First time on CD for a classic mainstream album, Swingin' With Pee Wee is also probably the finest recording ever made under the unique clarinettist's name.

Partnered on this 1960 session by trumpeter Buck Clayton, very much in form, and backed by a hugely inspirational rhythm section which included pianist Tommy Flanagan, Russell embarks on a series of edge-of-the-seat (and harmonies) solo flights; with that vocalised tone and quirky melodic contours, they have an oddly affecting mix of vulnerability and nerve, reinforced by the sympathetic contrast around them. There's a bonus on the CD of an excellent second album, Portrait Of Pee Wee, made two years earlier with Ruby Braff, Bud Freeman and Vic Dickenson - but the Clayton partnership is the one to cherish.

Harry Allen: Day Dream (RCA Victor)

Almost 40 years on, Tommy Flanagan is again an integral part of a quality mainstream release, this time with tenor saxophonist Harry Allen. Made last year, weeks before Flanagan came to Cork with bassist Peter Washington and drummer Lewis Nash, it places Allen in front of this Rolls Royce rhythm section on five tracks, with a further six devoted to tenor-piano duets. It's doubtful if there is now a better saxophonist than Allen in this idiom; the debt to Stan Getz is apparent, but there's also a hint of Ben Webster in a magisterial style articulated with breath-taking virtuosity. Despite a few untypical fluffs, Flanagan is ideal for Allen, and the unhackneyed material, notably by Thad Jones, Billy Strayhorn, Quincy Jones and Johnny Mandel, is another plus.