A sequel to perhaps DVD's most revered jazz sets again plumbs European archives. Nina Simone performs Bob Dylan's The Ballad of Hollis Brown and sings movingly of Martin Luther King Jr. Saxist Sonny Rollins offers two versions of St. Thomas. Bill Evans' piano-playing can be intense, but the brow of seemingly looser Oscar Peterson is drenched, too. Also: Lionel Hampton, Cannonball Adderley and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. --USA Today, Mike Clark, October 2, 2008Few jazz experiences are more enjoyable than putting on a classic Rahsaan Roland Kirk album and marveling at his ability to play two and three saxophones at the same time. But a record like "Rip, Rig, and Panic" or "Blacknuss" can deliver only so much information. Actually watching Kirk do what he did elevates the experience to a whole new level.This is why the "Jazz Icons" catalog of DVDs has become so invaluable. With its third series arriving this week, the "Jazz Icons" project from Naxos has quickly become one of the most intimate ways to experience the full artistry of our jazz legends. The seven new DVDs can be purchased individually or as part of a box set, which comes with a bonus disc. This installment features concerts and television recordings from Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans, Lionel Hampton, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Oscar Peterson, Sonny Rollins, and Nina Simone, all filmed in Europe between 1958 and 1975. --Boston Globe, Steve Greenlee, September 28, 2008Jazz is America's most durable cultural export of all time, hands down. I am admittedly biased, having grown up in the '60s when jazz was a vital art form, stretching boundaries and ripping envelopes clear in half. Names like John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman meant more to me than Mick Jagger and John Lennon, though I later learned to respect pop music as well as jazz. And now, like a beautiful deja vu, comes the latest installment of the "Jazz Icons" DVD collection from Naxos and Reelin' in the Years Prods. It is a stunner.The crisply shot black and white footage looks as good as it sounds, gleaned as it is from live performances in clubs and festival settings. Sonny Rollins, who famously refuses to listen to or watch any of his old performances (knowing he'd hear something he'd want to change, even all these years later!) is caught in youthful mid-1960s form, filmed in Denmark and blowing lyrically and muscularly all at once.Rahsaan Roland Kirk has to be seen to be believed, playing three reed instruments at once, then switching to flute and blowing his breathy and funky lines at warp speed and maximum-swing. What a force of nature and incredible showman. Seeing him is the bonus -- that's what makes this collection so valuable. My favorite pianist, the cerebral and intense Bill Evans, was filmed in Denmark in European venues in the mid-60s and Nina Simone, the imperious and unpredictable diva, is as beautiful as she is self-assured. Oscar Peterson, Lionel Hampton and Cannonball Adderley round out the package, which ought to be Purchase One on your Xmas list for any of your jazz-loving significant others. Make your kids watch it!. . . You will be unable to resist buying the whole caboodle. Blame me. --InsideSoCal.com, By David Weiss on October 9, 2008Now the third box set of aural gold is coming our way, looking crisp and sounding just as good as its two archival predecessors. . . Everyone will have a favorite moment of some kind.  This boxed set is full of them. --Tucson Citizen, Chuck Graham, November 6, 2008Sitting in a jazz club I sometimes wish I could go back half a century to witness the all-time greats in their prime. With excellent sound quality and footage lovingly filmed in European venues, Jazz Icons DVDs come close to making my wish come true. Camera angles can make these discs better than live; watch Bill Evans' and Oscar Peterson's fingers as they work their magic on the piano. Cannonball Adderley's band - with Joe Zawinul, Louis Hayes, Yusef Lateef, Nat Adderley and Sam Jones - is astounding. Sonny Rollins is on fire in trio and quartet settings. Rahsaan Roland Kirk's horn section, consisting of Kirk playing two, or three horns at once, is otherworldly. Seeing can be far better than just listening; Nina Simone's rendition of "Four Women" is riveting. And there's no shortage of wonderful surprises, like when Lionel Hampton leaves the vibes to play fantastic piano and drum solos. --Rochester City Newspaper, Ron Netsky, October 22, 2008The outstanding "Jazz Icons" DVD series of vintage jazz artists in concert returns with another high quality feast for the eyes and ears, This time the box set features seven individual DVDs of black and white performances by singer Nina Simone, pianists Oscar Peterson and Bill Evans, saxophonists Sonny Rollins, Cannonball Adderley and Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and vibraphonist Lionel Hampton. An eighth bonus disc features additional performances by Simone, Kirk and Rollins. Highlights abound! --Urban Network, A. Scott Galloway, September 2008The sound quality is first rate, and the performances are extraordinary. --Newsweek MagazineThese wondrous performances highlight the individualistic artistry of canonical jazz figures such as Sonny Rollins, Oscar Peterson, Lionel Hampton, Nina Simone, Bill Evans, Cannonball Adderley, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. No doubt, this is an inestimable gift to posterity and to jazz pedagogy. . . These deluxe-edition DVD's also underscore a high degree of technical skill in the art of craft of moving image photography, and an equal level of appreciation for jazz on the European continent. --eJazzNews.com, John Stevenson, September 2, 2008This is the third release in the Jazz Icons series, bringing the total up to 27 volumes, making it possibly the most complete jazz-on-film library available. --New York Sun, Will Friedwald, September 29, 2008Wild Applause:   This is a smashing set of DVDs featuring never-released live and studio performances by seven singular artists: Sonny Rollins, Bill Evans, Nina Simone (left), Oscar Peterson, Cannonball Adderley, Lionel Hampton and Rahsaan Roland Kirk (a bonus disc for boxed-set buyers has other rare tracks by Rollins, Simone and Kirk). Taped for television in cities across Europe, these club and concert performances capture the musicians at peak moments in their careers. --San Francisco Chronicle, Jesse Hamlin, October 24, 2008