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SLUGGISH, listless, depressed? Flush out your tired aural channels with a refreshing blast of straight-ahead neo-bop in the style of the Jazz Couriers, that legendary quintet co-led by Tubby Hayes and Ronnie Scott.
Their fiery arrangements live on, lovingly transcribed from records by Mornington Lockett, a Hayes devotee whose tenor-sax solos have the exuberant fluency of a man who has been polishing his technique for more than twenty years. Newcomer Jin Hart revives the nimble vibraphone sound that Hayes brought to the Couriers, while pianist Steve Melling, bassist Paul Morgan, and the mighty Martin Drew on drums keep everything steaming along.
Couriers favourites include Opus Ocean, Some of My Best Friends Are Blues, and the title track, a Victor Feldman classic, all taped live.

JACK MASSARIK Evening Standard

A more orthodox angle on bebop, but an expertly affectionate one with stories of its own - not just the ones furnished by the idiosyncrasies of the players, but by the British jazz history that led to its founding. The original Jazz Couriers was a two-tenor sax line-up jointly led by Ronnie Scott and Tubby Hayes, mixing Hayes' flying virtuosity with Scott's more measured approach.
UK drummer Martin Drew formed the New Couriers to celebrate their memory and their material. This set features the 2004 edition, retaining former Scott sax partner Mornington Lockett on tenor, but adding lively young vibraphonist Jim Hart - still keeping the music in the Couriers loop, since Tubby Hayes also played the vibes, but spreading the repertoire to feature a wider range of composers such as Scott's contemporary Victor Feldman.
This version of the band is also remarkable for the inclusion of the bassist Paul Morgan, a world-class straight ahead performer whose walking bass lines are supercharged engines that accelerate every band he plays in. One of Scott's very rare forays into composition is here - the laconically rolling Some of My Best Friends Are Blues - and vibist Hart makes up for the absence of a second tenor with his drum-like directness and bright sound, notably on an account of Stella By Starlight. Steve Melling prods and echoes his partners tirelessly from the piano, Lockett has an engagingly dry, Hank Mobley-like, 1960s Blue Note sound, and Drew's drumming is propulsive and sympathetic.

John Fordham, The Guardian