NEA Jazz Master, Toots Thielemans, is widely considered to be the preeminent jazz harmonica player - It is safe to say that before him, the harmonica in jazz was simply not done, and Thielemans can be credited with legitimizing the instrument in the genre. Born in Brussels, Belgium in 1922. Theileman's excelled on accordion as a small child, before picking up the guitar as a teenager after hearing Django Reinhart. Along the way, he taught himself to play harmonica as a hobby. In 1948, during a visit to the US, he sat in on guitar with a jazz group at small club in New York and was "discovered."

American pianist and composer Joanne Brackeen has been called the "Picasso of jazz piano", for her unique style and complex improvisations. Her work is at the forefront of what avant-garde jazz can be and she has long been one of the giants of modal, post-bop piano. Here Candid Records is proud to present the album as it was originally released, with original album title, original track running order and original album artwork. The recording has been remastered by legendary mastering engineer Bernie Grundman.

It took Blue Note 15 years to release this 1965 session from Wayne Shorter, his fifth album for the label. The critical consensus of the day agreed the album was well worth waiting for, however. Featuring Herbie Hancock on piano, Joe Chambers on drums and Cecil McBee on bass, the album is another showcase for Shorter's songwriting talent with four originals and a cover of the Gil Evans song "Barracudas".

For their fourth release, a true Jazz supergroup, The Cookers, have swapped out saxophonist Craig Handy for Donald Harrison, raising the median age of the septet to just under 70. All of that longevity doesn’t mean complacency, however: The 69-year-old pianist George Cables, septuagenarians Eddie Henderson (trumpet), Billy Harper (tenor saxophone), Cecil McBee (bass) and Billy Hart (drums) and the Cookers’ two youngsters, Harrison (54) and trumpeter David Weiss (49) may bring well-defined personal styles to this ongoing project, but there’s nothing retro about them. The Cookers cook, all right, and if anything they’ve become even more assured, skillful and single-minded with each new offering.

Arguably the greatest violinist in modern jazz, Zbignew Seifert was a musician’s musician, a player who is still talked about with a sense of awe. By the time of his death in 1979 at the age of 32, he had an international following and was playing with the jazz world’s elite. This 1976 recording features some of the genre's premiere musicians, including American drummer Billy Hart, considered in the same ranks as such innovators as Elvin Jones and Tony Williams. Bassist Cecil McBee’s credentials include work with Miles Davis and Keith Jarrett. Both Hart and McBee had also played with pianist McCoy Tyner, to whom this album and the title song "Man of the Light" are dedicated.

The Cookers are a young group of oldsters, seven esteemed jazz veterans of some 60s and 70s years of age whose experience and ongoing creativity now offer their latest development. Often a gathering of jazz greats produces nice, somewhat nostalgic but not distinctive recordings; this one is different. These artists are true colleagues who worked with each in other ensembles, and while leaders of their own bands, they can mesh into the composition. Two trumpets, Eddie Henderson and David Weiss, are joined with two saxophones, Donald Harrison on alto and Billy Harper on tenor. Bass, piano, and drums are the forte respectively of George Cables, Cecil McGee, and Billy Hart.

Saxophonist Charles Lloyd is a forward-thinking musician's musician whose supreme improvisational talents and interest in cross-pollinating jazz with rock as well as non-Western styles of music during the '60s and '70s established him as one of the key figures in the development of fusion and world music.