“ROUND MIDNIGHT.” Sound track. Columbia SC 40464.There...

“ROUND MIDNIGHT.” Sound track. Columbia SC 40464.

There has never before been a sound-track album quite like this, but then there has never been a movie quite like this. The authenticity is duplicated here by the artists, most of whom appear both as actors and jazz musicians in Bertrand Tavernier’s film.

Herbie Hancock played multiple roles as actor, pianist, composer and conductor for the movie and producer of the sound-track album. That his pop ventures have not robbed him of an exceptional talent as a jazz pianist becomes clear in the opening title cut. What sounds like a muted, slightly out-of-tune trumpet here turns out to be the vocal acrobat Bobby McFerrin.

Dexter Gordon, who enacts the leading role as the Paris expatriate saxophonist Dale Turner, plays a “Body and Soul” as if he’s searching for the missing note, indulges in a two-tenor chase with Wayne Shorter on “Una Noche Con Francis,” backs Lonette McKee’s beguiling vocal in “How Long Has This Been Going On?” and resurfaces in the New York scene with Freddie Hubbard to toss around Monk’s “Rhythm-a-Ning.” He plays soprano sax, not tenor as listed, on Hancock’s “Still Time.” The surprise hit is Jimmie Rowles’ fascinating tune “The Peacocks,” in which Shorter on soprano sax and Hancock distinguish themselves.

Chet Baker’s wan voice and horn are the only weak link, in “Fair Weather.” Bobby Hutcherson’s vibes strike a rare empathy with Hancock in their “Minuit aux Champs Elysees” duet.

Whether or not one has seen the movie (and it seems improbable that any jazz student will fail to catch it at least once), the LP rests on its own merits away from the visual context. 4 1/2 stars.

“THE COMPLETE BUD POWELL BLUE NOTE RECORDINGS (1949-1958).” Mosaic MR5 116 (197 Strawberry Hill Ave., Stamford, Conn. 06902). Since “Round Midnight” was based primarily on the Paris years of pianist Bud Powell (with overtones of Lester Young), it is fitting that Powell’s greatest works have at last been collected under one roof.

There are 58 cuts, many of them alternate takes that shed new light on the troubled genius of Powell, whose career was beset by mental illness and drug abuse and who died at 41. (Like Dale Turner’s in the movie, his death was due to an ill-advised return to New York from Paris.)

A few items have Fats Navarro on trumpet and Sonny Rollins on tenor; a few are piano solos (alone, he interprets and varies a Bach solfeggietto in “Bud on Bach”), but most display him in the setting that was his custom, with bass and drums.

Such originals as “Un Poco Loco” and “Glass Enclosure” are masterworks; others are incomparable reminders of Powell’s genius as the first and foremost giant of be-bop piano.

The production is perfect, with superb notes by the English critic Mark Gardner, many photos and an absorbing interview in which Michael Cuscuna and Alfred Lion (the founder of Blue Note Records, whose archives yielded this material) reminisce about Powell. Even at $45 this is a bargain, and at 5 stars it’s underrated.

“THE COMPLETE VERSE RECORDINGS OF BUDDY DE FRANCO WITH SONNY CLARK.” Mosaic MR 5 117. The preferred clarinetist of Art Tatum, Count Basie, Lester Young and countless other jazz musicians, De Franco was to the clarinet what Powell was to the piano. His quarter in the period represented here (1954-55) included Sonny Clark, one of the best Powell disciples, as well as Gene Wright on bass and Bobby White on drums. Tal Farlow’s guitar is added on the last three sides.

As Ira Gitler’s notes point out, there is overwhelming evidence here that the criticisms often leveled against De Franco (he was “too technical,” cold, unemotional) were nonsense. He used his phenomenal technical to bring to the horn all the creative fire and imagination called for by the then youthful art of be-bop. Clark also is in fine fettle, switching from piano to organ on several cuts. It’s too bad De Franco’s big-band sessions for MGM, which displayed his talents as an arranger, couldn’t have been included. 4 1/2 stars.

