The nine-DVD Jazz Icons box set released in 2006 will hopefully lead to countless subsequent collections of rare and never-before-seen vintage performances by the most revered names in the genre. The entries housed within are
Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers' Live in '58,
Dizzy Gillespie's Live in '58 & '70,
Louis Armstrong's Live in '59,
Quincy Jones' Live in '60,
Thelonious Monk's Live in '66,
Buddy Rich's Live in '78,
Ella Fitzgerald's Live in '57 & '63,
Count Basie's Live in '62, and
Chet Baker's Live in '64 & '79. Worth noting is that in addition to being in the package, the single-disc titles have also been made available separately. Reelin' in the Years -- with access to over 10,000 hours of video over the last 50 years -- is perhaps the sole production house that could pull off such a jazz lover's multimedia coup. The sources of the footage are untapped reservoirs of highly cultural and historical significance from long-lost and formerly forgotten European television studio and live concert recordings. Although shown in Europe, none of the material has been officially released before. Likewise, because producers had exclusive access to early-generation and original master tapes, these are often more complete than the truncated broadcast versions. Careful attention to detail in the remastering and restoration processes has uncovered surprisingly crisp images and remarkably well-preserved audio fidelity. Painstaking lengths were taken to incorporate the artists and/or their estates -- some of whom provided text or photos for liner notes booklets. As can be anticipated, the volumes are replete with priceless moments. Among them are the two
Quincy Jones shows, which find "
Q" with a star-studded cast including
Phil Woods,
Clark Terry, and
Sahib Shihab. Or how about seeing and hearing the criminally short-lived but critically influential
Art Blakey and the 1958 lineup of
the Jazz Messengers, boasting
Lee Morgan,
Benny Golson,
Bobby Timmons, and
Jymie Merritt? A pair of fascinating
Thelonious Monk live-in-the-studio and audience-free sets are also here, as well as two rare
Chet Baker programs from a decade and a half apart. The 1979
Baker-led ensemble joins a separate 75-minute workout by percussionist and bandleader
Buddy Rich as the sole material in the collection to have been shot in color. The default black-and-white doesn't date or provide any sort of anachronistic trappings, but rather projects the understated refinement of a bygone era. Viewers and listeners cannot truly consider themselves jazz aficionados without having absorbed the great American art form as reflected in the Jazz Icons series.