These. Not my comments (one of the Amazon reviewers)
1. Duke Ellington: Ellington Uptown - good early 50s stuff, but not hugely to my taste for the most part; lots of bonus tracks including some 1947 live material - different tunes, not alternate takes. ***
2. Dave Brubeck: Jazz Goes To College - Brubeck's best-known album pre-Time Out and one of his best overall, superbly recorded for a 1954 live album. Both Brubeck and Paul Desmond are on top form.****
3. Louis Armstrong: Satch Plays Fats - Louis Armstrong on top of his game on both trumpet and vocals on a superb set of Fats Waller tunes recorded in 1955, with some added alternate takes plus late 20s/early 30s versions of some of the same tunes as well.*****
4. Miles Davis: 'Round About Midnight - as the first of Miles Davis's many albums for Columbia, and also John Coltrane's big break, this is a hugely significant and excellent album; this is the 2001 remaster with 4 bonus tracks.*****
5. V/A: The Sound Of Jazz - from a 1957 TV special, although these recordings are actually from the rehearsals so no audience. A wide variety of performers and some interesting ad hoc groupings, notable for being the last time Billie Holiday and Lester Young performed together.****
6. Charles Mingus: Mingus Ah Um - one of the greatest jazz albums of all time, this features longer, unedited versions of 6 of the original 9 tracks, plus 3 bonus tracks (not alternate takes) which aren't quite in the same league.*****
7. Paul Desmond: Desmond Blue - Dave Brubeck's long-time sax foil meets strings - lovely, tasteful, romantic, late night stuff. Not cheese. 6 bonus tracks (including 3 versions of Autumn Leaves) from a different session.****
8. Sonny Rollins: The Bridge - Rollins's comeback album after 3 years woodshedding on Williamsburg Bridge, not cutting edge but extremely classy stuff from a piano-less quartet also featuring guitarist Jim Hall.****
9. Aretha Franklin: The Electrifying... - an early lp from the Queen of Soul, from the days when CBS couldn't decide what to do with her and tried (among other things) to turn her into a jazz singer. She was a very good one - this features well-arranged and superbly sung versions of fine songs, and several bonus tracks - but it's a good thing Atlantic eventually got hold of her and let her do what she was REALLY good at.****
10.Nina Simone: Silk & Soul - her usual unique vocal and interpretative skills with a strong New Orleans flavour on some songs, one of many fine albums she cut in the 1960s but a bit on the short side.****
11.Thelonious Monk: Underground - one of Monk's best-loved albums, from 1968, plus 3 alternate takes.****
12.Freddie Hubbard: Straight Life - 3 tracks of not-quite-fusion, with a star-studded band. Closing ballad Here's That Rainy Day is gorgeous.****
13.George Benson: Beyond The Blue Horizon - fine guitar album, again not quite fusion.****
14.Mahavishnu Orchestra: Birds Of Fire - dazzling - the definitive jazz-rock album.****
15.Clifford Brown: The Beginning And The End - exactly what it says, his first (as a sideman to a vocalist) and last recordings. The 2 songs are of little interest, but the 3 much longer tracks from his last concert, literally hours before his death in a car crash, show a superb trumpeter at the top of his game. A tragic loss****
16.Chet Baker: She Was Too Good To Me - pretty typical Chet Baker record from 1974, with a star-studded band (including Paul Desmond on two tracks), a few vocals and his usual effortlessly cool sounding trumpet.***
17.Gerry Mulligan & Chet Baker: Carnegie Hall Concert - superb live recording, pure class in all respects.*****
18.Wayne Shorter: Native Dancer - collaboration with Brazilian singer, musician & composer Milton Nascimento; an early and influential world/jazz fusion album.***
19.Jim Hall: Concierto - named for his version of Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez (cf Miles's Sketches Of Spain), this is a beautiful, intelligent, mellow and supremely tasteful jazz guitar album.*****
20.Return To Forever: Romantic Warrior - a huge seller at the time, for me this kind of hyperactive and tasteless jazz-rock learns all the wrong lessons from the worst kinds of prog rock.**
21.Stanley Clarke: School Days - but here comes the bassist from the above with a far more tasteful album of quality fusion.****
22.Weather Report: 8:30 - mostly live, one track from original double lp removed to fit on one cd. This is WR at the height of their popularity, including a great live version of Birdland.****
23.OST: Round Midnight - the soundtrack to Clint Eastwood's excellent film, featuring most prominently Dexter Gordon and Herbie Hancock convincingly recreating an earlier era, with a bonus of a fine 1976 live version of Monk's classic tune led by Gordon.****
24.Carmen McRae: Carmen Sings Monk - classy stuff but a bit of an acquired taste, with lyrics (mostly by Jon Hendricks) added to Monk's classic tunes and the titles paraphrased for copyright reasons.****
25.Wynton Marsalis: Standard Time Vol.3: The Resolution Of Romance - Wynton teams up with his pianist father Ellis for classy old-fashioned stuff.***
Quite a bargain!
