Best Drums

' As is the case with the JB's and other James Brown protégés, Bobby Byrd's legacy is spread over numerous out-of-print, difficult-to-find vinyl records. So this 22-song retrospective, which gathers numerous singles, and a couple of previously unreleased tracks spanning 1964 to 1973, is a welcome consolidation of his most significant work into one package. Solid stuff, covering both standard soul from the '60s and hard funk (usually featuring the JB's) from the early '70s, though it sounds a lot more like a James Brown record with a different vocalist than a Bobby Byrd record that happens to benefit from James Brown's backing crew. Brown produced (and occasionally contributed to) all of the recordings here, and duets with Bobby on the 1968 single "You've Got to Change Your Mind." ' Richie.Unterberger@allmusic.com

Take Five: The Best Of Cool Saxophone of Paul Desmond (Paul Emil Breitenfeld) is the story of a jazz artist who transcended genres to establish one of the most immediately recognizable sounds in all of music. Desmond is simply delightful, he’s so lyrical and his lines are so imaginative.

His Best is a greatest hits compilation album by American blues musician Howlin' Wolf. The album was originally released on April 8, 1997 by MCA and Chess Records. The album was a part of the 50th anniversary of Chess Records, which was in that same year (see 1997 in music). Ten years later, on April 17, 2007, the album was re-released by Chess and Geffen Records as The Definitive Collection.