Singleton, you’re missing hearing a guy whose every note sounds like it’s coming out of a gutter. This guy flat out gets it in the alley. Check out the steady-driving “Super Chief” and playful “Jiving With Dr. Jive.” Ditto the moody “Oozing Along.” (Now that’s a title!). Quite an interesting and varied release. It doesn’t matter if you classify these tracks jazz, bebop or R&B, they’re uniformly splendid.