This unusual meeting of four tenor saxophone players from different "schools" was part of the Prestige Friday afternoon jam session series but far from a typical outing. The giant forebears of…

In 1956 drummer Art Taylor formed a group called Taylor’s Wailers. Donald Byrd and Charlie Rouse were members of the working group that debuted at The Pad, a Greenwich Village nightclub on Sheridan…

For this early hard bop date, altoist Phil Woods and trumpeter Donald Byrd were co-leaders. In fact, the music had at one point earlier on been released with Byrd getting first billing. Yet Woods,…

Besides his importance as one of the first bop pianists, a major jazz composer, and a prototypical trio player (as heard on The George Wallington Trios), for a time pianist George Wallington was also…

Alto saxophonist Phil Woods had recorded with Jimmy Raney and with his own quintet featuring trumpeter Jon Eardley but this was the first date where he was carrying the load as the lone horn, and…

"Originally released in 1958, this was Coltrane's third studio recording for Prestige, and was completed three days after his participation in the Miles Davis Milestones sessions. With Red Garland on…

"Like so many of these old Prestige jazz recordings, this is another LP of great music and really good sound. ... Even though Red Garland is not the biggest name on this list of all-time great jazz…

"...they attempt to be as faithful to the original LPs as possible. They are remastered from the original mono or stereo tapes, come in authentic glossy 'tip-on' jackets, retain the flat edge of…

The session for Mobley’s 2nd Message was recorded in July 1956, just one week after Mobley’s Message was recorded. The album features performances by Mobley, Kenny Dorham, Walter Bishop, Doug…

Since the early 1950s, Willie Dixon has been the studio kingpin of Chicago blues, having written, produced, and played bass on countless classics by Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Otis Rush, Koko…

Tenor Madness was the recording that, once and for all, established Rollins as one of the premier tenor saxophonists, an accolade that in retrospect, has continued through six full decades and gives…

Benny Golson, who came to the attention of the jazz public with Tadd Dameron's band and Dizzy Gillespie's orchestra, was a member of the Jazztet — the group he had formed with Art Farmer — at the…

Overshadowed throughout his life by his friends Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk, Elmo Hope was a talented pianist and composer in his own right. He recorded in New York as a band leader (starting in…

At the time he recorded this album in 1957, Arnett Cobb was in the process of rebounding from a serious automobile accident that broke both his legs. Cobb's indomitable spirit shines through in these…

"Rudy Van Gelder captured this Prestige title in stereo, and it reflects his consistently fine work. Tonally it's a touch on the light side, but otherwise the band's energy is clearly and dynamically…

A 1961 set of standards heavy on the ballads, Nice An' Cool is prime Gene Ammons. In front of a sympathetic piano-bass-drums trio (Richard Wyands, Doug Watkins, and the great J.C. Heard,…

From the time Coleman Hawkins firmly established the tenor saxophone on the jazz map, it has been one of the most potent forces in the music, its best practitioners able to raise the roof with a…

Posterity remembers Oliver Nelson (1932-1975) primarily as an arranger/conductor. When he first began to attract attention with a series of albums for Prestige and its subsidiaries, however, Nelson…

During the two-year existence of their "Tough Tenors" quintet, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis (a Prestige artist) and Johnny Griffin (under contract to Riverside/Jazzland) satisfied their contractual…

"At times the guitar seems a bit low in the mix, but on this remastered Analogue Productions LP, cut from the original master tapes by Kevin Gray, it sounds warm and natural while the boisterous…

"The entire project from the songs to the superb recorded sound and packaging just reeks of good taste. And it couldn't have come cheaply. The label or someone made a major financial investment in an…

Eric Dolphy has sometimes been described as an iconoclast, but in Outward Bound, he was not overturning his idol, Charlie Parker; he was building on Bird’s legacy. So deep was Dolphy’s musicianship,…

In 1960, the free jazz pioneered by Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Horace Tapscott and a very few others was rejected by many musicians and most listeners. For the visionary saxophonist, clarinetist…

“The title could not have been more accurate. By 1962, Coltrane’s leadership role was undeniable; he was a standard-bearer of musical commitment, and intense, bold exploration. As well, all four…

A half-century after his death at 36, the astonishing saxophonist and flutist Eric Dolphy is still influencing and inspiring the most adventuresome jazz musicians. Dolphy was daring and iconoclastic…