A largely forgotten development of the late-1950s and early-60s was the use of the conventional piano trio in a distinctly bluesy variant. The arranged aspects of the Peterson and Jamal groups were easily adapted to the needs of what would soon become ‘soul jazz’ but, given the all-acoustic instrumentation and the absence of guitars and horns, it came across as a rather polite foretaste of something raunchier. Mance, with his background in accompanying Gene Ammons, Lester Young, Cannonball Adderley and latterly Dizzy Gillespie, brought considerable musicianship as well as a funky Chicago upbringing to his early trio work. This public-domain reissue covers three Jazzland LPs, omitting his Verve debut organised by Gillespie but including five airshot tracks with Rowser and Gusman, and includes a couple of standards from his Dizzy period as well as 12-bars by people as different as Milt Jackson, Ellington and WC Handy. There's a lingering feeling that two CD's worth is perhaps too much of a good thing, but of course Mance is still going strong in NYC and performing with perhaps a more varied palette.