Prophecy Heathen Years (2013) [compilation]

AVID Jazz presents four classic Ornette Coleman albums including original LP liner notes on a finely re-mastered and low priced double CD. For our latest release AVID have boldly stepped into the world of the avant –garde, way out and outrageous and some would say unlistenable jazz! At least that is how Ornette Coleman’s work was perceived when he began releasing albums in the late 1950’s.

A finely engineered, great compendium of one of the finer voices and musican of the last 60 years. This chock-full double album takes you through not just her musically and politically brave career, but in doing so, through the history of what the studios made jazz greats do in the late 60's and 70's in an effort to increase popularity. But in spite of the occasional heavy orchestration, her voice and percussive-Bach piano play rings through. ~ review by Howardskid

For jazz fans who bought earlier, incomplete versions of these broadcasts either on Boris Rose's vinyls, the earlier ESP-Disk issue, or the many subsequent re-releases on Base, Fresh Sounds, Queen-disc, etc., this three-disc collection will come as a revelation. Taken from actual club tapes rather than radio tape checks or transcriptions, the sound here is drastically improved, as are pitch problems and personnel listings, thanks to compilation producer Michael Anderson, making it the most complete archive of Bud Powell's live recordings from 1953.

Real Gone Jazz reissued seven classic albums recorded in the late '50s and early '60s by tenor saxophonist Clifford Jordan: Blowing in from Chicago, Cliff Jordan, Cliff Craft, Spellbound, Starting Time, Expoobident, and It's Time. This is a great find for Jordan fans, but casual listeners would be better served by the single-disc reissues of Blowing in from Chicago or Cliff Craft, both released on Blue Note. ~ AllMusic Review by Al Campbell

AVID Jazz here presents three classic Junior Mance albums including original LP liner notes on a finely re-mastered and low priced double CD. Welcome to the natural unforced piano stylings of Junior Mance. Recorded in New York in 1959 “Junior” finds Mance in the company of Lex Humphries on drums and the inimitable Ray Brown on bass. Junior has a new trio for the 1960 date “The Soulful Piano Of Junior Mance”.

AVID Jazz presents four classic Quincy Jones albums plus including original LP liner notes on a finely re-mastered and low priced double CD. To quote Quincy from the original liner notes “This Is How I Feel About Jazz is an attempt to supply settings, select the proper cast and musically portray my feelings about some of the less cerebral and more vital or basic elements contained in Jazz.

AVID Jazz here presents four classic Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis albums plus including original LP liner notes on a finely re-mastered and low priced double CD. For the 1959 date “Very Saxy” Davis is joined by legendary tenor saxophonists Coleman Hawkins, Arnett Cobb and Buddy Tate along with Shirley Scott on Hammond Organ, George Duvivier on bass and Arthur Edgehill on drums. Four veteran sax players getting together as they did in the old days for what was known as “the battle of the bands” where one band would try to blow the other off stage!

Edward F. Davis (March 2, 1922 – November 3, 1986), known professionally as Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Davis played with Cootie Williams, Lucky Millinder, Andy Kirk, Eddie Bonnemere, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie, as well as leading his own bands and making many recordings as a leader. He played in the swing, bop, hard bop, Latin jazz, and soul jazz genres. Some of his recordings from the 1940s also could be classified as rhythm and blues.

Sometimes being prolific works against a musician. Sonny clearly felt at ease inside a recording studio, so much so that the listening audience may mistake his recordings as being unexceptional. Yet careful listening tells us that he was not merely a slavish imitator of Charlie "yardbird" Parker. Sonny Stitt was consistently excellent on his own terms from date to date during the period 1959-1962. Throughout these eight sessions Sonny's presence is dynamic and original, whether he's playing alto or tenor sax. In this collection, I currently find myself favoring Sonny's collaborations with Gene Ammons ("Boss Tenors" & "Boss Tenors In Orbit"), particularly "Autumn Leaves" and "Blues Up and Down" (Stitt's most famous original). He was especially discerning in his selection of keyboardists such as Jimmy Jones, Jack McDuff and Don Patterson. My only regret with this collection is the lack of "bonus tracks". ~ review by Jeffrey Tedford

Robert Henry Timmons (December 19, 1935 – March 1, 1974) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He was a sideman in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers for two periods (July 1958 to September 1959; February 1960 to June 1961), between which he was part of Cannonball Adderley's band. Several of Timmons' compositions written when part of these bands – including "Moanin'", "Dat Dere", and "This Here" – enjoyed commercial success and brought him more attention. In the early and mid-1960s he led a series of piano trios that toured and recorded extensively.