By GRAHAM REID
(Herald rating: * * * *)
Jazz lovers haven't been well served by DVDs here, but this series and others are now imported by the small Southbound and they are diamonds.
This collection features a couple of major artists on each disc in television performance (often in black and white with camera crews intelligently following the soloists).
A recommended starter is the Modern Jazz Quartet (in 1962), the Dave Brubeck Quartet (1961, with saxophonist Paul Desmond) and the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra (1968).
A hipster-cool and crewcutted Ralph J. Gleason conducts interviews, there's sophistication about MJQ and DBQ (Take Five, but Blue Rondo a la Turk fades abruptly into Gleason's closing chat and credits) and the orchestra swings. Great suits.
Label: Southbound
<I>Various:</I> 20th Century Jazz Masters
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