A smoking set of all-star performances – recorded at Carnegie Hall in 1954, and with a sense of tremendous talent that may well blow away some of the Jazz At The Philharmonic sets of the time! The material here is heavy on Count Basie performances – excellent material from that period when he was really hitting full power again on Verve – with strong solos from Frank Foster and Frank Wess on reeds, plus work from Joe Newman on trumpet! Lester Young's tenor also joins Basie's group at one point – and Sarah Vaughan sings with the group too – but the set also features some more Verve-like performances – from Charlie Parker on alto, and Billie Holiday on vocals, who gets almost one side of the record to herself. There's a huge amount of material on the double-length set – and titles include "My Funny Valentine", "Cool Blues", and "The Song Is You" by Charlie Parker; "Them There Eyes", "My Man", and "Lover Man" by Billie Holiday; "Saturday", "Time", "That Old Devil Moon", and "Don't Blame Me" by Sarah Vaughan; and "Lullaby Of Birdland", "Sure Thing", "Perdido", "Blues Backstage", and "You For Me" by Count Basie. LP, Vinyl record album

Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, recording in the very familiar territory of the Birdland nightclub – in a format that was handled previously by the Blue Note label, but maybe never with a lineup this great! The performance features the sublime frontline trio of Lee Morgan on trumpet, Wayne Shorter on tenor, and Bobby Timmons on piano – all players that are their youthful best, and completely on fire with creative imagination under Blakey's leadership – the start of a great run for all of them as solo stars too. The tracks are long, and even if the tunes are sometimes familiar, the performances are spectacular – that special Jazz Messengers energy that makes records like this so great. This first volume includes the tracks "The Opener", "What Know", "Round About Midnight", and "The Breeze and I". LP, Vinyl record album

Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, recording in the very familiar territory of the Birdland nightclub – in a format that was handled previously by the Blue Note label, but maybe never with a lineup this great! The performance features the sublime frontline trio of Lee Morgan on trumpet, Wayne Shorter on tenor, and Bobby Timmons on piano – all players that are their youthful best, and completely on fire with creative imagination under Blakey's leadership – the start of a great run for all of them as solo stars too. The tracks are long, and even if the tunes are sometimes familiar, the performances are spectacular – that special Jazz Messengers energy that makes records like this so great. This second volume includes the tracks "Night Watch", "The Summit", "High Modes", and "The Things I Love". LP, Vinyl record album

Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, recording in the very familiar territory of the Birdland nightclub – in a format that was handled previously by the Blue Note label, but maybe never with a lineup this great! The performance features the sublime frontline trio of Lee Morgan on trumpet, Wayne Shorter on tenor, and Bobby Timmons on piano – all players that are their youthful best, and completely on fire with creative imagination under Blakey's leadership – the start of a great run for all of them as solo stars too. The tracks are long, and even if the tunes are sometimes familiar, the performances are spectacular – that special Jazz Messengers energy that makes records like this so great. This second volume includes the tracks "Night Watch", "The Summit", "High Modes", and "The Things I Love". LP, Vinyl record album

Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, recording in the very familiar territory of the Birdland nightclub – in a format that was handled previously by the Blue Note label, but maybe never with a lineup this great! The performance features the sublime frontline trio of Lee Morgan on trumpet, Wayne Shorter on tenor, and Bobby Timmons on piano – all players that are their youthful best, and completely on fire with creative imagination under Blakey's leadership – the start of a great run for all of them as solo stars too. The tracks are long, and even if the tunes are sometimes familiar, the performances are spectacular – that special Jazz Messengers energy that makes records like this so great. This first volume includes the tracks "The Opener", "What Know", "Round About Midnight", and "The Breeze and I". LP, Vinyl record album

A key link in the early career of Blossom Dearie – and a fab album of jazzy vocal tracks throughout! Before Blossom recorded some of her 50s sides for Verve in the US, she was living in France and working with The Blue Stars – a cool male/female jazz vocal group that went onto become the prototype for later acts like The Swingle Singers, Lambert Hendricks & Ross, and Les Double Six! This 1954 album by the group was actually a minor hit in the US, where their swinging harmony version of "Lullaby Of Birdland" crept up the charts for a few weeks. The album's even cooler than the hit, though, and has lots of groovy jazz vocal tracks in French, with the sort of vocalese harmony scatting that you probably already know from the more famous groups mentioned above. You can always pick out Blossom's distinctive voice in the group, but the real strength is the groovy group vocals – shining beautifully in one of the first great recordings of vocalese harmony! Tracks include "Gina", "Embrasse Moi Bien", "La Danse Du Baiser", "Toute Ma Joie", and a version of "Mister Sandman" that's been renamed "Mister L'Amour". LP, Vinyl record album

Weather Report at the height of their 70s fame – captured live in a double-length set, very much the practice for jazz superstars of the time! The format is familiar – but the liveness gives the album a slightly different feel than their studio sets – a sound that echoes out strongly along with thunderous applause from the crowds, who are themselves clearly situated in some very large arenas. And while the studio Weather Report albums are easily documents of the group's power themselves, it's something extra to hear the crowd going nuts for them here – cheering on Jaco Pastorius during a frenetic bass solo, roaring with approval at a Joe Zawinul keyboard bit, or clapping with enthusiasm after Wayne Shorter finishes a snakey solo. Tracks are all longish, and titles include "Scarlet Woman", "Black Market", "Birdland", "Thanks For The Memory", "8:30", "Brown Street", "In A Silent Way", and "Slang". LP, Vinyl record album