Stan Getz: "The West Coast Sessions" Verve, 314531935-2 (3 CDs, 227 mins)

Dial-a-track code: 1201

Michael Hashim: "Keep A Song In Your Soul"

HEP CD, 2068 (65 mins)

Dial-a-track code: 1311

Joe Henderson: "Big Band"

Verve, 533451-2 (60 mins)

Dial-a-track code: 1421

Verve's three-CD set of Stan Getz has to be one of the reissues of the year. Dating from the mid-50s, it's a first time on CD for three of the great albums of his early maturity - West Coast Jazz, The Steamer and Award Winner - along with almost half an album originally partly compiled from these sessions and released as Cool Sounds. This was a time when the tenor's gorgeous sound, virtuoso technique and irresistible lyricism thrust him to the forefront of jazz, producing a series of unforgettable performances, many of which are in this set. Using a quartet formula - except for West Coast Jazz, when Conte Candoli was added on trumpet - he stamped his personality all over the music. Backed by Lou Levy (piano), Leroy Vinnegar (bass) and either Shelly Manne or Stan Levey (drums), Getz fashioned memorable examples of small group jazz, and made himself one for the ages with a truly great solo on a wickedly up tempo Shine.

Michael Hashim is the fine saxophonist who made such an impression in Cork a few years ago. On this marvellous example of bop applied to unusual material, he leads a quintet in sparkling form - Claudio Roditi (trumpet), Richard Wyands (piano), Dennis Irwin (bass and Kenny Washington (drums) - in a tribute to Fats Waller's music. Made last May, the session is sensationally good; the material includes both the familiar and - the lesser known, placed in prime - settings by Hashim.

Joe Henderson in a big band context? It works, not least because of the quality of the arrangements and the formidable jazzmen involved; besides the leader, there are Chick Corea (more focused than I've heard for some time), Freddie Hubbard, Nicholas Payton and Christian McBride among the soloists, while the band is filled with such as Jimmy Knepper, Joe Temperley, Idrees Suleiman and Jon Faddis. With arrangements mostly by Henderson, the material - all originals by the leader, except for Without A Song and Chelsea Bridge - is inventive and beautifully played.

Don Rendell: "What Am I Here For?" Spotlite SPJ, CD551 (79 mins)

Dial-a-track code: 1531

Warren Vache: "Meets Derek Watkins"

Zephyr, ZECD9 (60 mins)

Dial-a-track code: 1641

Brian Lemon/Alan Barnes: "Old Hands - Young Minds"

Zephyr, ZECD 12 (61 mins)

Dial-a-track code: 1751

There's a best of British flavour to all of these CDs - and deservedly so. Don Rendell is a veteran playing better than ever on his latest, the product of a 1993 sextet session and a quintet date from early this year. The first features an exceptional trumpeter, Steve Waterman, and - on two tracks - Irish singer Christine Tobin (in very good form), while the second matches Rendell with another outstanding saxophonist, Art Theman. Both Rendell and Theman are an acquired taste; they're too inquiring and individual to be otherwise, but this is an example of post Coltrane jazz that even Joe Henderson would have to be at his best to match.

Utterly different is the meeting of American Vache with Britisher Derek Watkins. Recorded last December, it's a beguilingly enjoyable mainstream blowing session as, beautifully backed by a superb rhythm section - Brian Lemon (piano), Dave Cliff (guitar), Dave Green (bass) and Martin Drew (drums) - the two trumpeters find fresh beauty in old standards.

Also on Zephyr, a label which is establishing a reputation for premium mainstream jazz in Britain, is an octet date from last April in which Lemon joins the brilliant reedman, Alan Barnes, for some imaginative interpretations of a programme that ranges over Ellington, Strayhorn and standards. The octet is also graced by Gerard Presencer, one of the best of the young British trumpeters, Irish vibist Anthony Kerr (in great form in what must have been an unusual context for him) and drummer Clark Tracey. The joint leaders, Lemon and Barnes, are responsible for the high calibre arrangements.