by LEN DOBBIN

It’s “jo-jo” time again (that’s Spanish). Got a jazz fan on your list? Let’s start with books. A Jazz Odyssey is Oscar Peterson’s long-awaited autobiography, and there’s also Alex Barris’ Oscar Peterson: A Musical Biography. Larry Hicock’s look at the life of Gil Evans, Castles Made of Sound, is also a good read.

In the new seasonal CD department, there’s Ella Fitzgerald’s Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas, but you might also consider Goin’ Up Yonder, a recording of last December’s Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir concert.

Box sets are always nice to receive and there are again a number of four-CD packages on the Proper Box label. Three of the most appealing are Cool Cole (the Nat “King” Cole trios), George Shearing’s From Battersea to Broadway, which goes back to his days in England, and Big Ben, which has 94 tracks of great playing by sax giant Ben Webster. In the Savoy 20-bit digital series, there are two Charlie Parker choices—The Savoy and Dial Master Takes (three CDs) or The Complete Studio Sessions (eight CDs).

Single items? Universal has the Definitive series (George Shearing, Joe Williams etc.), the ECM Selected Recordings line including Chick Corea and Gary Burton and, in their 20-bit reissue program, the famed Massey Hall concert with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. A number of recordings of John Coltrane’s masterpiece A Love Supreme are on a new Impulse issue. Montreal’s Just a Memory label has Tenderly, a live 1958 Vancouver recording by the Peterson trio—a treat!

DVDs seem to be “in”—try Carla Bley’s Live in Montreal, A Tribute to Bill Evans with Kenny Wheeler, Stan Sulzmann and Gordon Beck; Live at the Open Theater East featuring the Keith Jarrett “Standards” trio of Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette; The Legend of Teddy Edwards; On the Road With Duke Ellington; A Tribute to John Coltrane featuring Wayne Shorter, David Liebman, Richie Beirach, Eddie Gomez and DeJohnette; Sonny Rollins’ Saxophone Colossus; Gary Giddins’ Celebrating Bird or Jean Bach’s justly celebrated A Great Day in Harlem.

If you don’t see it here, try my Top 10 list elsewhere in this edition of the Mirror. Happy holidays to all! :