Jamaican-born Monty Alexander's Oscar Peterson-styled piano runs would seem an unlikely fit for reggae rhythms, but with albums like Yard Movement (the album that launched the Island Jazz imprint), Alexander (along with guitarist Ernest Ranglin, who is featured here) has played in huge role in defining what has to be called (for lack of a better term) "jazz reggae.

The Dave Brubeck-Gerry Mulligan quartet is heard in a very inspired performance at the Newport Jazz Festival, just a short time before a riot by the audience closed the festival. These versions of "Take Five" and "Open the Gates" are memorable, but it is the extended "Blues for Newport" that is truly classic.

Like all the legends he ever worked for or with--from Miles Davis to Jaco Pastorius, Billy Cobham to the Brecker Brothers--this five-time Grammy nominee has learned over the course of his 26-year recording career something about the nuanced art of collaboration. Not only does it take a village to make a great, boundary-stretching jazz recording, the wild excursions on his second Heads Up date seem to be shouting, as it actually involves a whole BIG NEIGHBORHOOD.

Although Toots Thielemans is far better-known for his virtuoso harmonica playing, he sticks exclusively to guitar on this pair of studio dates, initially taped in 1961 for Polydor. Accompanied by pianist Georges Arvanitas, bassist Roland Lobligeois, and drummer Philippe Combelle, Thielemans leads a primarily laid-back session with the focus on the leader, covering standards ("Willow Weep for Me" and "We'll be Together Again"), adding a soft wordless background vocal to "Satin Doll," and giving a loping treatment to Milt Jackson's "Bags' Groove.

The great pianist Michel Petrucciani recorded for the Dreyfus label during the six years before his 1999 death. Producer/label owner Francis Dreyfus is worried about Petrucciani being underrated if not completely forgotten, so he put together this sampler of previously released material covering the pianist's 2Dreyfus period.

Equally skilled as a leader or as a sideman, George Cables helped to define modern mainstream jazz piano of the 1980s and ’90s. When he was 18 and at Mannes College, he formed the Jazz Samaritans with Steve Grossman and Billy Cobham.

These recordings came about because the directors of Club Francais du Livre decided to go into the record business. Their plan was to record the top French musicians of the time, each session having an American visiting guest star. One suspects that the documentation of each session was sketchy, for instance there is an unlisted Bass player on the Buck Clayton set and there are other similar anomalies.

This recording is a studio throw-down with 5 of popular music's most accomplished string specialists: Derek Trucks, Bela Fleck, Bill Frisell, John Scofield, and Marc Ribot. The song stack covers the old and new. McCoy finds common ground alongside a group of handpicked guitar and banjo players. It's a meeting of the generations. The DVD/CD set includes a DVD documenting the making of the CD replete with studio performances, chatter, and viewer options for what to see and where to look.