Really wonderful work from alto genius Phil Woods – already showing a sense of tone and timing that breaks him away from all the Charlie Parker devotees on the market! The groups are great, and Jimmy Raney adds in some amazing chromatic work on guitar – bringing to Phil the same sort of magic he shared with Stan Getz around the same time. CD

Really wonderful work from alto genius Phil Woods – already showing a sense of tone and timing that breaks him away from all the Charlie Parker devotees on the market! The groups are great, and Jimmy Raney adds in some amazing chromatic work on guitar – bringing to Phil the same sort of magic he shared with Stan Getz around the same time. LP, Vinyl record album

Four Christmas classics in one package – two from Verve, two from Chess Records! First up is the album Ella Fitzgerald Wishes You A Swinging Christmas – a wonderful Holiday album that's stayed fresh for years! Ella's got a perfect style to interpret these numbers – working with Frank DeVol and Russ Garcia in a set of lightly jazzy versions of Christmas favorites like "Sleigh Ride", "Jingle Bells", "Winter Wonderland", "White Christmas", "Frosty The Snowman", and one of the best versions of "What Are You Doing New Years Eve" ever recorded! The Sound Of Christmas album by Ramsey Lewis is a classic – and probably one of the best-selling Christmas jazz albums of all time! Ramsey and his classic trio with Redd Holt and Eldee Young serve up a tight set of grooves based around Holiday favorites like "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town", "Winter Wonderland", "Here Comes Santa Claus", "The Christmas Song", and "Sleigh Ride" – and also carve out a few nice originals like "Christmas Blues" and "The Sound Of Christmas". Side one features the trio on its own, and side two features added arrangements by Riley Hampton – swirling around to expand the groove even more! Christmas 64 – also issued as Christmas Cookin – is as cookin a Christmas album as you'll ever find! Jazz organ giant Jimmy Smith works with Billy Byers to craft some sublime instrumentals that have his Hammond interpreting Christmas classics like "We Three Kings", "White Christmas", "Silent Night", "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", and "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town". If you know Jimmy from the time, you know that he can really make tracks like these groove nicely – and take them to places you never expected! Last up is the album Have Yourself A Soulful Little Christmas, from guitarist Kenny Burrell – on which he grooves nicely and gently over arrangements by Richard Evans, perfectly crafted in that soul jazz mode of his 60s work for Chess – not Kenny's most challenging format, to be sure, but proof that he often works better in a more structured environment than a freer one. Titles include "Away In A Manger", "My Favorite Things", "Little Drummer Boy", "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas", "Merry Christmas Baby", and "Go Where I Send Thee". (Holiday Music, Jazz) LP, Vinyl record album

An essential Blue Note album by the great vibist Bobby Hutcherson, and a record that's split into 2 different sides, each of which display different aspects of Hutcherson's talents. The first four tracks are mellow and lyrical, with the kind of lovely melodic writing that is best illustrated by the cut "Little B's Poem" – included here, and still one of Hutcherson's most enduring works. The next four tracks show Hutcherson more as the accomplished modernist, working with edgey talents like James Spaulding on alto and flute, Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Herbie Hancock on piano, Ron Carter on bass, and the great Joe Chambers on drums – who also wrote all 4 of the tracks in this segment. The work is a key example of Hutcherson's devotion to the Blue Note "new thing" sound, and titles include "Air", "Juba Dance", and "Pastoral". CD

An essential Blue Note album by the great vibist Bobby Hutcherson, and a record that's split into 2 different sides, each of which display different aspects of Hutcherson's talents. The first four tracks are mellow and lyrical, with the kind of lovely melodic writing that is best illustrated by the cut "Little B's Poem" – included here, and still one of Hutcherson's most enduring works. The next four tracks show Hutcherson more as the accomplished modernist, working with edgey talents like James Spaulding on alto and flute, Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Herbie Hancock on piano, Ron Carter on bass, and the great Joe Chambers on drums – who also wrote all 4 of the tracks in this segment. The work is a key example of Hutcherson's devotion to the Blue Note "new thing" sound, and titles include "Air", "Juba Dance", and "Pastoral". LP, Vinyl record album

Rare material, not issued on LP back in the day – includes June Christy singing with The Kentones, a small group of Stan Kenton players – and Peggy Lee singing with the Frank DeVol Orchestra, and small groups led by guitarist Dave Barbour! (Vocalists, Jazz) CD

Out of print Japanese Blue Note LP that brings together both of the excellent Howard McGhee sessions for the label. Both of the records were originally issued only on 10" LPs, but they're both here in full, on a 12" LP, with a side devoted to each record. The quality of the material is superb – and the recordings are quite possibly McGhee's best work ever. Titles include "Jarm", "Tranquility", "Shabazz", "Ittapnna", and "Lo Flame". LP, Vinyl record album

