With Roland Hanna on piano, John Chiadini on guitar, George Mraz on bass, and Mel Lewis on drums. LP, Vinyl record album

Buddy DeFranco on clarinet, Larry Novak on piano, Joe Cohn on guitar, Keter Betts on bass &and Jimmy Cobb on drums. CD

We can't say for sure that Buddy's actually the king of the clarinet, but this record is mighty nice work – and a crackling little set that catches DeFranco at a time when he was one of the strongest players on his instrument, and one of the few to equally absorb bop and swing influences. As with other DeFranco standouts from the time, the rhythm section is what really makes the record – and here he's working with Kenny Drew on piano throughout, plus either Art Blakey or Art Taylor on drums, Teddy Kotick or Curley Russell on bass, and a bit of guitar from Jimmy Raney. Titles include "Cairo", "Lover Come Back To Me", "The Way You Look Tonight", "Street Of Dreams", "Gone With The Wind", and "Sophisticated Lady". LP, Vinyl record album

With Tal Farlow on guitar, Derek Smith on piano, Ronnie Bedford on drums, and George Duvivier on bass. LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Titles include "Pyramid", "Monogram", "Cable Car", "Gold Nugget Sam", "From Here To Eternity", and "Punkin". LP, Vinyl record album

As the title indicates, the session features Buddy DeFranco and Oscar Peterson – but the real guy we wanna thank here is arranger Russ Garcia! Unlike some of the other Verve "soloist with the Peterson Trio" albums of the 50s, this one is more of a shared effort that has Buddy and Oscar both acting as soloists over larger backings directed by Garcia. Russ takes a lot of cues from Ralph Burns on the session – and like Burns on earlier Verve recordings, he sets things up so that the orchestrations never overwhelm the players – and instead simply augment their moods and shade in the colors of the tunes. We especially like Peterson in this format – as he was so often recorded heavily in trio format – but DeFranco is great too, snaking out over the top of the strings with a lean and angular tone on clarinet. Titles include "They Can't Take That Away From Me", "I Got Rhythm", and "It Ain't Necessarily So". LP, Vinyl record album

Classic Jam Session work from Norman Granz – featuring a group with Stan Getz, Harry Edison, Wardell Gray, Benny Carter, Willie Smith, Buddy De Franco, Count Basie, and Freddie Green – on two long tracks, "Oh Lady Be Good" and "Blues For The Count". The session's got a number of interesting aspects – Basie plays organ, Getz is a bit harder than usual, and Willie Smith sounds great, as always, in one of his rare appearances from the time. LP, Vinyl record album

With John Campbell II on piano, Todd Coolman on bass, and Gerry Gibbs on drums. LP, Vinyl record album

With Frank Collett on piano, Andy Simpkins on bass, and Jimmie Smith on drums. LP, Vinyl record album

A nice spare set from reedman Buddy DeFranco – with only the guitar of Jim Gillis for accompaniment! LP, Vinyl record album

A record with a sound that's a lot more understated than its title – an easygoing groove that's all Buddy all the way – clarinet in the lead, inspired by an older swing-based approach to jazz, yet still inflected with some boppish influences too – all in just the sort of open, laidback style that Verve was handling well at the time. Other players include Harry Edison on trumpet, Bob Hardaway on tenor, Jimmy Rowles on piano, Barney Kessel on guitar, Curtis Counce on bass, and Alvin Stoller on drums – on titles that include "Sunday", "Tea For Two", "Blue Lou", "Funky's Uncle", and an extended Verve-type "Ballad Medley". LP, Vinyl record album

A real lost treasure – and an incredible session that offers a real meeting of minds that's far more than you'd expect from the simple cover and title! The set is a later one for Vee Jay, and it brings together half of the Jazz Messengers with a batch of west coast players – in a groove that wonderfully mixes together different traditions and rhythms in jazz – and which steps out with a sound that's far more than the sum of its parts! Art Blakey, Lee Morgan, and Curtis Fuller join a group headed by Buddy De Franco, and featuring Victor Feldman on piano and vibes, plus Victor Sproles on bass and Freddie Hill on trumpet. The sound of the group is quite unusual – and a lot lighter than you'd guess – giving Buddy plenty of room to solo in a breezy style that's grown tremendously since his 50s recordings – pushed along by some heavier soul from Art and the group. Titles include "Rain Dance", "Blues Bag", "Twelve Tone Blues", "Kush", and "Cousin Mary". LP, Vinyl record album

Buddy DeFranco plays tunes associated with Artie Shaw – but in a completely different way than before – with a wider-open swing for the 50s! The work here is all small combo, not big band – and there's a free-flowing groove that's totally great – a sound that carries echoes of the earlier years, but which comes across with that modern inflection to swing that made Buddy's years at Verve so great. Few players could come up with a balance of modes as great as this – and DeFranco's clarinet is caught alongside trumpet from Ray Linn, guitar from Barney Kessel, and piano and harpsichord from Jimmy Rowles! LP, Vinyl record album

