Birth of the yule

Christmas ideas for the jazz buff on your list

by LEN DOBBIN

In the Yuletide spirit, there are Kenny Burrell's Have Yourself a Soulful Little Christmas (Verve), Joe Sealy and Paul Novotny with The Man in the Red Suit (Sea Jam), Eric Reed's Merry Magic (MaxJazz) and the Christmas for Lovers compilation from Verve.

Box sets are always nice and the inexpensive Proper Box label from England has recent four-CD sets from Art Tatum, Johnny Hodges, Lennie Tristano, Sonny Stitt and Bix Beiderbecke as well a doubles in their Proper Pair series by Kay Starr, Dave Brubeck, Art Pepper and Jay McShann. There's also the "deluxe" edition of John Coltrane's A Love Supreme on two discs on Impulse and Four Women, a three-disc Nina Simone set on Verve.

Under "buy Canadian" we have Lost in the Stars by Guido Basso (CBC), Rob McConnell's Music of the Twenties (Justin Time), trumpeter Jake Wilkinson's This Time (JW) and the self-titled release from Mike King's Swing Dynamique (PK).

Trad fans will like Jack Teagarden's Muskrat Ramble (Just a Memory) and the Rosenberg's Tribute to Django (EmArcy). The Five Blind Boys of Alabama's I Saw the Light (Liquid) is for the gospel fan and sax fanciers will applaud when Phil Urso & Carl Saunders Salute Chet Baker (Jazzed Media). There are also Lee Konitz and Alan Broadbent with Live-Lee (Milestone) and Charles McPherson's Live at the Cellar (Cellar Live). Steve Kuhn's Love Walked In (Sunnyside) will appeal to the keyboard fan, as will Quickening by Frank Kimbrough (OmniTone). For the vocal fan, try This Time (Le Chant du Monde) by David Linx, a great new singer, or the new Manhattan Transfer, Couldn't Be Hotter (Telarc), and the superb Together Again (Concord) is a reissue of a 1967 duo set by Tony Bennett and Bill Evans. Not to forget the trumpet fan, how about Jeremy Pelt's Close to My Heart (MaxJazz), Three for One (Nagel Heyer) featuring Claudio Roditi, or From My Heart (GJQ) by the (Mario) Guarnieri Jazz Quartet with Pete Magadini on drums.

For six-string fanciers there are Larry Coryell's The Power Trio (High Note) plus a two-CD Tal Farlow set, Complete 1956 Private Recordings (Definitive), and for the large ensemble follower there are Blue Jazz by Malachi Thompson's Africa Brass (Delmark) and the Mark-Anthony Turnage/John Scofield release Scorched (Deutsche Grammophon). Happy shopping!