The Bebop Shop : Compilation Albums : General Jazz Compilations
This outstanding 2-CD set presents a wide selection of Gershwin classics (in most cases with lyrics by his brother Ira) sung by some of the greatest jazz vocalists of all time including Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Fred Astaire, Louis Armstrong and many others. 48 tracks celebrating the 125th anniversary of the birth of one of the most important composers of the 20th century, 2CD set with extensive 16-page booklet. (Proper Music) Price: £17.99
Starting in 1954, as the flame of bebop slowly faded, modernists began to get caught up in the West Coast jazz craze. Suddenly the scene was activated and several engaging groups of different line-ups began to appear. They managed to deliver competent performances punctuated with notable solos to critical acclaim and good reception from fans. This new interest resulted in the first Dutch recordings of modern jazz in 1955, that saw the light in 1956 on the Columbia 10-inch album Jazz from Holland, an indisputable example of the level reached by Dutch musicians who favored the cool, more relaxed West Coast sound, relying more on composition and arrangements than bebop free style improvisation. This initial recording effort by Bovema's Gerry Oord inspired producer Michiel de Ruyter to record the best Dutch small groups and bands for a three-volume series of LPs titled Jazz Behind the Dikes, as well as several EP singles released between 1955 and 1957 by Philips. The Dutch magazine Rhythme boasted that thanks to their top performances, the featured combos received international praise from jazz connoisseurs on all four continents of the world. This 2-CD set contains all of these historic recordings for your listening pleasure. (Fresh Sound Records) Price: £35.99
This 3CD set comprises 70-tracks from these pioneers who first established this exciting musical movement. Compiled in chronological order, with a substantial booklet, the collection features recordings which are seen as significant performances in the genesis of bebop, or regarded as important or notable examples. They tracks have also been selected so that a significant proportion of the artists regarded as pioneers, innovators or noted exponents of bebop are represented in the collection. On that basis, it features a host of great names not only in bebop but in the wider world of jazz, and offers a highly entertaining trawl across a dynamic jazz decade. (Trapeze Music) Price: £16.99
2CD set, hard cover book includes a 20,000 word essay detailing this crucial era of British jazz with track commentaries and artist biographies. (Universal Music) Price: £19.99
The 1950's saw a new style of musical score being introduced to film soundtracks & T.V Previously, film music meant sweeping orchestral themes or traditional Broadway-style musicals. With the growing popularity of bebop and hard bop as the sound of urban cool, studios began latching onto the now beat as a way to make their movies seem gritty or "street." Jazz was used for all sorts of film and television shows, it seemed to meld best with stories of danger-hard-nosed detective tales, studies of urban corruption, or spy thrillers.
Includes music by Pete Rugolo, the Johnny Williams Orchestra, Stanley Wilson, Elmer Bernstein, Nelson Riddle & Henry Mancini amongst others. Price: £24.99
The first in a series of jazz compilations from the historical catalog of Resonance Records. Featuring fourteen selections of rare finds from some of the most iconic jazz figures of all time, such as Bill Evans, Stan Getz, Shirley Horn, Freddie Hubbard, Charles Lloyd, Sarah Vaughan, Wes Montgomery, Larry Young and more!
