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Title: very good, but not quite classic
Review: This is the only Sonny Clark-led Bluenote that strikes me as "only" very good, even excellent, but not a classic. Mind you, any album with both Hank Mobley and Sonny Clark is well worth your time, but it doesn't seem to have the note-to-note inevitability of his other albums. I guess I'm talking about that indefineable thing called chemistry. There seemed to be more of it between trombonist Curtis Fuller and John Coltrane on the previous Sonny's Crib. Perhaps Sonny just came out with another album too soon after the last one (September 1, '57 for Sonny's Crib, November 10, '57 for Dial "S"). In any case, I'm speaking in relative terms here, and this album still deserves four-and-a-half stars.
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