CD

Dizzy Gillespie, The Quintessence (Frémeaux & Associés, two CDs). While we’re on the subject of really cool anthologies, this imported thirty-six-track collection is–not to put too fine a point on it–perfect. It contains each and every one of the finest recordings cut by the co-inventor of bebop between 1940 and 1947, all of them in better-than-decent transfers from the original 78s. Charlie Parker deserves all the ink he gets and then some, but Diz rates equal attention, so if you haven’t spent sufficient time listening to and reflecting on the music of the trumpeter who helped change the sound of jazz, start here (TT).