With striking artwork gracing the cover by designer Burton Yount, this specially-priced compilation is packed with over 78 minutes of music that celebrates Resonance's ongoing dedication to unearthing lost treasures from the jazz clubs and tape vaults all around the world. Jazz Haunts even includes 3 tracks from not-yet-released projects from Motown guitarist Dennis Coffey, The Three Sounds featuring Gene Harris, and the legendary Wes Montgomery. (Proper Music) Price: £9.99
The catalogue tracks on Detroit Jazz City represent not only well-known Detroit-born jazz artists like Joe Henderson, Donald Byrd and Elvin Jones who left Detroit to become pacesetters on the New York City jazz scene, but also less famous musicians like the pianist Kenny Cox, who after spending several years in NYC in the mid-1960s returned home to Detroit where he remained a fixture of the local scene as a performer, professor, WDET radio personality and founder of Strata Records. (Universal Music) Price: £12.99
Jazz, New Orleans style is the order of the day on these four classic albums of the genre. The difference being these albums were all recorded in 1961 by a bunch a disparate musicians who had had musical careers of varying success over the previous thirty years. On these albums you will meet some of the characters who populated the New Orleans of the 30s, 40s and 50s and who maybe never quite made it, in the sense of becoming worldwide familiar names in their chosen field of jazz and blues. Say "Hi" to Percy Humphrey, Albert Burbank and Emmanuel Sayles. Meet the lady with the bells down her legs, Sweet Emma Barrett, and trombonist Jim Robinson who pops up on two of our four albums including his own album with his New Orleans Band. Then there is Billie and Dede Pierce performing some of the oldest forms of New Orleans music with their blues in the classic tradition. That tradition being the singing of the blues to the accompaniment of cornet and piano, one of the earliest forms of negro jazz when it was first recoded in the 1920s. Billie was 54 when this album was made but she could boast about how she had played piano for Bessie Smith when she was only 15!! They could also both boast that they had been chosen by none other than Ida Cox to support her on her final tour of the south!
All four albums plus have been digitally re-mastered for probably the finest ever sound quality! (AVID Entertainment)
Price: £8.99
Representative "classic" tracks from Tempo's British modern jazz recordings -- 1954-1960. A major label for emerging modernism in Britain, Tempo showcased the cream of new jazzmen: saxists Tubby Hayes, Ronnie Scott, Don Rendell and Harry Klein, vibesman Victor Feldman, trumpeters Dizzy Reece and Jimmy Deuchar, and a team of very competent rhythm men. This is lively jazz of the 50s (based largely around the London club scene) and suggests British jazz was in rude good health. Excellent value for money (though some tracks are faded), with full personnel details and a strong invite to "sample" Jasmine's reissues. (Andrew Clark, Editor, Riffs & Choruses: A New Jazz Anthology. Continuum Publishing.) Price: £3.49
Keen to introduce his roster of artists to as wider audience as possible, Hall however did something Blue Note's bosses never tried: during 1957 and '58 he released three multi-artist anthologies, each with the aim of drawing in new listeners via specific thematic angles, sometimes spicing the mix with material not available elsewhere in Tempo's output. Cool Music For A Hot Night promised a programme of ballad performances: Speak Low delivered a sequence of largely grooving medium-tempo material and Swingin' The Blues found Tempo's stars tackling funky, blues-related themes by the likes of Sonny Rollins, Sonny Stitt and Horace Silver.
Each album also had the considerable bonus of striking cover art featuring the then young-starlet-cum-model Jackie Collins, later to become a celebrated author. Since their initial release, all three albums have gone on to become rare collectors items, prized as much for their sleeve imagery as their musical contents.
This new Acrobat 4-CD contains all three LPs in their original running order, restoring material that was sometimes edited out in order to fit the original playing time. Featuring the collectable cover art, rare photographs of many of the participating musicians, reminiscences by Tony Hall and a detailed booklet note by award-winning saxophonist and author Simon Spillett, this release makes an ideal introduction to a record label once dubbed the Blue Note of British jazz.
A further bonus CD assembles a similar mood music programme from Tempo's later 1957-60 catalogue, including performances by Tommy Whittle, Eddie Thompson and Tony Crombie. (Proper Music) Price: £19.99
His photographer's eye for composition and subject matter is much in evidence in Stern's series of unforgettable images of the performers which include Thelonious Monk, Anita O'Day, Louis Armstrong, Dinah Washington, George Shearing, Chuck Berry, Big Maybelle ,Gerry Mulligan and peerless gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, the audience and the picturesque setting of Rhode Island that 4th July week-end. In 1999, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Presented as a 2-disc brilliant jewel case set with a 16-page booklet. DVD extras include an interview with Bert Stern, an introduction to Jazz On A Summer's Day, artist biographies and photo gallery. This soundtrack CD was recently chosen as one of the all-time classic albums by Mojo magazine in its compendium, The Mojo Collection. (Proper Music) Price: £13.99