Dave Brubeck on piano, Bobby Militello on alto sax & flute, Alec Dankworth on bass & Randy Jones on drums. CD

A full LP that combines early work by Dave Brubeck – pulled together from a few 10" LPs, and packaged in a nice cartoony cover. The record features the work of his octet – a group that gives a rare opportunity to hear Brubeck in a large group setting, and one that also features work by Cal Tjader on drums (!), plus Dick Collins and Paul Desmond on their usual instruments. Titles include "The Prisoner's Song", "Prelude", "IPCA", "Fugue On Bop Themes", "Schizophrenic Scherzo", "Playland At The Beach", and "Serenade Suite". CD

Classic early live material from the Dave Brubeck Quartet – already humming along nicely with some great alto sax from Paul Desmond! The group's in fine form here – a bit more relaxed and open than on their Columbia recordings – with plenty of creative piano lines from Dave, showing just a slight dose of modernism, and lots more of that cool, icy alto sax work that made Desmond a standout right from the start. Rhythm is by Ron Crotty on bass and Joe Dodge on drums – and titles include "Laura", "Lullaby In Rhythm", "For All We Know", "All The Things You Are", and "I'll Never Smile Again". CD

Dave Brubeck takes on the Eurasian scene – with wonderfully groovy results! The album's one of Brubeck's first in the "impressions" series, and it's a really colorful assortment of tunes – tracks with some lyrical and exotic moments that come through strongly, and which really offer a slightly different take on the Brubeck groove. Paul Desmond's alto sax is key to the sound here, and so is the progressive percussion of Joe Morello – and in addition to Brubeck's piano, the quartet also features bass from Joe Benjamin. Titles are all originals by Dave, and they include "Calcutta Blues", "Marble Arch", "Brandenburg Gate", "Nomad", and "The Golden Horn". CD

Easily the crowning moment of genius for the legendary Dave Brubeck Quartet – the moment when all things came together magically, and the group somehow elevated themselves to a whole new level in jazz! At the time of the set, Brubeck, Paul Desmond, and the rest had already been making plenty of waves with their creative yet swinging approaches to modern jazz – heard on a number of successful albums for Fantasy and Columbia in the 50s. But with this record, they really knocked one out of the park – blending Desmond's cool alto, Brubeck's unusual piano phrasing, Joe Morello's melodic drum work, and Eugene Wright's pulsating bass into a waltzing, almost modal groove that crossed over to many camps at the time! The classics "Take Five" and "Blue Rondo Ala Turk" were both hits on their own – but all titles are great, and include "Kathy's Waltz", "Strange Medow Lark", "Everybody's Jumpin", and "Pick Up Sticks". CD

Recorded at Berlin Jazz Days in 1970, with Jack Six on bass and Alan Dawson on drums. LP, Vinyl record album

Dave Digs Disney – and hence, so do we! The album's one of the first to ever pay tribute to the great compositions heard in Disney films – and it features the magical sound of the Brubeck Quartet, turned upon a host of familiar numbers, and transforming them into longer vehicles for jazz improvisation. Given Dave's great sense of play with rhythm and timings, the tunes really get changed up in these versions – in a way that takes best advantage of the modal rhythms and jazz waltz styles that many of them share. Paul Desmond's alto work is as impeccably-handled as ever, and Joe Morello's sprightly drums seem perfectly at home with the tunes – as does Dave's warmly lyrical work on piano. Titles include "Alice In Wonderland", "Give A Little Whistle", "One Song", and "Someday My Prince Will Come". LP, Vinyl record album

An overlooked Dave Brubeck from the 60s – and one of his most striking sessions at the time! The album steps a bit into the Blues Roots promised in the title – but overall, it's more of a unique meeting between Brubeck's piano and the baritone sax of Gerry Mulligan – coming together here in warm, open quartet company – with a sound that's quite different than some of the Brubeck/Paul Desmond sessions of the time! Dave really sets the tone on piano – and is maybe a bit less concerned with overall jazz concepts than just laying down some expressive solo passages – and the group also features Jack Six on both acoustic and electric bass, and Alan Dawson on drums. Mulligan is as fluid as ever – and has that great sound he was bringing to his own small group sessions of the time – a mode that burns a gentle fire on titles that include "Broke Blues", "Journey", "Cross Ties", "Blues Roots", and "Moving Out". LP, Vinyl record album

With Paul Desmond on also, Norman bates on bass, and Joe Morello on drums. LP, Vinyl record album

Includes the tracks "Oh Susanna", "When It's Sleepy Time Down South", "Little Rock Getaway", "At The Darktown Strutters Ball", "Darling Nellie Gray" & "Southern Scene". CD

