Brownie and Newk were both just 25 years young when the former was the victim of a fatal auto accident. Rollins was the elder of the two by just a few short weeks. To invoke an old cliché, musically, they both sang from the same hymn sheet as Max spurred the pair on to even greater heights. The Brown-Roach Inc. stands shoulder to shoulder with The Messengers and Horace Silver's Quintet as the ultimate purveyors of gung-ho hard bop. This being consolidated by just these two studio albums that featured this mesmerising line-up – the first recorded for Prestige under Sonny's leadership and despite the title the second was not a location session but a studio recreation by EmArcy. There may have been a smattering of (mainly live) posthumous releases, but this is where the legend was truly carved in stone. From Sonny there's ‘Valse Hot’ and ‘Pent-Up House’, Richie Powell's three top lines including ‘Gertrude's Bounce’, two from Tadd Dameron and of the five standards ‘What Is This Thing Called Love’ and ‘Love Is A Many Splendored Thing’, and without any fillers they combine to seal the whole deal. No excuses, if you don't already possess these recordings then go out and get 'em now!