Tony Bennett - The Complete Improv Recordings [4 CD, 2004]

 

For those new to the music of Tony Bennett, Improv was a label started by Tony Bennett and businessman Bill Hassett. Bennett was fed up with the suits at Columbia Records, who were trying to make him sing rock & roll. When his contract expired at the beginning of the 1970s, he and Hassett formed a label to help him realize his aesthetic ambitions, and Improv was born. Bennett recorded five albums for the label between 1975 and 1977 before it went bankrupt. These recordings may not have sold well -- due largely to distribution problems -- but all of them were critically acclaimed. On these sides, Bennett is in awesome company throughout, with talent ranging from Bill Evans and Earl Hines to Ruby Braff to Marian McPartland to Buddy Tate and Charlie Byrd.

Wayne Shorter - Emanon (3 CD, 2018)

 

For decades, composer and saxophonist Wayne Shorter has led one of the more impressive quartets in jazz. With pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci, and drummer Brian Blade, the 85-year-old saxophonist has explored the connections between chamber music and jazz. This band rehearses on-stage, creating innovative architectures via in-the-moment dialogue and improvising with unbridled freedom that never gives way to excess. Emanon is their first recording in five years and conceptual in nature. It comprises a four-part suite in a studio date from 2013 with the Orpheus Chamber Ensemble, and two 2016 live discs of the quartet playing the Emanon material with other tunes.

Big Bands : The Encyclopedia Of Jazz [100 CD, 2008] - CD 51-60

 

Every jazz fan knows Louis Armstrong and Benny Goodman, and of course Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Coleman Hawkins, Sonny Rollins. But only a small circle of connoisseurs would be able to tell who Claude Hopkins was, where Dodo Marmarosa played or what the Goofus Five did. Music lovers usually have their favourites, and jazz in its long history has experienced many changes and produced many important artists. You don’t have to know every one of them – or love them all.

Louis Armstrong - The Satchmo Era - 1923 - 1947 [20 CD, 2001]

 

Satchmo Era by Louis Armstrong was released Jul 27, 2001 on the Phantom label. THE SATCHMO ERA collects a whopping 400 tracks by jazz legend Louis Armstrong. Over 20 hours of music recorded between 1923 & 1947. Each exclusive picture disc comes in it's own standard jewelcase & all are housed together in a sturdy box. Includes 12 page biography.

Chick Corea - The Musician (Live 3 CD, 2017)

 

The 3 discs cover all of Chick iconic bands, compositions and artistic partnerships all lovingly rerecorded live over the course of one month at the Blue Note in NYC.

Big Bands : The Encyclopedia Of Jazz [100 CD, 2008] - CD 41-50

 

Every jazz fan knows Louis Armstrong and Benny Goodman, and of course Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Coleman Hawkins, Sonny Rollins. But only a small circle of connoisseurs would be able to tell who Claude Hopkins was, where Dodo Marmarosa played or what the Goofus Five did. Music lovers usually have their favourites, and jazz in its long history has experienced many changes and produced many important artists. You don’t have to know every one of them – or love them all.

Lennie Tristano, Lee Konitz & Warne Marsh - The Complete Atlantic Recordings [6 CD, 1997]

 Pianist Lennie Tristano was an early inspiration and a major influence on the playing of altoist Lee Konitz and tenor saxophonist Warne Marsh. Their very notable and highly original Capitol recordings of 1949 -- with the quiet metronomic rhythm section, advanced melodic improvising and reharmonizations -- stood apart from the typical bop of the period. By 1955, when the earliest performances on this limited-edition 1997 six-CD set were recorded, the trio was not working together very often; in fact, Tristano was mostly functioning as a teacher, only surfacing for occasional records and club dates. Despite the title of the box, Tristano, Konitz and Marsh never all appeared on the same Atlantic record. However, their individual projects and collaborations during the era were of consistently high quality. Included on the set are a live quartet date with Konitz and Tristano, a couple of the pianist's solo and trio sessions (including a few controversial items where he overdubbed and even sped up piano parts), several Konitz quartet sets (with such sidemen as pianists Sal Mosca and Jimmy Rowles and guitarist Billy Bauer), a Marsh trio/quartet album, and a stimulating meeting between Konitz and Marsh (with Mosca and Bauer) in a sextet. Four of the performances were previously unreleased, and one of the Konitz albums was formerly only available in Japan. Although the inventive music often utilizes familiar chord changes, there are plenty of surprises in the cool-toned solos, and this is well worth acquiring by bop collectors.

Kronos Quartet - 25 Years [10 CD, 1998]

 

The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. They have been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for over forty years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary classical music. More than 900 works have been written for them.

Big Bands : The Encyclopedia Of Jazz [100 CD, 2008] - CD 31-40

 

Every jazz fan knows Louis Armstrong and Benny Goodman, and of course Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Coleman Hawkins, Sonny Rollins. But only a small circle of connoisseurs would be able to tell who Claude Hopkins was, where Dodo Marmarosa played or what the Goofus Five did. Music lovers usually have their favourites, and jazz in its long history has experienced many changes and produced many important artists. You don’t have to know every one of them – or love them all.

Jelly Roll Morton - Complete Victor Recordings [5 CD, 1990]

 

This five-CD set contains the very best band recordings of Jelly Roll Morton's career. There are 111 performances in this reissue, including all of the alternate takes. Bypassed are the pianist's recordings with the vaudevillian clarinetist Wilton Crawley, singers Lizzie Miles and Billie Young, and two songs he performed on a radio broadcast in 1940; otherwise, all of his Victor recordings are here. The classics (most from the 1926-1928 period) include the remarkable "Black Bottom Stomp," "Grandpa's Spells," "The Pearls," "Wolverine Blues" (a trio with clarinetist Johnny Dodds and drummer Baby Dodds), "Shreveport Stomp," "Low Gravy," "Strokin' Away," and "I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say," but listeners will have their own favorites. In general, this is New Orleans jazz at its best, with Jelly Roll Morton (as with the best jazz composer/bandleaders) creating his own world of music.