A Dave Brubeck/Paul Desmond double header – two vintage albums in a single package! Stardust is great stuff from the early days of the Brubeck/Desmond alliance – when Dave's piano had first met up with Paul's alto, with incredible results that would soon transform the face of popular jazz. The set's mostly standards – but it does include 2 strong originals, "Crazy Chris" and "Lyons Busy", as well as some Brubeck-ized versions of tunes like "Frenesi", "Mamselle", and "At A Perfume Counter". Dave Brubeck Quartet is sublime early work from pianist Dave Brubeck – already recording here with the amazing Paul Desmond on alto sax – in the kind of magical blend that would bring both players great fame by the end of the 50s! Even at this early point, the subtle modern touches are perfectly in place – that blend of space, sound, color, and tone that made the Brubeck/Desmond team so unique – recorded here without any other gimmicks or trappings to get in the way. The set mostly features shorter versions of standards – including "Stardust", "Just One Of Those Things", "Alice In Wonderland", and "All The Things You Are" – but it also features an amazing 14 minute take on "At A Perfume Counter", with really extended solo lines from Desmond! LP, Vinyl record album

Rare material from the sessions for one of the greatest jazz albums ever – the legendary 1959 Time Out album by the Dave Brubeck quartet – expanded here with unreleased outtakes from the recording date, which include two tracks that were not even on the original record! The sound of the group is legendary – the crisp alto of Paul Desmond next to the ever-shifting, always-rhythmic piano of Brubeck – the man who brought modern jazz to the masses – aided with the fantastic bass of Eugene Wright and razor-sharp drum work of Joe Morello – every bit as great here as on the album that was released! The first five tracks are pretty close to the originals, with slight variations – a testament to the well-rehearsed nature of the group – but the added tunes really show the record in formation, as does the extra banter between the band that's included at the end. New titles include "Watusi Jam" and "I'm In A Dancing Mood" – alongside alternate takes of "Blue Rondo A La Turk", "Take Five", "Cathy's Waltz", "Three To Get Ready", and "Strange Meadowlark". CD

Rare material from the sessions for one of the greatest jazz albums ever – the legendary 1959 Time Out album by the Dave Brubeck quartet – expanded here with unreleased outtakes from the recording date, which include two tracks that were not even on the original record! The sound of the group is legendary – the crisp alto of Paul Desmond next to the ever-shifting, always-rhythmic piano of Brubeck – the man who brought modern jazz to the masses – aided with the fantastic bass of Eugene Wright and razor-sharp drum work of Joe Morello – every bit as great here as on the album that was released! The first five tracks are pretty close to the originals, with slight variations – a testament to the well-rehearsed nature of the group – but the added tunes really show the record in formation, as does the extra banter between the band that's included at the end. New titles include "Watusi Jam" and "I'm In A Dancing Mood" – alongside alternate takes of "Blue Rondo A La Turk", "Take Five", "Cathy's Waltz", "Three To Get Ready", and "Strange Meadowlark". LP, Vinyl record album

Kind of a meeting of two different generations of Dave Brubeck – as the group here features Paul Desmond's alto sax, a key force in Dave's early recordings – and the baritone sax of Gerry Mulligan, a player who'd worked often with Brubeck in the late 60s and early 70s! The blend of horns is really amazing, and the live recording really moves past other obvious Brubeck modes – showing Dave's whole new conception after the breakup of the original quartet – and his willingness to open into new rhythms, and even freer modes of expression. Mulligan's baritone is wonderfully powerful – coming across here with a depth that we'd hardly have expected a few years before – and rhythm is from Jack Six on bass and Alan Dawson on drums, both players who also add to the transformation of the Brubeck groove. Titles include "Koto Song", "Unfinished Woman", "Truth", "Take Five", and "Rotterdam Blues". LP, Vinyl record album

There's plenty of favorite things going on here – the alto of Paul Desmond, piano of Dave Brubeck, bass of Gene Wright, and drums of Joe Morello – that perfect Dave Brubeck Quartet, captured here at the height of their powers! The set's got no gimmicks, no special settings, but the group manage to make things every bit as impressive as on all their high concept records of the period – really finding a way to open up older songs with completely fresh energy, and really make them their own! Dave has an especially great tone to his piano – maybe a bit more human and personal than on some other records – and titles include "My Favorite Things", "Why Can't I", "Little Girl Blue", "This Can't Be Love", "The Circus On Parade", and "Over & Over Again". LP, Vinyl record album

A warm set of solo tracks from pianist Dave Brubeck – a record that's a fair bit different than the early material you might know from the jazz legend, with a very personal, intimate quality that really fits the spirit of the season! Dave's work on the keys isn't nearly as modern as in the early days – and there's a nice dose of sentiment that really matches the right Holiday flavor for the material – a set list that includes "Away In A Manger", "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town", "To Us Is Given", "Run Run Run To Bethlehem", "Jingle Bells", "The Christmas Song", and "What Child Is This". CD

