Everything that drummer Pete La Roca did before making Basra was a prelude in his career, and all of his later accomplishments are anti-climatic in comparison with this album. In 1965 La Roca, a respected but somewhat obscure drummer gathered together an unbelievable quartet comprised of Joe Henderson, pianist Steve Kuhn and bassist Steve Swallow for the Basra album.

This was the only time that this group ever played together yet they sound very much like a major band that had been performing this music for years. Henderson is in astounding form, inspiring the other musicians to create famous versions of "Lazy Afternoon," "Eiderdown" and "Malaguena," renditions that are not only memorable but became the definitive way to play these songs.

La Roca contributed three colorful originals that deserved to become standards while his very stimulating drumming helped to bring out the very best in the players. But it is Joe Henderson who lifts Basra into the cosmos, making the album magical and one of the must-hear recordings of the mid-1960s.

Like all Music Matters Jazz releases, this audiophile vinyl reissue is mastered from the original analog tape and pressed on 180g virgin vinyl at RTI in Camarillo, CA. The highest quality gatefold cover features original session photography on the inside.



See more Pete La Roca records here.