Joe Pass, J.j. Johnson

A four-disc box set spanning Eric Clapton's entire career – running from the Yardbirds to his '80s solo recordings – Crossroads not only revitalized Clapton's commercial standing, but it established the rock & roll multi-disc box set retrospective as a commercially viable proposition. Bob Dylan's Biograph was successful two years before the release of Crossroads, but Clapton's set was a bona fide blockbuster. And it's easy to see why. Crossroads manages to sum up Clapton's career succinctly and thoroughly, touching upon all of his hits and adding a bevy of first-rate unreleased material (most notably selections from the scrapped second Derek and the Dominos album). Although not all of his greatest performances are included on the set – none of his work as a session musician or guest artist is included, for instance – every truly essential item he recorded is present on these four discs. No other Clapton album accurately explains why the guitarist was so influential, or demonstrates exactly what he accomplished.

Percussionist Airto Moreira, his wife, vocalist Flora Purim, and Joe Farrell (heard on flute, soprano and tenor) had teamed up several times through the years, most notably in the original version of Return To Forever. Farrell would pass away just eight months after this album, but is still heard in fine form on the interesting set.An atmospheric and at times haunting effort.

Carol Kaye is an American musician, who is one of the most prolific and widely heard bass guitarists in rock and pop music, playing on an estimated 10,000 recordings in a career spanning over 50 years. Kaye began playing guitar in her early teens and subsequently performed regularly on the Los Angeles jazz and big band circuit. She started playing sessions in 1957, and through a connection at Gold Star Studios began working for producers Phil Spector and Brian Wilson. After a bassist failed to turn up to a session in 1963, she switched to that instrument, quickly making a name for herself as one of the most in-demand session players of the 1960s, playing on numerous hits. She moved into playing on film soundtracks in the late 1960s, particularly for Quincy Jones and Lalo Schifrin, and began to release a series of tuition books such as How To Play The Electric Bass.

Norman Granz recorded Count Basie in many different settings during his decade with Granz's Pablo label. This jam session set was a little unusual in that, along with the tenor of Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, guitarist Joe Pass and trombonist J.J. Johnson, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard is in the cast along with Basie; pity he never recorded with the Count Basie Orchestra. This spirited session is a strong consolation prize, with plenty of fine solos taking over familiar chord changes.

Ella Fitzgerald was the supreme jazz singer. Sarah Vaughan may have been more technically complex and Billie Holiday may have been more rawly emotional, but Ella approached the nearest to what a true jazz vocalist can be. Even at the age of 66, when this "Jazz at the Philharmonic" concert was filmed in Tokyo, she was still magnificent. Admittedly her voice had become a little quavery - especially when using vibrato - but her spirit and jazz feeling were undiminished. Time and again during this concert, one marvels at the adroitness of her voice and the inventiveness of her improvisations. She used her voice like a musician playing jazz on an instrument, and thus she epitomised jazz.