By 1949, when the first of these tracks was recorded, Al Haig had made it clear that he was a major jazz artist. He was a favorite colleague of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Fats Navarro, and Stan Getz. He was in demand by dozens of other leading players as their accompanist of preference. Many of his peers considered him second only to Bud Powell among bebop pianists.
This particular album is by Al Haig the pianist Bird and Getz considered the perfect pianist and he was the one they loved the most to play with. And here you can understand why. The album is quite old, I mean it should be an early fifties record, unfortunately in my edition (1991 Fresh Sound) this information is not there. Allmusicguide says it's a 1954 album, and surely it could be correct. The sound is from the era. It is a quartet album and in the fifties it came out on the Period Label.
This CD reissue of a Kenny Dorham session that was originally on the Time label features the talented trumpeter and an all-star quintet (with Jimmy Heath on tenor, pianist Kenny Drew, bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Art Taylor) playing six famous themes from the Jerome Kern play Show Boat. All of the melodies ("Why Do I Love You?," "Nobody Else but Me," "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man," "Make Believe," "Ol' Man River" and "Bill") are heard in likable and swinging versions. This is one of Dorham's better sessions from the era and is easily recommended to his fans and collectors of hard bop.