Back in the late 1960s, Solid State put out four LPs in their series Jazz for a Sunday Afternoon. The five titles with Dizzy Gillespie have been more recently reissued on a two-CD Blue Note set titled Live at the Village Vanguard. Laserlight improves upon the packaging by including two additional titles (from Vol. 3) on their first two CDs; unfortunately, the two lengthy songs ("Satin Doll" and "Straight No Chaser") from a Harry "Sweets" Edison date that comprised Vol. 4 remain out of print. The first disc of this three-CD set has a very interesting, if sometimes erratic date matching Gillespie with violinist Ray Nance (sometimes replaced by trombonist Garnett Brown), baritonist Pepper Adams, pianist Chick Corea, bassist Richard Davis, and either Mel Lewis or Elvin Jones on drums. Nance's violin playing is adventurous and eccentric, and there are some loose moments, but Dizzy holds the music together and Pepper Adams is in top form.

In 1998, Columbia reissued a bunch of CDs by the Dave Brubeck Quartet, often adding one or two previously unissued selections to the sets. Buried Treasures: Recorded Live in Mexico City, however, is something different, for none of the music had been out before. Recorded live in 1967 during a tour of Mexico that also resulted in the album Bravo! Brubeck!, the set features the classic Brubeck Quartet (with altoist Paul Desmond, bassist Eugene Wright and drummer Joe Morello) performing seven selections they had previously recorded, which was probably why this particular music stayed in the vaults for decades. The quality is certainly quite high, with Brubeck and Desmond really digging into such songs as "Koto Song" (coming up with some inspired ideas over its vamp), "You Go to My Head," a lengthy "St. Louis Blues," and a fairly concise version of "Take Five," one of the few versions by Brubeck of the hit song that does not have a drum solo. Suffice to say, Dave Brubeck fans only need to be notified of two things: they do not already own this music, and the Quartet is heard throughout in prime form. Recommended.

This five-LP box set (which has been reissued on CD) contains nearly all of Stan Getz's classic bossa nova sessions, five wonderful yet diverse LPs (Jazz Samba, Big Band Bossa Nova, Jazz Samba Encore, Stan Getz/Laurindo Almedia, and Getz/Gilberto). The cool-toned tenor is heard on his groundbreaking collaboration with guitarist Charlie Byrd (which resulted in the best-selling "Desafinado"), is showcased with a big band arranged by Gary McFarland (introducing "No More Blues" and "One Note Samba"), stars in recordings with guitarists Laurindo Almeida and Luiz Bonfa, and is heard at the famous meeting with composer/pianist Antonio Carlos Jobim, guitarist João Gilberto, and singer Astrud Gilberto, which resulted in the major hit "The Girl From Ipanema." This essential set finishes off with three previously unissued performances from a 1964 Carnegie Hall Concert, concluding with a remake of "The Girl From Ipanema." These recordings stand as proof that it is possible for good music to sell.

4CD Box Set. 72 tracks featuring Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, Gerry Mulligan, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Chet Baker, Duke Ellington, Oscar Peterson, Claude Thornhill, Nat King Cole, Charles Mingus, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Lester Young, Louis Armstrong, Eartha Kitt, Julie London, Art Pepper and many, many more…

This 1982 studio recording of Chet Baker was not released until Stash Records issued it in 1994 (the album has been out of circulation for several years). It's a very high quality production of Baker with an unusual lineup of fine sidemen: Kenny Barron on piano, Charlie Haden on bass, Ben Riley on drums, Howard Johnson on tuba and James Newton on flute. The six tracks (total running time of 40:59) include vocals on the title song and Miles Davis' "Four." Of special note is the song "Lament," which shows off one of Baker's rightfully admired ballad performances. "But Not For Me" is the first of a series of Stash Records reissues licensed by Random Chance Records that will be coming out over the next few years.

The quality of Chet Baker's product was so varied during the last decade or more of his life that recording sessions varied markedly. For this "remixed version" of Mr. B Baker sounds a tad tired, though his chops are in fine form. The studio recording captures the trumpeter with highly sympathetic and self-effacing pianist Michel Grallier and bassist Ricardo Del Fra, both of whom engage in the leader's brand of sensitivity. There are no vocals by the trumpeter, but plenty of improvising. The interesting tune selection features a few songs played often by Baker (such as Wayne Shorter's "Dolphin Dance" and Horace Silver's "Strollin'"), but several that are not associated with him at all (Grallier's "White Blues" and his gorgeous "Father X-mas," to name a couple). There is a sadness permeating the trumpeter's sound throughout, exacerbated by the lazy, sometimes sluggish, tempos. A deep and touching beauty can be felt, marking this as one of Chet's best from the period.

It is a pity that this 1998 CD reissue (which includes the original liner notes) says nothing about what ever happened to Earl Anderza. The date (which has its original eight selections augmented by "I'll Be Around" and two previously unheard alternate takes) was the altoist's only one as a leader, and he has been little heard from since. Anderza's style, while influenced to an extent by Charlie Parker and Jackie McLean, was also touched a little by Eric Dolphy. Standards mix with originals; the oddest aspect of the set is that pianist Jack Wilson switches to harpsichord (not a good move!) on a couple of the numbers. The support by either George Morrow or Jimmy Bond on bass, plus drummer Donald Dean, is subtle and swinging. Earl Anderza clearly deserved better than the total obscurity he found.

