Great performances of well known and unknown tunes of the period with (almost) all featuring Smith Ballew singing.  The personnel is very murky, but various tracks feature J.D. Wade and Jack Purvis on trumpet, Glenn Miller on trombone, Pete Pumiglio and Jimmy Dorsey on clarinet, Babe Russin on tenor sax, Bobby Van Eps on piano, George Van Eps on guitar, Bruce Yantis on violin and many others!

Three different groups all featuring the trumpet player Candoli recording between August 15 and 22 of 1955 . . a primer of West Coast Jazz, the West Coast Wailers feature him with Bill Holman on tenor, Lou Levy on piano, Leroy Vinnegar on bass and Lawrence Marable on drums.  The Herb Geller sextet has the leader on alto with Candoli, Ziggy Vines on tenor, Lorraine Geller on piano, Red Mitchell or Vinnegar on bass and Buzz Freeman on drums.  One track by the Stan Getz Quintet has Getz, Candoli, Levy, Vinnegar and Shelly Manne on drums

The legendary violinist Grappelli was in his late 60's when these recordings were made, but he had another twenty years of extreme productivity ahead of him and his playing here is certainly on par with his classic recordings of the 1930's and 40's.  The Canadian/British guitarist Disley had a particular affinity for those records with Django Reinhardt and his trio (with Burmese guitarist Ike Isaacs and bassists Dave Moses and Isla Eckinger) clearly inspired Grappelli on two dates - one live and one in studio.

Some of the first recordings made by the great Afro-Canadian pianist.  Done for Victor in Montreal, the groups feature local guitar, bass and drums but the focus is on the already developed virtuosity of Peterson in a program of Tin Pan Alley standards and American Pop Songbook tunes.

Great small group sessions recorded for Keynote, Guild and Savoy by the drummer and bandleader Cozy Cole . . .featuring Shorty Rogers, Shad Collins and Frankie Newton on trumpet, Tyree Glenn and Vernon Brown on trombone, Aaron Sachs on clarinet, Earl Bostic on alto sax, Don Byas on tenor sax, Ernie Caceres on baritone sax, Billy Taylor, Bill Rowland and Teddy Wilson on piano, Remo Palmieri and Tiny Grimes on guitar, Slam Stewart, Billy Taylor and Sid Weiss on bass, June Hawkins on vocals and Red Norvo on vibes

Almost Avant-Garde group led by clarinetist Russell and valve trombonist Marshall Brown in their two albums.  Bass player Russell George and drummers Ronnie Bedford or Ron Lundberg negotiate tunes by Coltrane, Monk, Ornette Coleman and Tadd Dameron as well as a few standards, giving Pee Wee wide scope to develop his ideas and show off his tone.

Live recordings by the Duke Ellington Orchestra and three small groups from the Cotton Club (and one from a Saturday Night Swing Club broadcast) - all in 1938 and featuring Cootie Williams, Rex Stewart, Wallace Jones, Joe Nanton, Juan Tizol, Lawrence Brown, Barney Bigard, Johnny Hodges, Otto Hardwick, Harry Carney, Duke Ellington, Fred Guy, Hayes Alvis, Billy Taylor, Sonny Greer and Ivy Anderson

The 1970's was a fallow decade for classic jazz, but Grappelli made quite a few excellent recordings - including duets with Earl Hines and Alan Clare, a quintet with George Shearing and a tribute to Django album with Larry Coryell, Philip Catherine and Niels Henning Orsted-Pederson.

Basically a studio band made up of the best white jazz players in New York, this version of the Dorsey Brothers band is heard backing Johnny Mercer, Bing Crosby and Mildred Bailey in addition to doing several great pre-swing instrumentals.  Featuring Bunny Berigan, Mannie Klein, Benny Goodman, Larry Binyon, Fulton McGrath, Eddie Lang, Dick McDonough, Artie Bernstein and Stan King in addition to Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey.

Detroit native Tate Houston was much in demand in the late 1940's through the 1950's - playing with Maynard Ferguson, Milt Jackson, Billy Eckstine, Sonny Stitt and others.  After that he went back to Detroit and played around the local music scene until he died in 1974.  These recordings are from the late 1940's (JC Heard's band, with Joe Newman, Wardell Gray and Al Haig; Sir Charles Thompson's All Stars with Benny Powell, Bob Dorsey and others), 1950's (the album Bone and Bari with Curtis Fuller, Sonny Clark, Paul Chambers and Arthur Taylor) and one from shortly before he died, playing in a recreation of the 1920's band, McKinney's Cotton Pickers!