Chick Corea - Music Forever & Beyond: Selected Works 1964-1996 (5 CD, 1996/FLAC)

 This very attractive five-CD set does an excellent job of summing up the rather productive career of pianist-keyboardist Chick Corea. The first two discs have highlights from the 1964-1982 period including a few sideman appearances, a previously unissued version of "Windows" played with Stan Getz, the original version of "Spain," four pieces from the Return to Forever days, and numbers from his freelance projects of the late '70s (highlighted by the exciting "Central Park"). The third disc concentrates on Corea's GRP projects (1986-1994), particularly his Elektric and Akoustic Bands (two selections were previously unissued), while the fourth CD is quite a grab-bag that includes collaborations with Herbie Hancock (a version of "Liza" that progresses from stride to free), Gayle Moran, John McLaughlin, Paco DeLucia, Gary Burton, Bobby McFerrin, and Miles Davis (a new duet version of "I Fall in Love So Easily" from 1969). In addition, Corea is heard as an eight-year-old in 1949 on a privately recorded 78 playing a short piano solo and on a version of "'Round Midnight" with strings that was recorded for this 1996 box. In fact, the fifth disc consists exclusively of new recordings of standards (plus one original) by Corea in an acoustic quartet with tenor saxophonist Bob Berg (who has rarely sounded more exciting). This well-conceived set is highly recommended even to Chick Corea fans who might have some of his earlier records. A gem. 

Don Cherry / Dewey Redman / Charlie Haden / Ed Blackwell - Old and New Dreams (1979/FLAC)

 Formed two-and-a-half years before for a one off record date for Italy´s Black Saint Label, Old And New Dreams, a quartet comprised of former associates of Ornette Coleman was re-launched in 1979. As bassist Charlie Haden explained: „We feel that everything we experienced together playing with Ornette shouldn´t stop. That improvised acoustic music doesn´t happen now, not that way. We´re not duplicating 20-year old songs, but playing from Ornette´s harmelodic concept which each of us grew up in, playing on the feeling rather than the chord structure or melody.“

– Don Cherry - trumpet, piano

– Dewey Redman - tenor saxophone, musette (suona)

– Charlie Haden - bass

– Ed Blackwell - drums

Thelonious Monk - Six Classic Albums, Vol.2 (4 CD, 2012/FLAC)

 EU-only four CD set containing six complete albums from the Jazz great: Brilliant Corner, Thelonious in Action, the Thelonious Monk Orchestra at Town Hall, 5 By Monk By 5, Thelonious Alone in San Francisco and Thelonious Himself. 

Mose Allison - Allison Wonderland: The Mose Allison Anthology (2 CD, 1994/FLAC)

 

Only Dave Frishberg and possibly Mark Murphy can rival Mose Allison when it comes to creative use of irony in lyric writing, and neither compares as an instrumentalist. He's a fine bop pianist able to play challenging instrumentals and eclectic enough to integrate country blues and gospel elements into his style. Allison's unique mix of down-home and uptown styles has made him a standout since the '50s. He's one of the few jazz musicians on Atlantic's roster ideally suited for Rhino's two-disc anthology format. Allison recorded many different kinds of songs and was always as much, if not more, a singles than an album artist. In addition, Rhino thankfully sequenced the selected songs -- which span over 40 years, from 1957 to 1989, and include all of his best-known songs -- chronologically. Allison does reflective duo and trio pieces, moves into up-tempo combo numbers with a jump beat, then returns to the intimate small-group sound. His ability to highlight key lyrics, delivery, timing, and pacing is superb. The set includes such classics as "Back Country Blues," "Parchman Farm," "Western Man," and "Ever Since the World Ended," plus definitive covers of Willie Dixon's "The Seventh Son" and Sonny Boy Williamson II's "Eyesight to the Blind." It's an essential introduction to Allison's catalog. 

George Shearing, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Louis Stewart – The MPS Trio Sessions (4 CD, 2007/FLAC)

 

For those fortunate enough to hear and own the immaculately produced Germany/Black Forest based MPS recordings, distributed as imported pristine virgin vinyl LPs that were pressed in the '70s, you already know the quality of this four-CD set of George Shearing's trio. With the peerless Dane Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen and Ireland's genius guitarist Louis Stewart, they can hardly do anything wrong musically. The first three CDs have Shearing playing standards, occasionally contemporizing his repertoire on Chick Corea's "Windows" and "500 Miles High," doing NHØP's "Cowboy Santa" and "My Little Anna," and offering two of his own originals, "The Fourth Deuce" and "G & G." The final CD has the threesome accompanied by strings, arranged and conducted by the brilliant Robert Farnon, and while a bit syrupy, lend pleasant late-night contrast at the end of a long day to the proceedings. This is a welcome addition to Shearing's collections discography, and a reminder of how good, in a short time period, MPS and producer Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer were. 

VA - Blue Note Explosion - The Funk Jazz Brothers (2 CD, 2008/FLAC)

 

A compilation like this one is where Blue Note Records in the European Union has it all over us Americanskis. This 19-track double disc goes deep into the label's classics to pull out gem after gem of classic no-holds-barred quintessential soul-jazz and early jazz-funk. Lou Donaldson's "Hot Dog," Gene Harris' smokin' "Put on Train," and Reuben Wilson's "Love Bug" -- which have been sampled on countless hip-hop records -- are among the slew of well-known cuts here. But for every one of these there is a hidden nugget of pure funky gold, including cuts like Bobby Hutcherson's popping reads of Sly Stone's "Family Affair" and Marvin Gaye's "Inner City Blues," Candido's "I'm on My Way," and Grant Green's "I Don't Want Nobody to Give Me Nothing." The sequencing is dead-on, where the groove moves from intense heat to simmering nocturnal love burn and then party-down rowdy and back again. Simply put, this is one of those comps where there isn't a weak moment in the bunch throughout its nearly two hours. Check the disc one opener, Brother Jack McDuff's "Butter for You Popcorn," with a full-blown horn section on top of nasty electric guitar and drums, and you know you've arrived in the right spot. 

