Drummer and bandleader Art Taylor led a rather colorful life, playing on countless sessions for Prestige Records as a veritable “house drummer” as well as making a number of sideman dates through Blue Note and Atlantic. A.T.’s Delight is his third record as a leader. Recorded in 1960, this date joins him with bassist Paul Chambers, pianist Wynton Kelly, trumpeter Dave Burns, tenorman Stanley Turrentine and conguero Carlos ‘Patato’ Valdez. Taylor contributes only one composition — “Cookoo & Fungi” — with the rest of the program drawn from the books of John Coltrane, Kenny Dorham, Thelonious Monk and Denzil Best. It’s rather interesting to hear Turrentine’s burly, Hawkins-like tenor work through the clean lines of “Syeeda’s Song Flute,” and he sounds at home alongside Burns’ fatter take on Clifford Brown. “Move” is extraordinarily fleet, and spotlights Patato’s conga as well as a darting Burns and plowing Turrentine, while “Cookoo & Fungi” is a rolling calypso that features a detailed pot-stirring solo by the leader. A.T.’s Delight is a strong and inventive slice of early ‘60s hardbop.