VA - Blue Berlin: Blue Note Plays the Music of Irving Berlin (1992)

Blue Note celebrates the work of Irving Berlin in fine style here with 16 appropriately high-end jazz interpretations. Culled from sessions cut in the '50s and '60s, the mix includes two versions each of the Berlin evergreens "Let's Face the Music and Dance" (Jackie McLean and Sheila Jordan) and "Blue Skies" (Art Tatum and Jutta Hip), as well as such other usual suspects as "How Deep is the Ocean" (Miles Davis), "Say It Isn't So" (Stan Kenton), and "Cheek to Cheek" (Lou Donaldson). Some vocals-loving fans of the standards might find the heavy hard bop menu a bit much, but the quality here is still superb throughout.