A versatile sideman whose rock-solid playing graced countless jazz (and even rock) sessions, Leroy Vinnegar was most famous for his ‘walking’ style featuring a steady series of ascending or descending notes; not for nothing was he known as ‘The Walker’ and the title of his first album as leader – Leroy Walks! – is entirely appropriate. It’s a fairly straight-ahead record, but there’s nothing pedestrian about it: every cut swings mightily and life-affirmingly. Interestingly, Vinnegar takes no solos himself, but generously allows Feldman, Perkins and Edwards the chance to shine – and that’s the joy of Leroy Walks!: its generosity of spirit. It is simply a hugely enjoyable listen, and in jazz, the simplest pleasures are often the most satisfying.

Coleman’s first album, Something Else!!!!, featuring a teenaged Don Cherry on trumpet and the result of a fortuitous meeting with Contemporary Records’ Lester Koening, got mixed reviews on its release. It must have sounded pretty crazy to most listeners at the time (although even to modern ears, most of Ornette’s improvisations still sound ‘out there’) – but is now regarded as a classic, and a key recording in the great saxophonist’s career.

Given Coleman’s reputation, and the music he would go on to make, a good deal of the music here is fairly straightforward, even from Cherry. What makes the record extraordinary is Coleman’s playing: already, he’s learned how to dig deep inside the structure of a tune, and reshape it to his own ends, taking it somewhere else entirely.

The sound on these two reissues, both recorded and engineered by the peerless Roy DuNann, is wonderful, thanks to expert all-analogue remastering by DuNann’s one-time protégé, Bernie Grundman. Great authentic packaging, too.