James P has long been called ‘The Father Of Stride Piano’ (as one of the many subtitles of this album tells us) and his influence on people as different as Fats Waller, Earl Hines and even Duke Ellington incorporated his virtuosic post-ragtime into the techniques of pre-bop jazz.

But Johnson was also a composer (some of his output appears in a companion release, The Symphonic Music on Nimbus) and a songwriter with several 1920s hits to his name. Examples of the latter are ‘One Hour’ and ‘The Charleston’, and along with instrumentals such as ‘Keep Off The Grass’ and the album’s title track, these are mostly presented in later versions with better sound quality, while only one of his early piano-rolls is heard here. Including the latter, 17 of the 48 tracks are solo items, whereas the mainstreaming of his contribution is demonstrated in groups from trios to trad-based octets.

Some of the latter groups are not the most expected choices, but there’s a wealth of good work from the less well-known players listed above, and there are brief gems from people like Bechet and even Ben Webster. The variety is welcome and, whereas the out-of-print Mosaic box was confined to Sony-owned labels like Columbia and Victor, this collection roams around outlets such as Asch, Riverside and Blue Note, to whom this style was their early bread-and-butter.