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“Jazz Classics in Digital Stereo: New York.” BBC (import). This collection of 18 tunes, all recorded in the greater New York area between 1925-35, have been remastered from original 78 rpm recordings by Robert Parker of Australia, with marvelous results. Some of the tracks, like Paul Whiteman’s “San,” Bessie Smith’s “Lock and Key” and Jimmie Lunceford’s “Stratosphere,” sound as if they were recorded yesterday, and others, like Duke Ellington’s “East St. Louis Toodle-oo” and Fats Waller’s “The Minor Drag,” have a clarity of sound that one rarely hears on top-grade LP reissues. The only drawbacks: Not all of these performances are memorable; the “digital stereo” is not really stereo, but a very successful mono re-creation closely resembling actual stereo sound (and the “digital” refers only to the digital remastering that all CDs get). Also in the series are New Orleans and Chicago anthologies from roughly the same period. ***