Just Friends

John Pizzarelli is a famous swing-based guitarist in the jazz world, but Rick Haydon is known to relatively few. A jazz educator and professor of jazz guitar at Southern Illinois University, Haydon has mostly played locally but is also a talented musician. He holds his own with Pizzarelli on this good-natured and consistently swinging quartet set. Most unusual is that three of the first four songs performed by the musicians are Al Cohn compositions. The music overall includes bop, swing, and Brazilian pieces, all performed with good humor and creative ideas, making this an easily recommended set.