This is a thoroughly enjoyable and engaging record by Buddy DeFranco and his well-selected and balanced ensemble. There is Buddy's fabulous clarinet playing, yes - lots of it - but the overall feel is one of a great ensemble running through some old standards and sounding at once fresh and yet, well, timeless. It would be impossible for me to say what year this was released if I did not follow Mr. DeFranco's work and have just downloaded this recording - it could easily be from the 1960's. For me, the highlights are All My Life, Joy Spring, For Keeps... Buddy's tone is amazing and his facility completely intact after all these years. As a clarinet player, it's hard not to give 5 stars (I wanted 4.5). It's not a groundbreaking record, or a "classic", but just a solid recording by jazz artists of very high caliber, enjoying their art and putting down some solid, beautiful music. If you like clarinet at all, or follow Buddy's music, you cannot go wrong with this gem of a recording.

Seventy years after winning a Tommy Dorsey swing contest and appearing on the "Saturday Night Swing Club" radio program, Buddy DeFranco is back with his latest recording. No one knows exactly what number this is for "Mr. Clarinet," but it's estimated that his discography now sits at 150 or more recordings. From playing as a sideman with Dorsey to establishing himself as the top clarinetist of bebop to leading the Glenn Miller orchestra to his many recordings in small-group settings, DeFranco is king of his instrument. For this new CD on the Arbors label, he joins with trumpeter Lou Soloff, guitarists Howard Alden and Joe Cohn, pianist Derek Smith, bassist Rufus Reid and drummer Ed Metz Jr. for an hour of fine music. Tunes range from DeFranco's "Charlie Cat II" (named for his former cat) and "Walk This Way" to standards like "All My Life," "By Myself," "What Is This Thing Called Love?" and "Ill Wind" to the Charlie Parker-Dizzy Gillespie bop standard "Anthropology." DeFranco and friends handle them all well and leave you wanting more. At 84, DeFranco has once again strengthened his claim to clarinet fame with this CD.