VA - A Night Out With Verve (4 CD, 2000)

 A Night Out With Verve highlights five decades of remarkable jazz taken from the Verve catalog, spread out over four discs titled "Wining," "Dining," "Dancing," and "Romancing." This box set includes 65 performances from jazz luminaries including Oscar Peterson, Sonny Rollins, Michel Legrand, Sarah Vaughan, Stan Getz, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, and Shirley Horn. Whether it's a night out on the town or a simple romantic evening, A Night Out With Verve has a great deal to offer die-hard jazz fans and casual listeners alike. 

Willie "The Lion" Smith - The Chronogical Classics (1925-1953) [5 CD/FLAC]

 William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholoff Smith (23 November 1893 – 18 April 1973), a.k.a. "The Lion", was an American jazz pianist and one of the masters of the stride style, usually grouped with James P. Johnson and Thomas "Fats" Waller as the three greatest practitioners of the genre from its Golden Age, c. 1920–1943.

Cecil Taylor - The Complete Remastered Recordings on Black Saint & Soul Note (5 CD, 2011/FLAC)

 The five discs that make up Cecil Taylor's Complete Remastered Recordings on Black Saint & Soul Note include four recordings released in the 1980s, beginning with the stellar Winged Serpent (Sliding Quadrants) from 1984. Among the bunch, this album is the true standout for Taylor fans. Its personnel include altoist Jimmy Lyons, Frank Wright and John Tchicai on tenor saxophones (the latter also plays bass clarinet), Gunter Hampel on baritone saxophone and bass clarinet, Enrico Rava and Tomasz Stanko on trumpets, Karen Borca on bassoon, bassist William Parker, and drummer Rashid Bakr -- everyone chants. Two medium-length and two longer pieces reflect a free jazz intensity without sacrificing any of Taylor's more disciplined attitude toward improvisation during the decade. 

The second two discs in this set contain the Historic Concerts, taken from duet shows Taylor played with drummer Max Roach in 1979 but unissued until the '80s. Mostly this works: there is much beautiful interplay and communication; Roach's alternately strident and dancing styles on the kit engage Taylor as a true equal. That said, the pianist sometimes loses the frame and goes on flights that cannot be resolved in this setting. When it works, it's brilliant; when it doesn't, it's mildly annoying. 

The last two albums in this set are both from 1986. For Olim is a live solo recording and Taylor was on fire. This is a much more refined and spacious Taylor. With only the title track being of any real length, the shorter pieces reveal, without obscuration, the profound influence of Duke Ellington's pianism. The final offering, Olu Iwa, features Taylor leading a sextet with Peter Brötzmann and Frank Wright on tenor saxes, Parker on bass, Thurman Barker on marimba and percussion, and Air's Steve McCall on drums. There is a terrific sense of give and take in these pieces, with Taylor allowing plenty of solo space for his sidemen, but the ensemble aspects are engaged and lively, and touch on virtually every aspect of the pianist's career to that time, and even point forward to what he would be doing in Europe in the 1990s. Given the price tag and the stellar sound -- far better than the original LPs, which were sometimes pressed badly, and the first-generation CDs, which were mastered in an age before engineers knew how to really use the format -- this is a prime pick for Taylor fans.

Tommy Flanagan Trio - Complete Original Recordings [2 CD, 2007/FLAC)

 

2007 two CD release featuring, for the first time on a single collection, the complete output by the Tommy Flanagan Trio up to his 1978 albums. This release contains the first three sessions by the Tommy Flanagan Trio (issued as Overseas, Lonely Town, and The Tommy Flanagan Trio) in their entirety, plus all studio and live trio selections from other albums and a bonus quartet track with Kenny Burrell added on guitar.