Two LP's on one CD. The first set is a later one for Vee Jay, and it brings together half of the Jazz Messengers with a batch of west coast players – in a groove that wonderfully mixes together different traditions and rhythms in jazz – and which steps out with a sound that's far more than the sum of its parts! Art Blakey, Lee Morgan, and Curtis Fuller join a group headed by Buddy De Franco, and featuring Victor Feldman on piano and vibes, plus Victor Sproles on bass and Freddie Hill on trumpet. The sound of the group is quite unusual – and a lot lighter than you'd guess – giving Buddy plenty of room to solo in a breezy style that's grown tremendously since his 50s recordings – pushed along by some heavier soul from Art and the group. Titles include "Rain Dance", "Blues Bag", "Twelve Tone Blues", "Kush", and "Cousin Mary". The second album's one of the few ever cut as a leader by Louis Hayes – a very soulful talent who's probably best known for his work with Horace Silver and Cannonball Adderley during the late 50s. Hayes' has a wonderful approach to the record – borrowing bits of the exoticism of his work with Silver, and bits of the harder soul jazz from Cannonball's group – all of which is played to perfection by a tight quintet that includes Yusef Lateef, Sam Jones, Barry Harris, and Nat Adderley. Tracks are all originals by the group, and titles include "Hazing", "Rip De Boom", "Teef", and "Sassy Ann". CD

With Terry Gibbs on vibes, Buddy DeFranco on clarinet, Frank Collett on piano, Andy Simpkins on bass and Jimmie Smith on drums. Tracks include "Samba Wazoo", "Austin Mood", "Body & Soul", "In A Mellow Tone", "Yesterdays" and "Blues For Brody". CD

With Ray Santisi on piano, Johnny Chiodini on guitar, Mike Richmond on bass, and Randy Jones on drums. LP, Vinyl record album

Excellent work from Buddy Greco's years on MGM – material that dovetails nicely with his boppish work for Verve in the early 50s, with equally nice small combo backing that includes Kenny Drew on piano! There are a couple of De Franco originals such as "Pennywhistle Blues" and "Samia Shuffle" – plus the tracks "Cairo", "Carioca", "I Got it Bad", "Street of Dreams" and "Just One of those Things". LP, Vinyl record album

A really rare quartet date, on a par with Buddy's work for Verve and MGM – with Kenny Drew on piano, Eugene Wright on bass, and Art Blakey on drums! LP, Vinyl record album

Great lost work by Buddy DeFranco – rare Verve sides recorded with Sonny Clark that show a whole new side of the clarinetist! Forget what you might think about his playing – because these tracks have a tight swinging boppish groove, and Clark's piano work makes the whole thing move nicely, without some of the hoke of other DeFranco sessions. The set (now out of print) has a total of 5LPs, and is filled with mostly master takes, plus a few unreleased tracks. Titles include "Cable Car", "Monogram", "Mine", "Titoro", "Sonny's Idea", "Cooking The Blues", and "Minor Incident". Great stuff! LP, Vinyl record album

A great "birth of the cool" album from Capitol – a 10" record that brings together some key recordings from that pivotal jazz year of 1949! Titles include "Imagination" by a large group with Bill Harris in the lead on trombone; "Wow", "Marionette", and "Yesterdays" from a great Lennie Tristano group with Warne Marsh on tenor, Lee Konitz on alto, and Billy Bauer on guitar; "Boplicity" by Miles Davis with JJ Johnson and Lee Konitz; and "Penthouse Serenade", "Extrovert", and "Good For Nothin Joe" by a quintet with Buddy DeFranco on clarinet and Teddy Cohen on vibes. LP, Vinyl record album

One of the more obscure Buddy DeFranco albums for Verve – a set that features some great later arrangements from Russ Garcia! LP, Vinyl record album

