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The Waiting Game was the unsung tenor saxophonist Tina Brooks’ final album, recorded in 1961 but not released until 1999. Brooks is one of the most under-appreciated tenor players and composers of the hard bop era, with only one of his four Blue Note sessions (the classic True Blue) released during his lifetime. Brooks is joined here by Johnny Coles on trumpet, Kenny Drew on piano, Wilbur Ware on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums. Brooks penned five of the six tracks, showcasing his unique compositional talent in addition to his pleading and soulful tenor sound. Highlights include the Side 1 opener “Talkin’ About” and the modal masterpieces “Dhyana” and “David the King.” – Blue Note

Study in Brown features the 1955 version of the Clifford Brown/Max Roach Quintet, a group also including tenor saxophonist Harold Land, pianist Richie Powell, and bassist George Morrow. One of the premiere early hard bop units, this band had unlimited potential. Highlights of this set are "Cherokee" (during which trumpeter Brown is brilliant), "Swingin'," and "Sandu." All of this group's recordings are well worth acquiring. – All Music

When jazz bass virtuoso Paul Chambers recorded Bass On Top, his third and final album as a leader for Blue Note, he was only 22 years old but already well established as one of the top bassists in jazz. This brilliantly seductive album features stalwarts Hank Jones on piano, Kenny Burrell on guitar, and Art Taylor on drums. Highlights include the chamber-jazz interpretation of Jerome Kern’s “Yesterdays” and a lightly swinging version of “Dear Old Stockholm,” a tune often associated with Miles Davis who was Chambers’ employer at the time. – Blue Note

The legendary jazz pianist’s 1968 concert at Palo Alto High School, recorded by a janitor and shelved for decades, captures some of the fiercest, most spirited versions of his quartet’s core repertoire.

The live album Palo Alto is a grainy snapshot of Monk and his classic quartet taking a break from their two-week stand at San Francisco’s Jazz Workshop to cut loose and get paid. But just as Monk’s music was characterized by the power of its empty spaces—he’s the person who said, “It’s not the notes you play, it’s those you leave out,” a chestnut as well-worn as any of his songs—Palo Alto’s thrills are made poignant by what was happening in his life unbeknownst to the audience, and what was happening in their life unbeknownst to Monk. This is exuberant, abundant music, made by and performed for people whose lives often felt anything but. - Pitchfork

In his desire to leave the jazz indie label Prestige and join the affluent major Columbia, for a lucrative recording deal that would eventually establish him in the mainstream as a household name, Miles Davis agreed to stockpile several albums’ worth of material for producer Bob Weinstock’s small company, thereby fulfilling his contractual obligations. Though recorded quickly over just two sessions, the resulting albums – Cookin’, Relaxin’, Workin’ and Steamin’ With The Miles Davis Quintet – remain key post-bop albums and a fascinating look at Miles’ earliest recordings with his first great quintet. – U Discover Music 

This excellent LP by the classic John Coltrane Quartet (with pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Elvin Jones) is highlighted by a 26-minute version of "Mr. P.C." Also included on the album are "The Inchworm" and the ballad "Every Time We Say Goodbye." Although the sound and passion of the group on this date will not surprise veteran listeners, it is always interesting to hear new variations of songs already definitively recorded in the studios. The Paris Concert is recommended to all true Coltrane fanatics. – All Music

Dexter Gordon was on a roll in 1962 when he recorded A Swingin' Affair. Two days earlier he and this same quartet recorded his classic album Go!; the band included pianist Sonny Clark, bassist Butch Warren, and drummer Billy Higgins. Gordon wrote two of the set's six tunes, the first of which, the Afro-Cuban-flavored "Soy Califa," is a burner. Higgins' drumming double-times the band as Gordon lays out the melody -- even his solo doesn't stray far from it and he returns to it repetitively. Clark vamps with beautiful minor-key chords that he then adds to his own solo, moving all around the lyric with his right hand. And Higgins and Warren are truly wonderful on this one. There are also three standards here. Gordon was always a master of them because his own approach to improvisation was essentially one of melodic invention. "Don't Explain" is ushered in by Clark stating the changes; Gordon's low and slow playing is romantic and sensual. On "You Stepped Out of a Dream," Gordon and Clark take the melody and invert it in the bridge; they turn it into a kind of groove as Higgins plays Latin-tinged rhythms throughout. Warren's "The Backbone" is a hard bop groover with a bossa nova flavor, as he and Gordon twin on the tune's head before Dex moves off into his solo. It's easily the best thing here. This is a hot hard bop band, playing a program that's relaxed and mostly upbeat; they even manage to stretch a bit. – All Music

Art Pepper made a name for himself around Los Angeles in the '50s as a leading light in the style then known as West Coast jazz -- a cool alternative to the hot hard bop being made in East Coast cities like New York and Philadelphia. Pepper never really fit the cool stereotype, however; he was too incendiary a soloist (influenced by Lester Young, perhaps, and Bird certainly), more inclined to inject overt anger and passion into his playing than contemporaries like Getz or Mulligan. By the time these sides were made in 1976, any residual coolness had been displaced by hot emotionalism and an almost manic intensity. The lessons of John Coltrane had clearly been absorbed, harmonically and otherwise; not only was Pepper more assertive than ever, but he also took more chances. Polish is for shoes and fingernails: by the late '70s Pepper was rough, raw, and nakedly vulnerable. Every solo this late in his career was an adventure. – All Music

American jazz saxophonist Pharaoh Sanders' live in 1982 with a spectacular quartet – John Hicks on piano, Walter Booker on Bass and Idris Muhammad on Drums. Some beautiful tracks on here such as “You Got To Have Freedom” & “It’s Easy To Remember”. Can’t find much samples of the album online so you ought to have this LP on your turntables! Check it out.

