Najee is set to release his latest album, The Smooth Side of Soul, on Shanachie Records on January 31. The New York based multi-instrumentalist has enjoyed a long and successful solo career in addition to his work with artists like Chaka Khan, George Duke, Herbie Hancock and Prince. For this project, he enlisted the help of Phil Perry, Jeff Lorber, Darren Rahn, Chris "Big Dog" Davis and James Floyd of Pieces Of A Dream. He says, "It is my hope that my audience will enjoy listening and experiencing this record as much as I enjoyed recording it. I had a lot of fun recording this project and I hope the audience will have just as much fun listening."

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One of the great jazz trumpeters of all time, Freddie Hubbard formed his sound out of the Clifford Brown/Lee Morgan tradition, and by the early '70s was immediately distinctive and the pacesetter in jazz. However, a string of blatantly commercial albums later in the decade damaged his reputation and, just when Hubbard, in the early '90s (with the deaths of Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis), seemed perfectly suited for the role of veteran master, his chops started causing him serious troubles.

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With the exception of one song left off due to lack of space, this single CD reissues the music from two LPs featuring Chucho Valdes in Cuba. 1972's Jazz Bata, the first five selections, features the great pianist in a rhythm section with bassist Carlos del Puerto and Oscar Valdes on congas. The originals, which are straight-ahead jazz that utilizes Cuban polyrhythms, show off Valdes' wondrous technique well, and include one song named after Valdes' famous group "Irakere." While "Laureen" is an emotional out-of-tempo ballad, some of the other songs find the pianist making a great deal out of very little including the lengthy vamp piece "Son No. 2." He never seems to run out of ideas. The final five selections are from 1982 and have Valdйs leading a five-piece rhythm section plus guest German Velasco.

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This very attractive five-CD set does an excellent job of summing up the rather productive career of pianist-keyboardist Chick Corea. The first two discs have highlights from the 1964-1982 period including a few sideman appearances, a previously unissued version of "Windows" played with Stan Getz, the original version of "Spain," four pieces from the Return to Forever days, and numbers from his freelance projects of the late '70s (highlighted by the exciting "Central Park"). The third disc concentrates on Corea's GRP projects (1986-1994), particularly his Elektric and Akoustic Bands (two selections were previously unissued), while the fourth CD is quite a grab-bag that includes collaborations with Herbie Hancock (a version of "Liza" that progresses from stride to free), Gayle Moran, John McLaughlin, Paco DeLucia, Gary Burton, Bobby McFerrin, and Miles Davis (a new duet version of "I Fall in Love So Easily" from 1969).

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Originally broadcast on CBS April 11, 1976, under the title The Original Rompin' Stompin' Hot and Heavy, Cool and Groove All-Star Jazz Show, this concert ran as part of its parent network's Lively Arts for Young People series. As staged at the Ed Sullivan Theater and directed by Gary Keys, it features performances by a who's-who of jazz legends who were still active at the time, including Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie and Stan Getz.

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As one of Cuba's greatest Latin and Afro-Cuban jazz pianists and long an important bandleader, Jesus Chucho Valdes has earned international renown and a devoted audience of jazz fans. However, the imaginative composer and virtuosic improviser does not waiver from his ability to interpret acknowledged classics. Fantasia Cubana: Variations on Classical Themes demonstrates this attribute and reveals Chucho Valdes in peak form. He pays homage to Ernesto Lecuona, the concert pianist and founder of the Havana Symphony who is generally recognized as the most important Cuban musician of the first half of the 20th century.

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A bit more of a purist album than the usual collection of retro-swingers, All Aboard includes several jump blues (the best of which are "The Indigo Swing" and "Regular Joe") plus a good downtempo swinger, "(Today's the Day) I'm Glad I'm Not Dead," and an intriguing cover of Willie Dixon's "Violent Love" (previously done by bands ranging from Dr. Feelgood to Skankin' Pickle).

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This previously unreleased Dixieland set (put out by Jazzology on a 1996 CD) teams trumpeter Max Kaminsky with clarinetist Pee Wee Russell, valve trombonist Brad Gowans, pianist Teddy Roy, bassist John Field and drummer Buzzy Drootin. Taken from radio broadcasts emanating from Boston's Copley Terrace...

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This two-DVD set includes several rare films featuring Duke Ellington in several different settings. Disc one documents his first appearance in the French Riviera at the Côte d'Azur in July 1966, with the pianist making intermittent commentary via voice-over between some selections. While the leader is stuck with an obviously substandard piano (with a horrid muddy bass range) and an outdoor setup that is not conducive to getting ideal sound, Ellington, being an old pro, does his best to make do with the conditions.

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On Casa De Amor, Armik's songs are dreamlike stories that illuminate the passion and the joy of Spanish guitar. Fusing traditional Spanish melodies with jazzy improvisations and progressive rhythms, Armik has concocted a sensuous, passionate and unique sound. Casa De Amor is a genuine masterwork. As a guitarist, he is one of the most adulated virtuosos of the Nuevo Flamenco genre.

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n the development of jazz's avant-garde movement, the late Eric Dolphy remains a pivotal figure. While he expanded the range and possibilities of the alto saxophone and bass clarinet--his technique drew upon vocalized sounds from both those instruments--Dolphy remained grounded in the bebop movement. Simply put, he clung to the swinging theme-solos-theme structure while his innovative, soaring solos embraced freedom. STOCKHOLM SESSIONS is taken from a Swedish television program on which Dolphy and his quintet performed in 1961, and captures Dolphy at his peak. His solos on alto sax and bass clarinet are unfettered, passionate, and hearty, and his flute is possessed of beautiful classical refinement. The band also features some crackling trumpet from Idrees Sulieman and sharp playing from a pair of Scandinavian pianists.

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Legend would have it that Rock'N'Roll was born in Memphis in 1954 when a young truck-driver by the name Elvis Presley opted to sing "Black Blues" his way. A legend that drastically over-simplifies reality, however, for the roots of Rock'N'Roll are already to be found in the early recordings of Blues, Jazz and Country music of the mid-1920. This collection, created by Gérard Herzhaft, shows that the Rock 'n' Roll was not born with Bill Haley and Elvis Presley but before, the fusion of Rhythm and Blues, Western Swing, Country, Gospel - or the whole of popular music from the early twentieth century. This collection has become indispensable, because the history of interbreeding reveals the crystallization and the formation of gender identity as the history of amplified music...

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The Rosenberg Trio with Bireli Lagrene - Djangologists Rather than putting the focus on Django s most famous compositions, Djangologists the Rosenberg Trio s fifteenth album hails the spirit that has guided Django s work, digging into the less known, the unexpected and the unpredictable. It is a tribute to the master paid by masters. The enclosed DVD shows the musicians in the studio while recording this important project and also offers nice interviews with them reflecting their love for Django s music.

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Here's a superb segment of the Art Tatum story, beginning with ten trio sides featuring guitarist Tiny Grimes and bowing, singing bassist Slam Stewart. Six marvelous selections recorded May 1, 1944, were subsequently issued on the Comet label. Each of these performances appeared on 12" 78-rpm records, allowing for well over four minutes of...

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