Recorded for the Impulse! label in 1963 and very much underrated since, "Salt and Pepper" is an excellent pairing of tenors Sonny Stitt and Paul Gonsalves. Most of the album has the spontaneous feel of a live jam session where two great musicians pass the night trading licks.

Two weeks after Ike Quebec recorded his comeback album Heavy Soul for Blue Note, he was back at the Van Gelder Studio with the same band (Freddie Roach, Milt Hinton and Al Harewood), making a second album. The confidence paid off because It Might As Well Be Spring is every bit the classic the first album proved to be. Quebec's big-toned, vulnerable tenor playing is a thing to behold, as his heart-stopping version of the title tune, "Lover Man" and "Willow Weep For Me" attest. "Easy – Don't Hurt" is one of his blues masterpieces.

"Lady In Satin" is Billie Holiday’s penultimate masterpiece. The 1958 gem is one of her finest achievements and a full display of her immortal vocal abilities. Joined by the Ray Ellis Orchestra, Holiday dazzles on tunes including “For Heaven's Sake”, “You Don't Know What Love Is” and “I'm A Fool To Want You”. The album is one of Holiday’s personal favorites and an emotional listen from start to finish. It is one of jazz’s bestselling albums and was inducted into the GRAMMY Hall of Fame. Absolutely essential.

This album is split between two American jazz musicians and their bands: it includes 1954 recordings from both clarinetist Hank D'Amico and his quartet and saxophone and clarinet player Aaron Sachs and his sextet. On the original vinyl, each band got one side each, combining sessions from the bandleaders originally released on 10" vinyl.

Big band and cabaret singer Joe Derise is probably better known for his work with other bands but he also recorded several albums on his own. This 1955 session consisting mainly of standards was his debut recording as a leader; not only does he sing but he plays some piano and is joined by Milt Hinton on acoustic bass and drummer Osie Johnson.

"Lady In Satin" is Billie Holiday’s penultimate masterpiece. The 1958 gem is one of her finest achievements and a full display of her immortal vocal abilities. It is one of jazz’s bestselling albums and was inducted into the GRAMMY Hall of Fame. This Centennial Edition features a set of extensive liner notes, plus two bonus discs covering the complete Lady In Satin sesseions. The recordings were transferred from the original three-track tapes to a hi-res Pro Tools file by Vic Anesini, and remixed and remastered in 24-bit audio by Maria Triana at Battery Studios, NYC. Absolutely essential.

"East Coast Jazz Series" is a Jazz series produced by Creed Taylor while working for Bethlehem Records, and launched in 1954 "to distinguish the new music emerging in New York from the new jazz in Los Angeles and San Francisco". The series includes individual releases by Bobby Scott, Vinnie Burke, Joe Puma, Herbie Mann, Milt Hinton, Urbie Green, Hal McKusick, Sam Most, Kai Winding & J.J. Johnson. There were nine albums in total.

Here are Louis Armstrong and his All Stars at two different locations in San Francisco 1954, doing what they loved and did best: playing Jazz of a quality defying description, and, as Louis would have said “pleasing the people”. These recordings happily capture Louis and his cohorts at the glorious height of their powers during two engagements (broadcast from the Downbeat and Hangover clubs) of the kind that often formed the All-Stars’ nightly round. Seldom, if ever, have Armstrong and his All-Stars been captured in more exultant form. Such performances as this are seminal to Jazz. Like Louis Armstrong, music like this will never come again.

Chesky Records release. Sweet-tempered, laid back, small-band swing with vocals a la the King Cole Trio with a bit of Dave Frishberg tossed in. John Pizarelli, the pleasingly old-fashioned and engaging guitarist and singer, is backed up by dad Bucky Pizzarelli, Clark Terry, Dave McKenna, Milt Hinton and Connie Kay.

One of the great tenor and organ dates cut for RCA in the 60's by the team of Johnny Hodges and Wild Bill Davis featuring performances recorded in 1965. The title is a play on words based on the term "console organ", a term used by the Hammond organ company to describe the type of organs favored by Davis.

Herbie Mann was still primarily known as a bop or swing flutist on "Love and the Weather". The material here is a good example of Mann's early style, recorded shortly before he became fascinated with world music, Afro-Cuban and Latin sounds. At the time this album was released in 1956, the flute wasn't quite embraced as a jazz instrument but Mann helped change that with a sound of his own.

As intended, this album presents alto sax specialist Paul Desmond as never featured before, with the backing of a string orchestra. The record, filled with such beautiful jazz standards as "My Funny Valentine", "I've Got You Under My Skin", and "Body and Soul", is very rich in texture, yet subtle and mellow overall in mood. It's unyielding purpose: to soothe the souls of its listeners. Desmond's style and tone shine with an alluring quality, and the record is filled with melodies that don't fail to stimulate the sophisticated jazz listener.

A longtime student of jazz piano history, Dick Hyman has previously recorded the works of Eubie Blake, Jelly Roll Morton, James P. Johnson, Fats Waller, Duke Ellington and other early jazz pianists. Some of the greatest jazzmen from the Swing Era have been brought together for this exceptional album including Phil Bodner, Urbie Green, Milt Hinton, Butch Miles, Bucky Pizzarelli, Joe Temperly, Frank Wess and Joe Wilder.

"Helen Merrill with Strings" is the second album by Helen Merrill, featuring the singer fronting a quartet augmented by a string section arranged by Richard Hayman, recorded in 1955 and originally released on the EmArcy label.

Marilyn Moore was an American jazz singer during the 1950s. She recorded one solo album, "Moody Marilyn Moore". Her vocal style was similar to Billie Holiday's, and according to jazz critic Will Friedwald, Holiday and Moore were friends. She was the first wife of saxophonist Al Cohn and the mother of guitarist Joe Cohn.