James Clay's debut album as a leader (and one of only two that he cut before moving back to Dallas for nearly 30 years) matches him with fellow Texas tenor
David "Fathead" Newman, pianist
Wynton Kelly, bassist
Sam Jones and drummer
Art Taylor.
Cannonball Adderley supervised the session, putting the spotlight on the competitive horns who really battle it out on the
Babs Gonzales blues "Wide Open Spaces."
Clay, who plays flute on the date's lone standard "What's New," holds his own with
Newman and plenty of sparks fly. This Riverside album was reissued in the Original Jazz Classics series as an LP in the 1980s.