Various - Very Saxy- Milestones Of Jazz Saxophone Legends (2018)

Tracklist

CD01 - Jam Sessions 1 and 2 - 1952

1. Jam Blues
2. Ballad Medley
3. What is this thing called love?
4. Funky Blues

CD02 - Ben Webster and Associates - 1959

1. In a mellow tone
2. Young bean
3. Budd Johnson
4. Time after time
5. De-Dar

CD03 - Sittin' In - 1957

1. Dizzy Atmosphere
2. Ballad Medley: I'm Throu With Love
3. Ballad Medley: On The Alamo
4. They Way You Look Tonight

CD04 - Very Saxy, Al and Zoot - 1959, 1957

1. Very Saxy
2. Lester Leaps In
3. Fourmost
4. Foot Pattin'
5. Light and Lovely
6. It's A Wonderful World
7. Brandy And Beer
8. Two Funky People
9. Chasing The Blues
10. Halley's Comet
11. You're a Lucky Guy
12. The Wailing Boat
13. Just You, Just Me

CD05 - The Couriers of Jazz - 1958

1. Mirage
2. After Tea
3. Stop The World, I Want To Get Off
4. In Salah
5. Star Eyes
6. The Monk
7. My Funny Valentine
8. Day In, Day Out

CD06 - Informal Jazz, Sonny Side Up - 1956

1. Informal Jazz - Weejah
2. Polka Dots and Moonbeams
3. On It
4. Avalon
5. Sonny Side Up - On the Sunny Side of the Street
6. The Ethernal Triangle
7. After Hours
8. I Know That You Know

CD07 - The Chase Is On, Brothers - 1957

1. The Chase Is On - The Chase Is On
2. When The Blues Come On
3. This Can't Be Love
4. Last Time For Love
5. You're Cheating Yourself
6. Knittin'
7. The Tender Trap
8. The Things I Love
9. The Brothers! - Blixed
10. Kim's Kaper
11. Rolling Stone
12. Sioux Zan
13. The Walrus
14. Blue Skies
15. Gay Blade
16. Three Of A Kind
17. Hags!
18. Pro-Ex
19. Strange Again
20. Cap Snapper

CD08 - Tenor Stuff - 1961

1. Tenor Stuff - Out of Nowhere
2. Swallowing the Blues
3. London Broil
4. Midnight Sun
5. Squeeze Me
6. Blue Skies
7. Jeep's Blues
8. You Can Depend on Me

CD09 - Boss Tenors In Orbit, Tough Tenors - 1960

1. Boss Tenors In Orbit - Long Ago And Far Away
2. Walkin'
3. Why Was I Born?
4. John Brown's Body
5. Bye, Bye Blackbird
6. Tough Tenors - Tickle Toe
7. Save Your Love For Me
8. Twins
9. Funky Fluke
10. Imagination
11. Soft Winds

CD10 - The Chase - 1947

1. The Chase - Disorder at the Border
2. Cherokee
3. The Hunt

Jazz saxophonists always had a reputation of being particularly competitive soloists. In highly entertaining Jam Sessions, "battles" were fought until only one winner was left standing. Legend are the sessions in which Coleman Hawkins, more or less the inventor of the jazz saxophone, had to defend his title against his many successors like Ben Webster, Buddy Tate and others, after he came back on the New York club scene life following a lengthy residence in Europe. Bigband leaders like Count Basie noticed how these competitions among tenor-players could be used to both artistic and commercial advantage early on: take two stylistically completely different musicians, such as Hawkins and Lester Young, and let the sparks fly. Norman Granz took this to another level with his "Jazz At The Philharmonic" concert series, in which he brought together the greatest soloists of Swing and Bebop, always featuring as many saxophonists as possible. Such an all-star ensemble also opens this box-set, when the greatest alto saxophonists of the 50s, Benny Carter, Johnny Hodges and Charlie Parker, casually and excellently prove their championship in the studio. Not all of these concert- and studio-recordings are bloody and adrenaline-infused "battles", of course. Most of the masterpieces collected here are from the heydays of modern jazz and feature almost all of the stars of the era and their qualities are more of a musical than a martial nature. In addition to the many projects that only existed in the studio, there were also always solid bands with a two-tenor-frontline: Gene Ammons & Sonny Stitt, Wardell Gray & Dexter Gordon, Johnny Griffin & Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Al Cohn & Zoot Sims and from England Tubby Hayes and Ronnie Scott as the Jazz Couriers. Their sound and approach, however, was always so individually different that it resulted in a worthwhile and highly entertaining experience for their fans.