Compiled by our esteemed editor Jon Newey and Warner Music's Florence Halfon (she of the Leopard Lounge series), this is a judicious selection from Kirk's 13 albums in his decade with Atlantic. Having sometimes thought less of Rahsaan's later Joel Dorn-produced efforts, I feel somewhat vindicated but the concentration here is on material that easily stands up to present-day scrutiny. Presented in virtually chronological order, the first three tracks amply show the traditional side of the Kirk contribution, as do the first two of disc two taken from his Ellington tribute A Meeting Of The Times with Hank Jones and sightless singer Hibbler. Talking of covers, there are also references to Coltrane, along with versions of two of Kirk's own standards,‘Three For The Festival’ and ‘Serenade To A Cuckoo’. His other contribution to pop culture is the title-track, along with ‘Volunteered Slavery’ and ‘The Inflated Tear’ but sadly not ‘Rip, Rig And Panic’ (recorded for Mercury).

The personnel shown above is necessarily selective, but a couple of people listed from the original albums aren't actually heard here, such as Dee Dee Bridgewater, whereas Cissy Houston on ‘Blacknuss’ is buried in the mix and barely audible. Obviously, anthologies get reviewers exercised about what's omitted (the title-track of Here Comes The Whistleman, for instance) and several of his pop-song renditions would be preferable to the disappointing ‘Ain't No Sunshine’. While I think that fading the drum solo that concludes ‘Tribute to John Coltrane’ is perfectly acceptable, the same technique could well have been applied to the spacey but space-filling ‘Seasons’. But nit-picking apart, there are an awful lot of thought-provoking as well as entertaining sounds here and, thanks to the helpful notes by Kevin Le Gendre, a lot of guidance for those less than familiar with what made Kirk tick and makes him worth listening to now.