Mel Torme - But Beatiful (4 CD Quadromania, 2005/FLAC)

 Mel Tormé was a jazz-oriented pop singer who worked at his craft steadily from the '40s to the '90s, primarily in nightclubs and concert halls. In his 1988 autobiography, It Wasn't All Velvet (its title a reference to his nickname, "The Velvet Fog," bestowed upon him by a disc jockey in the '40s to describe his husky, wide-ranging voice), he mentioned a wish that he had been born ten years earlier, that is, in 1915 rather than 1925. If he had had his wish, Tormé would have been an exact contemporary of Frank Sinatra, and like Sinatra, he might have had a full-fledged career as a big-band singer. In fact, given the breadth of his talents, he might have been a bandleader, since in addition to singing, he was also a drummer good enough to have gotten offers to go on the road as early as his teens, a songwriter responsible for one of the perennial Christmas standards, and an arranger who wrote the charts for much of the music he performed. Amazingly, this is still only a partial list of his accomplishments, which also included acting in more than a dozen feature films and on radio and television; hosting radio and TV shows; and writing television dramas, numerous articles for periodicals including Down Beat and The New York Times, and six published books of fiction, biography, and music criticism. 

Teddy Wilson - Chronogical Classics 1934-1953 [12 CD]

 

Theodore Shaw "Teddy" Wilson (November 24, 1912 – July 31, 1986) was an American jazz pianist. Wilson's sophisticated and elegant style was featured on the records of many of the biggest names in jazz including Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday, and Ella Fitzgerald. With Goodman, he was perhaps the first well-known black musician to play publicly in a racially integrated group. In addition to his extensive work as a sideman, Wilson also led his own groups and recording sessions from the late 1920s to the '80s.

Duke Ellington - Original Album Classics (3 CD, 2011/FLAC)

 

CD1 - Such Sweet Thunder (1957) 

CD2 - Far East Suite (1966) 

CD3 - And His Mother Called Him Bill (1967)

Johnny Richards - Mosaic Select 17 (3 CD, 2005/FLAC)

 

This three-CD set reissues arranger Johnny Richards' Capitol and Roulette albums that originally were called Wide Range, Experiments in Sound, The Rites of Diablo, My Fair Lady, and Aqui Se Habla Espanol, the great majority of his recordings as a leader. In addition, Richards' portion of the album Annotations of the Muses plus a few unreleased selections are included. Johnny Richards, who is most famous for his association with Stan Kenton, was an inventive writer who starting in 1957 and had a band of his own. The music on this three-fer includes the adventurous three-part third stream piece "Annotations of the Muses," a set of Richards' adaptations of themes from My Fair Lady, a few Afro-Cuban projects, some relatively straight-ahead but complex jazz, and Richards' hit "Young at Heart." There are many short solos from the top-notch sidemen, but it's Johnny Richards' writing that makes this set quite definitive and memorable. 

Count Basie - America's #1 Band! The Columbia Years (4 CD, 2003/FLAC)

 

Count Basie's Columbia years have long been debated, subject to apocryphal written data and legend because of the willy-nilly nature of his tenure with the label and its subsidiaries. Producer Orrin Keepnews has thus assembled America's #1 Band: The Columbia Years, a compilation of Basie's Columbia years that not only makes sense historically; it is a treasure trove for listening. Aesthetics played a grand part in the decision-making process here, as did sound reproduction and discographical accuracy.

John Coltrane - The Complete Mainstream 1958 Sessions (2 CD, 2004/FLAC)

 

Digitally remastered two CD set containing three albums from the Jazz great plus six bonus tracks. The albums, which appear here in their entirety along with of the all existing alternate takes from the dates, were Mainstream 1958, Tanganyika Strut and Jazz Way Out. These outstanding tracks were among Coltrane's last recordings as a sideman.

• Wilbur Harden - flugelhorn
• Curtis Fuller - trombone
• John Coltrane - tenor sax
• Tommy Flanagan, Howard Williams - piano
• Alvin Jackson, Doug Watkins - bass
• Louis Hayes, Art Taylor - drums

The Manhattan Transfer Anthology – Down In Birdland (2 CD, 1992/FLAC)

 

Anthology: Down In Birdland was a 2-CD & 2-Cassette Tape album released by The Manhattan Transfer in 1992 on the Rhino Records label. It was the first album released by the group on this label.

As the Manhattan Transfer went on, so did the legacy of the jazz vocal ensemble. In that regard, though the competition was scarce, this group did elevate the art form to a higher level without much compromise. This two-CD, 39-track compilation represents many of the high points of the group. If anything is missing, some of the vocalese influenced by Eddie Jefferson should have been included. Still most fans will recognize "Ray's Rockhouse," "Route 66," "Four Brothers," "Tuxedo Junction," "That Cat Is High," "(Sing) Joy Spring," and their immortal take of the Jon Hendricks lyric to "Birdland." Unless it is a complete collection, you'd be hard pressed to find a better grouping of the Manhattan Transfer's prime body of works. 

Grant Green — The Complete Quartets With Sonny Clark (2 CD, 1997/FLAC)

 

The Complete Quartets With Sonny Clark is a 1997 compilation album by jazz guitarist Grant Green, collecting together all the tracks from a series of albums he recorded with pianist Sonny Clark in 1961 and '62.

The original material was shelved until after Clark's death in 1963 and Grant's death in 1979, and was first issued only in Japan as the albums Nigeria, Oleo and Gooden's Corner. The collection also includes one additional tune, "Nancy (With the Laughing Face)", and alternative takes of "Airegin" and "Oleo", all recorded during the same sessions.

Henry Red Allen (feat. P.W.Russell, Eddie Condon, Fats Waller, Edmond Hall) — Quadromania (4 CD, 2005/FLAC)

 

This 4 CD set contains recording from the 1930's to 1950's. Feat. P.W. Russell, Eddie Condon, Fats Waller, Edmond Hall. 

Henry James "Red" Allen (January 7, 1906 – April 17, 1967) was a jazz trumpeter and vocalist. Red Allen's trumpet style has been described, by some critics, as the first to fully incorporate the innovations of Louis Armstrong and to develop an emphasis on phrasing. Allen's recordings received much favorable attention. His versatility is shown by his winning of Down Beat awards in both the traditional jazz and the modern jazz categories.

Mary Lou Williams - Chronogical Classics 1927-1954 (7 CD)

 Mary Lou Williams, (born Mary Elfrieda Scruggs,  May 8, 1910, Atlanta, Ga., U.S.—died May 28, 1981, Durham, N.C.), jazz pianist who performed with and composed for many of the great jazz artists of the 1940s and ’50s.

Williams received early instruction from her mother, a classically trained pianist. Picking out simple tunes at age two, Mary Lou was a prodigy with perfect pitch and a highly developed musical memory by the time she was four years old. By age 10 she was known as “the Little Piano Girl” and was performing for small audiences throughout Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her professional debut with big bands came in 1922, at age 12, when she substituted for a pianist in the Buzz and Harris Revue, a traveling show. Billed as Mary Lou Burley, she toured occasionally for the next few years and passed through New York City several times, playing for such artists as Jelly Roll Morton, Willie (“the Lion”) Smith, Fats Waller, and Duke Ellington.