Hard to find Riverside LP of this group led by Gigi Gryce running down nice hard bop numbers. There's no dry academic performances here, not that you'd guess that from the line-up, but the title kind of leads you in that direction. Donald Byrd and Gryce are playing nice and hard up front, with Wade Legge on piano, Wendell Marshall on bass and Art Taylor on drums cooking nicely in the rhythm section. The tracks include Legge's "Geraldine" and Gryce's "Minority" plus "Love For Sale", "Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart", "Straight Ahead", and "Wake Up!". CD

Groundbreaking work from one of the hippest jazz groups going in the mid 50s – the Donald Byrd/Gigi Gryce Jazz Lab, a wonderful group of players who could play with a tight soul jazz finish, yet also throw in some nice modern jazz touches! Gryce's arrangements and alto work are always a treat, and Byrd's youthful trumpet solos give the record a nice sense of character – spinning out over some great original compositions tha sparkle with soulful imagination. The rest of the group includes Hank Jones on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Art Taylor on drums – and titles include "Onion Head", "Bat Land", "Blue Lights", and "Xtacy". LP, Vinyl record album

Seminal modern jazz from Art Farmer and Gigi Gryce, with more than a little help from Quincy Jones! The two groups represented here are both medium sized, with Art joined by Jimmy Cleveland up front, and a variety of other sidemen including Cliff Solomon, Oscar Estell, Charlie Rouse and Danny Bank on saxes, and Quincy Jones, Horace Silver, Monk Montgomery, Percy Heath, Sonny Johnson and Arthur Taylor in the rhythm section. The music is a great balance of some of Gryce's academic tendencies set against very soulful hard bop performances. Tracks include "Work Of Art", "The Little Bandmaster", "Mau Mau", "Up In Quincy's Room", "Wildwood", "Evening In Paris", "Elephant Walk" and "Tiajuana". CD features the bonus track "When Your Lover Has Gone". CD

A well-titled album from drummer Tommy Chase – and an overlooked bit of hardbop from the 80s scene in the UK! Although recorded just a few years before the Acid Jazz boom in London, the record's got a much more old school feel overall – one that recalls the sound of Blue Note or Prestige at the end of the 50s – with Chase kicking it hard in a quartet that features piano from Nick Weldon, bass from Andrew Cleyndert, and some great work on tenor and alto sax from Alan Barnes – who really gets plenty of space to shine in the spotlight. The feel's a bit like some of Johnny Griffin's earliest albums – with the sax really driving the rest of the quartet – and titles include versions of Duke Jordan's "No Problem", Gigi Gryce's "Minorty", Sonny Criss' "Blue Sunset", and Tadd Dameron's "Ladybird". CD

A landmark in jazz – easily one of Thelonious Monk's greatest albums ever, and a magical crossroads of talents that brings together a variety of jazz traditions! The work is performed by an ambitious Monk septet that includes both Coleman Hawkins and John Coltrane on tenor – and if you've ever doubted the brilliance of Hawk, this is the record to change your mind. The rest of the group is equally great – with Ray Copeland on trumpet, Gigi Gryce on alto, Wilbur Ware on bass, and Art Blakey on drums – all coming together with Monk to craft a perfect set of tunes that are virtually the definition of "modern jazz". Titles include "Abide With Me", "Off Minor", "Crepuscule With Nellie", and "Epistrophy". CD features 2 bonus tracks – alternates of "Off Minor" and "Crepuscule With Nellie". CD

A real standout set from Tony Scott's 50s catalog – an album that features his sweetly fluid clarinet lines backed by a larger orchestra that includes Gigi Gryce, Sahib Shihab, Zoot Sims, Frank Wess, Thad Jones, and Frank Foster! The format's less bop-oriented than some of Tony's other records from the time, but the expansive sound of the larger group is really great – and brings a sense of drama to the record that seems to push Tony a bit more than usual. Some tracks feature incredible solo work that has Scott really stretching the instrument, almost in a way that foreshadows stronger 60s use of soprano saxophone – and arrangements from Bill Evans, John Carisi, Nat Pierce, and Sonny Truitt help to keep the overall sound of the album fresh throughout. Titles include "The Lady Is A Tramp", "Skylark", "I'll Remember April", "Walkin", "Under A Blanket Of Blue", and 2 very nice extended numbers – "Finger Poppin Blues" and "Time To Go". LP, Vinyl record album

East coast chamber jazz from Mat Mathews – a committed modernist who was always working in new groupings of unique instruments, to craft a new sound for 50s jazz that was at once freshly new, but not overly complicated. This set has him working with like-minded players – including Oscar Pettiford, Art Farmer, Dick Katz, Joe Puma, Kenny Clark, Gigi Gryce, and Herbie Mann – playing accordion in the lead on tracks that include "Not So Sleepy", "The Puritan", "Now See How You Are", and "Knights At The Castle". CD

The second volume of Howard McGhee material to be released as part of Blue Note's great 10" Connoisseur series – issued here along with an equally rare session by guitarist Tal Farlow, recorded around the same time in the 1950s! McGhee's talents on trumpet have always been touted highly – but most of his best work has been hard to find for years. That situation is corrected now, as this fantastic Blue Note session (featuring Horace Silver, Gigi Gryce, and Tal Farlow) is brought back to light again. The 7-track set is filled with the kind of edgey bop tracks that made McGhee's work so compelling in the early days – and titles include "Shabozz", "Tranquility", "Ittapnna", and "Jarm". Farlow returns on the CD's quartet session, which has a cool 2-guitar frontline, and a sound that's very different from Farlow's other work. Titles on that one include "Rock n Rye", "Splash", and "Tina". Both albums are great, and this 10" reissue series is one of our favorite in years! CD

One of Lee Morgan's most sparkling sessions from the early years – a record that already shows a sense of depth and imagination that would take Lee way beyond simple hardbop solo work! There's a sensitivity here that owes something of a debt to Clifford Brown, yet which is much more modernist overall – touched, no doubt, by a set list that features tunes by Gigi Gryce and Benny Golson, and played in a spirit that's similar to the blend of soul jazz and modernism that both of those players were carving out at the time. Morgan's bandmates for the record include George Coleman on tenor and alto, Curtis Fuller on trombone, Ray Bryant on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Art Taylor on drums – all in tight formation, but with a sense of relaxed and easy flow that's rare, even in a Blue Note of this vintage! Titles include "You're Mine You", "Just By Myself", "Kin Folks", "City Lights", and "Tempo De Waltz". LP, Vinyl record album