The Hunt 1966

Though John Barry achieved popular recognition for the swinging, loungey, noir-ish soundtracks he composed for the James Bond films, he moved to the front rank of film composers with his score for 1966's BORN FREE. Stylistically, the music of BORN FREE is miles removed from Barry's Bond soundtracks, though the composer's fondness for brass fanfares, stirring strings, and lush, intricate charts with stunning dynamic range is still intact. On the whole, however, the music to BORN FREE has a playful, innocent quality, evoking the nature of the wild animals at the film's center. As the movie is set in Africa, Barry employs a range of African percussion instruments, and sections of flute music (which often seem to echo the sounds of birds or other creatures). The arrangements are expansive and sweeping, giving rise to the sensation of open plains, and Barry's recurring musical themes parallel the film's action (the track titles indicate plot events). The score is, for the most part, surprisingly subdued, with occasional bursts of energy (mirroring tumultuous events onscreen) and its stirring title theme the exceptions. Barry won an Academy Award for the score in 1966.

This is the first ever release of the Juilliard String Quartet’s complete EPIC recordings from 1956 to 1966 in a single 11-CD edition. The set includes four LP recordings appearing for the first time on CD and eight CDs remastered from the original analogue tapes. The Quartet’s legacy is evident in their accumulated reviews for their outstanding recordings. On Mozart’s six “Haydn” Quartets, a Gramophone reviewer stated that they were “the best performances [they] have ever heard”. Although the Quartet have excelled in their interpretations of 18th- and 19th-century repertoire, their original purpose was to promote 20th-century music. Thus, it is unsurprising that the first album in this box set features a special recording of lesser-known works by American composers Benjamin Lees and William Denny.

A classic mid-‘60s Blue Note selection from another living legend of our music: Juju (1965) features the stellar, one-time John Coltrane rhythm section of McCoy Tyner, Reggie Workman and Elvin Jones; Speak No Evil (1966) is simply one of the all-time-great jazz albums, recorded with Wayne’s Miles Davis Quintet bandmates Herbie Hancock and Ron Carter; and its follow-up The All-Seeing Eye (1966) features some striking compositions in a highly unusual septet format.

On his third date for Blue Note within a year, Wayne Shorter changed the bands that played on both Night Dreamer and Juju and came up with not only another winner, but also managed to give critics and jazz fans a different look at him as a saxophonist. Because of his previous associations with McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones, and Reggie Workman on those recordings, Shorter had been unfairly branded with the "just-another-Coltrane-disciple" tag, despite his highly original and unusual compositions. Here, with only Jones remaining and his bandmates from the Miles Davis Quintet, Herbie Hancock and Ron Carter on board (with Freddie Hubbard filling out the horn section), Shorter at last came into his own and caused a major reappraisal of his earlier work…

During an 18-year period, fan Mike Harris went to the Village Vanguard whenever pianist Bill Evans appeared and privately taped his performances. More than a decade after Evans' death, Harris made all the proper legal arrangements and producer Orrin Keepnews released music from 26 different occasions on this eight-CD box set, 104 selections in all. With the exception of the first date (and to a lesser extent the last one), the recording quality is surprisingly good, making this a real bonanza for Bill Evans' other fans.