Charlie Mingus, Pre Bird.

Charles Mingus - Shoes of the Fisherman's Wife (1959) {Columbia CK44050 rel 1988}
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© 1959, 1988 CBS / Columbia | CK 44050
Jazz / Post Bop / Progressive Jazz

It's too bad this one is so rare, it's quite good. Slop is probably the best known track, and is Get It In Yer Soul's little cousin. Song With Orange is underrated (the liner notes call it one of Mingus's less memorable tunes) and makes nice use of muted brass. Gunsling Bird, fully called, "If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger, There'd Be a Lot of Dead Copycats", so you can guess it's a tribute piece. Things Ain't What They Used to Be and Mood Indigo are two lengthy Ellington covers, the former being my favorite Ellington piece. Far Wells, Mill Valley has an awesome title but is an okay song.

Bobby Scott - The Compositions Of Bobby Scott (1955) {2014 Japan Bethlehem Album Collection 1000 CDSOL-6126}
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© 1955, 2014 Solid Records / Bethlehem | CDSOL-6126 (BCP-8)
Jazz / Cool / West Coast Jazz / Piano

Really wonderful work from pianist Bobby Scott – a perfect showcase not just for his young talents as a composer and arranger, but also for a host of key solo performers as well! This full album brings together two previous 10" LP sessions – both of them brilliant, and graced by some of the most modern talents Bethlehem Records had to offer – which makes for extremely fresh sounds from Scott's wonderful music – jazz that's at a level that's really hard to peg – neither west coast cool, nor east coast arranged – but a really special space of its own!

The first of 100 tunes in this collection is a 1937 recording of tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins and guitarist Django Reinhardt playing Out Of Nowhere. It was recorded two years before Blue Note Records was founded. The taping was done for EMI’s Capitol label’s French division. This is an ominous hint as to the content of the 10-disc “100 Best of Blue Note” box set, which at first glance appears to have all the trimmings of a slick 21st century collection.

The second album by Elvin Jones as sole title rights leader (excluding the co-op ensemble that recorded the stunning and essential progressive jazz icon Illumination!) has the drummer sounding more like a backup musician, as he claims no compositional duties or noticeable solo space. In fact, this is one of the very best albums in the career of alto saxophonist Charlie Mariano, who occupies the bulk of lead lines and improvising responsibilities. He's so up-front, and on an instrument that is not John Coltrane's main instrument - the tenor sax - that the title is also a bit of a misnomer. The value of Jones as a bandleader lies in his concept of using fellow Detroiter Sir Roland Hanna or brother Hank Jones on selected tracks, or in the case of three tracks, no pianist…

Miles Davis - Birdland 1951 (2004) {Blue Note ‎7243 5 41779 2 7}
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© 1951, 2004 Blue Note / Capitol Records | ‎7243 5 41779 2 7
Jazz / Bop / Trumpet

These ten tracks, taken from radio broadcasts from the legendary Birdland in 1951, represent a particularly fruitful period in Miles Davis' development as a bandleader. There are three different broadcasts included here; two comprising six cuts in total were from June and September and have been issued in various forms on bootlegs over the decades. Four cuts, however, taken from a broadcast on February 17, have never been available in any form and it is these as well the marginally better fidelity of the entire set that makes this worth owning for Miles freaks – and only Miles freaks.

Miles Davis - Chronicle: The Complete Prestige Recordings 1951-1956 (1987) {Prestige, 8PCD 012-2}
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© 1951-56, 1987 Prestige / Fantasy / ZYX | 8PCD 012-2
Jazz / Bop / Hard Bop / Trumpet

This CD compilation presents, on 8 discs, 17 recording sessions made between 1951 and late 1956 by the extraordinary trumpeter, leader, composer, and perpetual catalyst–Miles Davis. Featured in this collection are such major artists as Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Sonny Rollins, Lee Konitz, and the original Davis Quintet: John Coltrane, Red Garland, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones. The expanse of Miles Davis's recordings for Prestige Records, the California analogue to New York's Blue Note, is huge. In terms of artistic development, the eight CDs in this box span Davis's development from tentative searching through the full bloom of his first great quintet, whose frontline boasted Davis and a young John Coltrane.

A Man I’d Rather Be' (Part II) comprises Jansch’s late ’60s and early ’70s output, an under-rated era, no doubt influenced by the now well-established Pentangle sound. Bandmates Danny Thompson (bass) and Terry Cox (drums) regularly feature among the musicians as well as cameo appearances by Mary Hopkin, Toni Visconti and Dave Mattacks.