Although Toots Thielemans is far better-known for his virtuoso harmonica playing, he sticks exclusively to guitar on this pair of studio dates, initially taped in 1961 for Polydor. Accompanied by pianist Georges Arvanitas, bassist Roland Lobligeois, and drummer Philippe Combelle, Thielemans leads a primarily laid-back session with the focus on the leader, covering standards ("Willow Weep for Me" and "We'll be Together Again"), adding a soft wordless background vocal to "Satin Doll," and giving a loping treatment to Milt Jackson's "Bags' Groove." No matter that none of Thielemans' compositions have come close to matching the widespread popularity of his huge hit, "Bluesette"; two blues he wrote for this date, "Le Trottoir" and "Flirt" (the latter of which is the only track to feature his famous whistling), are very enjoyable.

This five-LP box set (which has been reissued on CD) contains nearly all of Stan Getz's classic bossa nova sessions, five wonderful yet diverse LPs (Jazz Samba, Big Band Bossa Nova, Jazz Samba Encore, Stan Getz/Laurindo Almedia, and Getz/Gilberto). The cool-toned tenor is heard on his groundbreaking collaboration with guitarist Charlie Byrd (which resulted in the best-selling "Desafinado"), is showcased with a big band arranged by Gary McFarland (introducing "No More Blues" and "One Note Samba"), stars in recordings with guitarists Laurindo Almeida and Luiz Bonfa, and is heard at the famous meeting with composer/pianist Antonio Carlos Jobim, guitarist João Gilberto, and singer Astrud Gilberto, which resulted in the major hit "The Girl From Ipanema." This essential set finishes off with three previously unissued performances from a 1964 Carnegie Hall Concert, concluding with a remake of "The Girl From Ipanema." These recordings stand as proof that it is possible for good music to sell.

Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington were (and are) two of the main stems of jazz. Any way you look at it, just about everything that's ever happened in this music leads directly – or indirectly – back to them. Both men were born on the cusp of the 19th and 20th centuries, and each became established as a leader during the middle '20s. Although their paths had crossed from time to time over the years, nobody in the entertainment industry had ever managed to get Armstrong and Ellington into a recording studio to make an album together. On April 3, 1961, producer Bob Thiele achieved what should be regarded as one of his greatest accomplishments; he organized and supervised a seven-and-a-half-hour session at RCA Victor's Studio One on East 24th Street in Manhattan, using a sextet combining Duke Ellington with Louis Armstrong & His All-Stars. This group included ex-Ellington clarinetist Barney Bigard, ex-Jimmie Lunceford swing-to-bop trombonist Trummy Young, bassist Mort Herbert, and drummer Danny Barcelona. A second session took place during the afternoon of the following day.

While solo and duo recordings do not come in all sizes, they indeed have various shapes. Slam Stewart and Don Byas, as the only two musicians to make a nearly snowed-out 1945 Town Hall gig, formed an impromptu, but unquestionably musically satisfying duo (remembered largely for their lickety-split version of “I Got Rhythm”). Jim Hall and Bill Evans are dependably sublime on Undercurrent. Turning to solo work, Evans waxed Alone as a solo pianist, creatively entering a relatively crowded recorded space that also includes contributions from Thelonious Monk (Solo Monk, Alone in San Francisco), Art Tatum’s Piano Starts Here, and Ray Bryant’s Alone With the Blues, not to mention Concord’s voluminous Maybeck Recital Hall series. Solo jazz saxophone recordings, on the other hand, are few and far between, making Eric Alexander’s solo contributions to the recording here all the more unique and important. And although the living master Sonny Rollins recorded in this format (The Solo Concert), contributions here seem most often to coalesce around the avant-garde (Anthony Braxton’s For Alto and Roscoe Mitchell’s Solo Saxophone Concerts).

George Barnes and Carl Kress often teamed up to play guitar duets from 1962-65, although they made relatively few recordings. "Guitars Anyone?" was their last meeting on record, and it finds the pair in high spirits on a dozen selections. The second part of this CD features Barnes' Second Quartet with Dick Hyman, Hank Jones, Milt Hinton, Jo Jones and others.

Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts on April 14 1924, Milton "Shorty" Rogers was an American jazz musician, and one of the principal creators of West Coast jazz. He played trumpet and flugelhorn and was in demand for his skills as an arranger. He worked first as a professional musician with Will Bradley and Red Norvo. From 1947 to 1949, he worked extensively with Woody Herman and in 1950 and 1951 he played with Stan Kenton. Shorty Rogers only produced a couple more albums during the later 1960s, working largely as a sideman during this time. In the seventies he was equally quiet, and while there were a couple of stray releases in the 1980s, the records featured on this four CD set pretty much present the finest music this maverick musician and composer ever made. A superb starting point for those new to the great man’s records, and a delightful reminder for those already familiar, a collection of this magnitude is wholly overdue and this set will surely become the go-to source for fans everywhere.

