Kenny Dorham The Complete Savoy Recordings Plus Other Small Group Sessions (1946 49) {1999 Definitive Records}

During the spring and summer of 1956, trumpeter Kenny Dorham recorded two studio albums with his Jazz Prophets, a small hard bop band involving tenor saxophonist J.R. Monterose and a rhythm section of pianist Dick Katz, bassist Sam Jones and drummer Arthur Edgehill. On May 31 of that year, Dorham's group performed live at the Café Bohemia with Bobby Timmons at the piano and guitarist Kenny Burrell sitting in on all but the first of four sets. Originally engineered by Rudy Van Gelder and remastered by him in 2001, Blue Note's 2002 double-disc "Complete" Dorham Café Bohemia edition combines every usable track taped during this exceptionally fine evening of live jazz…

J.J. Johnson - The Complete Columbia J.J. Johnson Small Group Sessions (1956-61) {7CD Mosaic MD7-169 rel 1996}
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© 1956-61, 1996 Mosaic Records / Columbia / Sony Music | MD7-169
Jazz / Hard Bop / Trombone

This seven-CD limited-edition box set from Mosaic is another mind-boggling collection. The masterful trombonist J.J. Johnson recorded steadily for Columbia during the 1956-61 period, heading groups that ranged from quartets to sextets that performed solid hard bop. Johnson is joined on various selections by tenors Bobby Jaspar (doubling on flute) and Clifford Jordan; cornetist Nat Adderley; the young trumpeter Freddie Hubbard; pianists Hank Jones, Tommy Flanagan, Cedar Walton, and Victor Feldman; bassists Percy Heath, Wilbur Little, Paul Chambers, Spanky DeBrest, Arthur Harper, and Sam Jones; and drummers Elvin Jones, Max Roach, Albert "Tootie" Heath, and Louis Hayes.

Michel de Villers - Low Reed - Complete Small Group Sessions 1946-1956 (2018) {Fresh Sound FSR-CD 951}
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© 1946-56, 2018 Fresh Sound Records | FSR-CD 951
Jazz / Bebop / Swing / Saxophone

Michel de Villers (1926-1992) was one of the most influential French reed players in modern jazz, known by most of his fellow musicians by his nickname: “Low reed.” From a very young age, de Villers excelled on alto sax and clarinet. After gaining the attention of fans and musicians as an amateur, he was hired by Django in 1946. Shortly afterwards he began recording as a leader, improvising with cohesive drive and swinging passion, with a clear tone and vocabulary straight from the leading swing alto players—Benny Carter, Willie Smith and Johnny Hodges.

Johnny Otis - Rhythm & Blues Caravan: The Complete Savoy Recordings (1999) {3CD Set, Atlantic–Savoy 92859-2 rec 1949-1952}
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© 1949-52, 1999 Atlantic / Savoy Jazz | 92859-2
Jazz / Blues / Early R&B / Jump Blues

A deluxe three-disc set summing up Otis' pre-Hand Jive days as an R&B bandleader of some renown who employed various singers on a number of singles for the Savoy label. The recording debuts of the Robins, Little Esther Phillips, Mel Walker, guitarist Pete Lewis, and Linda Hopkins are all here, and you hear how Otis kept his ear to the ground, changing and moving to keep pace with a big-band scene that was slowly dying out, while making some marvelous DIY records along the way. Incredible notes from Billy Vera make this a box set well worth having in the collection.

Die Like a Dog - The Complete FMP Recordings (2007) {4CD Set, Jazzwerkstatt jw060 rec 1993-1999}
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© 1993-99, 2007 Jazzwerkstatt / FMP | jw 060
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Free Improvisation

In 1993, Peter Brotzmann launched his Die Like A Dog quartet to pay tribute to the short and turbulent life of his near-contemporary Albert Ayler, a synchronistic saxophone innovator and fellow timbral virtuoso ('It's not about notes, it's about sounds'). all the highs and lows of an insane 'career' that nudged Albert ever closer to that dog's death in the East River. 'Die Like A Dog', though, has to be a misnomer for the life-affirming music of Brotzmann's quartet. Kondo, a most curious fellow whose every appearance seems a Zen manifestation - he pops up suddenly, like an oriental rabbit out of a hat - is, according to this month's jazz press, on conversational terms with the Dalai Lama. He's also a long term student of T'ai Chi and knows when to hit.

This somewhat obscure Kenny Dorham LP features the excellent hard bop trumpeter in a quintet with baritonist Charles Davis, pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist Butch Warren, and drummer Buddy Enlow. The straight-ahead music includes features for Davis ("When Sunny Gets Blue") and Warren, but Dorham consistently takes honors, particularly on his "Stage West," "I'm an Old Cowhand," "Stella by Starlight," and "Lazy Afternoon."