One of the unsung heroes of mid-century jazz piano is Phineas Newborn, Jr. Back Home, his trio date with Ray Brown and Elvin Jones, is among the best.

Newborn's descent into relative obscurity was due to emotional and physical maladies that developed as his career was in full flower. Battling alcoholism, he spent time in California's Camarillo Hospital, a mental health facility whose other famous patients include Art Pepper and Charlie Parker.

Newborn Jr. came from a musical family. Father Phineas Newborn Sr. was a prominent Blues drummer and brother Calvin was a well-known guitarist (son Phineas III is an up-and-coming actor). Newborn started his career playing R&B in Memphis, he and his father played on B.B. King's first album as a leader. Those roots would make him a natural leader in the hard bop movement of the early '60s but his sensitivity, classical-level virtuosity and the influence of Art Tatum and Oscar Peterson make him too complex of a player for any one genre.

Back Home is a prime example of Newborn's stylistic range. "Love For Sale" begins with a chorus-long solo intro full of Peterson-like soli glissandos and asides before introducing the rhythm section with a McCoy Tyner-style ostinato and then swinging so hard and tight you'd think you were listening to Bud Powell. The emotive ballad, "Pamela" showcases Newborn's left hand stride under a bluesy melody.

Although his star has faded a bit in the eyes of the general public, Newborn Jr. continues to be an inspiration to the younger generation of jazz pianists. The Contemporary Piano Ensemble, a quartet of young jazz piano lions, James Williams, Harold Mabern, Mulgrew Miller and Donald Brown, recorded an homage to Newborn in 1990 called Four Pianos For Phineas. It's a fitting tribute to a man whose stellar work deserves a wider audience.

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Blue Haze (OJC, 1991) presents protean versions of Miles Davis' landmark tunes "Four," "Tune Up" and "Miles Ahead," from two mid-1950s sessions that feature Davis' trumpet as head of two different all-star foursomes. "Tune Up" and "Miles Ahead" feature Davis with pianist John Lewis, drummer Max Roach, and bassist Charles Mingus, who doubles on piano for his composition "Smooch."  "Four" and "Blue Haze" team Davis with pianist Horace Silver, drummer Art Blakey, and bassist Percy Heath.

Davis' opening of "Four" displays an advanced rhythmic acuity that Silver's piano matches with adventurous, playful rhythms. For the thick and misty, slow "Blue Haze," the rhythm section rolls out a walking beat into which Davis' trumpet blows both cool and hot -- a six-minute stroll through blues heaven.

Back into bop, Davis' trumpet and Lewis' piano boldly and dexterously leap from note to note in this hard-charging "Tune Up." Co-composed with Gil Evans, one of Davis' favorite collaborators, "Miles Ahead" still sounds sophisticated and modern, even heard through half a century of history. The lighthearted melody of "When Lights Are Low" puts an engaging, almost friendly, face on Davis' trumpet playing that did not always translate through his later work.

Prestige originally released these quartet sessions on ten-inch vinyl as The Miles Davis Quartet, and then subsequently added a quintet workout through "I'll Remember April" to complete Blue Haze. After these sessions, Davis would soon form his first great quintet with Coltrane, and rarely perform or record in a quartet again.

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In 1965 and '66, saxophonist Eric Kloss recorded his first two albums, on tenor and alto, in the royal soul-jazz company of guitarist Pat Martino and Hammond B-3 monsters Richard "Groove" Holmes and Don Patterson. Kloss was all of 16, and blind since birth. One of the best parts of writing this blog is getting my windows blown out by music I've never heard before, like About Time (Prestige, 2002), which combines Kloss' first two albums with sequencing that is thoroughly eye-opening and enjoyable.

For example, start from Miles Davis' "All Blues," where rolling Hammond organ chords put wheels on Kloss' tenor solo. Next, he dances through standards by the Gershwins ("Embraceable You") and Cole Porter ("You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To"). Then, he jams refreshingly "Just for Fun-K," a spirited Kloss original. And then, he races back into Miles' songbook, through a tenor/guitar soul-jazz steeplechase, but this time with "No Blues." Kloss effectively steers "The Shadow Of Your Smile" into a soft Brazilian, Stan Getz-like samba, and rides Jimmy Heath's warhorse "Gemini" into a monumental and climactic jazz jam, tearing the music open with full-throated tenor roars.

Health issues have kept him from recording since the 1980s, but it's "about time" that I heard Eric Kloss. Maybe it's time for you, too.  First Class! (Prestige, 1997), which pairs up Kloss' next two Prestige releases, and the double play Sky Shadows In The Land Of Giants (Milestone, '93), are also available.

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The Blue Mitchell collection Blue Mitchell Plays For Lovers compiles refined, gorgeous highlights from albums that the trumpeter recorded for Riverside between 1958 and 1962 to display some of his most lyrical and melodic trumpet playing in lush, romantic accompaniment by a literal "Who's Who" of the jazz times (including pianists Tommy Flanagan, Wynton Kelly and Cedar Walton, all of whom play beautifully).

Mitchell's trumpet nearly sings out "When I Fall In Love" and "How Deep Is The Ocean?," generating powerful emotion through a warm, almost human, voice that achingly whispers in ruminative wonder and loss. That same voices glides with maturity and grace through "But Beautiful" and "There Will Never Be Another You," twirling and weaving improvisation and melody into an elegant ballroom dance. Together, Mitchell and Walton illuminate every blue corner of the pianist's tune "Turquoise." Mitchell's sound doesn't burn as darkly as Miles Davis' or shine as brassily as Freddie Hubbard's, but it smolders quite nicely in its own warm and mellow blue flame.

Riverside's source material for Plays For Lovers remains available as standalone titles: Mitchell's label debut Big 6 and follow-up Out Of The Blue (both OJC, 1991), The Cup Bearers and Blue's Moods (both OJC, '94), A Sure Thing (OJC, '95), and Smooth As The Wind (OJC, '96), his large ensemble with strings excursion luxuriously arranged by Tadd Dameron and Benny Golson.

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