Antonio Carlos Jobim - Original Album Series (5 CD, 2011/FLAC)

 

CD1 - The Wonderful World Of Antonio Carlos Jobim 1964 

CD2 - Love, Strings And Jobim 1966 

CD3 - A Certain Mr. Jobim 1967 

CD4 - Urubu 1976 

CD5 - Terra Brasilis 1980 

Chet Baker - Chet Baker Sings - The Complete 1953-62 Vocal Studio Recordings (3 CD, 2014/FLAC)

 

This collection compiles, for the first time ever on a single set, all existing studio recordings of Chet Baker singing from 1953 (his earliest vocal recordings) until 1962. The music on this set put Chet Baker on the scene not just as a brilliant trumpeter, but also as a talented singer. These songs were a revelation at the time and won Baker new fame and a new audience, which was less familiar with jazz than with pop music. The reasons are quite clear: Chet’s voice is tender and beautiful, and at the same time his phrasing always swings and surprises. Among the contents of this set are the complete original albums Chet Baker Sings and Chet Baker Sings It Could Happen to You, plus all other existing vocal sides within that period.

Lee Morgan - The Complete Live At The Lighthouse (8 CD, 2021/FLAC)

Blue Note Records has released Lee Morgan The Complete Live at the Lighthouse, an expansive collection that presents for the very first time all 12 sets of music the legendary trumpeter’s quintet with saxophonist Bennie Maupin, pianist Harold Mabern, bassist Jymie Merritt, and drummer Mickey Roker recorded during their historic engagement at The Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach, California from July 10-12, 1970. Originally released 50 years ago in 1971 as a 2-LP set, and later expanded to a 3-CD set in 1996, this definitive edition of Morgan’s only live album produced by Zev Feldman and David Weiss is available as an 8-CD set and a limited-edition 12-LP all-analog 180g vinyl set that encompasses 33 performances including more than 4 hours of previously unreleased music that lets the listener relive the experience of being in the club for every exhilarating moment.

• Lee Morgan – trumpet, flugelhorn
• Bennie Maupin – tenor saxophone, flute, bass clarinet
• Harold Mabern – piano
• Jymie Merritt – Ampeg bass
• Mickey Roker – drums

Jack DeJohnette – drums (on “Speedball” from Friday, July 10, Set 4)

Al Di Meola discography [1976-2020]

 

Guitarist Al Di Meola first rose to prominence as a blazing jazz fusion artist before his playing matured and he began to conquer other styles, such as acoustic Latin music. Born on July 22, 1954 in Jersey City, New Jersey, Di Meola briefly studied at the Berklee College of Music in Boston during the early '70s before accepting a job replacing guitarist Bill Connors in fusion trailblazers Return to Forever (a group that also included monster instrumentalists keyboardist Chick Corea, bassist Stanley Clarke, and drummer Lenny White) in 1974. It was with Di Meola that Return to Forever enjoyed their greatest commercial success, as such releases as 1974's Where Have I Known Before, 1975's No Mystery, and 1976's Romantic Warrior cracked the U.S. Top 40 before Di Meola jumped ship to launch a solo career.

Johnny Dodds — Clarinet Wobble (Quadromania, 4 CD, 2005/FLAC)

 One of the all-time great clarinetists and arguably the most significant of the 1920s, Johnny Dodds (whose younger brother Baby Dodds was among the first important drummers) had a memorable tone in both the lower and upper registers, was a superb blues player, and held his own with Louis Armstrong (no mean feat) on his classic Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings. He did not start on clarinet until he was 17 but caught on fast, being mostly self-taught. Dodds was with Kid Ory's band during most of 1912-1919, played on riverboats with Fate Marable in 1917, and joined King Oliver in Chicago in 1921. During the next decade, he recorded with Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, and on his own heated sessions, often utilizing trumpeter Natty Dominique. He worked regularly at Kelly's Stables during 1924-1930. Although Dodds continued playing in Chicago during the 1930s, part of the time was spent running a cab company. The clarinetist led recording sessions in 1938 and 1940, but died just before the New Orleans revival movement began. 

Art Tatum – The Chronogical Classics (1932-1953) [6 CD]

 

Arthur "Art" Tatum, Jr. (October 13, 1909 – November 5, 1956) was an American jazz pianist and virtuoso. He was nearly blind.
Tatum is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time. Critic Scott Yanow wrote, "Tatum's quick reflexes and boundless imagination kept his improvisations filled with fresh (and sometimes futuristic) ideas that put him way ahead of his contemporaries ... Art Tatum's recordings still have the ability to scare modern pianists."