Vibraphonist Cal Tjader took a brief vacation from playing Afro-Cuban jazz to record this fine straight-ahead bop set. The 1997 CD reissue matches Tjader with the underrated but always swinging pianist Gerald Wiggins, bassist Eugene Wright (shortly before he joined Dave Brubeck’s Quartet) and drummer Bill Douglass. They perform four basic originals (two apiece by Wig and Wright) and five standards, including a swinging “Battle Hymn of the Republic” and “Our Love Is Here to Stay.” On this date, more than almost any other one, Tjader displays his debt to Milt Jackson’s style. – Scott Yanow