Retrospective specialises in expertly curated compilations – much like ASV used to – focussing on key stylists from the traditional and swing eras. Hence this tribute to New Orleans clarinettist Jimmie Noone (1895-1944), helpfully sub-headed ‘His 26 finest'.

Rated with Sidney Bechet and Johnny Dodds as a top clarinettist in New Orleans, but sweeter-toned and less hot than either of them, Noone, like so many of his generation of African-American jazzmen made for Chicago, and stayed. Always successful, he recorded often, his Apex Club band sessions the main element here. Despite his style erring on the side of sentimentality at times, Ray Crick's selections largely opt for Noone's more heated performances, tracks like ‘A Monday Date', with its composer Earl Hines on piano, swinging hard.

Today's listeners may well prefer Noone's later recordings including the sublime ‘Blues Jumped A Rabbet' from 1936, with fellow New-Orleanian Guy Kelly on trumpet and a spirited New York session with trumpeter Charlie Shavers and altoist Pete Brown.

By 1943 Noone had moved to Los Angeles and was playing regularly, having linked up with Kid Ory; he seemed well-placed to benefit from the New Orleans Revival, when he died suddenly aged just 48. Happily, he had time to record ‘High Society', the classic clarinet specialty with Ory's band on the Orson Welles Mercury radio programme and to play on ‘Clambake in B Flat', an all-out blaster with Jack Teagarden on trombone and trumpeter Billy May.

Hugely accomplished and influential in his day (even Eric Dolphy liked him, apparently) and widely copied too, Noone's best work continues to impress and please.