Joe Henderson - The Milestone Years [8 CD, 1994 ]

 

Tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson's most famous recordings are his early Blue Notes and his more recent Verves, but in between he recorded exclusively for Milestone and, although Henderson was in consistently fine form in the diverse settings, he was somewhat neglected during his middle years. This massive eight-CD set contains all of the music from Henderson's dozen Milestone LPs, plus a duet with altoist Lee Konitz and his guest appearances with singer Flora Purim and cornetist Nat Adderley. The music ranges from Blue Note-style hard bop and modal explorations to fusion and '70s funk, with important contributions made by trumpeters Mike Lawrence, Woody Shaw, and Luis Gasca, trombonist Grachan Moncur III, and keyboardists Kenny Barron, Don Friedman, Joe Zawinul, Herbie Hancock, George Cables, Alice Coltrane, Mark Levine, and George Duke, among others.

Personnel includes: Joe Henderson, Nat Adderley, Lee Konitz, Flora Purim, Herbie Hancock, Alice Coltrane, Woody Shaw, Joe Zawinul, Kenny Barron, George Cables, George Duke, Larry Willis, Mike Lawrence, Ron Carter, Dave Holland, Stanley Clarke, J.F. Jenny Clark, Louis Hayes, Jack DeJohnette, Lenny White, Harvey Mason, Airto, Grachan Moncur, Jeremy Steig, Ichikawa-Inaba-Hino, James "Blood" Ulmer, Luis Gasca, Michael White, Patrick Gleeson, Lee Ritenour, Ernie Watts.

Count Basie & Lester Young - Classic 1936-1947 Studio Sessions [6 CD, 2016]

When Count Basie first recorded in Chicago in 1936, nothing like them had been heard before. It was the sound that launched the swing era, and, through Basie’s star saxophonist Lester Young, later inspired modernism. This excellent 8 CD collection takes us from the Basie Band’s springy first recordings through to Young mixing it with the modernists. In between a well-chosen blend of the rare and well-known captures Basie in his prime, Young going solo at his languorous peak and a new generation on the make. 

Miles Davis - The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions [5 CD, 2003]

 

The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions were recorded in April 1970 by Miles Davis, and released in September 2003. These sessions formed the basis for the 1970 album A Tribute to Jack Johnson.
They were recorded as the soundtrack for a documentary by the same name about the heavyweight world champion boxer Jack Johnson.

• Miles Davis - Trumpet
• Bennie Maupin - Bass Clarinet
• Steve Grossman - Soprano Saxophone
• Wayne Shorter - Soprano Saxophone
• Chick Corea - Electric Piano, Organ, Electric Piano with Ring Modulator
• Herbie Hancock - Organ, Electric Piano
• Keith Jarrett - Electric Piano, Electric Piano with Wah Wah
• Sonny Sharrock - Electric Guitar, Echoplex
• John McLaughlin - Electric Guitar
• Dave Holland - Electric Bass, Double Bass
• Michael Henderson - Electric Bass
• Gene Perla - Electric Bass
• Ron Carter - Double Bass
• Jack DeJohnette - Drums
• Billy Cobham - Drums
• Lenny White - Drums
• Airto Moreira - Percussion, Berimbau, Cuica
• Hermeto Pascoal - Voice, Drums

Toots Thielemans - The Best Of (2 CD, 2012)

Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans  (29 April 1922 – 22 August 2016), known as Toots Thielemans, was a Belgian jazz musician well known for his guitar and harmonica playing as well as his whistling. Thielemans is credited as one of the greatest harmonica players of the 20th century

He has worked as a bandleader (scoring an international hit in the 1960s with his song "Bluesette"), as a sideman (notably on many projects with composer/arranger Quincy Jones), and has appeared on dozens of film soundtracks. In 2009 he became NEA Jazz Master, the highest honour for a jazz musician in the United States.

He was perhaps best-known to the American public for whistling the melody in commercials for Old Spice cologne.

Gary Peacock Trio - Now This (2015/FLAC)

In the realm of the piano trio the bar is set high, and creative bassist Gary Peacock has helped raise it in the groups of Bill Evans, Paul Bley and Keith Jarrett. 'Now This' is an album with the bassist's current trio, recorded in the summer of 2014 in Oslo and issued in time for Peacock's 80th birthday (on 12 May, 2015).

