RUBY BRAFF, JOE NEWMAN, SWEETS EDISON, JOHNNY GUARNIERI, MICHAEL MOORE, RAY MOSCA (Nice, 7. 26-7.75)

An absolute triumph -- not a cutting contest, but a jovial conversation among three brass legends (Braff, cornet; Sweets and Joe, trumpet) with a thoroughly congenial modern-swing rhythm section (the splendid virtuosi Johnny Guarnieri, piano; Michael Moore, string bass; Ray Mosca, drums). All of them are powerfully distinguished individualists but they have their roots in the same source: a mixture of florid declamatory phrases and subtle side-of-the-mouth whispers and in-jokes, loud blasts and half-valve things you dare not say in company, merging Louis and Basie, living in 1975 yet completely aware of the half-century of brass playing that came before. The songs are ROSETTA, JUST FRIENDS, CAROLINA SHOUT (Guarnieri, solo), TAKE THE "A" TRAIN. Recorded at the Nice Jazz Festival, on July 26 into the 27th, 1975. Presented by Michael Steinman for JAZZ LIVES (http://www.jazzlives.wordpress.com).