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Disc a Day -- Jazz Disc a Day -- Jazz Vitaminic Capsule Releases to be Administered Daily Blues/R&B | Classic Rock | Eclectica | Funk | Jazz | Modern Rock | New Orleans | Reggae | World Duck Baker -- The Art of Fingerstyle Jazz Guitar (Shanachie) Continuing the coverage of guitar on There1.com, witness some heady jazz statements from fingerstyle player and string wizard Duck Baker. Baker's steady classical technique mixes with styles imported from the piano (Spinning Song, an tribute to Herbie Nichols followed this release) to produce slim, strong, minimal lead lines. Imbued with a rare sense of style, Baker leads a mature and elegant new direction, and he does it smoothly to say the least on Gerschwin's "Summertime". Marc Copland -- Stompin' With Savoy (Savoy) Marc Copland's command of the piano and deep sourcing in the giants of Jazz comes through in this sparkling Savoy recording. At a recent Kimball's East appearance, Copland reinvigorated works by the masters: Coltrane on Equinox, Herbie Hancock on "One Finger Snap", and Wayne Shorter on "Footprints." Ten minutes of drum intervention by Dennis Chambers on Cole Porter's "Easy to Love" sparked the band to another level -- a rhythmically robust quintet sound. John Coltrane -- The Believer (Prestige) John Coltrane makes a crucial transition during these 1957-58 recordings, towards the spirit of improvisation, leaving behind a period of experimentation with hard drugs. Coltrane's playing becomes more concise without sacrificing its intensity, as his technical limits were rapidly gave way -- leading to unexplored territory for the sax. His playing closely follows his intuitive path and he locates great accompaniment, including an unusual frontline of tuba horns and tenor sax, with the admirable Ray Draper on his composition of "Filidia." Ray Brown and Milt Jackson -- Much In Common (Verve) Milt "Bags" Jackson and Ray Brown do have much in common. They arrived in New York City from the mid-West just as bop was breaking out around 1945, and on this excellent two-CD package you can marvel at their unique chemistry. Sidemen on this set of three original LPs (Ray Brown with the All Star Band featuring Cannonball Adderly, Ray Brown-MiltJackson and Much In Common) include greats Kenny Burrell, Yusef Lateef, Clark Terry, Oliver Nelson, Tootie Heath, Hank Jones, and more. It is All Star stuff, got Bags in pocket. Sun Ra--The Singles (Evidence) On Singles you'll find some different sides to Sun Ra, the cult favorite astro-dude. He was the intergalactic spokesman for something larger who burst onto the Chicago scene back in the late '30s with Fletcher Henderson. By 1954, Ra began putting together singles for the Saturn record label --extremely hard to get on vinyl (editions were very limited)-- continuing unabated until 1988 when this collection wraps up. These tracks range from Delta Blues to Doo-Wop to Cosmic Jazz, hitting unknown intermodal territories. Clifford Brown--Complete Blue Note and Pacific Jazz Recordings (Blue Note) Clifford Brown's cool bop trumpet heralded a new West Coast style in the early 50s. Witness "Lou's Blues" with Art Blakey on drums, Horace Silver on piano, and Lou Donaldson on alto sax. Tragically, Brown died at the age of 26 in a car accident, but his artistry endures with this 4 CD set (packaged in a stylish book-like sleeve). Worthy music with great sidemen, including Charlie Rouse, Philly Joe Jones, Percy Heath, and Zoot Sims make this a must-have for any jazz afficionado. Courtney Pine--Modern Day Jazz Stories (Verve) Courney Pine's diverse saxaphone based grab bag of sound on "Modern Day" makes Britains premiere hip-hop/jazz-fusion sax man. Pine crafts a Adderly/Ska-rooted, North London street style. This melange catches the wind of the nascent English drum and bass scene-- recordings mixed digitally DIY in garages by djs. Hear about this approach to jazz tradition as a British artist in There1's exclusive Pine Interview . Kansas City--Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Verve) Nicholas Payton, James Zollar, and Olu Dara get thick on a New Orleans street march version of Basie and Durham's "Lafayette." Eric Liljestrand deftly mixes in 'The Hey Hey' audience on this soundtrack for Robert Altman's silver screen paean to the K.C. jazz scene of the 1930s. Altman also released performance footage video of these player as Jazz '34, probably better than the original flick for the music lovers out there.