SKF NOTE: I think a lot about the Mel Lewis and Friends album. Last week, this song, Ain’t Nothin’ Nu, came around on an old, unmarked cassette I was listening to. Forty years since the album’s first release on the Horizon label — it’s still a prime Mel Lewis album.

Mel’s feel, his drumset sound, his fills — loose, fat, musical. Great stuff. Mel’s band on this cut is Michael Brecker and Gregory Herbert (tenor saxes), Freddie Hubbard (trumpet), Ron Carter (bass), and Hank Jones (piano).

Footnote: Mel told me thought Freddie Hubbard played exceptionally well on this date because Thad Jones was in the recording studio control booth during the session.