Al+haig

The historic live Town Hall sessions by Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker from 1945 have been discovered on an acetate pressing, and are transferred with digital enhancement to CD. Why this concert was not issued initially is understandable, but Ira Gitler's informative and insightful liner notes suggest they likely were misplaced. What Gitler's essential writing also reveals is that these dates were approximate by only weeks to the original studio recordings of these classics, and there was no small amount of controversy surrounding this revolutionary bebop. Clearly bop was a vehicle for intricate melodic invention followed by lengthy soloing, aspects of which Parker with Gillespie were perfectly suited for…

A unique all-star set recorded in various combinations between 1949 and 1951, Conception is an underappreciated masterpiece of cerebral cool jazz. Although Miles Davis gets top billing, he appears on only half the album and then most often as a sideman with only occasional solos. Saxophonists Lee Konitz, Stan Getz, and Gerry Mulligan are the true stars of the album, with Konitz particularly shining. His two duets with guitarist Billy Bauer, a relaxed take on Victor Herbert's standard "Indian Summer" and his own "Duet for Saxophone and Guitar," are outstanding examples of cool jazz as the term was originally understood before it came to signify new age-leaning elevator music; Konitz's solos in "Indian Summer" disassemble the melody entirely while remaining accessibly tonal, and Bauer's filigree guitar lines stay clear of the uninspired comping of so many jazz guitarists while never sounding overly busy.

Miles Davis, Stan Getz, Lee Konitz, Zoot Sims, Sonny Rollins - Conception +7 (1951) {2013 Japan Prestige 7000 Chronicle SHM-CD HR Cutting Series}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 239 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 147 Mb
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© 1951, 2013 Prestige / Concord / Universal Japan | UCCO-5213 | Mono | PRLP 7013
Jazz / Cool / Bop / Trumpet / Saxophone

Reissue features the latest digital remastering and the high-fidelity SHM-CD format (compatible with standard CD player) and the latest DSD / HR Cutting remastering. Comes with a description. Features the original LP designs. A unique all-star set recorded in various combinations between 1949 and 1951, Conception is an underappreciated masterpiece of cerebral cool jazz. Although Miles Davis gets top billing, he appears on only half the album and then most often as a sideman with only occasional solos. Saxophonists Lee Konitz, Stan Getz, and Gerry Mulligan are the true stars of the album, with Konitz particularly shining.

Fats Navarro - In The Beginning… Bebop (1992) {Savoy Records Japan SV-0169 rec 1946-1948}
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© 1946-48, 1992 Savoy Records / Nippon Columbia Japan | SV-0169
Jazz / Bop / Bebop

Trumpeter Fats Navarro is, in fact, only one of three leaders on the sessions compiled on this release. The CD's 12 tracks are actually divided into four from a 1947 Kai Winding date, four from a 1948 Brew Moore outing, and Navarro's tracks from 1946. The three dates share the unpretentious attitude of Savoy sessions from this period – the era predating the intelligentsia's co-opting of bop.

This two-LP set includes seven sessions from 1949-50 and one from 1953 that feature the great tenor-saxophonist Stan Getz. Getz is heard with a Terry Gibbs septet, in quartets with either pianist Al Haig or Tony Aless, with Haig in a sextet that features vocals from Blossom Dearie, on a couple of collaborations with guitarist Jimmy Raney and in a classic if odd date with four other tenors (Al Cohn, Allen Eager, Brew Moore and Zoot Sims), all of whom sounded identical at the time. This two-fer (which contains several alternate takes) gives one a fine overview into the early days of Stan Getz.

Stan Getz - Stan Getz Quartets +5 (1950) {2013 Japan Prestige 7000 Chronicle SHM-CD HR Cutting Series UCCO-5202}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 161 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 122 Mb | Cover | 5% repair rar | DSD / HR Cutting Remaster
© 1950, 2013 Prestige / Concord / Universal Japan | UCCO-5202 | Mono | PRLP 7002
Jazz / Cool / West Coast Jazz / Tenor Saxophone

Features the high-fidelity SHM-CD format (compatible with standard CD player) and the latest DSD / HR Cutting remastering. Comes with a description. Features the original LP designs. After gaining initial fame with Woody Herman's band, Stan Getz went solo in the late '40s, hitting his zenith during the bossa nova craze of the early '60s. Before scoring with "Girl From Ipanema," though, Getz established himself with a slew of fine dates for Prestige and Verve, including this one from 1950. At the time, Getz's cool, Lester Young-inspired sound was becoming more distinct and harmonically varied, featuring the beautifully mellifluous tone he would soon turn into his trademark.

Charlie Parker - At The Open Door (1953) {2CD Set Ember Records EMBCD 508 rel 2000}
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© 1953, 2000 Ember Records / TKO Magnum Music | EMBCD 508
Jazz / Bebop / Bop / Alto Saxophone

On July 26, 1953, Charlie Parker performed at the Open Door, a club near Washington Square in New York's Greenwich Village, with trumpeter Benny Harris, pianists Bud Powell and Al Haig, bassist Charles Mingus, and drummer Art Taylor. This was exactly when Jack Kerouac was hanging out at the Open Door, absorbing the sights and sounds and taking notes that would soon form the basis for his novel The Subterraneans. It is possible and even likely that Kerouac was in the audience while these recordings were being made. The aural ambience is literally shaped by the room, the cigarette smoke, the crowd, the intoxicants, and the primitive tape-recording apparatus used to capture these precious moments near the end of Charlie Parker's brief life.

Charlie Parker Records: The Complete Collection, Vol.29 - Charlie Parker, Historical Masterpieces 3 (2012 CP Records 233193/29}
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© 1949, 2012 Charlie Parker Records / Membran Media / Documents | 233193 / 29
Jazz / Bop / Saxophone

Exhaustive 30 CD collection from the Jazz legend's short-lived label. Contains 44 original albums (421 tracks) plus booklet. Every record-collector has run across an album with the little sax-playing bird in it's label-logo, right next to the brand name Charlie Parker Records or CP Parker Records. Turning the sleeve over, especially if it was one of the non-Parker releases, and seeing a '60s release date under the header Stereo-pact! Was as exciting an experience as it was confusing. Was the claim Bird Lives meant more literally than previously thought?