Memphis has never been known for its jazz scene, but it did produce at least one world-class jazz musician — the near-forgotten, half-mad Phineas Newborn, whose blindingly fast, deeply lyrical playing propelled him into the top ranks of American pianists just months after Count Basie and John Hammond discovered him, in 1956. On this album — recorded in Los Angeles in 1961, with Sam Jones on Bass and Louis Hayes on drums, and one of many Newborn albums available on eMusic — he covers compositions by Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington (among others). It's an excellent starting point for new listeners, and one that gives us a rare chance to measure Newborn's talent against that of his better-known peers.