Norman Granz's Jazz At The Philharmonic troupe made their first UK national tour in May 1958, opening at the Gaumont State, Kilburn in London, on 2 May for three nights and closing at the same venue sixteen days later, having traversed the country. The Getz set presented here was recorded during that tour (although when I saw them on the second house on 4 May at Kilburn it was Oscar Peterson on piano, not Levy, who was Ella Fitzgerald's accompanist). Dave Gelly's Getz biography states that, ‘On the 17th, an enterprising sound engineer recorded the proceedings at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester’ although Solar just give the provenance as ‘Live in England, May 1958’. The resulting sound quality is pretty decent even if Getz is a little distant and the rhythm section relatively subdued, Ellis heard best on ‘It Never Entered My Mind’. Once issued here on the Jazz Groove label, this 6-track session has appeared on CD before, despite Solar's claim, but only on the Italian Moon imprint. That said it is gratifyingly excellent, Getz at his silky best, with that economy of effort and innate fluency that seems to mark out the greatest players. Levy comps admirably, at one with Getz's moves as he always was, and the rhythm team do their stuff without fuss. Getz, then based in Sweden, had greater prominence to come but was certainly in a state of grace on this set, the seamless flow of ideas and breaks on, say, ‘Love Walked In’ as good as you could wish. The earlier all-star group was also taped live, this time at the Chicago Opera House, their efforts apparently intended for release on Granz's Verve label but curiously set aside, and previously only available on the obscure Hall of Fame label. Once again, it is startlingly good, with Getz on song and Stitt in ferocious form plus Gillespie at his most focussed, viz ‘Round Midnight’, even if the note flurries elsewhere can sometime seem wearisome. Lewis and the rest of the MJQ rhythm section mostly stay out of the way as the front-liners excel. Recommended.