"High Blues Pressure" is the thirteenth album by trumpeter Freddie Hubbard. It was his second release on the Atlantic label and features performances by Hubbard, James Spaulding, Bennie Maupin, Herbie Lewis, Roman "Dog" Broadus, Weldon Irvine, Kenny Barron, Freddie Waits, Louis Hayes, Howard Johnson, and Kiane Zawadi.

Louis Hayes, one of the chief architects of modern jazz drumming, was the rhythmic drive for historic recordings by Horace Silver, Cannonball Adderley, Oscar Peterson, Joe Henderson, Dexter Gordon and McCoy Tyner. When he reformed the Jazz Communicators, the band that he co-founded in the late 1960s with Freddie Hubbard and Joe Henderson, Hayes purposefully deviated from a conventional quintet lineup by featuring vibraphone and tenor saxophone out front. It’s the esteemed pair of Steve Nelson and Abraham Burton respectively, and their chemistry with Hayes, pianist David Bryant and bassist Dezron Douglas makes "Return of the Jazz Communicators" an inspired and rewarding set.

Recorded in late 1960, Kenny Drew's seventh recording as a leader is significant for many reasons, not the least of which that it is one of the finest Blue Note hard bop statements in either of their catalogues. Teamed with rising young star trumpeter Freddie Hubbard and the wonderful tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley fresh off stints with Donald Byrd and Art Blakey, Drew joined the ranks of the premier mainstream jazz pianists just prior to moving permanently to Europe. He's a complementary piece of the puzzle as a player, but stirs the drink as the composer of all of these very fine hard bop vehicles.

Oscar Peterson has stated that he feels his MPS recordings are his finest. That is quite a statement considering the huge amount of records that the pianist has produced through the past 50 years. This set reissues the music from six of his MPS LPs: Action, Girl Talk, The Way I Really Play, My Favorite Instrument, Mellow Mood, and Travelin' On. While some of the performances feature the 1963 trio he had with bassist Ray Brown and drummer Ed Thigpen, most of the music dates from 1967-1968 and matches Peterson with bassist Sam Jones and either Louis Hayes or Bobby Durham on drums. A special treat is Peterson's first unaccompanied solo album, which fills up the final LP. Peterson's many fans know what to expect in this set, while other listeners need to discover him to realize what all of the fuss was about. Quite simply, Oscar Peterson has long been one of the greatest pianists the world has ever known; this reissue offers plenty of proof.

Richard Davis has been a major force on the bass from the 1960’s on. At home with classical, jazz, and pop, he has worked with Ahmed Jamal, Sarah Vaughn, Van Morrison (“the greatest bass ever heard on a rock album” – Rolling Stone), Bruce Springstein, and was on the legendary Eric Dolphy Live at the Five Spot albums. "Muses for Richard Davis" features a duo with jazz giant Freddie Hubbard’s ruminations on trumpet playing muse to Davis’ bowed bass. With a group of master musicians for guides, the album is a showcase for one of the great bassists in jazz, and exhilarating music for the listener.

Masterful piano playing meets elaborate vocal harmonies on this legendary 1971 release that teams up Oscar Peterson and his trio with jazz vocal group The Singers Unlimited. Peterson's trio mates on this session, bassist George Mraz and drummer Louis Hayes, feed off the languages of the two musical poles, whether in the swinging give and take of the opener, Sesame Street, or in the switch from the reverential choir intro to Peterson’s sparkling play on It Never Entered My Mind. It’s the same with the dreamy arrangement of The Shadow of Your Smile; in his role as delicate accompanist, Peterson narrows it down to the essentials. Two Brazilian excursions are highlighted: Antônio Carlos Jobim’s Children’s Game and Luis Bonfá‘s The Gentle Rain.

The title says it all: the six young jazz musicians featured here represented the best of the best from the Detroit area, although all were based in New York City by the time this was recorded in 1960. Saxophonist Pepper Adams and trumpeter Donald Byrd coaxed great performances and memorable solos from the band, most notably from guitarist Kenny Burrell and bassist Paul Chambers.

Pianist Oscar Peterson joins up with his old friends, vibraphonist Milt Jackson and bassist Ray Brown, in addition to his drummer of the period, Louis Hayes, for a particularly enjoyable outing. After a throwaway version of the Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," the all-star quartet performs Jackson's title cut, Benny Carter's ballad "Dream of You," and four standards. Although not up to the excitement of Peterson's best Pablo recordings of the 1970s, this is an enjoyable album.

Nancy Wilson/Cannonball Adderley is a studio album by Nancy Wilson and Cannonball Adderley originally issued in February 1962 by Capitol Records. The Penguin Guide to Jazz states "The odd session out is the date with Nancy Wilson for Capitol, primarily designed as a showcase for the young singer but with five band-only tracks as well. Wilson had a self-conscious phrasing and melodramatic lighting-up of key lines - but there is a version of "A Sleeping Bee" here which is one of the most charming of all her recordings, and Cannon and the others play personably throughout". Wilson considered her vocals on the album "as a sort of easy-going third horn".

Lush Life is an album credited to jazz musician John Coltrane, released in 1961 on Prestige Records. It is assembled from unissued results of three separate recording sessions at Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, New Jersey in 1957 and 1958. As Coltrane's fame grew during the 1960s long after he had stopped recording for the label, Prestige used unissued recordings to create new marketable albums without Coltrane's input or approval.

On the Wings of an Eagle is an album by pianist John Hicks, recorded in 2006. The album was recorded by the working trio led by Hicks, with bassist Buster Williams, and drummer Louis Hayes. The Penguin Guide to Jazz commented that "Hicks died eight weeks after the recording, which lends it a certain poignancy, but even without that association it would be a cracking set".

Legendary drummer Louis Hayes makes his Blue Note debut with this loving tribute to his mentor and friend, the great pianist, composer and bandleader Horace Silver. Hayes was 19 years old when he moved to New York City in 1956 and joined Silver’s quintet, putting his stamp on several timeless Blue Note recordings. Co-produced by Don Was and bassist Dezron Douglas with the eminent Maxine Gordon acting as executive producer, "Serenade for Horace" presents Hayes leading an ensemble that revisits 10 Silver classics in addition to the Hayes original Hastings Street, a dedication to his hometown of Detroit. The album's first single "Song for My Father" features Grammy-winning vocalist Gregory Porter.

Nat Adderley led a double creative life at Riverside: featured on the highly successful working-group albums led by his brother Cannonball, and also devising several intriguingly different projects under his own name. Very possibly the most interesting was Work Song, which took its title from one of Nat's most widely known soulful compositions, and took its instrumentation from the younger Adderley's fertile imagination. Cornet, cello, and guitar make up a front line that will probably never be duplicated. The guitarist was his friend Wes Montgomery, just emerging towards jazz stardom; the cellist was the longtime bassist of Cannonball's band, Sam Jones.

This matchup between pianist Oscar Peterson, bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, and drummer Louis Hayes directly precedes Peterson's recordings for Pablo. The pianist is in typically brilliant form on this recording, performing six standards (including 'Soft Winds' and 'On the Trail') along with his own 'Wheatland.' It is not too surprising that Peterson would want to record frequently with Pedersen in future years.

Trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, whose Atlantic recordings had straddled the boundary between hard bop and the avant-garde, sticks to bebop on this excellent recording. Performing in a quintet with tenor-saxophonist Eddie Daniels, pianist Roland Hanna, bassist Richard Davis and drummer Louis Hayes, Hubbard is in top form on these four selections.