Remastered in 24-bit from the original master tapes. Part of our Keepnews Collection, which spotlights classic albums originally produced by the legendary and arguably the most respected of all jazz producers, Orrin Keepnews. George Russell is listed in the Encyclopedia of Jazz as "composer, piano, educator" and all of these are accurate descriptions of this dynamic musical revolutionary.
The release of this album is an event momentous enough to warrant repeating the preamble to the previously published review of Albert Ayler's Quartets 1964: Spirits To Ghosts Revisited… Before considering the music on this disc, something else has to be celebrated—the resurrection of Werner X. Uehlinger's Hat Hut label (see past profiles). Founded in 1975, the Swiss-based company's hatOLOGY series championed European and American outer-limits jazz, producing a large catalogue of newly recorded and legacy material. Sadly, in 2016, financial pressures obliged Uehlinger to sell the back catalogue and the hatOLOGY name to Outhere Music.
Reissuing two essential albums from saxophonist Marion Brown - Why Not? (1968) and Porto Novo (1969) - the first recorded in NY in a quartet with pianist Stanley Cowell, bassist Sirone and drummer Rashied Ali, the second recorded in The Netherlands in a trio with Han Bennink on drums and Maarten Van Regteren Altena on double bass; essential.
Interrogative and exclamation are the punctuation for the pair of albums by Marion Brown on Why Not? Porto Novo! Revisited. Each fits its associative music, and the package documents the altoist at two distinct artistic junctures separated by just thirteen-months. The original albums have been in and out of circulation since their respective offing, but what makes this disc even more valuable is the commonality it shares with earlier reissue releases on the Swiss Ezz-thetics label…
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.
André Francis and Jean Schwarz, two of the greatest lovers and connoisseurs of jazz, have designed this chronological anthology which brings together the greatest rare or essential masterpieces in the history of jazz, with its greatest creators, from 1944 to 1951.
Tracks from three recently discovered 1960s concerts, by the celebrated arranger, pianist & experimental theorist, George Russell, released here for the very first time - and from the same period as his famous Ezz-Thetics album (1961) with Eric Dolphy. The first, in Lennox Massachusetts, includes Al Kiger, Dave Baker, Chuck Israels & Dave Young; the 2nd, from the 1964 Newport Jazz Festival features Don Ellis, John Gilmore, Steve Swallow, Pete La Roca & Sheila Jordan. The third, a single track, is from a 1964 European date, with Thad Jones, Joe Farrell, Al Heath & Garnett Brown. Included are new versions of the Russell classics: Stratusphunk and The Outer View.
This live concert is a welcome excuse to go to your happy place. Sixty years after John Coltrane's quartet toured Europe, this radio broadcast with its excellent audio fidelity opens like a capsule. Both a time capsule and a seed capsule, one that continues to pollinate today's music.