Among 33 albums recorded with American jazz, blues, soul and funk trumpeter Blue Mitchell as a leader, Bring It Home To Me from 1966 is the thirteenth. This is not only an excellent album, but also the artistic peak of Mitchell's discography. The album mixes modal harmonies, lyrical moments and groovy, even funky rhythms. This album is very rare on LP format and very hard to find with a restored analog sound. Blue Mitchell is here joined by Junior Cook on tenor, Harold Mabern on piano, Gene Taylor on bass and the great Billy Higgins on drums. The artistic direction is strong, the aesthetic is powerful. – Forced Exposure

Hot on the heels of Impulse’s recent unearthed Coltrane number one hit album comes another beauty from Jazz’s ‘holy trinity’. This is a previously unreleased, precious lost treasure from Monk’s most critically acclaimed line-up; Charlie Rouse on saxophone, John Ore on double bass, and Frankie Dunlop on drums. Without a widely agreed must-have Monk release, could this fill the void as the Monk everyone should own? Recorded live in Copenhagen in 1963 at the peak of Monk’s career. A year later he was to feature on the cover of TIME magazine, one of only for 4 Jazz artists ever to do so. The performance, a mixture of Monk originals and interpretations of standards, showcases Monk at his prime: full of avant-garde flair and wit, but always with a swinging feel that explains his title as the 'High Priest of Bebop'. The original tapes, saved from a skip and blessed with the approval of the Monk estate, have been faithfully restored, mastered and cut using Gearbox's legendary all-analogue process.

Revisited, with additional takes, texts and photos, here is the very first ECM session, recorded in Ludwigsburg in November 1969, featuring the great American pianist Mal Waldron, whose resume included work with Coltrane, Mingus, Dolphy and Billie Holiday. In his original liner notes, Mal wrote: “This album represents my meeting with free jazz. Free jazz for me does not mean complete anarchy… You will hear me playing rhythmically instead of soloing on chord changes.” As Jazz Journal noted, “tough, two-handed modal blues” predominates, and the music sounds as fresh now as the day it was recorded. Indeed, the tersely-grooving “Boo” and “Rock My Soul” could be club hits half a century later. The Extended Anniversary Edition of Free At Last is issued as an audiophile vinyl double album. - ECM Records

Grant Green's debut album, Grant's First Stand, still ranks as one of his greatest pure soul-jazz outings, a set of killer grooves laid down by a hard-swinging organ trio. For having such a small lineup, just organist Baby Face Willette and drummer Ben Dixon -- the group cooks up quite a bit of power, really sinking its teeth into the storming up-tempo numbers, and swinging loose and easy on the ballads. From the first note of "Miss Ann's Tempo," they establish a groove, and swing like hell through two standards and four originals. This may have been Grant Green's debut album, but all three of these musicians share equal responsibility in this magnificent January 28, 1961 date, remastered by original recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder from the original analog masters.

This Blue Note 80 Vinyl Edition is all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal. – Blue Note

A TAV Curator's Pick.

The Cannonball Adderley Sextet in New York is a live album by jazz saxophonist Cannonball Adderley recorded at the Village Vanguard and released on the Riverside label featuring performances by Adderley with Nat Adderley, Yusef Lateef, Joe Zawinul, Sam Jones and Louis Hayes. 

“This excellent live date from the Village Vanguard was the recording debut of the Adderley sextet, with Cannonball waxing eloquently and swingingly on alto, brother Nat charging ahead on cornet, and the versatile Yusef Lateef (who had joined the band only three weeks earlier) adding a bit of an edge on tenor, flute, and unusually for a jazz wind player, oboe on the odd, dirge-like "Syn-Anthesia." Also, this was the first recorded appearance of pianist Joe Zawinul – a little over three years since his arrival in America – in Cannonball's band. This group would be Zawinul's spring-board to prominence in the jazz world, and readily apparent is how his compulsively funky mastery of bop and the blues had fused tightly with the Sam Jones/Louis Hayes rhythm section. Included is one of the earliest recordings of a Zawinul composition, "Scotch and Water," a happy, swinging blues.” – AllMusic

“…Compositionally, the highlights are the opening tune, "Gemini" (Jimmy Heath's bi-modal 6/8 blues); "Dizzy's Business" (a bebop gem by Basie arranger Ernie Wilkins); and an infectious Zawinul blues, "Scotch and Water." Yusef Lateef's compositions are not especially memorable in themselves but, along with his playing, provide richness, depth, and resonance lacking on the Brothers' other recordings. And his tenor playing is so good on the set chaser by Sam Jones, one wishes the record-ing would simply run on. Even with the addition of Lateef, Cannonball dominates throughout. His introductory remarks on what it means to be truly "hip" ("hipness isn't a state of mind: it's a fact of life") are immediately illus-trated by an arresting, hard-charging solo: he's a flaming comet on "Gemini," placing the ensuing soloists in the unenviable position of maintaining the brightness. But give equal credit to unsung he-ro Sam Jones, an unflappable walker whose every gritty note is distinct with no extra help from the engineering.” – All About Jazz 

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