A bebop pioneer who played with them all, including Charlie Parker, Joe Albany (1924-88) lived a wandering, drug-fuelled life that could have come straight from the pages of Jack Kerouac. When he was in good shape, he was a great pianist. In this previously unreleased solo set, recorded in 1973, the ideas come tumbling out so copiously that they sometimes fall over one another - but they’re all his own ideas and there’s nothing glib about them. He was a genuine original. There’s a movie, Joe Albany – a Jazz Life, on YouTube. It’s well worth seeing.
