Although undoubtedly an expensive acquisition, this ten-CD set is perfectly done and contains dozens of gems. The remarkable but short-lived trumpeter Clifford Brown has the second half of his career fully documented (other than his final performance) and he is showcased in a wide variety of settings. The bulk of the numbers are of Brownie's quintet with co-leader and drummer Max Roach, either Harold Land or Sonny Rollins on tenor, pianist Richie Powell, and bassist George Morrow (including some previously unheard alternate takes), but there is also much more.
Sarah Vaughan recorded extensively for Mercury/EmArcy during the 1950s and 1960s. Through much of that time, Vaughan's operatic voice was matched against overripe orchestrations or arrangements more suitable to a pop icon than one of the most versatile instruments in history.
Jimmy Jones was an in-demand arranger and pianist throughout the 1950s and '60s, working with most leading jazz vocalists and soloists of the era. If you go into Tom Lord's Jazz Discography, you'll find Jones on 307 sessions. But if you modify your search, screening just for Jones's leadership dates, you'll find the number dramatically reduced to eight. In truth, there were only seven, since the tracks for an Atlantic Records session in 1957 were strangely never released.
Among these seven leadership recordings, the only trio session released as a six-song 10-inch LP was Jimmy Jones Trio. Jones recorded the album for the French Vogue label in October 1954 in Paris. The only explanations for Jones recording just one trio album over the course of his career is either that he was too busy or he was under contract as an arranger or accompanist to other artists and couldn't record legally under his own name…