An easy-going, openly-swinging set from British reedman Sandy Brown – long live tracks that feature lots of deft clarinet work from Sandy, plus some tightly swinging rhythms from a combo that includes Ray Crane on trumpet, Brian Lemon on piano, Phil Bates on bass, and Mike Scott on drums! There's certainly trad roots to the music, but the execution is much more bop-inflected overall – especially given the long tracks that allow plenty of room for solo work – which almost gives the record the feel of a Buddy DeFranco appearance in a Verve Jam Session! Titles include "Splanky", "In The Evenin", "I Got It Bad", "Royal Garden Blues", and "Roll Em Pete". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the coolest soundtracks ever for a Burt Reynolds film – an a hip mix of soul and jazz tracks that's gone onto become a classic over the years! The album's a compilation of sorts, but most of the material was recorded fresh for the film – and the different artists really work together here to forge some great backdrops for the action on the screen! Al Capps handled the larger charts, but most numbers really spotlight an individual artist – and highlights include Randy Crawford singing a new version of "Street Life" – different than the one with The Crusaders – Sarah Vaughan singing "Love Theme From Sharky's Machine", Peggy Lee vocals on "Let's Keep Dancing", and Julie London singing "My Funny Valentine" – as one of the first recordings after many years of retirement. Other great numbers include "Dope Bust" by Flora Purim & Buddy DeFranco, "Sharky's Theme" by Eddie Harris, "Before You" by Sarah Vaughan & Joe Williams, "8 To 5 I Lose" by Joe Williams, and the instrumental cuts "Sexercise" and "High Energy" by Doc Severinsen. LP, Vinyl record album

A great set of early cool jazz and bop – with cuts that include "Oo La La" by Dizzy Gillespie, "Opus 96" by Bill Harris, "Aishie" by Buddy DeFranco, "Budo" by Miles Davis, and "Overtime" by Charlie Barnet. LP, Vinyl record album

Early work from reedman Tony Scott – recorded in the years when he was much more of a regular on the New York scene – before he started working in trippier styles for the 60s! The album features Scott in a host of different settings – from quartet, to tentet, to orchestra grooving – in a mix of modes that embraces both modern jazz inventions and some of the previous styles of the swing generation – both of which Scott handles very well on clarinet, with the same sort of generation-spanning confidence you'd get from Buddy DeFranco at the same time. Bill Evans plays piano on most tracks – a notable early date as a sideman, and one of his excellent pairings with Scott – and Gigi Gryce plays alto on some of the large group tracks. Originals mix with standards in the lineup – and titles include "Vanilla Frosting On A Beef Pie", "Poinciana", "Walkin On Air", "Round Midnight", "My Old Flame", "Moon Walks", and "Rock Me But Don't Roll Me". LP, Vinyl record album

A handful of different Cal Tjader moments from the Monterey Jazz Festival – a frequent setting for Cal's live talents, given his close proximity as a member of the Bay Area scene! The core material here is from Tjader's 1958 performance – featured here in 5 tracks that include Vince Guaraldi on piano, Willie Bobo and Mongo Santamaria on percussion, and Buddy DeFranco on clarinet – the last of whom is a really unique addition to Cal's group, and makes the tunes sound quite different from his studio sides of the time. 1958 titles include "Summertime", "Now's The Time", "Tumbao", and "Cubano Chant" – and other cuts include a 1972 reading of "Manteca" with sweet electric piano, and Dizzy Gillespie and Clark Terry on trumpets; a 1974 version of "Afro Blue" with Jerome Richardson and Frank Strazzeri; a 1977 version of "If You Could See Me Now" with John Lewis on piano; and a 1980 take on "Speak Low" with Roger Glenn on flute. Most titles here are previously unreleased – and the collection's a great match with Cal's classic work on Fantasy. CD

A much-needed collection of the famous Jazz At The Philharmonic performances of the 1950s – work that follows up the initial postwar run from producer/presenter Norman Granz, which helped lay the groundwork for Verve Records – but which hasn't gotten the full exposure it deserves! Unlike the 40s sessions, there's a lot of material here that never made it to CD – including tracks from the multi-record box set releases that included JATP volumes 11, 15, 16, and 17 – plus the Jazz Concert #1 album, Jazz At The Hollywood Bowl, and various Opera House sessions – and even the Lester Young Carnegie Blues record, which appeared later on vinyl! Some unreleased tracks have been added to the set too – and as with Mosaic Records at its best, this is less a reissue package than a proper presentation of material that was scattered out there in various formats – finally presented in the right order, with detailed notes, and really great sound. Artists are the cream of the crop of Verve at the time – Stan Getz, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Roy Eldridge, Herb Ellis, Buddy DeFranco, Sonny Stitt, Benny Carter, Lionel Hampton, Gene Krupa, and others – plus some non-Verve artist surprises as well! Very limited, and comes with a huge booklet of notes and performance details too. CD

An incredible document of a key genre in 50s jazz on record – the jam session tradition, recorded beautifully for Verve records by the legendary Norman Granz! The idea of a jam session was nothing new at the time, of course, but it was mostly a live phenomenon – known to players from concerts and club dates, or presented on vinyl by Granz, in his celebrated Jazz At The Philharmonic sessions. These dates mark a move into the studio by Granz – one that captures the same sort of energy and unique pairings of musicians that went down in the live sessions, with the added benefit of studio technology to make the work sound even clearer, and more intimate. The 5CD set brings together all 9 Jam Session albums – packaged beautifully in a slipcase with original album cover art, and a full 72 page booklet on the musicians, sessions, and titles included. Players include nearly everyone who might have worked for Verve in the 50s – Benny Carter, Charlie Parker, Johnny Hodges, Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Buddy DeFranco, and countless others – and titles include "Jam Blues", "Funky Blues", "Apple Jam", "Blues For The Count", "Jamming For Clef", "Rose Room", "Blue Lou", and "Lullaby In Rhythm" – all in very long versions! CD

