TURN-ONS AND TURN-OFFS IN CURRENT HOME ENTERTAINMENT RELEASES : ****Excellent ***Good **Fair *Poor : COMPACT DISCS

“Compact Jazz: The Sampler.” Various artists. Verve. The multifaceted joys of jazz, vintage 1955-72, have never been more succinctly displayed than in this 57 1/2-minute set by 16 artists. Vocally, there are Ella and Billie and Sarah and Dinah and the Swingle Singers; instrumentally--Basie, Peterson, Garner, Grappelli, Getz, Corea, Mulligan, Mangione, Bill Evans, Jimmy Smith, Wes Montgomery. Many of us already own “Ipanema,” “Mack the Knife,” “Misty,” etc., but for those about to build a jazz CD library this is an ideal place to start. ****