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Kind of Blue Miles Davis This is the one jazz record owned by people who don't listen to jazz, and with good reason. The band itself is extraordinary (proof of Miles Davis's masterful casting skills, if not of God's existence), listing John Coltrane and Julian "Cannonball" Adderley on saxophones, Bill Evans (or, on "Freddie Freeloader", Wynton Kelly) on piano, and the crack rhythm unit of Paul Chambers on bass and Jimmy...    Read More >>

Birth of The Cool Miles Davis Many thought that Miles Davis's contributions to Charlie Parker's mid-1940s bebop quintet were insignificant if not disastrous, but his promise became clear on the 1949-50 nonet sides which were collected on LP in 1957 as Birth Of The Cool. If bop's breakneck tempos had caught the young trumpeter unprepared, he flourished in the more relaxed environments of such as "Jeru" and "Israel", maximising...    Read More >>

Time Out Dave Brubeck Quartet Boasting the first jazz instrumental to sell a million copies, the Paul Desmond-penned "Take Five", Time Out captures the celebrated jazz quartet at the height of both its popularity and its powers. Recorded in 1959, the album combines superb performances by pianist Brubeck, alto saxophonist Desmond, drummer Joe Morrello and bassist Gene Wright. Along with "Take Five", the album features another...    Read More >>

The Best of Chet Baker Sings Chet Baker Once Chet Baker arrived in California from his native Oklahoma, his career exploded. After landing gigs with Charlie Parker and Gerry Mulligan, Baker soon found himself a solo star and bandleader. Not long after that, he also found himself whispering love songs into a microphone. Baker was not gifted with the most robust voice of the day. Indeed, listening to pure singers like Nat King Cole or Johnny...    Read More >>

The First Four Albums - Easy Like / Kessel Plays Standards / To Swing Or Not To Swing / Music To Listen To Barney Kessel By Barney Kessel I love jazz guitar and know that Kessel is rated as one of the best and so bought this album with high expectations, however, the overall feel of these recordings is of bland 50s West Coast jazz. The music never asserts itself, and even though Kessel's technique can't be faulted, to my ears it's just plain boring - safe, unassuming arrangements of (mostly) standards - something that might have accompanied...    Read More >>

The Black Box Of Jazz Various Artists This very moderately priced box of extremely interesting and diverse jazz performances doesn't get 5 stars from me only because it is not sufficiently equipped with the recording information... Otherwise, it's a good buy indeed, with music mixing swing, cool, be-bop, hard-bop and other styles very freely, to suite the tastes of the more liberal jazz fans who love challenges.    Read More >>

Getz/Gilberto Vol.1: Remastered Stan Getz Originally released in March 1964, this collaboration between saxophonist Stan Getz and guitarist João Gilberto came at seemingly the end of the bossa nova craze Getz himself had sparked in 1962 with Jazz Samba, his release with American guitarist Charlie Byrd. Jazz Samba remains the only jazz album to reach number one in the pop charts. In fact, the story goes that Getz had to push...    Read More >>

Feeling Blue Paul Desmond Every note is a pleasure and the experience of listening to a man so at one with his music is something rarely witnessed elsewhere. Narrowly edges "A Kind of Blue" for sheer class....    Read More >>

White Blues Chet Baker Up until recently I used to have a time on a Monday afternoon where I had to sit down, concentrate and get on with some paper work. This was often my cd of choice. Instead of being in my office at work I was transported to a jazz bar in New York, relaxing and enjoying myself. That was my happy place, to help me get through the paper work. Soon people were asking me if they could borrow this cd because...    Read More >>

Dave Brubeck Quartet at Carnegie Hall Dave Brubeck Recorded in February 1963, Live at Carnegie Hall preserves what was arguably Dave Brubeck's greatest concert. It features altoist Paul Desmond, drummer Joe Morello and Eugene Wright on bass--by common consent the finest-ever incarnation of the Brubeck Quartet--in a succession of performances that are by turns stirring, witty, magical and irresistibly pulsating. The material is a catholic mixture...    Read More >>