This compilation is based around the book , and co-produced and annotated by that volume's editor, . The idea is to assemble various pieces of music with some connection to or his writings, with the specific threads -- a direct comment might have made on a track, for instance, or a song that's referred to in one of his stories -- explained in 's notes. Those connections can sometimes be quite specific and, frankly, extremely tenuous at other times. For those not immersed in 's writings, it's still a pretty fair collection of , usually on the soulful and bluesy sides, from the mid-'20s to the early '60s, albeit entirely that happens to be administered by . Certainly 's and (a 1939 track, not the same as vibraphonist 's more famous and influential recording) are major classics. , , and are heard from two or three times apiece, and there are also quality selections from (with on vocals), and on sax and on piano). Getting a little off the track, there's also ; getting considerably off the track, there's guitarist The set finishes with the only commercially available recording of 's own voice, an excerpt from a 1964 address at . ~ Richie Unterberger