Jimmy Giuffre & Jim Hall Trio - Complete Studio Recordings {1956-1959} (4 CD, 2008/FLAC)

 

Jimmy Giuffre may not have gotten his due with American audiences outside very specific kinds of jazz circles, but he was loved and respected by other musicians and the audiences of Europe and Asia. His reputation among those groups of listeners and players is well deserved for the radical, if quiet and unassuming path he walked throughout his seven-decade career. These sides, recorded between 1956 and 1959 with guitarist Jim Hall, his most symbiotic collaborator and foil, are at the heart of his reputation as a pioneer -- even more so than his killer early-'60s sides (à la Free Fall) with Paul Bley and Steve Swallow. This whopping four-disc, 74-rack set on Gambit collects all the trio sides that Hall and Giuffre shared during those years for Atlantic and Capitol. Their collaborators were a stellar lot as well, whether it was Bob Brookmeyer, Ralph Pena, Ray Brown, Red Mitchell, Jim Atlas or Wilfred Middlebrooks on bass, trombone, or trumpet, and piano in some instances (Brookmeyer). Space, harmony, and an inside-out approach to melody were the focuses of these groups at all times. In addition to the studio trio sides there are seven live selections which have never been issued on CD, including a stellar and now legendary performance of "Song of the Wind." The remastering job is wonderful, spacious, warm, and very present. There are also two unaccompanied performances by Giuffre, where he electronically overdubs four sax lines on each tune as a way of looking forward to his own career in the '70s. This is a stellar collection for the hardcore Giuffre fan: to have all this material in one place, beautifully assembled and annotated, is a real treat. 

Bud Shank & Bob Cooper - Mosaic Select 10 (3 CD, 2004/FLAC)

 

For hardcore West Coast jazz fans, this Mosaic Select volume will be a kind of treasure-trove, though for most it will simply be a compelling curiosity piece. The collaborations of saxophonist and flutist Bud Shank and arranger, saxophonist, and oboist Bob Cooper created some tumult in the mid-1950s, when they recorded four albums together with various-sized ensembles, and, to a lesser degree, on Shank's date with Bob Brookmeyer arranged by Cooper. All tolled, there are five albums on these three discs: Bud Shank and Bob Brookmeyer (along with the session's remaining tracks that showed up on Bud Shank and Three Trombones on Pacific Jazz), Jazz at Cal-Tech (Pacific Jazz), Flute and Oboe (World Pacific), Swing's to TV, as well as the cuts from Jazz Swings Broadway (World Pacific) and of course, the classic, Blowin' Country (World Pacific). The quark strangeness and charm of these recordings cannot be underestimated, and neither can their swing. With sidemen like pianist Claude Williamson, drummers Chuck Flores or Shelly Manne, bassist Don Prell and others, these dates have a kind of quaintness that dates them in that restless yet ultra-hip period in the 1950s when almost anything went as long as it swung, and that stood outside the entire hard bop scene. These sides are not for everyone, but they are priceless for the sheer sophistication and adventurousness of their arrangements and the interplay between Shank and Cooper, which was symbiotic. A very fine idea by the folks at Mosaic. 

• Bud Shank (flute, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone)
• Howard Roberts (guitar) 
• Benny Gill, Samuel Cytron, Tibor Zelig, Sam Caplan, Milton Feher, Marshall Sosson (violin, strings)
• Jack Pepper, Robert Sushel, Eudice Shapiro (violin)
• Myron Sandler, Louis Kievman (viola, strings)
• Milton Thomas (viola) 
• Paul Bergstrom, Ray Kramer (cello, strings) 
• Bob Cooper (bass clarinet, oboe, tenor saxophone) 
• Maynard Ferguson, Stu Williamson , Bob Brookmeyer, Bob Enevoldsen (valve trombone)
• Claude Williamson (piano)
• Chuck Flores , Larry Bunker, Shelly Manne (drums)

Herbie Mann & Chick Corea - The Complete Latin Band Sessions (2 CD, 2007/FLAC)

 Two CD set containing the complete recordings of Herbie Mann with Chick Corea, consisting of the three complete albums Monday Night at the Village Gate, Standing Ovation at Newport and Latin Mann: Afro to Bossa to Blues (all recorded in 1965), plus all seven of the tracks from the album The Roar of the Greasepaint the Smell of the Crowd in which both musicians are present.

The Latin Jazz Band:

• Herbie Mann - Fflute
• Chick Corea - Piano
• Dave Pike - Vvibe
• Carlos “Patato” Valdes - Congas

John Coltrane & Paul Quinichette - Cattin' with Coltrane and Quinichette (1957/2016/FLAC)

 Cattin' with Coltrane and Quinichette is an album by jazz musicians John Coltrane and Paul Quinichette, released in 1959 on Prestige Records, catalogue 7158. It was recorded at the studio of Rudy Van Gelder in Hackensack, New Jersey, and issued two years after the recording sessions took place, and after Coltrane's contract had already run out with the label.

• John Coltrane – tenor saxophone (except on #3 & #6)
• Paul Quinichette – tenor saxophone
• Julian Euell – double bass
• Ed Thigpen – drums
• Mal Waldron – piano