Here are Stan Freeman and His Jazz Quartet at their inventive best in a session of firmly swinging, imaginative tunes that are a high mark in combo entertainment. Favorites old and new, sparked by the interpretive artistry of Stan’s arrangements, are spotlighted in a brilliant balance of tempos and musical categories. Starting off at a fast clip, the boys offer Dixiana – a perpetual motion showcase for Stan’s piano, that has traces of Dixie in its rapid refrains. It’s followed by a softly-tender, haunting ballad that scores the sadness of a used-to-be dream in a lonesome melody that Stan revamped from a Chopin opus and called Prelude To A Lost Love. The old and the new are also combined in the next offering. It’s a steady jazz rhythm in the smart Freeman style, replete with bouncy variations and piano-guitar interplay, and titled Pastoral In Rhythm. The tantalizing beat of the tango lures the quartet south-of-the-border to Argentina, where they present a fiesta-flavored rendition of the renowned musical souvenir, Adios Muchachos. Just as the tango was a popular dance craze not so many years ago, the lindy-hop followed in its footsteps. Stan and the boys contribute their version of this dance fad with a bright ring-around-the-rosy whirl called Invention. A frolicking novelty tune full of high jinks and madcap capers opens side Two of ‘Stan The Man, Vol. 7.’ The rhythm rips out a bright beat as the guitar-piano duo rides high on these spontaneous musical shenanigans called Monkey Business. Then the boys settle down and pay tribute to the prairie, where the bright golden stars and pale silvery moon bathe the hills in a soft, but radiant Western light. The rhythm provides the hoofbeats as the boys saddle up for a Nocturne On The Prairie. On an upbeat pace again, Stan whets his sweet tooth with a flashy fox trot concoction that features some affirmative bass patter by Bobby Haggart, and it’s all dedicated to Sweet Stuff. The mood then turns to mooning as the guitar recalls the happy hours of a lost yesterday and Stan’s piano relives the golden hours in a reminiscing ballad that softly sighs, I Pretend You’re Here. The album closes with the bewitching sounds of tinkling tambourines and chattering maracas as Stan and the boys return to the Latin idiom and a challenging, exciting paso doble entitled Vila Nova. The Stan Freeman Jazz Quartet: Stan Freeman, piano; Tony Mottola, guitar; Bobby Haggart, bass; Terry Snyder, percussion.