Buster Smith was an alto sax player with the legendary Blue Devils (with Basie, Lester Young, etc.) - which is like saying Elvis was a singer in the 50s or Sonny Rollins was one of Max Roach's horn players. This guy was a major influence on Charlie Parker - that tart, sweet & sour blues-drenched tone, the mercurial song-like quality: it started with this Smith fella. Oh yeah, Parker built on it and eclipsed him, but everybody got to start from something, right? Buster, he'd decided he'd had enough by the 40s, and moved down to Texas, which is where composer Gunther Schuller found him in 1959 & talked him back into the studio. Buster got some locals together and proceeded to blow the roof off the joint. Smith is a stone delight, his Texas-toned horn - David "Fathead" Newman & Julius Hemphill must've drunk from the same magic fountain - keeps one eye on Covering The Waterfront, the other on the owner of the juke-joint so he doesn't get stiffed when it's time to get paid. The tunes are riff-oriented swingers & stompers - this ain't "Jazz as an Art Form," this is just-got-off-work, have-a-good-time jazz, in the vein of the Count, Louis Jordan and Illinois Jacquet. That's not to say the solos aren't memorable - along with Smith, baritone sax guy Leroy Cooper roars (what a tone!) and pianist Herman Flowers plays some "weird" notes. This is DEFINITELY one of the reissues of the year. (Great liner notes, too.)