The Complete Lester Young Studio Sessions on Verve
Some of Young's finest - and weakest - late sessions are on this splendid eight-CD set covering the years 1945-1959. The gems include a 1945 trio date with Nat King Cole, a marvellous 1952 encounter with Oscar Peterson, the two in-form 1956 albums with Teddy Wilson, Roy Eldridge, Vic Dickenson et al, and some early 1950s sessions with John Lewis. On the debit side is the disastrous 1957 date with Harry Edison, but though some other sessions with Edison, and Young's final date in Paris were weak, throughout he remained incredibly moving, naked and vulnerable. With 62 tracks first time on CD, 13 previously unissued, and Young's only two recorded interviews, this is essential for all Prez fans.
- Ray Comiskey
Jim Doherty: Spondance (Livia)
First time ever on CD, the music from pianist Jim Doherty's jazz dance project is a superior example of his ability to compose and arrange for a small group, in this case an octet. Recorded in Los Angeles in 1986, it features Louis Stewart in superb form, dominating some enormously capable West Coast players, including trumpeter Bobby Shew, and saxophonists Gordon Brisker and Randy Aldcroft. They all deliver on Doherty's attractive, thoughtful charts. Shew, on flugelhorn, is affecting on a gorgeous ballad, When Two People Meet, exuberant on the uptempo Maybe It's You, where he clearly inspires Stewart, while Brisker finds the changes congenial on the bright, latin El Sponzo on an album full of quality mainstream jazz.
- Ray Comiskey