Portrait of an American Original
Artist: Rudy Cipolla
The Complete Capitol Trios
Artist: Benny Goodman

The Complete Captiol Trios is a long-overdue reissue of the five trio sessions Benny Goodman led for Capitol Records. The five sessions are easily broken down into two categories -- recordings from 1947 and recordings from 1954. The highlights of the 1947 recordings are sessions with pianist Teddy Wilson and drummer Jimmy Crawford. This provided... Read More

Blues Bop & Ballads
Artist: Scott Hamilton

Big-toned tenor saxophonist Scott Hamilton leads a swinging small group session that concentrates mostly on songs that didn't receive much attention in the 1990s. "Answer Me (My Love)" is a potent ballad feature for the leader that reveals the influence of Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster, while Hamilton also has fun with lively riff tunes like... Read More

Beyond Category: The Musical Genius of Duke Ellington
Artist: Duke Ellington

This 1999 two-CD set should not be confused with an identically titled double-disc set from RCA/BMG that dates from a decade earlier. That set, which came in a somewhat awkward longbox and was mastered in the '80s, was merely adequate for its time, but this Buddha-imprinted version has been remastered, upgraded, and reconfigured into a... Read More

The Complete Quartets & Quintets
Artist: Lionel Hampton
The Best Things in Life
Artist: Mel Powell

The Best Things in Life is the first in a series of compilations chronicling Mel Powell's sessions for Vanguard in the late '50s. Originally, this material was released on four separate albums -- Out on a Limb, Thigamig, The Mel Powell Bandstand, Featuring Joan Wile and The Mel Powell Septet -- and this collection doesn't presume to assemble his... Read More

1945-1947
Artist: Earl Hines & His Orchestra

This is a very interesting CD full of rarities. Part of Classics' "complete" series, the disc features the Earl Hines big band after Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie had come and gone. Tenor-saxophonist Wardell Gray was still part of the band and has quite a few solos on their selections from 1945-46. The arrangements are sometimes... Read More

At Newport 1956 Complete
Artist: Duke Ellington

One of the greatest live jazz festival recordings ever has gotten better, and more interesting as well, with this 1999 reissue, a result of the kind of effort that most record companies normally won't even discuss. Ellington's original 1956 Newport album was his best-selling long-player ever, and re-established him, after a two-year drought in... Read More

Centennial Edition: Complete RCA Victor Recordings: 1927-1973
Artist: Duke Ellington

This 24-CD box, which dwarfs even most Bear Family sets in scope, is essentially everything Ellington cut for RCA-Victor over a 46-year period. There are gaps, especially after 1946 when he jumped to Columbia, but otherwise, this is all of it. One quickly discovers that, by virtue of its leader's taste, combined with the good sense of... Read More