Jazz Standards Volume 2
HMV
Rs 95

For some reason I can't quite fathom, HMV is still releasing material in India from the time of its association with EMI, although the explanation may simply be that this compilation was copyrighted in 1994.

There's about an hour of top-class music here, starting with the Miles Davis Quintet's 11 minutes worth of So what?, one of the classics on its album A Kind of Blue. This sounds a livelier version than the original. Davis's trumpet leads the solos, with tenor sax and piano taking their turns next.

Stan Getz on tenor sax does a good job of rendering the lyrical I Remember Clifford, while the Art Farmer/Benny Golson Jazztet recreates Golson's classic composition The blues march, complete with drum rolls as in the original version associated with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, and trumpet, trombone, and tenor sax (Golson) solos.

Blakey and the Messengers themselves feature in 'Round about midnight with Wynton Marsalis on trumpet. This is an unusual version of Thelonious Monk's classic. Marsalis's trumpet transiting smoothly between notes adds a touch of emotional intensity. Other fine solos are contributed by trombone, alto sax and bass, while Blakey's drums add a note of drama.

Sonny Rollins on tenor sax dominates his composition Oleo, but here too we get drum fireworks, most likely by Max Roach, with whom he worked for a time. Then there's Dave Brubeck paying tribute to Duke Ellington with an unusual performance of the latter's theme tune, Take the 'A' train, starting with a long piano solo intro and then, after the alto sax takes the theme, alternating piano solos with alto sax. There's not a dud track in the ten tracks packaged here.