Dorris & Kindersley

This 37-track, two-disc set is the most comprehensive compilation of John Renbourn's recording career to date. In one sense, Renbourn can be defined as a traditional British folk guitarist, but within that category, he has managed a wide variety of different recording projects over 40 years. There are the solo guitar albums, of course, but then there are also duo albums with Bert Jansch and Stefan Grossman; Renbourn's major group affiliation with Pentangle; his own band projects, the John Renbourn Group and John Renbourn's Ship of Fools, and even prominent work as a sideman for other artists.

Stan Kenton's earliest recordings as a leader make this first volume in the Classics Kenton chronology the logical starting point for anyone seeking to comprehend his life and work. Beginning with a long lost "Etude for Saxophones" and plowing through nine Decca sides from late 1941 and early 1942, the producers of this compilation shed light on Kenton's pre-Capitol period. With the exception of "This Love of Mine" (sung by tenor saxophonist Red Dorris), all of the Decca recordings are instrumentals that contain premonitions of Kenton's eventual obsession with stylized modernity. Parallels could be drawn with the music of Claude Thornhill, Larry Clinton and Raymond Scott…