Four Classic Albums: Sax Supremacy/Personal Appearance/Sits in with the Oscar Peterson Trio/Battle of Birdland

Audio Remasterer: Dave Bennett .
Liner Note Authors: Shirley Hoskins Collins; Benny Green .
Recording information: Birdland, New York, NY (05/12/1957); Los Angeles, CA (05/12/1957); New York, NY (05/12/1957); Paris, France (05/12/1957); Birdland, New York, NY (05/18/1959); Los Angeles, CA (05/18/1959); New York, NY (05/18/1959); Paris, France (05/18/1959); Birdland, New York, NY (12/21/1959/12/23/1959); Los Angeles, CA (12/21/1959/12/23/1959); New York, NY (12/21/1959/12/23/1959); Paris, France (12/21/1959/12/23/1959); Birdland, New York, NY (1954); Los Angeles, CA (1954); New York, NY (1954); Paris, France (1954).
This double-disc collection assembles four seminal Sonny Stitt dates for Verve (without presenting them in chronological order): disc one includes Saxophone Supremacy, a 1960 session with pianist Lou Levy, bassist Leroy Vinnegar, and drummer Mel Lewis, and almost all of 1957's Personal Appearance (the final track of the album kicks off disc two), with bassist Edgar Willis, drummer Kenny Dennis, and pianist Bobby Timmons. Disc two, after finishing off Personal Appearance, heads right into another 1960 session with the appropriately titled Sits in with the Oscar Peterson Trio and finishes with 1955's Battle of Birdland with Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, which was released on the Verve subsidiary Roost. All of these recordings are available individually on CD, but this is a price-conscious presentation that doesn't sacrifice sound quality. ~ Thom Jurek