There are several Manny Albam compilations on the market, all with slightly different permutations of the albums he made as arranger and band director in the 1950s. Acrobat’s decision to focus on 1957 is a sound curatorial move and shows his creative powers in full flow, notably on his celebrated Jazz Greats of Our Time sessions with starry line-ups recorded both in New York and Los Angeles. The choice of musicians is perfect for his fairly mainstream writing, which is rather better on the pieces penned by other writers than on his own compositions. There are some fine solos from Sims and Cohn, from Phil Woods and Bob Brookmeyer in particular. And this level of soloing carries through into the other two original albums represented here, West Side Story and The Blues is Everybody’s Business. That said, the production values are substandard, hence the two-star rating. There’s alarming distortion on Art Farmer’s muted trumpet on ‘Am I Blue?’ and equally woeful bass distortion on one of Milt Hinton’s solos. The overall level is too high, and it is almost as if nobody checked the mastering post-production. So regrettably, I’d have to recommend seeking out the better-produced Avid set instead with a slightly different group of records, but also based around the two Jazz Greats LPs.