Tony Coe/Alan Barnes: "Days Of Wine And Roses" (Zephyr)

John Bune's Zephyr label has established an enviable reputation for consistently high standards in mainstream jazz, but even he will be hard put to top his latest project, of which this is one of a pair of opening salvoes. It's part of a series of five CDs planned for release from some extraordinarily productive 1997 sessions involving the "house" rhythm section of Brian Lemon, Dave Cliff, Dave Green and Allan Ganley. On this they back one of the great free spirits in Coe (doubling tenor, soprano and clarinet) with the virtuosic Barnes (alto, baritone, soprano, clarinet, bass clarinet), for one of the finest mainstream releases in years. The material is, as usual, made up of standards, but they're treated with considerable imagination and care; these are not simply quality blowing sessions - they're put together with a sense of variety, contrast and pacing to give each performance overall shape and coherence. The playing is phenomenally good and the feeling left by these performances is that they may just turn out to be classics of their kind.

By Ray Comiskey

Warren Vache/Tony Coe/Alan Barnes: "Shine" (Zephyr)

The second in what promises to be a landmark mainstream series adds the cornet of Warren Vache to the mix on Days Of Wine And Roses, with Clark Tracey in for Ganley on three tracks and Barnes dropping the bass clarinet from his armoury. Again, the performances are clearly thought out, with Vache slotting in beautifully with what was already a thoroughly homogenous unit. The standard of soloing, awesomely good, shows a rare sense of the breadth of jazz history as well as offering stimulating individuality, not least because most, if not all, of the players have functioned brilliantly in various jazz idioms. Coe, especially, is remarkable, a talent with echoes of the ways Paul Gonsalves and Don Byas went through the changes, yet uniquely identifiable. e and Barnes, while the rhythm section at times achieves a groove that's almost euphoric. Like its partner, this could be a classic in the making.

By Ray Comiskey

Gerry Mulligan Quartet: "Zurich 1962" (TCB)

Recorded by Swiss Radio and never previously released, this catches the Mulligan quartet live and in relaxed form at a time when the group, on and off, had been in existence for about eight years. There are really no surprises, therefore; Mulligan's gruff baritone, noodling contrapuntally round Bob Brookmeyer's melodic valve trombone when not taking solos, is the main voice here, and they fit each other with all the comfort of a pair of old shoes. The material is also familiar - Open Country, Utter Chaos, Subterranean Blues, Darn That Dream, Blueport, for example - as is the doubling of Brookmeyer and Mulligan on piano.

By Ray Comiskey