Powerful new versions of some Peacock classics - such as "Moor", "Vignette", "Requiem" and "Gaya" - are interspersed with recent compositions. Pianist Marc Copland and drummer Joey Baron each contribute tunes, and the group also tackles Scott La Faro's "Gloria's Step". In this band, roles are very evenly shared, and this is an optimum context in which to appreciate the melodic invention of Peacock's bass playing. Marc Copland always honours the needs of the compositions and Joey Baron supplies both drive and sensitive detail.

Woody Herman - Complete Columbia Recordings of Woody Herman And His Orchestra & Woodchoppers (1945-1947) [7 CD, 2004]

 

Extremely rare & limited 2004 US 141-track Mosaic audiophile 7-CD box set, including many alternate and unissued takes, entirely comprehensive of Woody's fabulous output for Columbia.

Lester Young - Complete Studio Sessions On Verve (1946-1959) [8 CD, 1999]

With his airy, vibratoless tone and sophisticated harmonic imagination, Lester Young (1909-59) was arguably the most influential tenor saxophonist after Coleman Hawkins. As the star in Count Basie's big band and Billie Holiday's favorite soloist, Young's breezy solos, along with his patented porkpie hat and unique hipster jargon, affected legions of musicians.

This 8-CD compilation marks the 90th anniversary of Young's birth and contains all of the recordings he made for producer Norman Granz from 1946 to 1959, the last 13 years of Young's life.

Jazz Crusaders - The Pacific Jazz Quintet Studio Sessions [6 CD, 2005]

 

During the 1960s, the Jazz Crusaders were one of the definitive soul-jazz/hard bop groups, a quintet that had a distinctive trombone-tenor sax front line and an openness to a variety of influences including Memphis soul, R&B, pop, and a bit of John Coltrane. The four permanent members of the group -- trombonist Wayne Henderson, tenor saxophonist Wilton Felder, pianist Joe Sample, and drummer Stix Hooper -- knew each other since childhood and first played together as part of the marching band of Phyllis Wheatley High School in Houston in the mid-'50s. They were originally called the Swingsters and, when flutist Hubert Laws and bassist Henry Wilson joined, the Modern Jazz Sextet. After moving to Los Angeles in 1958, they struggled for a couple of years as the Night Hawks, even recording a very obscure record for the Del Fi label. After Laws left to go to Julliard and Jimmy Bond became the group's bassist, the newly renamed Jazz Crusaders were signed to Pacific Jazz, their label during 1961-1970. The group, which continued with a variety of different bassists, dropped the "Jazz" from its name in 1971 and Henderson left the band soon afterward, but that is a different chapter. Mosaic's six-CD set has all of the Jazz Crusaders' studio recordings except a collaboration with Les McCann (Jazz Waltz) and two albums with added instruments (Talk That Talk and Chile con Soul) plus their five live recordings. This perfectly conceived set reissues in full the albums titled Freedom Sound, Lookin' Ahead, Tough Talk, Heat Wave, Stretchin' Out, The Thing, Uh Huh, Powerhouse, and Give Peace a Chance plus 11 previously unreleased selections. The Jazz Crusaders had their own sound and fans of the group can consider this essential since it contains all of their studio recordings, some of which had been out of print for quite a while.

Miles Davis - Bitches Brew: 40th Anniversary Collector's Edition [3 CD, 2010]

The 40th anniversary of the groundbreaking fusion album Bitches Brew offers an opportunity to expand upon the context of its original unveiling. The impact of this recognition can't even be mitigated by a collision of commerce and creativity that echoes some of the furor over the original 1970 release. The unreleased studio recordings (not included on the previously issued Complete Bitches Brew from 1998) are alternates take, one of which ("John McLaughlin") isn't appreciably different from the official take, while the other ("Spanish Key") moves a little too fast for its own good. Similarly, the two stereo and two mono 45 single edits, for all their brevity, do manage to capture as much of the album's haunting atmosphere as their truncated likes can hold. The August 1970 concert live recording of Davis and his band at Tanglewood, in Lenox, Massachussetts, displays the bravado the trumpeter would always bring to his rock star co-billings, on this date, Santana at the height of the original lineup's powers.

John Handy - Mosaic Select 35 [3 CD, 2009]

 

John Handy is one of the unsung greats of modern jazz -- as saxophonist, composer/arranger and group leader -- especially for the series of four albums he recorded for Columbia between 1965 and 1968. This 3-CD  is devoted to the three albums he made for the label that featured violin in the instrumentation -- Recorded Live At The Monterey Jazz Festival, The 2nd John Handy Album and Projections, plus a live Carnegie Hall performance.