Tommy Flanagan - Jazz Poet (Timeless, 1989)

This post is by Dan

Tommy Flanagan (p); George Mraz (b); Kenny Washington (d)

Recorded January 17 and 19, 1989

One look at the artists' names on Jazz Poet is all I need to know to make it a favorite album. Tommy Flanagan and George Mraz were top-tier bandmates throughout the 1980s, and Kenny Washington is still a first-call drummer on the New York scene. This is a session of such excellence that it should be widely known and celebrated. 

All of the tunes are familiar ones, except perhaps for Flanagan's original "Mean Streets." Every track is delivered with swinging good taste. Not a wrong note anywhere. Mraz and Washington are a fantastic pair who listen carefully and insert accents and colors in all the right places. Jazz this good seems almost to play itself, but of course that is due to the expertise of the group and their great communication.

At the time of the recording of Jazz Poet, Washington was 30 years old. In the 1980s, he appeared on over 40 recordings, and Discogs credits him with almost 300 recordings for his career. He is the perfect partner for Flanagan's urbane approach and beautifully complements Mraz's magnificent bass playing. 

Of the tunes, my favorites are "Lament," "I'm Old Fashioned," "That Tired Routine Called love," and "Voce a Buso." Even songs that I'm not too fond of receive great readings, as do the overly familiar ones. In the hands of Flanagan and his trio, each composition becomes jazz poetry.

Jazz Poet was reissued several times, and it's worth the effort to get the right one. For reasons unknown, the Alpha Jazz version and a reissue retitled as Please Request Again by the Super Jazz Trio re-order the songs. 

Although the cover art is changed, the remastered Timeless Jazz Legacy series version gets the order of songs correct, putting the two bonus tracks at the end. If you can't find the LP, I recommend this version.