It’s debatable whether you’d need to buy Getz’s Columbia albums until after you’ve acquired his output for all the other labels. Teo Macero was already wooing him before his Verve/MGM contract expired but, in the event, Getz turned independent, self-produced Captain Marvel (the first album here) and selling it to Polydor Europe, before it finally appeared in the US three years later – this was the 1970s, after all. That exciting venture, including early Return To Forever material but with Tony Williams on drums, was followed by a lacklustre 1975 João Gilberto reunion (given an incorrect date here) and by some fairly dire orchestral efforts, Children Of The World with Schifrin and the Dutch-recorded Forest Eyes. In between are three keyboard-influenced albums – the long-delayed duet set with Dailey, an uneven but moving The Peacocks with Rowles, and the equally uneven but interesting Montreux recording with both Laverne and Getz dabbling in 1977 technology.

That was the year Getz turned 50 but, despite usually having such a traditional sound and approach, it’s entirely typical of the open-mindedness that led to his espousal of bossa-nova or his recording of Focus. And, whenever there’s a sufficiently stimulating background here, you get an extremely energetic response from him – even though, career-wise, he could easily have afforded to coast on his reputation. Oddly, the final CD (following his seven original albums from this period, one of them a double album) illustrates the highs and lows of being a star – copious extracts from his guest appearance on a 1976 Woody Herman concert remind everyone how he earned his rep, while the tracks from CBS all-stars bashes see him effortlessly carving up his colleagues. Oddest of all here is the Havana Jam version of ‘Polka Dots And Moonbeams’, which divides into two discrete performances, one from Dexter Gordon and a superior one from Getz.