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For many the 1950s represents the most fertile and exciting period in jazz history. It was a decade in which music in general - and jazz in particular - was enriched by the introduction of the 12-inch 33rpm long playing record. At the start of the 1950s, jazz was the hippest music on the planet. Although that popularity would begin to wane from the mid 1950s onwards - when Elvis Presley spearheaded a seemingly all-engulfing rock and roll tsunami - it retained a sense of coolness and style that, for its devotees at least, gave it an intellectual and aesthetic superiority over other forms of music. While many of the cuts on this 100-track compilation reveal jazz in the earlier 1950s to be still under the spell of Charlie Parker's 40s bebop revolution, many jazz musicians were driven by an urge for musical exploration; whether it was Miles Davis' desire to liberate jazz from the tyranny of bop chord changes by embracing modal jazz or Ornette Coleman's quest to step into the unknown and free jazz completely from orthodox notions of melody and harmony. But jazz didn't always have to ride on the precipice of change to be vital and exciting. Many of the performances here exemplify the spirit of jazz in its purest sense, showcasing dazzling feats of solo improvisation, telepathic ensemble playing and scintillating musical spontaneity, all executed by some of the most talented instrumentalists the world has ever heard. Indeed, all the biggest names from jazz history are featured here - from early pioneers like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Count Basie to modern jazz pathfinders represented by Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, Charles Mingus, John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman. Despite the wide range of different jazz styles represented on these 8 CDs - this set doesn't tell the whole story of jazz in the 50s. What it does though, is offer vivid musical snapshots of the American scene during what was undoubtedly its most creative decade.

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