Barber's recent retirement as a performer and bandleader has prompted the re-release of this 2010 double-CD compilation of selected recordings, some previously unissued, illustrating his long and star-strewn path. In effect, it's balanced between collaborations with friendly rockers and bluesmen, as well as guest appearances with his band by the visiting luminaries of classic jazz. Barber's role in bringing African-American blues players to the UK is emphasised by appearances from Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee or harmonica ace James Cotton, with Barber, the inveterate sitter-in joining the Muddy Waters band on ‘Kansas City’ at the Capitol Jazz Festival in 1979. Authentic, for sure, but pleasingly knock-about too. The locals all acknowledge their debt to Barber and it's interesting to hear him alongside the likes of Rory Gallagher, Clapton, Morrison (three tracks), and Knopfler (superb on ‘The Next Time I'm In Town’), with the lusty-voiced Ottilie Patterson a standout, as ever. The 1962 collaboration with Ed Hall has Patterson at her most impassioned on ‘St Louis Blues’ and produced a lively version of ‘High Society’ teaming Hall with band clarinettist Ian Wheeler. That fine trombonist Trummy Young emotes happily on ‘Georgia On My Mind’, while Darensbourg does well on ‘Rose Room’ and Nicholas is superb. So, more than 30 highly eclectic tracks, too many to describe here, but each a tribute to Barber's stylistic open-handedness, his comments and memories collated for the booklet by Alyn Shipton. A feast for nostalgics maybe, but a thoroughly engaging end-of-term report on one of the UK's jazz's most enduring and important figures. Meanwhile, the band plays on…