A personal view...
Nikica Gilic | Zagreb, Croatia | 06/10/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Let mi be honest and straightforward - the audio tape of this compillation was among my favourite early purchases in the field of jazz, so I can hardly be anything but personal and emotional about this cd... After all, it even adds Cecil Taylor (p) with the group that includes Steve Lacy (ss) really digging into Billy Strayhorn's tune...
Actually, it also adds The Jazz Messengers featuring Keith Jarrett (and Chuck Mangione), playing Mangione's tune, but that's not so significant...
I'm not saying that all the numbers are well selected, representative of the respective artist or even that all are very good, but I must say that even today I like to listen to Bud Powell's "The Fruit", Charlie Parker's orchestra (featuring Dizzy and Monk) toying with "My Melancholy Baby"...
One of my favourites is also Red Garland's trio digging into "Daahoud" (Sam Jones on bass and roy brooks on drums)...
Since the stylistic span is from be-bop and mainstream to fusion and avant-guarde I really think this is a good intro to modern jazz.
It also features Modern Jazz Quartet, Bill Evans, Cal Tjader (feat. Chick Corea, Attila Zoler), Herbie Hancock (feat. George Benson, Ron Carter, Billy Cobham), Erroll Garner, Lennie Tristano (with Billy Bauer-g) Oscar Peterson trio (Ray Brown -b, Ed Thigpen - dm)..."