The music in this diptych of re-releases was captured in 1956 and 1962, the first at Rudy Van Gelder's studios in Hackensack, New Jersey and the second at Plaza Sound Studios, NYC. The quality of the recordings is comparable, with a slight preference, for this reviewer, for the cozier Van Gelder session, which sounds more like intimate chamber jazz, while the Plaza Sound tracks are bolder and brasher. This may also be the result of the different orchestration and personnel, of course, the first being an octet, the second a full-on big band. Either way, this is Tadd Dameron on extended display as composer, arranger, orchestrator, band-leader and player.

And what a display it is! Although not as well-known as Ellington, Basie or Glenn Miller or whomever of the great big band leaders you care to think of, Dameron nonetheless has all the right qualities: a gift for melody, a sophisticated harmonic language, solid instrumental and writing chops, and an ability to work with musicians bringing out the best in them.

The music on the Fountainbleau and Magic Touch sessions is of course all Dameron's, and ranges from the stately and baroque "Fountainbleau," to the hardbop of "Delirium," "The Scene is Clean," and "Just Plain Talkin'," to the swinging dance-band blasts of "On a Misty Night," "Our Delight," and "Swift as the Wind," slowing down along the way for his classic ballads "If You Could See Me Now" and "You're a Joy", sung by Barbara Winfield.

The musicians along for the ride include some of the master stylists of the art of jazz of Dameron's day, including Kenny Dorham, Clark Terry, Sahib Shihab, Jimmy Cleveland, Johnny Griffin, Bill Evans, Shadow Wilson and Philly Joe Jones. A special treat is hearing Philly Joe in a big band setting, pounding out the beat. But best of all is the whole package, music expressing the moods and colors of its time, guided by the talented pen and fertile imagination of the great Tadd Dameron.