The Savoy Story, Vol. 1: Jazz (1999)

About this title: The old Savoy catalog gets bounced around from one distributor to the next like an unwanted foster child, with everyone starting from scratch once they get a hold of it. By 1999, it was Atlantic's turn and, hot on the heels of other label retrospectives, they have compiled a very good three-CD anthology of Savoy's jazz activities over 15 years in the middle of the 20th century. Decently remastered, the set opens around the tail end of the swing era (capturing some major figures in small-combo jazz like Ben Webster, Lester Young, Illinois Jacquet) and moves on to a detailed portrait of the ... read more

Tracks:

1. Jersey Jump Off [Cole]
2. Honeysuckle Rose [Razaf/Waller]
3. Tush [Wells]
4. These Foolish Things [Link/Marvell/Strach]
5. Blue Lester [Young]
6. Uncle Sam Blues [Page]
7. Moppin' the Blues [Brown]
8. Sweet Man [Pinkard/Turk]
9. Buck's Boogie Woogie
10. Johnson and Turner Blues [Johnson/Turner]
11. Jim Dawgs [Quebec]
12. Laura [Mercer/Raksin]
13. Jumpin' Jacquet [Jacquet]
14. Candy [David/Kramer/Whitne]
15. Slim's Jam [Gaillard]
16. Lonesome Lover Blues [Eckstine/Valentine]
17. How High the Moon [Hamilton/Lewis]
18. Now's the Time [Parker]
19. Dexter's Deck [Gordon]
20. I Love the Rhythm in a Riff [Eckstine/Valentine]
21. Boyd Meets Stravinsky [Raeburn/Finckel]
22. Koko [Parker]
23. Don't Worry 'Bout Me [Bloom/Koehler]
24. Mad Be Bop
25. Ray's Idea [Brown/Fuller]
26. Nostalgia [Navarro]
27. Ice Freezes Red [Dameron/Navarro]
28. Churchmouse
29. Gaberdine and Serge [Kahn]
30. Chasin' the Bird [Parker]
31. Half Nelson [Davis]
32. Settin' the Pace [Gordon]
33. Wee Dot [Johnson]
34. Parker's Mood [Parker]
35. Euphoria [Kral/Ventura]
36. Stan's Mood [Cohn]
37. Moon Over Miami [Burke/Leslie]
38. Bird Gets the Worm [Parker]
39. Move [Best]
40. Surf Ride [Pepper]
41. Tin Tin Deo [Fuller/Pozo]
42. The Champ [Gillespie]
43. A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square [Maschwitz/Sherwin]
44. Red Top [Hampton/Kynard]
45. Bernie's Tune [Leiber/Miller/Stoll]
46. Eulogy for Rudy Williams [Mingus]
47. When Did You Leave Heaven? [Bullock/Whiting]
48. With Apologies to Oscar [Adderley/Adderley]
49. A Little Taste [Adderley]
50. You Leave Me Breathless [Freed/Hollander]
51. If I Love Again [Murray/Oakland]
52. Afternoon in Paris [Lewis]
53. Twelfth Street
54. Spring Is Here [Hart/Rodgers]
55. Yardbird Suite [Parker]
56. E.F.F.P.H. [Harden]
57. I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face [Lerner/Loewe]
58. Blues-Ette [Fuller]

Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is further described below.