This excellent CD reissues the LP Brubeck Time plus half of Red Hot and Cool. One of the few early studio (as opposed to club) recordings by the early Dave Brubeck Quartet (this version has bassist Bob Bates and drummer Joe Dodge in addition to pianist Brubeck and altoist Paul Desmond), the fine unit performs nine standards plus three new compositions: "Stompin' for Mili," "Audrey" (dedicated to Audrey Hepburn) and Brubeck's classic, "The Duke."

The music made by Quincy Jones during the second half 1950s was a stunning example of contemporary jazz during that pivotal decade for the form. Listening back today to these groundbreaking records delightfully illustrate how the dynamic musician, performer, composer and arranger first introduced his extraordinary skills to the world. After spending the first half of the decade working for other musicians, including a number of freelance commissions arranging songs for renowned artists such as Dinah Washington, Duke Ellington, and his close friend Ray Charles, Jones soon decided it was time for him to take the lead. The first album release to feature Quincy as a named artist was the 1955 release on Mercury Records 'Jazz Abroad' on which he featured alongside jazz drummer Roy Haynes. Next up was, 'That's How I feel About Jazz' featuring an all star cast including Art Farmer, Lucky Johnson & Phil Woods - following which he would record and release a further six albums before the end of the 1950s, all for Mercury. Quincy Jones first eight albums, all released during this period, are featured on this 4CD set in their entirety, in glorious re-mastered sound, making this package the most complete Quincy Jones 1950s collection available today.

Although recorded in sessions in 1962 and 1965, this set of Richard Rodgers tunes by the Dave Brubeck Quartet has a strong unity about it due to the consistent performances of the veteran group. With altoist Paul Desmond and the pianist-leader contributing some fine solos (and bassist Eugene Wright and drummer Joe Morello excellent in support), The Rodgers songs are treated with respect and swing. This comparatively gentle version of "My Favorite Things" would never be mistaken for John Coltrane's.

In this, the third installment in Steven Bernstein's Diaspora series, one of the most active and imaginative musicians in the downtown scene explores compositions from the Jewish tradition through the rose colored lens of West Coast Jazz. Actually recorded in the Hollywood Hills with a fabulous all star quintet including vibes and bass flute, Steve's lush arrangements take off from the intimate small group jazz sound of the Shelley Manne and Shorty Rogers units from the mid fifties. Beautiful arrangements that come from the heart and a savvy choice of traditional compositions make this one of Steve's greatest projects.

Tenor saxophonist Stan Getz's neo-big band album Apasionado has been consigned to minor league status since its original release in 1990. It does, indeed, look unpromising: recorded in fall 1989, when Getz was undergoing treatment for the cancer which would kill him less than two years later; with a pair of synthesizers replicating a string section; and with the commercially astute but MOR focused Herb Alpert producing. But 20 years on and rereleased, Apasionado rises way above expectations. Getz is in soaring form, commanding attention so completely that the ersatz strings, and Alpert's slight arrangements, become irrelevant, barely emerging from the distant background where they belong. Apasionado, despite the received wisdom, is actually a very fine Getz album. The album's structure was modeled, in large part, on Getz's masterpiece Focus (Verve, 1961), on which the saxophonist improvised, with practically no rehearsal and without prewritten melodies, over a suite played by a string orchestra arranged by Eddie Sauter.

Whether as a trumpeter or singer, Chet Baker was always the subject of controversy among jazz listeners, a victim of fashion who was doomed in his lifetime to be either over- or underrated. These Pacific Jazz recordings from the mid-1950s present Baker the instrumentalist at the height of his popularity. While his coolly passive treatments of ballads like "Imagination" and "Stella by Starlight" may play to the languid stereotype of West Coast jazz, there's boppish fire and invention on the medium- and up-tempo tunes, with Baker emphasizing the middle register that was his forte. Altoist Art Pepper and valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer turn up among the supporting cast, and there's a good choice of material by boppish heads from both coasts, including Carson Smith's "Carson City Stage," Jimmy Heath's "C.T.A.," and Al Haig's "Jumping Off a Clef".

One of the most infamously acrimonious musical unions transpired between two of the leading purveyors of West Coast cool jazz: Chet Baker (trumpet) and Stan Getz (tenor sax). Their paths crossed only a handful of times and West Coast Live captures two of their earliest encounters in Los Angeles at the Haig on June 12, 1953, and the Tiffany Club on August 17, 1953. These recordings have been issued in Europe and Japan ad infinitum in varying degrees of quality, completeness, and often sporting erroneous data. However, enthusiasts should note that West Coast Live is the only release derived from producer/engineer Dick Bock's own master reels. For two men who purportedly would rather not be in the same room at the same time, Baker and Getz are able to create some legitimately brilliant improvisation. For the Haig set, Getz had been brought in to co-lead a quartet with Baker for an incarcerated Gerry Mulligan.

The last of the pianoless quartet albums that Gerry Mulligan recorded in the 1950s is one of the best, featuring the complementary trumpet of Art Farmer, bassist Bill Crow, and drummer Dave Bailey along with the baritonist/leader. This recording is a little skimpy on playing time but makes every moment count. Virtually every selection is memorable, with "What Is There to Say," "Just in Time," "Festive Minor," "My Funny Valentine," and "Utter Chaos" being the high points. Highly recommended both to Mulligan collectors and to jazz listeners who are just discovering the great baritonist.