Dick Hyman's Century of Jazz Piano takes you from ragtime to Gershwin to the Duke onto Monk and finally unstructured free improvisation styles and etudes 5 CDs/1 DVD.

Andre Previn - Early Years 1945-53 / Among his remarkable musical accomplishments, he was a brilliant pianist, and even at this early stage of his career - Andre Previn was a celebrated German/American pianist, composer and conductor, whose long career - he died in 2019 at the age of 89 - encompassed movie music, jazz and classical music. He composed or arranged music for more than 50 films, and was music al director and conductor for many top symphony orchestra as well as composing classical art music. This collection focuses on his early career as a jazz pianist. His family, who were Jewish, left Berlin for Paris and then the USA in 1938, and when he graduated from high school in Los Angeles in 1946, started working at MGM studios. However, by then he was already playing jazz piano in Hollywood clubs and had made his first records. This 66-track 3-CD collection comprises most of his recordings from these early years as a solo pianist, with small groups and with strings, released on the Sunset, V-Disc, Monarch, RCA-Victor and Tops labels. It includes the titles from his "Andre Previn Plays George Gershwin" and "Andre Previn Plays Fats Waller" albums. He was especially noted for his recordings with his trios, and this set features trio and quartet recordings with Irving Ashby, Red Callender, Lee Young, Al Viola, Charles Parnell, Jackie Mills, Bob Bain, Ralph Collier, Lloyd Pratt, Art Shapiro, Irv Cottler, Al Hendrickson Buddy Clark and Shelly Manne. Among his remarkable musical accomplishments, he was a brilliant pianist, and even at this early stage of his career, his playing is fast, fluent and imaginative, and this collection offers a fine showcase for those talents.

Born in Mississippi in 1915, Al Hibbler, who was blind from birth, was a baritone vocalist whose career transcended the divide between big band jazz, rhythm and blues and sophisticated pop. Starting with the band of Jay McShann, he became the vocalist with Duke Ellington's orchestra in 1943, recording memorable hits with him and staying with Ellington until 1951, but along the way also forging a career as a solo recording artist, enjoying a string of R&B and pop hits, both in the USA and the UK. This 75-track 3-CD set comprises most of his A and B sides on the Aladdin, Sunrise/Miracle, Chess, Atlantic, Mercury/Clef/Norgran and Decca labels during this era. It includes all his career chart entries, most notably his US No. 3, R&B No. 1 and UK No. 2 in 1955 with "Unchained Melody" and his US pop Top 10 hits with "He" and "After The Lights Go Down Low", plus Top 10 R&B hits with "Trees", "Lover Come Back To Me", "Danny Boy" and "What Will I Tell My Heart". It includes a couple of fine recordings with the Count Basie Orchestra. Al Hibbler occupies a unique place in American popular music, and this substantial and comprehensive overview of his primary career as a chart-focused artist provides an enjoyable showcase for his smooth and distinctive vocal style.

The recordings for HOME.S. were made only a few weeks before Esbjorn Svensson's sudden death 2008. Svensson recorded the music in his Swedish home. For almost ten years afterwards, the album rested untouched in his wife Eva's personal archive. These new recordings are the only ones that show Svensson in a setting other than that of the trio: Intimate, concentrated and completely one with himself.

Trumpeter and bandleader Harry James was one of the most important, successful and influential personalities of the swing and big band era, his unmistakeable bravura trumpet style providing an inspiration and benchmark for trumpeters across the jazz and orchestral genres. He was hugely popular on radio, as a 'live' attraction and on record with his music not only appealing to cutting edge jazz and big band enthusiasts, but also, through his recordings of "sweeter" orchestral material, featuring the many male and female vocalists who launched their careers with his bands, capturing a wider audience to achieve a remarkable string of big-selling hits from his debut as a bandleader in the late '30s right through into the 1950's just before the dawn of the rock 'n' roll era. This great-value 71-track 3-CD set comprises just about all his records which featured in one form or another of the charts during his career, including the few that were listed as being Top 10 hits before the launch of the record sales charts in Billboard in 1940, and those which featured thereafter in one or other of the published Billboard charts or related listings. It naturally includes his No. 1 hits "Sleepy Lagoon", "I Had The Craziest Dream", "I've Heard That Song Before", "I'll Get By", "I'm Beginning to See the Light" and "It's Been a Long, Long Time". Among the featured vocalists are Frank Sinatra, Dick Haymes, Helen Forrest, Kitty Kallen, Johnny McAfee, Buddy DeVito, Betty Grable, Willie Smith, Ginnie Powell, Marion Morgan, Art Lund and Dick Williams, and it also includes Harry's 1950s hits with Doris Day and Rosemary Clooney. It's a hugely entertaining overview of the commercially successful output of one of the great stylists and innovators of the big band era.

