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Happy Birthday Pete Fountain! (July 3, 1930)

There are relatively few of Pete Fountain's early-'60s Coral recordings available on CD, which is a pity because those rank with the finest work of the New Orleans clarinetist's career. This sampler in a series presented by Fountain has 20 selections in all.

Happy Independence Day!

The 1991 version of the Lighthouse All-Stars gave trumpeter Shorty Rogers and altoist Bud Shank top billing. For this Candid CD, Rogers supplied eight of the selections (including "Less Is More," "Lotus Bud," "Fun" and "Here's That Old Martian Again") and the band also stretched out on Bud Powell's "Un Poco Loco" and a Rogers' arrangement of "America The Beautiful."

Happy Birthday Louie Bellson (July 6, 1924)

At 71, Louie Bellson on this CD displays more energy than most drummers half his age. Bellson not only takes solos on more than half the selections (including a lengthy workout on "Santos"), but he composed all seven originals; the only surprise is that Bellson decided to let some of his musical friends (including Matt Catingub, Tommy Newsom, and Bob Florence) arrange the charts instead of writing them himself.