Stan Getz and the Cool Sounds is a CD that by rights ought to be a lot less coherent and satisfying than it turns out to be. The 10 tracks are taken from five different sessions spread between April 1953 and August 1955 and featuring five separate bands--a compilation that seems to have "rag-bag" written all over it. Yet such is the force of Getz's musical personality and the sublimity of his playing throughout that it emerges instead as a flawless tapestry--absorbing, richly varied and abounding in historical interest as well as lyrical beauty. "Flamingo" and "Rustic Hope" feature Bob Brookmeyer, with whom Getz made the legendary At The Shrine, while "Nobody Else But Me" and "Down By The Sycamore Tree" are graced by the feline skills of pianist Jimmy Rowles, who 20 years later would assist at one of the tenorist's most exquisite programmes, The Peacocks. "Blue Bells" and "Roundup Time" are notable for the work of now-forgotten trumpeter Tony Fruscella, and on the remaining four cuts Getz is in harness with pianist Lou Levy, bassist Leroy Vinnegar and drummer Shelly Manne--the quartet that four days earlier had recorded the magnificent West Coast Jazz. It all adds up to a reissue replete with interest, and it won't just be Getz addicts that want to snap this up, particularly as it's been unavailable for over a generation. --Richard Palmer