Just like most musicians, when the dreaded Covid, along with the accompanying lockdown, hit in 2020, that was it as far as work was concerned. Like some very dark cosmic joke, I not only had a bad case of Covid in March of 2020, but my beloved dog Honeypie had to be put to sleep in April of 2021. In June of that year I was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma."

Jo Jones shifted the timekeeping role of the drums from the bass drum to the hi-hat cymbal, greatly influencing all swing and bop drummers. Buddy Rich and Louie Bellson were just two musicians who learned from his light but forceful playing, as Jones swung the Count Basie Orchestra with just the right accents and sounds. After growing up in Alabama, Jones worked as a drummer and tap dancer with carnival shows. He joined Walter Page's Blue Devils in Oklahoma City in the late '20s. After a period with Lloyd Hunter's band in Nebraska, Jones moved to Kansas City in 1933, joining Count Basie's band the following year. He went with Basie to New York in 1936 and with Basie, Freddie Green, and Walter Page, he formed one of the great rhythm sections…

Some guest soloists get overshadowed by Oscar Peterson's technical prowess, while others meet him halfway with fireworks of their own; trumpeter Clark Terry lands in the latter camp on this fine 1964 session. With drummer Ed Thigpen and bassist Ray Brown providing solid support, the two soloists come off as intimate friends over the course of the album's ten ballad and blues numbers. And while Peterson shows myriad moods, from Ellington's impressionism on slow cuts like "They Didn't Believe Me" to fleet, single-line madness on his own "Squeaky's Blues," Terry goes in for blues and the blowzy on originals like "Mumbles" and "Incoherent Blues"; the trumpeter even airs out some of his singularly rambling and wonderful scat singing in the process…

Recorded during his five year "vacation" from Duke Ellington's orchestra, this Johnny Hodges set features his band sticking mostly to standards. With trumpeter Harold "Shorty" Baker, trombonist Lawrence Brown, baritonist Harry Carney, pianist Call Cobbs, or Richie Powell, bassist John Williams, drummer Louis Bellson, and either Jimmy Hamilton or John Coltrane (who unfortunately does not solo) on tenor, Hodges had a particularly strong group. High points include "On the Sunny Side of the Street," the title track and a seven-song ballad medley.

This 1959 album is the second of Oscar Petersons two 50's Duke Ellington Songbook recordings and the first one in stereo. On this album the line-up is Oscar Peterson (Piano), Ray Brown (Double Bass) and Ed Thigpen (Drums). The first Ellington songbook album by Peterson and his trio, the 1952 album Oscar Peterson Plays Duke Ellington was a mono recording. Both albums were digitally remastered and compiled on one CD for the Verve Master Edition re-release series in 1999.

The second CD taken from the same Tokyo date that resulted in the Concord disc In Concert finds tenor saxophonist Scott Hamilton in predictably fine form, swinging on eight standards and playing melodic variations in a swing vein. With pianist John Bunch, guitarist Chris Flory, bassist Phil Flanigan and drummer Chuck Riggs taking concise solos and offering tasteful support, Hamilton is well showcased on such tunes as "All the Things You Are," "Taps Miller," "All Too Soon" and "Jumpin' the Blues."

In a three-year period, Stan Getz played with bands featuring either pianist Duke Jordan or a young Horace Silver. This is the boppin' Getz on tenor, playing standards fervently. There are two Gigi Gryce originals, the Getz original "Hershey Bar," and Silver's "Penny" among the 24 tracks. This is a decent introduction to the pre-bossa nova player the world would later know.

One of the most infamously acrimonious musical unions transpired between two of the leading purveyors of West Coast cool jazz: Chet Baker (trumpet) and Stan Getz (tenor sax). Their paths crossed only a handful of times and West Coast Live captures two of their earliest encounters in Los Angeles at the Haig on June 12, 1953, and the Tiffany Club on August 17, 1953. These recordings have been issued in Europe and Japan ad infinitum in varying degrees of quality, completeness, and often sporting erroneous data. However, enthusiasts should note that West Coast Live is the only release derived from producer/engineer Dick Bock's own master reels. For two men who purportedly would rather not be in the same room at the same time, Baker and Getz are able to create some legitimately brilliant improvisation. For the Haig set, Getz had been brought in to co-lead a quartet with Baker for an incarcerated Gerry Mulligan.