There’s a danger these days of Teddy Wilson’s playing being overlooked, except by determined devotees of the swing era. The exhaustive booklet notes by Loren Schoenberg discuss the parallel with Bill Evans, not just because historically Wilson was initially in the shadow of Earl Hines, but because of Wilson’s more laidback and lyrical stance, his more ‘classical’ touch and textures, and his positive refinement of influences such as Hines. (The fact that both Wilson and Evans fed into the field of ‘cocktail piano’ shouldn't be held against either of them.) This compilation covers all the publicly released sessions under Teddy’s own name, from soon after his arrival in New York – there were a small number of private releases for the ‘Teddy Wilson School for Pianists’, not mentioned here – along with alternate versions where available. Half the material comes from the famous series where recent pop songs were treated to informal routines, including a vocalist alongside sidemen from the leading bands of the period (only the muchreissued Billie Holidays are omitted from this set), and my highly selective listing above gives an idea of the quality personnel. After leaving Benny Goodman’s employ in 1939, Wilson ran his own big-band for a year (with Ben Webster its star) but, also heard throughout, are his occasional sessions as a soloist or with just bass and drums – one of which presents more previously unissued material than you would believe.