Clifford Brown - The Emarcy Master Takes (Vol. 1) (2009)

Clifford Brown: The Emarcy Master Takes includes the 49 master takes the Brown-Roach Quintet recorded for the EmArcy label, an 18-month collaboration that resulted in some of the most enduring jazz of all time. This Verve Select limited edition 4-CD set contains, in chronological order of recording, all of the tracks that made up the classic albums Clifford Brown and Max Roach, Clifford Brown With Strings, Brown and Roach Incorporated, Study In Brown, Best Coast Jazz, and At Basin Street, as well as tracks featured on several posthumous releases, from Caravan to More Study In Brown and others. Playing with Brown and Roach are regular members of their quintet-Harold Land (tenor saxophone), Richie Powell (piano), George Morrow (bass) and Sonny Rollins, who replaced Land-plus a slew of other star players, as well as a Los Angeles string section beautifully arranged and conducted by Neal Hefti. EmArcy's Bob Shad produced the sessions. (Further sessions with vocalists Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughan and Helen Merrill will be presented on a second multi-disc volume of master takes.)