ABSTRACT
Tommy Flanagan's most recent album from the Village Vanguard demonstrates, he still got all the power, imagination and drive that made him the pianist of choice for everyone from Miles Davis and John Coltrane to Sonny Rollins and Ella Fitzgerald. On the Vanguard disc, Lewis Nash is the latest in a long line of drummers who have worked in Tommy's trios over the years, from Bobby Durham and Ed Thigpen back to illustrious modern jazz pioneers such as Roy Haynes. Many of the young drummers who try to play like Elvin Jones end up getting lost, just as some older players tell Tommy that they have trouble hearing the one' the downbeat in every bar although it's always there in Elvin's playing. The one guy who never gets lost with him is his brother Hank Jones. Tommy's many albums with Ella; with whom he worked as accompanist in 1956 all demonstrate his extraordinary sensitivity as a supporting player.