A great lineup – with David Liebman on tenor, Terumasa Hino on cornet, Steve Kuhn on piano, Steve Swallow on bass, and Bob Moses on drums! LP, Vinyl record album

The Music Revelation Ensemble gets some great work here on horns – as the album features guest work from both John Zorn on alto and Pharoah Sanders on tenor! Main sounds are by the core trio of James Blood Ulmer on guitar, Calvin Jones on bass, and Cornell Rochester on drums – all working in a mode that's definitely a 90s extension of Ulmer's harmelodic legacy from decades past. Sanders and Zorn each alternate tunes – so that between them, there's a sax on every number – making the album a quartet date in execution. Zorn's sharp edges are what you might expect in the setting – and Sanders takes on a bolder, less earthy quality in the group – in ways that really differ from his usual sort of guest appearance. Titles include "Law", "Suspect", "Devotion", "Sweet", "Proof", "My Prayer", and "Evidence". CD

A really unusual set of recordings from pianist Bud Powell – tracks recorded in his overseas home, solo – a setting that puts the keyboard magic of Powell in a similar sound to that of Art Tatum, who'd recorded in such a way the decade before! At some level, these might be the most compelling recordings that Bud made at the time – as there's an intimacy that's wonderful, and an inherent swing that makes you realize how much Powell was always driving the group – even when he was working with top-shelf drummers and bassists. Plus, the solo mode maybe also opens up a current of humanity past the Bud's skills on the keys – which makes the whole record all that much more powerful. Titles include "Deep Night", "Strictly Confidental", "Wahoo", "Deep Inside", "My Devotion", "Conception", and "Ruby My Dear". CD

One of the hippest projects we've heard from drummer Ben Riley in awhile – a big band project devoted to the music of Thelonious Monk, and one that gets most of its angular changes from the saxophone section! There's a great post-Monk quality to this one that makes it way more than just a copycat of the old days – a re-interpolation of the music and inspirations of Monk for a slightly different jazz idiom, presented with 4 saxophones, 1 trumpet, guitar, bass, and drums – and no piano at all! Riley's on drums, and saxophones include Bruce Williams on alto and soprano, Wayne Escoffery and Jimmy Greene on tenor, and Jay Brandford on baritone – working alongside guitar from Freddie Bryant, bass from either Kiyashi Kitagawa or Peter Washington, and trumpet from Don Sickler, who sometimes blasts out in the lead. Titles include "Gallop's Gallop", "Green Chimneys", "Shuffle Boil", "Straight No Chaser", "Rhythm-A-Ning", and "Let's Call This". CD

Although this set was issued in the 70s, it features some excellent rare early work by Tristano, originally recorded for Capitol in 1949. The material features a core of his early devotees – Lee Konitz, Warne Marsh, and Billy Bauer – and the selection of tracks includes 2 especially amazing tracks – "Intuition" and "Digression" – both of which were freely improvised in the studio during recording! Along with the other material in the set – "Yesterdays", "Wow", "Sax Of A Kind", and "Maironette" – the record's an essential one for any Tristano fan. The other side of the record features some slightly modernist stuff by Buddy DeFranco, and titles on that stuff include "Bird In Igor's Yard", "Extrovert", and "Aishie". LP, Vinyl record album

Music from Django Reinhardt, Kenny Burrell, Barney Kessel, Wes Montgomery, and George Benson – onde disc devoted to each artist. CD

A legendary concert – recorded at Massey Hall in Toronto, with a previously-unmatched quintet of superstar bop players: Charlie Parker on alto, Dizzy Gillespie on trumpet, Bud Powell on piano, Charles Mingus on bass, and Max Roach on drums. This reissue set also includes the Bud Powell trio sides which were issued separately as Jazz At Massey Hall Vol 2. The quintet runs down "Perdido", "Salt Peanuts", "All The Things You Are", "Wee", "Hot House" and "A Night In Tunisia" and the trio sides are "Embraceable You", "Sure Thing", "My Devotion", "Polka Dots & Moon Beams", "Cherokee", "Jubilee", "I've Got You Under My Skin", "My Heart Stood Still", "I Want To Be Happy" and "Lullaby Of Birdland". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the best records from Shepp's "new tradition" late 70's period devoted to the exploration of Charlie Parker. The album features extended readings of tracks that are either Parker originals, or which were strongly associated with him – and titles include "Donna Lee", "lady Bird", "Now's The Time", and "Relaxin At Camarillo". Shepp's actually right at home in this setting, and his "out" background really brings a new twist to a traditional understanding of Bird. The rest of the group is made up of Jaki Byard, Cecil Mc Bee, and Roy Haynes. LP, Vinyl record album