There was a time when the British music press, principally the Melody Maker, were full of the exploits of local hero Victor Feldman, a musical prodigy whose father founded the Feldman Swing Club at 100 Oxford Street in 1942 specifically to feature his eight year-old son with leading jazz musicians of the time – the club subsequently became the famous 100 Club.

Feldman had talent to spare, starting on drums, then piano, then vibes. Prior to 1955 he was among the top bracket of jazz musicians in the UK, many of whom – Ronnie Scott, Tubby Hayes, Tony Crombie, Derek Humble, Jimmy Deaucher – are on Suite Sixteen, and it was Scott who suggested he try his luck in the USA. Taking the session tapes of Sweet Sixteen (recorded in London in 1955) with him, he sold the rights to Contemporary, which followed up with The Arrival of Victor Feldman that featured him on piano with Scott LaFaro and Stan Levey. It would have been good, and logical, to have included the latter on this collection, rather than Latinsville which fails to get inside Latin jazz, despite the brilliant LaFaro on bass. Nevertheless, the remaining two albums indicate how Feldman was immediately accepted by, and was soon performing with, the top echelon of jazz musicians of the period. On Vibes he’s joined by a quartet with Carl Perkins, Leroy Vinnegar and Stan Levey for the first four tracks, and Harold Land and Frank Rosolino come in on the final three; it’s a good session.Merry Olde Soul for the Riverside label is a satisfying session with Feldman on piano and his bandmates from the then Cannonball Adderley Quintet – Sam Jones on bass and Louis Hayes on drums. When Feldman switches to vibes, Hank Jones takes over the piano chair (except on ‘The Man I Love’). Two years later Feldman would appear on Miles Davis’Seven Steps to Heaven (the title track a Feldman original and subsequent jazz standard) on piano and subsequently turned down Davis’ invitation to join his quintet, his easy virtuosity on several instruments (he inspired Tubby Hayes to take up the vibes) allowing the boy from Edgware to become one of Hollywood’s most in-demand session musicians on albums, film soundtracks and TV shows.

It seems remarkable that he achieved so much, yet is reduced to a mere footnote in British jazz history today.