Trinity Represents The Second Installation In The Unheard Music Series Efforts To Resurrect Joe Mcphee's Early '70's Work On The Cjr Label, Soon To Be Completed With Underground Railroad And Pieces Of Light. This Brilliant Trio Recording Of Blues Inflected Out-Soul From '73 Follows Up On Hugely Successful Nation Time, Recorded A Year Later.

REAL LIFE

Big Chief Donald Harrison Jr. Is one of finest saxophonists of his generation. His resume includes long associations with Terrance Blanchard and Art Blakey throughout the 1980s. But the foundation of Harrison's music, and it's the soul of his music, comes from his lifelong participation in the culture of New Orleans, his home town. Here he pays tribute to that rich culture, and accompanied by non other than the legendary Dr. John. Both artists, the embodiment of New Orleans' music in their own right. The album features a mix of original compositions and jazz standards, all infused with the spirit and energy of New Orleans. Featuring the Mardi Gras Indian chants of The Guardians Of The Flame, this recording captures the magic of heritage New Orleans Mardi Gras music and wraps it all up in one package. Originally recorded at BMG Studios in New York City, May of 1991. Remastered by Bernie Grumman.

Keiko Matsui is an icon of contemporary jazz. With over 3 million units sold and sold-out appearances at concert halls across the globe, she is one of the most recognized artists in the genre. Her elegant piano melodies and gentle jazz grooves have enormous appeal and never disappoint the loyal fan base which she has cultivated with over a dozen albums and hundreds of stunning live shows! Euphoria, Keiko's most inspired release yet, elevates the artist to new heights. Featuring a full string orchestra and horn ensemble, performances that transcend musical genres and stellar, Grammy-winning special guests, Euphoria transcends musical genres while still maintaining Keiko's classic listener-friendly sound! Highlights include the beautiful "Steps On The Globe," Keiko's passionate collaboration with R&B icon Lalah Hathaway "Love and Nothing Else," the deeply moving "New Passage" and many more superb originals.

Channeling the linear rhythmic energy of Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk, the reflective harmonic spirit of Keith Jarrett and Bill Evans, and the romantic spirit of Latin music, pianist Edward Simon presents a comprehensive portrait of his unique musical concept on his first trio album since 1995. Simon is accompanied by the great John Patitucci (Waynte Shorter's bassist) and drummer Eric Harland.

2-CD Set Limited Edition - Includes 16-page booklet. This release contains Jimmy Smith's complete classic Sermon sessions for the first time ever on a single set. These are his only preserved collaborations with Lee Morgan, the formidable trumpet player whose life came to a tragic end after being shot by his girlfriend at the tender age of 33. Tenor saxophonist Tina Brooks is also well featured here. The outstanding reedman would pass away at the age of 42 after a life of drug addiction and self abuse. 2 COMPLETE ALBUMS & MORE - 2-CD SET - CD1/TT: 73:17 CD2/TT: 72:14 - LIMITED EDITION - INCLUDES 16-PAGE BOOKLET

A complete, previously unreleased performance in brilliant stereo sound quality by the legendary Bill Evans Trio. Audio transferred from the original stereo tape reels and mastered by Matthew Lutthans at the Mastering Lab. Recently found in the Kongsberg Jazz Festival archives, it was widely believed that this concert had not been recorded, and as such it doesn't appear on any of the Bill Evans discographies! Featuring Eddie Gomez on bass and Marty Morell on drums.

