Mosaic’s carefully curated new set comes with the usual learned commentary (this time by Thomas Cunliffe) and is a wonderful reminder of the New York-based Vanguard Company’s first venture into jazz, which ran from 1953 to 1958. Hitherto dedicated to high fidelity recordings of classical music, the Solomon Brothers – who owned Vanguard – enlisted the wealthy jazz activist John Hammond to take on a new role, that of jazz producer for the label. Author Cunliffe sets out the full story of Hammond’s involvement in a fascinating supplementary essay.

Given his former role as a Columbia and Keynote producer and his support for Billie Holiday and Count Basie in their early careers, plus so much more, it comes as no surprise that Hammond’s first preference was to select and record players who were from a generation that revered swing.

Many had been overlooked in the mid-1950s period as bebop became the primary language of jazz. As senior African-American professionals, they had earned their livings working in the great big bands, Basie’s often, and rather than adjust to bop, were forced to ply their trade in Condon-esque Dixieland, R&B or rock ‘n’ roll. Some had even given up.

Hammond’s Vanguard programme brought these veteran jazzmen back into critical consideration, revived their careers, and in certain cases enabled them to enjoy a kind of musical Indian Summer. If the ‘mainstream’ (Stanley Dance’s helpful term to describe contemporary swing-based jazz) seed had first been planted by the sensational Buck Clayton Jam Sessions from 1953 (already reissued by Mosaic as MD-6-144), this Vanguard series seemed like the next step in opening up a whole new/old way to consider and enjoy swinging jazz.

The appearance of these albums over here, not only enthused fans like me and my friends as we played these early Vic Dickenson 10-inch Vanguards to death, but helped local traditional minded musicians and enthusiasts to see a new way to play that moved beyond the narrow confines of traditional jazz. Where there had been a Trad Revival, now came a Mainstream Revival.

Local leaders like Humphrey Lyttelton, Alex Welsh and Sandy Brown espoused the mainstream cause and adapted their bands to a more organised framework with a swing emphasis that served them well to the end. It became something of a crusade, with writers like Albert McCarthy of Jazz Monthly making for New York to round up and record more great veterans (and their like-minded friends) and Jazz Journal’s Dance also in New York in 1958 producing no fewer than nine mainstream LPs for the UK Felsted label.

These newly-energised players then began to appear on the European festival circuit in all-star groups and to make individual tours, often linking with Humph, Welsh or Brown, and others similarly inclined.

So, what else do we owe to Vanguard, aside from this feast of joyous, swinging music? Well, the first prolonged sightings of keyboard star Sir Charles Thompson and the sublime talent of the then-young Ruby Braff for a start, plus the distinctive tones of the happily on-form Dickenson and Hall, and from further sessions those of other ex-Basie-ites like Newman. Morton, Tate and Buck Clayton and the never less-than-rumbustious Jimmy Rushing.

All this leavened with contributions from enduring stars such as Coleman Hawkins and Lucky Thompson and sympathetic boppers like Green. The latter is heard in jubilant form on the Jo Jones Special session, with Berry, plus Basie sitting-in, and that’s not to overlook the final album in this series A Night at Count Basie’s, a live visit to the great man’s club up in Harlem, the proceedings like a gathering of old pals. In truth, there are highlights throughout the collection as individuals seize the moment to excel.

As critic Whitney Balliett said at the time, when referring to a Braff Vanguard session, “For sheer inspiration and first-rate creativity, these are some of the greater efforts of recorded jazz.” All this and more applies here, as it does to the forthcoming Classic Vanguard Jazz Piano Sessions (MD6-281) presently waiting in the wings. Limited editions both: act now or regret it.