American jazz clarinettist, saxophonist, composer, and arranger Jimmy Giuiffre remains most notable for his development of forms of jazz which allowed for free interplay between the musicians, anticipating forms of free improvisation. Born in Dallas, Texas, in 1921, the son of Joseph Francis Giuffre (an Italian immigrant from Palermo Province, Sicily) and Everet McDaniel Giuffre, young Jimmy was a graduate of Dallas Technical High School and North Texas State Teachers College (University of North Texas College of Music). He first became known as an arranger for Woody Herman's big band, for which he wrote 'Four Brothers' (1947). He would continue to write creative, unusual arrangements throughout his career. This collection features the earlier records of Jimmy Giufrre which were the forerunners of his later more radical and avant-garde work. Containing eight complete albums originally released between 1956 and 1960, this extraordinary collection works as both a fine introduction to this most underrated of jazz masters, and a welcome reminder of how Giuffre's music moves like perhaps nobody else's from the same period.