Jazz, as with the most rewarding and timeless art forms, covers all types of emotions. The performances of jazz musicians and singers can make one laugh or cry, be joyful or wistful and can inspire nostalgia, new revelations or sensual feelings. Because jazz ranges in styles from Dixieland to free improvisations, swing to fusion, it can serve virtually any purpose.

The two CDs offered as this issue's Featured Selections are mood music collections originally compiled in the late 1990s. Nearly 40 years earlier, the Moodsville label (a subsidiary of Prestige) released quite a few sets by top jazz artists playing ballads at slow and relaxed tempos. The pair of discs offered here has the same idea except that they are multi-artist collections (with each selection showcasing a different jazz musician) and most of the music dates from the 1970s and '80s. In both cases, the CDs are full of performances that succeed as backgrounds for either romantic situations or for one's solitary thoughts.

Jazz for the Quiet Times offers listeners a selection apiece from many of the who's who of mainstream jazz from the era. Among the stars are altoist Sonny Criss (very distinctive on "Blues in My Heart"), saxophonists Houston Person, Sonny Stitt, Antoine Roney and David "Fathead" Newman ("One for My Baby"), guitarists Kenny Burrell and Pat Martino, vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson ("Whisper Not") and trumpeters Russell Gunn ("You Don't Know What Love Is") and Wallace Roney. In addition, tenors Al Cohn and Zoot Sims share a warm version of "Body and Soul."

Jazz for When You're Alone starts with a gentle ballad by tenor-saxophonist Willis Jackson and then includes one number apiece from pianists Red Garland ("The Second Time Around") and Les McCann, saxophonists Houston Person, Sonny Stitt ("Sweet and Lovely"), Vincent Herring and Phil Woods (a haunting "The Summer Knows"), guitarists Larry Coryell and Pat Martino and trumpeters Wallace Roney and Donald Byrd. Sidemen include pianists Jaki Byard and Jacky Terrasson and tenor-saxophonist Joe Henderson.

These collections were very popular when they were released and the performances communicate just as well now as they did a decade ago. They even succeed when one is not alone and when the times are not that quiet!

—Scott Yanow