THE HOT AND THE COOL

The world of new jazz has its dedicated in Kip Nelson and the boys of his unit which is not so highly thought of by their leader, Wade Stuart, a snob and an opportunist. Kip's ambitions in composing and playing are deeply channeled as compensation for an accident that emasculated him; his boys, in spite of marijuana, woman trouble, family and marriage troubles, are all for Kip. Wade, trying to lift them out of the small New Jersey night spot, introduces a singer and Kip, resenting the break in their straight jazz line, projects that resentment onto Andrea Chapman, until he realizes he has fallen in love with her. He plans to keep his shaming secret but Wade, after accumulated frustrations in not making the grade with Andrea and not getting a New York engagement, makes the humiliating revelation and shocks Andrea and Kip into separate paths. You'll have to dig the new word score, sit in on the jam sessions in Harlem and be sent by the deep gone music to groove this but there's a nervous intensity to its playback.