Tadd Dameron With John Coltrane - Mating Call (1957), 4/10

Pretty great as far as innocuous fifties jazz goes. The bookend tracks “Mating Call” and “Super Jet” are particularly enjoyable and provide some interestingly varied styles, especially in percussion, but the middle four end up blending together apart from decently entertaining intros and some nice, pleasant moments of cool meanderings here and there. Dameron clearly led the charge providing compositions and heading the effort as pianist. Trane’s performances do show some serious promise and even a surprising maturity in playing, foreshadowing his masterworks to come. This is clearly a very tight band feeding off each other and providing an impressive release for the time. The record is short and sweet, a pleasant affair and worth a listen, but nothing that will move you beyond its warm, gentle disposition.