A boy-wonder on drums who went on to become an excellent pianist, vibraphonist and front-rank composer of classic modern-jazz themes, Victor Feldman was an all-round renaissance man of modern jazz. Born in 1934, he was also London's gift to Los Angeles. In 1955 he emigrated to the States to join the Woody Herman band, later working and recording with Cannonball Adderley and Miles Davis and remaining in California until his premature death in 1987.

This worthy double-disc retrospective draws from four very early albums, Victor Feldman's Modern Jazz Quartet (1955), Transatlantic Alliance (56), VF In London, Vol 2; Big Band (56-7) and his US debut, The Arrival of Victor Feldman, (56). The most remarkable thing about these sessions is their maturity. Some of the vibraphone quartet ballads may be a little soporific and Feldman's great original themes (‘Joshua’, ‘Azul Serape’, ‘Seven Steps to Heaven’) are still years ahead, but his great vibraphone technique and sophisticated piano voicings are fully in place. Bop anthems (‘Wail’, ‘Bebop’, ‘Four’) and all-time standards (‘Easy to Love’, ‘The Gypsy’, ‘There is No Greater Love’) contain hip improvisation and general musicianship of the highest standard. Other bonuses are hearing Tubby Hayes play baritone — with a smoother tone than on tenor but the same shapely ideas — and further great support from two vastly underrated trumpeters, Dizzy Reece and Jimmy Deuchar. And production-wise it's commendable that Feldman's first US album, the trio with Scott LaFaro and Stan Levey, runs to nine whole tracks. Victor's vibes chordwork on ‘Flamingo’ is masterly and the sheer speed of his flying mallets on ‘Bebop’ is breathtaking. The future was bright, but after satisfying his ambition to work with some of his jazz heroes, he disappeared into the Hollywood recording studios, scarcely to be heard from again. Now at least it's good to see one of Britain's finest jazz exports belatedly getting the attention he always deserved.