MEL TORME, ROB McCONNELL & THE BOSS BRASS. Concord 306. In his otherwise credible notes, Torme claims that his first exposure to McConnell’s orchestra “literally blue me away.” Luckily that was not the case, otherwise he would not have been around to tape an album that may figuratively blow his fans away.

Here is an inspired collaboration of two perfectionists. Torme is more than a vocalist; in effect, he is a full-fledged member of the band. This is best illustrated on “Just Friends,” when the rhythm is suspended while the horns and Torme swing implacably through his wordless chorus, leading to an exchange between McConnell’s valve trombone and the singer’s scatting.

McConnell’s arrangements, and the brilliance with which they are interpreted and recorded, are matched by the splendid choice of material on the A side: an old Illinois Jacquet instrumental, “Black Velvet,” recast as “Don’cha Go ‘Way Mad,” the Bacharach-David “A House Is Not a Home,” an exquisite “September Song.”

Had the second side measured up, this would have been a 5-star set, but “Cow Cow Boogie,” a tongue-in-cheek glance at a forgettable song, and more particularly the uninspired choice of tunes for the Duke Ellington medley (they were not selected by Torme, who would have found some less overworked Ellingtonia), take it down a peg. 4 stars.

“J MOOD.” Wynton Marsalis. Columbia FC 40308. Yes, there is life after Branford. His brother has overcome the problems of a missing second horn, mainly by interacting sensitively with the pianist Marcus Roberts, and by developing still further the levels of collective diversity, the shifts of meter and tempo. In this generally low-key set, he is muted on the well-titled “Melodique” and on his father’s tune “After.” Jeff Watts, a master of the cymbals, is a 1980s counterpart to the Max Roach of the ‘50s, just as Wynton cherishes the values Miles Davis held dear in those days. 4 1/2 stars.

“THE COMPLETE KEYNOTE COLLECTION.” Billed as “334 Immortal Performances of the 1940s Including 115 Newly Discovered Gems,” this 21-record boxed set, weighing in at nine pounds, can be obtained on Keynote 830 121-1. Having produced one of the first Keynote sessions (the original Dinah Washington date), I disqualify myself from reviewing or rating the album; however, the bulk of the credit must to to Harry Lim, who produced all but a few of the items in this cross-section of mid-1940s small group jazz. Some of the leaders are Barney Bigard, Benny Carter, Coleman Hawkins, Neal Hefti, Red Norvo and Lennie Tristano. The suggested list price is $210.

“A DAY ON CAPE COD: EARLY CAPE MORNING.” Rykodisc RCD 30014; “BABBLING BROOK.” Rykodisc RCD 30015; “SUNSET SURF” Rykodisc RCD 30016; “SUMMER RAIN.” Rykodisc RCD 30017. Rkyodisc calls itself the “Record Company That Doesn’t Make Records.” True, in the sense that its products are all compact discs. It goes beyond that: On these four examples, it has produced sets with no music and no speech.

What’s left? Well, the voices of nature. These passive, ambient digital sounds are designed, we are told, to provide a pleasant background for our everyday lives. Since each disc runs an hour, if your CD player is equipped with an automatic changer, you have here enough background non-music to keep you pacified all morning, or all evening.

“Early Cape Morning” consists entirely of melodious bird cheeps and chirps, in rhythms so unpredictable and complex that you can be sure no tape loop was used, much less a synthesizer. “Babbling Brook” is softer and more soothing, a mood-setter that lets you go quietly with the stream.

“Sunset Surf” offers gentle waves, a murmuring tide that all but wafts the sea breeze through the CD. As for “Summer Rain,” its restfulness is the most surreptitious of all. Your only cue to miss it is the silence when it ends.

You say you’ve had it with heavy metal, hard rock, fiery fusion, big-band bashes? Here is your answer--the ever-needed, ever welcome sound of peace on Earth.