V/A

DAVID X. YOUNG'S JAZZ LOFT

(Jazz Magnet)

Painter David X. Young had a loft in Manhattan's old flower district that was a magnet for jazzmen passing through New York City between 1954 and 1965. Guys like Zoot Sims, Jimmy Raney, Gerry Mulligan, Don Ellis, Mose Allison, Bob Brookmeyer, Jim Hall, and Dave McKenna would come by after gigs and spend all night -- as the cats used to put it -- blowing. And Young ran tape often enough to yield at least these two CDs of relaxed-yet-scalding jams.

The set opens with a burner: Sims plowing his tenor sax through almost 13 minutes of "It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing." Then there's Brookmeyer making his trombone hop through "Spuds" and a raucous "Stompin' at the Savoy" that pits Sims's tenor against Pepper Adams's baritone sax, with Allison in the rhythm section on piano. Some of the prettiest lines belong to Raney and Hall, whose guitars duet in "There'll Never Be Another You." Swinging and charged, all the playing is punctuated by shouts and oaths -- testimony to the way energy and ideas are being released like lightning bolts. Plus there's the jolt of Young's jazz-inspired paintings, which are reproduced in a colorful 42-page booklet that also includes reminiscences by some of the musicians. An excellent window on one of downtown jazz's most vital and historic scenes.

-- Ted Drozdowski