Black Saint

Paramount among independent modern jazz record labels, Black Saint was founded in Italy back in 1975 and grew to encompass more than 190 albums, while its comparatively mainstream sister enterprise, Soul Note, emerged in 1979 and eventually racked up a phenomenal index of more than 350 releases. After purchasing both gold mines, CAM Jazz began reissuing the cream of these catalogs in affordable box sets, setting the stage for a full-scale reassessment of modern creative music. The Henry Threadgill edition contains no less than seven remastered albums, packaged like little LPs in perfectly reproduced jackets, each with the original print scaled down in miniature but still legible with the aid of a magnifying lens.

Paul Motian - The Complete Remastered Recordings on Black Saint & Soul Note (2010) {6CD Set CAM Jazz BXS 1008}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.69 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 698 Mb
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© 2010 CAM Jazz / Black Saint / Soul Note | BXS 1008
Jazz / Post Bop / Drums

THE COMPLETE REMASTERED RECORDINGS ON BLACK SAINT & SOUL NOTE is a monographic box-set collection aimed at recounting the most beautiful chapters that revolutionised the history of jazz.
This new series was launched in March 2010 with the simultaneous release of four box-sets, including albums by some of the artists who participated in the success of the outstanding labels. A philological work, beginning with the original recordings on multi-track master tapes, patiently integrally remastered paying strict attention to the sound quality.

Enrico Pieranunzi - The Complete Remastered Recordings on Black Saint & Soul Note (2010) [6 CD Set] {CAM Jazz}
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© 2010 CAM Jazz / Black Saint / Soul Note | BXS 1004
Jazz / Post Bop / Hard Bop / Piano

THE COMPLETE REMASTERED RECORDINGS ON BLACK SAINT & SOUL NOTE is a monographic box-set collection aimed at recounting the most beautiful chapters that revolutionised the history of jazz.
This new series was launched in March 2010 with the simultaneous release of four box-sets, including albums by some of the artists who participated in the success of the outstanding labels. A philological work, beginning with the original recordings on multi-track master tapes, patiently integrally remastered paying strict attention to the sound quality.

The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady is one of the greatest achievements in orchestration by any composer in jazz history. Charles Mingus consciously designed the six-part ballet as his magnum opus, and – implied in his famous inclusion of liner notes by his psychologist – it's as much an examination of his own tortured psyche as it is a conceptual piece about love and struggle. It veers between so many emotions that it defies easy encapsulation; for that matter, it can be difficult just to assimilate in the first place. Yet the work soon reveals itself as a masterpiece of rich, multi-layered texture and swirling tonal colors, manipulated with a painter's attention to detail. There are a few stylistic reference points – Ellington, the contemporary avant-garde, several flamenco guitar breaks – but the totality is quite unlike what came before it. Mingus relies heavily on the timbral contrasts between expressively vocal-like muted brass, a rumbling mass of low voices (including tuba and baritone sax), and achingly lyrical upper woodwinds, highlighted by altoist Charlie Mariano.

Oliver Lake - Prophet (1980) {Black Saint 120044-2 rel 1993}
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© 1980, 1993 Black Saint | 120044-2
Jazz / Post Bop / Contemporary Jazz / Saxophone

Following the release of his advanced live trio recording Zaki, alto saxophonist Oliver Lake recorded a relatively straight-ahead date, The Prophet, a tribute to Eric Dolphy. Released on the Black Saint label in 1980, The Prophet combines Lake's (and Dolphy's) ability to blur the line between post-bop and avant-garde jazz on three Dolphy compositions ("Hat and Beard," "Something Sweet, Something Tender," and "Prophet") with three Lake originals. This is not the only tribute to Dolphy that Lake would record; 16 years later he issued Tribute to Dolphy, also on Black Saint, with a different band.

Hamiet Bluiett - Resolution (1977) {Black Saint 120014-2 rel 1994}
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© 1977, 1994 Black Saint | 120 014-2
Jazz / Spiritual Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Saxophone / Clarinet

I took a bit of a nap on Hamiet! Not all his material is maniac, so I think I was deterred by a straighter outing in an earlier examination, as I reverse-devour in depth the Avant-Jazz lineage with unthwarted esurience. It’s always majorly thrilling to find “someone else” & start cruising through their releases & history. The Bluiett epiphany came about with probably the best inadvertent recommendation ever from an anonymous NY Jazz body who told me he had to stop taking lessons from Bluiett cos’ he was “too crazy”! So a Southern saxophonist playing Off-Raod squall, with a reputation for being “too crazy”?…could it possibly be better? & thus I pick out this album, Resolution from 1977 that pleasingly is still in print.