artist: Isaac Hayes function popUp(URL,NAME) { amznwin=window.open(URL,NAME,'location=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=yes,toolbar=yes,resizable=yes,width=380,height=450,screenX=10,screenY=10,top=10,left=10'); amznwin.focus();} document.open(); document.write(""); document.close(); album: Motion Picture Soundtrack To Shaft format: Hybrid Stereo SACD label: Stax Records release year: 2003 performance: 10 sound 8.5 reviewed by: Jerry Del Colliano I admit that I often dream of being “the black private dick who’s the sex machine to all the chicks.” Who doesn’t? When Isaac Hayes was tagged to compose a soundtrack for the blaxplotation film “Shaft,” starring Richard Roundtree, I don’t think there was any way he could have know how popular the project was going to be. I have taken the time to watch the film some 20-plus years after its release and I can tell you the music for the film passed the test of time exponentially better than the slow plot of the movie.

artist: The Quintet album: Jazz at Massey Hall format: SACD label: Fantasy Jazz Records release year: 2003 performance: 9.5 sound 4.5 (archival recording) reviewed by: Ben Shyman The Quintet’s Jazz at Massey Hall has frequently been called The Greatest Jazz Concert Ever. And with a Giants-of-Jazz-type lineup, including Charlie “Chan” Parker (alto saxophone), Dizzy Gillespie (trumpet), Bud Powell (piano), Max Roach (drums) and Charlie Mingus (bass), it is hard to disagree. A quintessential gathering of the most accomplished jazz band leaders, composers and masters of the bebop era, Jazz at Massey Hall is a must-own, not only for any jazz bop fan but any serious music listener. The band was organized by Mingus at the height of the bebop era for a special one-of-a-kind performance as a benefit concert for the ailing Massey Hall and includes classics “Salt Peanuts,” “Wee,” “A Night in Tunisia” and “Perdido.”

artist: Various Artists function popUp(URL,NAME) { amznwin=window.open(URL,NAME,'location=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=yes,toolbar=yes,resizable=yes,width=380,height=450,screenX=10,screenY=10,top=10,left=10'); amznwin.focus();} document.open(); document.write(""); document.close(); album: Jazz Sexy format: Stereo Hybrid SACD label: Chesky Records release year: 2003 performance: 8 sound 8 reviewed by: Dan MacIntosh Despite the striking photo of a woman disrobing on its cover, Jazz Sexy is not at all an album of the most-sexy examples of jazz music known to mankind. Instead, it is a selected sampling from Chesky Records. But even though it’s not steamy enough to be kept behind the counter at your local record shop, it’s nevertheless a fine CD, filled with enjoyable straight jazz.

artist: Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane album: Live In San Francisco format: SACD label: Fantasy Jazz Records release year: 2004 performance: 7.5 sound 8 reviewed by: Ben Shyman A recording with Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane is rare. The two musicians almost never record together because they were on different record labels. But in the summer of 1957, Monk (piano) and Coltrane (saxophone) put together a quartet with Wilbur Ware (bass) and Shadow Wilson (drums) that played at New York’s famous Five Spot Café.

artist: Dave Brubeck Quartet function popUp(URL,NAME) { amznwin=window.open(URL,NAME,'location=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=yes,toolbar=yes,resizable=yes,width=380,height=450,screenX=10,screenY=10,top=10,left=10'); amznwin.focus();} document.open(); document.write(""); document.close(); album: Jazz at Oberlin format: SACD label: Fantasy Records release year: 2003 performance: 8 sound 3 reviewed by: Joe Hageman Let me just get this out of the way. I’m not a jazz-phile, jazz-oholic, or whatever you want to call it. I can’t wax poetic about this artist or that artist, or who had the most influence on jazz newbies. Am I a fan of jazz? Sure – who isn’t? Jazz is the type of music that you don’t really need to be in the mood for to listen to.