Reissued just in time to mark the 60th anniversary of Hayes’ ground-breaking New York debut (see cover feature this issue), this album is a facsimile edition of the US equivalent of Fontana’s fondly remembered Tubbs in NY. To English fans, it was a record that fully proved the chubby saxophonist’s world-class ranking. ‘Tubby rises to the occasion,’ wrote the Observer’s Benny Green at the time, ‘playing as brilliantly as ever I remember hearing him.’ Minus the jingoistic agenda, US reviewers were less effusive,DownBeat’s John S Wilson famously dismissing its ‘aimless diddle-daddle’ and tenor solos ‘more of a bore than a boon.’ Even the normally robust Hayes was taken aback by its paltry two-star rating.

Six decades on, it plays like the classic it always was, the leader offering up signature solos on ‘You For Me’ and ‘Opus Ocean’ that will bring a tear of nostalgia to those who heard him live, never once sounding incompatible with his American hosts. Indeed, he inspires one of them – the chuckle-toned Clark Terry – into improvisations every bit as iconic. His composition dedicated to Hayes - ‘A Pint of Bitter’, much beloved of the Mod-jazz movement – sums up an entire era in its sly, knowing funkiness.

If the original LP could have been said to lack anything, it might have been a more starry rhythm section (for a time Philly Joe Jones’ name had been in the offing), but at this distance that seems to matter less. Hayes’ considerable skills as a ballad player also didn’t get a look in, but that omission is redressed with the bonus inclusion of ‘You’re My Everything’, first heard on the 1990 Columbia reissue. It might just steal the album, Hayes wearing his heart on his sleeve to revelatory effect.

In good stereo sound, with both the original Stanley Dance sleeve notes and a contemporary overview on the rear jacket, this is a winning reissue in every sense. In fact, if you’re new to Hayes it makes a fabulous starting point, at which folklore and fact go hand in hand. Very highly recommended.