By Douglas Payne

32 Jazz has done an excellent job over the last year releasing some of the high-quality records in the Muse and Atlantic Records archives. Lately, the company has put out a variety of interesting compilations. The three disks profiled below seem to celebrate guitarists who quietly made interesting recordings for the Muse label.

Willis with Pat collects eight tracks guitarist Pat Martino recorded as a sideman with gut-bucket tenor sax player Willis Jackson on Muse between 1974 and 1978. Martino got his start as Pat Azzaria playing on Jackson's 1963 Prestige LPs Grease and Gravy and The Good Life. Together, Prestige recorded the pair often through 1964. They reunited for Jackson's 1974 Muse LP Headed and Gutted and recorded together in three more situations, including Jackson's last LP, Nothing Butt. (1980). Of the eight tracks here, five are from 1978's formerly-available six-track CD Single Action, one ("Blue Velvet") is from Headed and Gutted and two ("The Breeze and I" and "The Goose is Loose") are from the already available Bar Wars (1978). Good playing, mostly in a blues vein, doesn't stop one from asking why they didn't include anything from Nothing Butt. and why they just didn't release Single Action in its entirety.

Tracks: Bolita; Single Action; Blue Velvet; Miss Ann; Gator Whale; My One And Only Love; The Breeze And I; The Goose Is Loose.

Personnel: Willis Jackson: tenor sax; Pat Martino: guitar; Mickey Tucker: piano, electric piano, organ; Carl Wilson, Charlie Earland: organ; Bob Cranshaw: electric bass; Jimmy Lewis: bass; Freddy Waits, Yusef Ali, Idris Muhammad: drums; Richard Landrum, Buddy Caldwell: congas; Ralph Dorsey, Sonny Morgan: percussion.

Major Jazz, Minor Blues is Larry Coryell's handpicked, mostly standards-based collection of straight-ahead quartet performances made for Muse Records over four albums between 1984 and 1989. Coryell tends to sound Wes-like in a standards bag. But he's up to the task of stamping his otherwise indicative personality on the proceedings. "Yesterdays" and the captivating "My Shining Hour," for example, are exceptionally notable performances. But he's in his own quite enthralling element on his own terms – "No More Blooze, Minor Blues" (a delectable piece of wise wizardry), the appropriately delicate "Tender Tears" (which manages to live up to its title) and Buster Williams' great-for-jamming blues "Toku Do." Coryell is well-flanked by sterling support – from pianists Kenny Barron, Albert Dailey and (especially) Stanley Cowell) to the intuitive, supple stylings of Buster Williams. Since we can't have the four original albums in their entirety on CD, Major Jazz, Minor Blues will do just fine as a nice sampler of Larry Coryell's appealing traditional sides.

Tracks: Moment's Notice; The Duke; 'Round Midnight; Joy Spring; Yesterdays; No More Blooze, Minor Blues; Tender Tears; My Shining Hour; Toku Do; Sophisticated Lady.

Personnel: Larry Coryell: guitar; Stanley Cowell, Kenny Barron, Albert Dailey: piano; Buster Williams, George Mraz: bass; Beaver Harris, Marvin "Smitty" Smith, Billy Hart: drums.

Guitarist Kenny Burrell recorded six albums for Muse between 1978 and 1983; five trio settings and one duo with bassist Rufus Reid. Laid Back collects twelve of this period's most appealing performances. These tracks were recorded after the guitarist left the grind of session work and finds him concentrating on the purer musicality of small-group jazz. The program alternates between easy-swinging bop, sensitively handled standards and two of Burrell's own gems. As can be expected, there's much that's appealing about this collection, with features leaning toward the Burrell's gorgeous acoustic guitar work. He's simply a master-craftsman who comes off with one brilliantly-executed passage after another. He soothes and surprises all at once and is consistently engaging without ever once relying on pet licks. The acoustic samba of the stirring "So Little Time," however, is exceptional (if not breathtaking) and may make Laid Back an essential purchase for any of the guitarist's fans. Highly enjoyable.

Tracks: All Blues; Groovin' High; Lament; You And The Night And The Music; Pent Up House; So Little Time; Listen To The Dawn; St. Thomas; Tenderly; In The Still Of The Night; My One And Only Love; In A Mellow Tone.

Personnel: Kenny Burrell (g); Reggie Johnson, Ben Riley, Larry Gales, Rufus Reid: bass; Sherman Ferguson, Larry Ridley: drums.