Verve Jazz Collection

John Coltrane - Infinity (1966) {Impulse!-Verve Originals rel 2011}
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© 1965-66, 2011 Impulse! / Verve / UMG | Verve Originals Series | B0015954-02 | LP AS-9225
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Post Bop / Free Jazz / Saxophone

Recorded at several sessions in the two years prior to his death but not issued until 1972, Infinity was the subject of much controversy among Coltrane aficionados when it finally appeared. The horror on the part of Coltrane purists was directed to the posthumous string arrangements written by Alice Coltrane, his widow, which were grafted onto the performances. But however much the strings softened or unnecessarily augmented the music, it must be said that Alice Coltrane really didn't do such a bad job and the ultimate result is an unusual and oddly attractive work.

From a label with no shortage of first-rate jazz material come this very attractive vocal sampler. Staying true to the Compact Jazz ethos, Best of the Jazz Vocalists favors quality over hits and comes with a budget price tag. The majority of songs are from the label's prime '50s and '60s run, including a cloud-bound "Summertime" by Helen Merrill and one of the all-time great versions of "If You Could See Me Now," compliments of Billy Eckstine. Continuing with this balancing act between the sexes, the collection also includes fine work by Bill Henderson, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Abbey Lincoln, Jon Hendricks, Shirley Horn, and Anita O'Day; latter-day entries include Lincoln's "I've Got Thunder and It Rings" from her 1990 Verve debut and Horn's "I Got Lost in His Arms" from 1988's Close Enough for Love. Nicely wrapped up with Nina Simone's Afro-percussion clarion call "Come Ye," this Verve roundup works as the perfect primer for more adventurous trips through the label's fertile stores of essential jazz.

Buddy DeFranco - The Complete Verve Recordings Of The Buddy De Franco with Sonny Clark (1990) {4CD Set, MD4-117 rec 1954-1955}
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© 1954-55, 1990 Mosaic Records / Polygram | MD4-117
Jazz / Bop / Clarinet / Piano

Clarinetist Buddy DeFranco recorded extensively for Norgran and Verve during 1953-1958. For a little over a year, Sonny Clark was his regular pianist and all of their small-group recordings have been reissued on this limited-edition five-LP set. With bassist Eugene Wright (a couple years before he joined the Dave Brubeck Quartet) and drummer Bobby White completing the quartet, and guitarist Tal Farlow making the group a quintet on its final 11 numbers, DeFranco had one of his strongest bands.

Covering over 50 years of Louis Armstrong's career, this three-CD set from the Verve archives starts in the juke joints and speakeasies of the '20s and ends up documenting his pop hits of the '60s. Chronicling the achievements of a prolific and diverse performer of Anderson's caliber is difficult, but this release gives a strong, broad overview of one of the great pioneers of jazz…

Teddy Edwards - Mississippi Lad (1991) {Verve 511 111-2} (featuring Tom Waits)
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© 1991 Verve / PolyGram / Gitanes Jazz | 511 111-2
Jazz / Post Bop / Jazz Blues / Saxophone

Not half as well known as he should be, Edwards is a Delta- born jazz saxophonist who impresses for his post-bop inventiveness and his predisposition to the blues. Allowed a rare feature date, he gives lessons in how to delve into a melody for meaning and then express the resulting revelations in down-home terms-relish the poetic beauty of the title song. Tom Waits, an original, molds his vocal excesses into triumphant blues declarations in Edwards's stunning composition "I'm Not Your Fool Anymore." Indeed.

Tal Farlow - Tal (1956) {2016 Verve Japan SHM-CD UCCU-5594}
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© 1956, 2016 Norgran Records / Verve / Universal Japan | UCCU-5594 / LP MGV-8021
Jazz / Bop / Cool / Guitar

Reissue with SHM-CD format and the latest remastering. Tal Farlow was hitting his stride in 1956; he was named by Down Beat magazine critics as the very best jazz guitarist in the world, and for all the right reasons. Where other similar players of his day combined rhythmic chords with linear melodies, Farlow preferred placing single notes together in clusters, varying between harmonically richened tones based on a startling new technique. His spider-like fingers handled the guitar in a way no other player could match, and this physical approach set Farlow apart from all others.

Astrud Gilberto has never been properly anthologized by Verve Records; although they've released a number of compilations over the years, none of them have been definitive, and most of them have been rather skimpy. 1987's The Silver Collection, originally released only in Europe but later imported to North America, is an idiosyncratic selection. It omits "The Girl From Ipanema," her biggest hit, includes all 11 tracks from her 1965 release The Astrud Gilberto Album, and adds on a selection of singles and album tracks recorded from 1965 to 1970 with no particular logic. All that said, however, it's still one of the best compilations available of this idiosyncratic but brilliant singer's '60s material. Jazz purists turn up their noses at Gilberto, correctly pointing out her near total lack of technical ability. However, the Brazilian songbird's appealingly plain voice, with its deliberately wobbly pitch (the "desafinado" style celebrated in Antonio Carlos Jobim's song of that title), total lack of vibrato, and deadpan phrasing, is a delight for those attuned to its charms.