Sam Rivers - Complete Blue Note Sessions (3 CD, 1996/FLAC)

 From the time of his first Blue Note recording in 1964 to his final session for the label in 1967, Sam Rivers made stunning progress as an avant-garde innovator. Starting with an inside/outside hard bop foundation, Rivers quickly took his music as far out as he could while maintaining a recognizable structure; his work fearlessly explored wildly dissonant harmonies and atonality, dense group interaction, cerebral rumination, and passionately intense, free-leaning solos. 

The Complete Blue Note Sam Rivers Sessions traces that development chronologically (and flawlessly) over the course of three discs, including the entirety of his four albums as a leader: the relatively straightforward Fuschia Swing Song [sic], the avant-bop masterpiece Contours, the radical standards album A New Conception, and the galvanizing, brilliant avant-garde classic Dimensions and Extensions (which also comprised Rivers' half of the split double-LP Involution with Andrew Hill). Five alternate takes are also added to the program, including three of "Downstairs Blues Upstairs." What amazes just as much as Rivers' imaginative originality is how consistently rewarding all three discs are. Rivers may not be quite as much a household name as some of his equally forward-thinking peers, but any jazz fan remotely interested in the avant-garde should know that this set constitutes some of the finest avant-garde jazz Blue Note ever released -- the music here should be considered a cornerstone of any self-respecting avant-garde collection. 

Bill Evans Trio - The Last Waltz: The Final Recordings (8 CD, 2000/FLAC)

 The Last Waltz: The Final Recordings is an 8-CD box set live album by jazz pianist Bill Evans with Marc Johnson and Joe LaBarbera recorded during a nine night residency at Keystone Korner in San Francisco in 1980 and released on the Milestone label in 2000.

Don Byas - Moon Nocturne [1945-1952] (4 CD, 2005/FLAC)

 Don Byas, byname of Carlos Wesley Byas, (born October 21, 1912, Muskogee, Oklahoma, U.S.—died August 24, 1972, Amsterdam, Netherlands), American jazz tenor saxophonist whose improvising was an important step in the transition from the late swing to the early bop eras.

During the late 1930s Byas played in several swing bands, including those of Don Redman and Andy Kirk, and in 1941 he became a tenor saxophone soloist with Count Basie on such songs as “Swinging the Blues,” “Royal Garden Blues,” and, most notably, “Harvard Blues.” He also became associated with bebop innovators such as Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. In small groups (1943–46) led by himself and others, Byas experimented with the new concepts of bop harmony and rhythm. His 1945 duets with bassist Slam Stewart, “Indiana” and “I Got Rhythm,” show his fluent style with long lines founded in Coleman Hawkins’s rich tone and phrasing but including modern bop harmonic elements.

The Thelonious Monk Quartet - The Complete Columbia Studio Albums (6 CD, 2012/FLAC)

 The Thelonious Monk Quartet: The Complete Columbia Studio Albums brings together the most popular of Monk's recordings of the period, including Monk's Dream (1962), Criss Cross (1962), It's Monk's Time (1964), Monk (1964), Straight, No Chaser (1966) and Underground (1967); albums that found the influential and iconoclastic pianist and composer collaborating with one of the most sympathetic interpreters of his lyrical and thorny music, the tenor saxophonist Charlie Rouse. While Monk had been acknowledged by fellow musicians as one of the linchpins of modern jazz, it wasn't until he signed with Columbia Records that he achieved considerable popular recognition. His albums sold widely, his quartet became a considerable live attraction and, amazingly enough, he found himself on the cover of Time Magazine in early 1964. This comprehensive six CD set also boasts a beautifully designed booklet filled with previously unseen photos capturing Monk and his musicians at the historic recording sessions. 

Fats Navarro - All That Jazz, Vol. 132: Fats Navarro – 100 Percent Bebop (2020/FLAC)

 

Theodore "Fats" Navarro (September 24, 1923 – July 6, 1950) was an American jazz trumpet player. He was a pioneer of the bebop style of jazz improvisation in the 1940s. He had a strong stylistic influence on many other players, including Clifford Brown. 

This Jube compilations is assembled from Fats Navarro albums:

1946 Fat Girl

1947 Boppin' A Riff

1958 Nostalgia

• Fats Navarro - trumpet
• Sonny Stitt - saxophone

Bud Shank - Four Classic Albums (1956-1958) (2 CD, 2012/FLAC)

 Bud Shank is typical of the jazz musicians that roamed the West Coast in the fifties in that he was able to work comfortably in a variety of settings: big bands, the studio, and clubs. Like many of the other players, Shank also played more than one instrument, which made him a valuable member of the bandstand and afforded his solo recordings a bit more variety than what was coming out of the cool school at the time. Four Classic Albums collects a handful of records from this period that display not only the range of Shank's capabilities but also serve as a good cross section of what was happening in California mid-century.

VA - Blue Bossa - Cool Cuts From The Tropics Vol. 1-3 (3 CD, 2017/FLAC)

 

Jazz legends and their relationship with Cuban and Brazilian sounds are comprehensively surveyed in this delightful three-CD retrospective set.

Herbie Mann - Live at the Whisky 1969: The Unreleased Masters (2 CD, 2016/FLAC)

 

While jazz flautist Herbie Mann is often remembered as a pop-jazz player, he was actually a pioneer in popularizing world music and even prog-rock with recordings released on his own Embryo imprint (as part of Atlantic Records). And in the late 60s, he was fronting one of the most progressive and electrifying bands in the world: guitarist Sonny Sharrock, Miroslav Vitous on electric & upright bass, saxophonist Steve Marcus, drummer Bruno Carr, and vibraphonist Roy Ayers. Together, the sextet cut the dynamic Live at the Whisky A Go Go album in 1969, drawn from a four night run at the legendary nightclub on Los Angeles Sunset Strip. Though the band s repertoire was quite varied on these dates, just two side-long tracks, Ooh Baby and Philly Dog, surfaced on the Atlantic Records release.

Chet Baker - The Hits (1952-1959) (3 CD, 2019/FLAC)

 Both as a trumpeter and as a singer, Chet Baker was one of the most romantic jazz performers of all time, able to reach climaxes of intense feeling and intimacy. This 57-track, 3-CD set compiles some of his best performances, all of them studio recordings with excellent sound quality. Among the highlights are three different readings of “My Funny Valentine” (a song Baker made into a classic), “Alone Together”, and Billy Strayhorn’s celebrated “Lush Life”. Baker is accompanied here by other jazz giants such as Bill Evans, Russ Freeman, Gerry Mulligan, Pepper Adams, Kenny Burrell, Kenny Drew, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones.

Dizzy Gillespie - Verve / Philips Small Group Sessions (7 CD, 2006/FLAC)

 

These sessions document unequivocally why Dizzy Gillespie is still considered one of the greatest improvisers in the history of jazz, for his mastery of the instrument, his command of time, his control over musical ideas, and his ability to entertain. He was blessed during this period, which spans 1954 to 1963, with stellar sidemen, unparalleled arrangements, and a surge of excitement for making music.