The Happiness of Joe Mooney/The Greatness of Joe Mooney

This CD complies two full LPs originally issued by Columbia and dropped from the catalog a short time thereafter, in spite of high praise by prominent jazz critics of the era. Mooney's approach on these songs leans more toward pop than jazz, though it's difficult not to like his warm vocal style, and he is an accomplished, if reserved, organist and accordion player. A number of prominent jazz musicians took part in the sessions, including guitarists Barry Galbraith and Mundell Lowe, bassist George Duvivier, and reed players Jerry Dodgion, Gene Allen, Al Klink, and Phil Bodner, to name only a few. The fact that this reissue quickly follows the 1999 Koch reissue of Mooney's Lush Life means he may yet get the acclaim he never received from the general record-buying public during his lifetime.