Videos

Compact discs are generally the gift of choice for the jazz enthusiast, but books and videos on jazz can be provocative and informative alternatives. Here are some of the year’s top books and videos, as selected by members of The Times’ jazz staff:

Phil Woods, “Live at the Maintenance Shop,” Shanachie (59 min., $19.95.). Recorded in the late 1970s for Iowa Public Television and not rebroadcast since, this is a first-rate performance video that captures Woods’ quartet in an ebullient mood. The altoist offers a jack-rabbit dart through “Song for Sisyphus,” his gleaming-like-a-ruby tone propelling succulent chains of ideas, then offsets that intense workout with the lyrical “A Little Piece.” Pianist Mike Melillo stretches out unaccompanied on “Only When You’re in My Arms.”