Beautiful work from Jimmy Giuffre – and a key album in the development of his spare sound of the late 50s! The record features Jimmy on clarinet – as you'd guess by the title – but this is no hokey set of Benny Goodman or Buddy DeFranco-type tunes. Instead, Giuffre's using the clarinet in a way that predates 70s modernist styles – working in washes of sound and color that explore the instrument like few other players had even imagined at the time. The backing differs from track to track – as "So Low" features only a tapping foot behind Giuffre's clarinet, "Deep Purple" has backing on piano, and others like "The Sheeherder", "Quiet Cook", and "The Side Pipers" feature some lrger group backing, often with no piano. CD

Includes tracks by Woody Herman, Stan Kenton, Shorty Rogers, Buddy DeFranco, and June Christy. 25 tracks total! CD

Beautiful work from Jimmy Giuffre – and a key album in the development of his spare sound of the late 50s! The record features Jimmy on clarinet – as you'd guess by the title – but this is no hokey set of Benny Goodman or Buddy DeFranco-type tunes. Instead, Giuffre's using the clarinet in a way that predates 60s modernist styles – working in washes of sound and color that explore the instrument like few other players had even imagined at the time. The backing differs from track to track – as "So Low" features only a tapping foot behind Giuffre's clarinet, "Deep Purple" has backing on piano, and others like "The Sheepherder", "Quiet Cook", and "The Side Pipers" feature some larger group backing, often with no piano. LP, Vinyl record album

Includes three tunes from a 1945 session by the Capitol International Jazzmen, with Bill Coleman on trumpet, Buster Bailey on clarinet, Benny Carter on alto, Coleman Hawkins on tenor, Nat King Cole on piano, Oscar Moore on guitar, John Kirby on bass, Max Roach on drums, and Kay Starr on vocals; four tunes by the Metronome All Stars from 1947 and 1951, with sidemen that include Dizzy Gilletpie, Buddy DeFranco, Flip Phillips, Nat King Cole, Buddy Rich, Miles Davis, Max Roach, and others; and a side's worth of material from Louis Bellson's Just Jazz All Stars from 1952, with Clark Terry, Juan Tizol, Wardell Gray, Billy Strayhorn, and others. LP, Vinyl record album

A rare set from Billie Holiday – recorded live at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1958, with surprisingly great sound throughout – especially given that the session wasn't initially done for a bigger label! There's a nicely mature feel to the set throughout – that added sophistication and sadness that Billie was bringing to her vocals in the last few years of her life, at a level that makes us wish she hadn't left us so early. Backing is small combo – with a core trio of Mal Waldron on piano, Eddie Khan on bass, and Dick Berk on drums – plus guest performances from Benny Carter on alto, Gerry Mulligan on baritone, and Buddy DeFranco on clarinet. Titles include "God Bless The Child", "Willow Weep For Me", "Them There Eyes", "Billie's Blues", "Oh What A Little Moonlight Can Do", "Travlin Light", "Lover Come Back To Me", and "When Your Lover Has Gone". CD

A decade's worth of wonderful work from singer Sue Raney – a vocalist who was a real west coast gem at the time, and rarely got the fame she deserved! Sue's got a style that follows nicely in the mode of Chris Connor or June Christy, but which is also a bit warmer and personal, especially in a setting such as this. The sides are all studio sessions, but rare ones done for the US Navy Swings radio show at the time – recorded with backing from Shelly Manne & His Men, The Page Cavenaugh group, or the Buddy DeFranco Tommy Gumina Quartet. Instrumentation is all tightly jazzy, and sometimes filled with some freshly different phrasings – and the set features a nicely varied selection of 20 tunes that include "Umbrellas Of Cherbourg", "Breezin Along With The Breeze", "Goodbye Charlie", "Bluesette", "Five Definitions Of Love", "No Place To Go", "Burnt Sugar", "I Ain't Go No Worry", and "My Love Is A Wanderer". CD

Includes 65 tracks by Kenny Burrell, Joe Pass, Oscar Peterson, Roy Eldridge, Coleman Hawkins, Chet Baker, Count Basie, Buddy DeFranco, Fred Astaire, Stan Getz, Lester Young, Dinah Washington, Mel Torme, and more. CD