A really great take on the sound of the Dave Brubeck/Paul Desmond quartet of the 50s and 60s – that magical unit that really transformed the sound of jazz at the time, and continues to hold strong over the decades! The approach here, though, is also a nice change from Paul and Dave – in that Jens Sondergaard has maybe a bit more spirit in his alto, and also plays soprano sax too – and is matched by some fantastic piano from Ole Kock Hansen, a player with a much more organic flow than Brubeck – not that we don't like Dave's piano, but Ole's got a warmth that really changes things up – as does the bass work of Lasse Lundstrom, who's upfront and full in the mix, and also brings a lot of humanity to the proceedings! Tunes are all gems from the key years of the original group – and titles include "Why Not", "Bossa Antiqua", "The Duke", "Broadway Bossa Nova", "Embarcadero", "In Your Own Sweet Way", and "Brandenburger Gate". CD

A cool set of modern jazz numbers put together by the Qualiton Records label in Hungary – a small but strong outlet of jazz during the years of the Iron Curtain! The combo here is led by pianist Janos Gonda, and features Attilla Savari on saxes, Peter Kaldor on vibes, and Tibor Buvari on bass – plus a vocal solo from Marta Szirmai in one spot – and the group take on tunes by Thelonious Monk, Dave Brubeck, John Lewis, and others! LP, Vinyl record album

Very groovy 70s work from Annie Ross – an album that's quite different than her vocalese records of the 50s, but equally great in its own sort of way! Ross is still singing jazz here, but there's often a bit of soul in the mix too – that hip blend of styles that you might find in the music of Annie's Brit contemporary Georgie Fame around the same time! Ross really takes the lyrics of the tunes in a great way – often with a touch more feeling than before, yet still with that great sense of timing and wit that made her one of the freshest singers to hit the American shores in the postwar years. As the title implies, the performance is a live one – and Annie's got some great backing by a small combo that features electric piano and organ from Dave MacRae, both of which further a 70s sort of groove on the cuts! Titles include an incredible version of the King Crimson track "Cat Food" – the bossa numbers "The Gentle Rain", "Wave", and "Crickets Sing For Anamaria" – and cool takes on Dave Brubeck's "Blue Rondo A La Turk", Randy Newman's "Love Story", Bob Dylan's "Country Pie", and the Beach Boys' "Vegetables". All those weird tunes really make the album a charmer – an overlooked gem from these sometimes-lost years of Annie's career! LP, Vinyl record album

A long-overdue full length album from Ranny Sinclair – a very cool 60s singer who recorded for Columbia Records with a very groovy style – including a few obscure tracks done with piano legend Dave Brubeck! The sound here is beautiful – breathy at times, with some bossa currents in the rhythms – and a cool, compressed production technique that makes Ranny's vocals glide along beautifully with the instrumentation – a lot like Astrud Gilberto at Verve, or Joanie Sommers on some of her groovier records – but also very unique! Teo Macero produced – and the tracks clearly have the best of the 60s Columbia Records jazz talents behind them – yet only four singles' worth of material were released at the time, which are combined with unreleased tracks to make a really wonderful album. Titles include "Ode To A Cowboy", "Fan The Flame", "There Won't Be Trumpets", "Sweet William", "With Any Other Girl", "Something To Sing About", "Autumn In Our Town", "Barbara Allen", and "A Wonderful Guy". CD

A long-overdue full length album from Ranny Sinclair – a very cool 60s singer who recorded for Columbia Records with a very groovy style – including a few obscure tracks done with piano legend Dave Brubeck! The sound here is beautiful – breathy at times, with some bossa currents in the rhythms – and a cool, compressed production technique that makes Ranny's vocals glide along beautifully with the instrumentation – a lot like Astrud Gilberto at Verve, or Joanie Sommers on some of her groovier records – but also very unique! Teo Macero produced – and the tracks clearly have the best of the 60s Columbia Records jazz talents behind them – yet only four singles' worth of material were released at the time, which are combined with unreleased tracks to make a really wonderful album. Titles include "Ode To A Cowboy", "Fan The Flame", "There Won't Be Trumpets", "Sweet William", "With Any Other Girl", "Something To Sing About", "Autumn In Our Town", "Barbara Allen", and "A Wonderful Guy". LP, Vinyl record album

The first-ever issue of this rare live set from the legendary Thelonious Monk Quartet of the 60s – the same group that cut some incredible albums for Columbia Records, sounding equally great here in a concert setting in Paris! The group features tremendous tenor work from Charlie Rouse – a player who can be deeply soulful, but also hit all the right angles to match Monk's modern piano lines – as important to Thelonious as the alto sax of Paul Desmond was to Dave Brubeck! And like Brubeck's quartet at the time, the rhythm players here are also key – the fantastic John Ore on bass, and the great Frankie Dunlop on drums – two players who hit all the right spots along the way, and match Monk's energy perfectly. Titles include "Criss Cross", "Epistrophy", "Bye Ya", "Monk's Dream", and a "Drum Solo". LP, Vinyl record album