Editorial Reviews

Far from being the last refuge of jazz warhorses put out to pasture (as the story went among journalists in the 1990s), there was plenty of creativity and vitality on the Telarc roster then -- at least from the evidence of this anthology. The linking device behind this package is that every selection was recorded live in one New York City nightclub or another. Beyond that, the diversity and star power of the personalities who recorded for Telarc in the 1990s make it unwise to put an overall label on this two-CD set. Spanning the range from Lionel Hampton's truckin' re-creation of his swing-era signature jam "Flyin' Home" to the forward-looking Jim Hall's "Pan-O-Rama," almost everyone has something interesting to say (a sad exception is the fading Dizzy Gillespie, recorded only a year before his death). Jon Hendricks' musings on the flaws of "glamour girls" on "Contemporary Blues" is especially amusing, with sassy trumpet obbligatos from Wynton Marsalis. You also hear from Slide Hampton and the Jazz Masters, Al Grey's Centerpiece, Oscar Peterson in excellent pre-and-post-stroke form, Mel Tormé, James Moody, Dave Brubeck, the Jazz Messengers, Stéphane Grappelli, Harry "Sweets" Edison and the Golden Horns, and the Louie Bellson big band. Whether as a tour of the New York jazz club scene, a sampler of the veteran Telarc jazz roster of the 1990s, or an excuse to launch the shuffle-play feature on your CD changer during a party, this two-CDs-for-the-price-of-one jewel box provides good value. Richard S. Ginell, All Music Guide

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