Uproar!

The formation of Peacock Records in late 1949 dates back to an event nearly three years earlier when a young guitarist called Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown saw his chance to grab the spotlight - and took it with both hands! 'Gate' had never been backward in coming forward. When legendary bluesman T-Bone Walker fell ill in mid-performance, he leapt up, picked up the guitar left on the stage and started playing his own 'Gatemouth Boogie'. 15 minutes later a star was born. The owner of the club, Don Robey, ensured the young upstart put his autograph on a management contact. Robey would eventually found Peacock Records to release his music, and that's where the label's history starts.

If "these are the times that test men's souls," never more than for the leader's ability to think clearly, to be present calmly, and to challenge effectively. It's a time when leaders cannot be as anxious as those they serve; otherwise, the system is leaderless. Anxiety flows down like water from a leaky pipe. To lead effectively we must understand the impact of powerful emotional forces on people's behavior, especially in anxious times.

This album features Lionel Hampton's first concert at the Newport Jazz Festival and overall is quite exciting. Hampton gathered together an all-star alumni band that, in addition to trombonist Al Grey, Frank Foster on tenor and a couple of appearances by pianist Milt Buckner, boasts the extraordinary trumpet section of Snooky Young, Jimmy Nottingham, Joe Newman and Wallace Davenport. The climax is provided on Hamp's perennial "Flying Home" which finds Illinois Jacquet reprising and then extending his famous solo.