Solo pianist live in Toronto 1989.

Berger & Holland were two of the first Europeans to find musical homes for themselves deep in American free jazz, and these improvised duets from 1976 show just how comfortable they were. Berger plays piano, vibraphone & balafon, while Holland plays bass. The compositions are tonal, and as the title insists, it's all about time. It's roots go deep, all the way to Africa, and the overlapping of rhythms suggest the minimalism of Reich, Riley & Glass. Berger's forte is rhythmic dialogue, and the subtle time shifts that are often a music's undercurrent are fore-grounded here.

Fast-growing jazz star Evan Christopher brings back the sound of great jazz and swing a la Edmond Hall on this release recorded in 1998. The clarinetist is joined by John Sheridan, Howard Elkins, Don Mopsick, Ed Torres, Jim Cullum and Sebastian Campesi. (Previously deleted:10/1/09. Original release date:12/6/02)

Clarinet king & trumpet tyrant combine forces on this 8 track album from 1961, feat. Jim Robinson, Emanuel Sayles, Alcide "Slow Drag" Pavageau & Sammy Penn.

Vocalist Marlene VerPlanck is joined by a quintet on this new collection of a dozen songs. •"Marlene VerPlanck keeps acquiring superlatives in reviews of her albums and performances, and The Mood I'm In, shows exactly why!" - Joe Lang, NNJS

Second half of March 20, 1953 concert in Oxford, Ohio

First half of March 20, 1953 concert in Oxford, Ohio.

Music has a long history of cultural cross-pollination, where artists draw inspiration from various traditions leading to the evolution of rich and diverse musical genres. Conrad Herwig's current offering is just such a recording. The Latin Side of McCoy Tyner is the latest installment in a critically-acclaimed series that started in 1996 with The Latin Side of John Coltrane. It's the work of a musically gifted, bilingual artist, a master trombonist who grew up admiring jazz's greatest practitioners but, at the same time, cutting his Latin Jazz teeth with legends such as Mario Bauza, Tito Puente, Paquito D'Rivera and others. On the gig here with Herwig, giving the recording and, by extension, the entire "Latin Side of..." project his personal seal of approval, is the great pianist and composer, Eddie Palmieri. Palmieri is surrounded by some of the most respected names in Jazz / Latin Jazz, including Craig Handy, Bill O'Connell, Alex Norris, Robby Ameen and others, all playing imaginative and challenging arrangements by O'Connell and their fearless leader. Here, Conrad Herwig goes directly to the very core of Tyner's compositions and imbues them with the vibrant essence of Afro-Cuban and Afro-Caribbean traditions.

This compilation traces the genre's early days in the recording studio. It includes a reissue of the Victor Talking Machine Company's first piano ragtime disc in 1916, as well as several performances of English ragtime. These sides portray the piano in an era when recording technology struggled to capture the instrument's full range.

As it did with blues and jazz, the early recording industry missed the beginnings of ragtime. Luckily, the burgeoning player piano industry produced ragtime tunes on paper rolls, and these rolls augment the recordings we have. This collection presents ragtime played on piano rolls as well as on instruments like the banjo, which were suitable for early recording processes.

These kings of stride have got rhythm! The immortal Fats Waller and his Rhythm get together with Louis Armstrong and Jack Teagarden in a radio broadcast recorded live at Martin Block's Make Believe Ballroom in October 1938, while father of the stride piano and Waller's teacher James P. Johnson brings Omer Simeon and Pops Foster in to play with his trio.

Jazz trombonist Joseph Bowie was 22 years young when this live album was recorded. It was his second album and he was establishing his own name, his brother Lester Bowie was already internationally renowned. Shortly after Joseph would form Defunkt. Co-leader Oliver Lake also heralded from BAG, the St. Louis music collective. The extraordinary flutist/saxophonist would co-found The World Saxophone Quartet the year following this Toronto concert. "What Bowie and Lake played was an impassioned and demanding music of the moment that responded as much to what was written on their lead sheets or to their spontaneous concepts as it did to the ambiance of the moment." - Coda Magazine, June 1976

SOLO WILLISAU