C.& e European Legal Mater. Sup.2 Rel.4

Ella Fitzgerald - Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Duke Ellington Song Book (1957) {3CD Set Verve Master Edition 559 248-2 rel 1999}
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© 1957, 1999 Verve / PolyGram | 559 248-2 | Verve Master Edition Series
Jazz / Vocal Jazz / Standards

This release comes in a cardboard box which houses a 4-panel Digisleeve and a 66-page booklet. Ella Fitzgerald's outstanding songbook series has become an institution unto itself. This 1957 effort is distinguished from Fitzgerald's other songbooks in that it is the only album in which the composer whose work she is singing actively participates. In fact, these recordings are packed with some of the key figures in 20th century jazz. As if Ella and Duke weren't enough, Ellington's arranger/composer Billy Strayhorn, guest musicians Dizzy Gillespie and Oscar Peterson, and brilliant record producer Norman Granz all have a hand in the proceedings.

Milt Jackson & Ray Brown - Montreux '77 (2003) {Pablo OJC20 375-2 rel 2003}
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© 1977, 2003 Pablo Records / Fantasy / ZYX Music | OJC20 375-2 | 24bit remastered
Jazz / Bop / Mainstream Jazz / Vibes / Bass

This set from the 1977 Montreux Jazz Festival was very much a spontaneous jam session. Flugelhornist Clark Terry, who happened to be in town early, was added to vibraphonist Milt Jackson's group at the last moment. When players the caliber of Terry, tenor saxophonist Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, pianist Monty Alexander, bassist Ray Brown, drummer Jimmie Smith and Jackson get together, one does not have to worry about the lack of rehearsal time. The sextet romps happily through Brown's "Slippery," "A Beautiful Friendship," "Mean to Me," "You Are My Sunshine," the CD's bonus cut "That's The Way It Is" and "C.M.J."; both Terry and Jackson have humorous vocals on the latter.

Eric Dolphy - Vintage Dolphy (1963) {GM Recordings 3005-2 rel 1995} (featuring Don Ellis)
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© 1963, 1995 GM Recordings | 3005-2
Jazz / Post Bop / Reeds

This is our all-time best seller. Selected ‘Jazz Album of the Week’ in the New York Times and on numerous ‘Best Recordings of the Year’ lists upon its original release, these live recordings from Carnegie Hall and Syracuse, New York, are now remastered and repackaged and include additional, previously unreleased Dolphy performances of Gunther Schuller’s Third Stream masterpiece Variants on a Theme by Monk. An incredible sampling of Dolphy’s artistry from ’62 to ’63, in action with his own quartet, in contemporary chamber music settings created for him by Schuller and in the heat of an all-star jam session on “Donna Lee”… Dolphy was never more brilliant.

Charlie Parker - Bird's Eyes: Last Unissued, Vol. 19 (1945, 1949) {Philology W 849.2 rel 1999}
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© 1945, 1949, 1999 Philology | W 849.2
Jazz / Bop / Bebop / Saxophone

Charlie Parker was a legendary Grammy Award–winning jazz saxophonist who, with Dizzy Gillespie, invented the musical style called bop or bebop. Charlie Parker was born on August 29, 1920, in Kansas City, Kansas. From 1935 to 1939, he played the Missouri nightclub scene with local jazz and blues bands. In 1945 he led his own group while performing with Dizzy Gillespie on the side. Together they invented bebop. In 1949, Parker made his European debut, giving his last performance several years later. He died a week later on March 12, 1955, in New York City.

John Fahey - The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party and Other Excursions (1966) {Takoma TAKCD-6508-2 rel 2000}
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© 1966, 2000 Takoma Records / Fantasy | TAKCD-6508-2
Folk / Blues / Contemporary Folk / Finger-Picked Guitar / Folk Jazz / Folk-Blues / Progressive Folk

Few guitarists, even ones leaning toward the eccentric, would dream of pasting together a 19-minute instrumental out of various improvisations. But John Fahey is on his own planet, and he assured that fingerstyle guitar would never be the same when he issued The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party on his own Takoma label in 1966. The album features Fahey's more experimental explorations on the guitar between 1962 and 1966, ranging from solo guitar on "Guitar Excursions Into the Unknown" to the eerie organ accompaniment on "Will the Circle Be Unbroken."

Sidney Maiden - Trouble An' Blues (1961) {Prestige-Bluesville OBCCD-574-2 rel 1994}
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© 1961, 1994 Prestige / Bluesville / Fantasy | OBCCD-574-2
Jazz / West Coast Blues / Piedmont Blues / Regional Blues

Louisiana-born singer and harmonica blower Sidney Maiden first made his mark in the blues world during the late Forties with Eclipse of the Sun, a number cut in Oakland with guitarist K.C. Douglas. Unlike many other Southern bluesmen who urbanized their styles after relocating to the West Coast, Maiden and Douglas stuck close to their rural roots.

Man - Live At The 'Rainbow' 1972 (1998) {Eagle Records EDL EAG 124-2 rel 1998}
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© 1972, 1998 Point / Eagle Records | EDL EAG 124-2
Rock / Prog-Rock / Psychedelic / Pub Rock / Hard Rock

Man were arguably at their peak in 1972, with guitars and solos still locked firmly on stun, and their improvisational powers so taut that it was impossible to predict what might happen next when they played. Certainly the U.K. tour that culminated at the London Rainbow remains one of the most fondly remembered of all the band's excursions, and though the sound quality is just a shade on the murky side, this four-songs-and-a-fiddly-bit souvenir captures all the magnificence of that crowning night.

Peter Erskine - Peter Erskine (1982) {Contemporary OJCCD-610-2 rel 1991}
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© 1982, 1991 Contemporary / Fantasy / OJC | OJCCD-610-2
Jazz / Post Bop / Contemporary Jazz / Neo Bop / Drums

Drummer Peter Erskine's debut as a leader (originally made for Contemporary and reissued on CD in the OJC series) finds him using top players (most of whom had played with Steps Ahead) in various combinations. Erskine performs a few of his own originals (including an 11-minute "All's Well That Ends" and a short drum solo) plus "My Ship," Wayne Shorter's "E.S.P.," and Bob Mintzer's "Change of Mind." With such musicians as trumpeter Randy Brecker, tenors Michael Brecker and Mintzer, pianist Kenny Kirkland, and vibraphonist Mike Mainieri getting some solo space, this post-bop music (from an often-overlooked set) is of consistent high quality.