What's Where on Earth

A jazz musician is a juggler who uses harmonies instead of oranges, says pianist Benny Green. Seventeen of his most prominent colleagues illustrate this bon mot on the ten jam-packed CDs of the Ultimate Jazz Piano Collection. From swing experts such as Duke Ellington, in a rare and out-of-print trio recording, to bebop heroes such as Thelonious Monk and Bill Evans, the father of the modern jazz piano, these masters of their craft show why the 88 piano keys still mean the world in jazz. The stylistic spectrum is as broad as it is stringent: from the oldest recordings in this collection, the album Bud Powell's Moods, to Bill Evans's Portrait in Jazz from 1960, these 145 pieces contain a veritable history of piano jazz. But above all, it is beautiful music - the greatest melodies from In a Sentimental Mood to Round About Midnight to Misty and Blue In Green, the most moving rhythms and the most important jazz interpreters on the piano on this unique 10 CD box set.