Lafaro Alchemy

Like many of Ornette Coleman's Atlantic sides, The Art of the Improvisers was recorded in numerous sessions from 1959-1961 and assembled for the purpose of creating a cohesive recorded statement. Its opening track, "The Circle with the Hole in the Middle," from 1959, with the classic quartet of Don Cherry, Ed Blackwell, and Charlie Haden, is one of Coleman's recognizable pieces of music. Essentially, the band is that quartet with two very notable exceptions: The last tracks on each side feature a different bass player. On the end of side one, the great Scott LaFaro weighs in on "The Alchemy of Scott La Faro," and Jimmy Garrison weighs in on "Harlem's Manhattan" to close the album out. These last two sessions were recorded early in 1961, in January and March respectively…

Like many of Ornette Coleman's Atlantic sides, The Art of the Improvisers was recorded in numerous sessions from 1959-1961 and assembled for the purpose of creating a cohesive recorded statement. Its opening track, "The Circle with the Hole in the Middle," from 1959, with the classic quartet of Don Cherry, Ed Blackwell, and Charlie Haden, is one of Coleman's recognizable pieces of music. Essentially, the band is that quartet with two very notable exceptions: The last tracks on each side feature a different bass player. On the end of side one, the great Scott LaFaro weighs in on "The Alchemy of Scott La Faro," and Jimmy Garrison weighs in on "Harlem's Manhattan" to close the album out. These last two sessions were recorded early in 1961, in January and March respectively. As an album, The Art of the Improvisers is usually undervalued when placed next to This Is Our Music or The Shape of Jazz to Come.

Bill Evans Trio - Turn Out The Stars: The Final Village Vanguard Recordings, June 1980 {6CD Box Set Warner 9 45925-2 rel 1996}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.87 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 954 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 158 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1980, 1996 Warner Bros. | 9 45925-2
Jazz / Post Bop / Modal Music / Piano

Just three months before his death, pianist BIll Evans was extensively recorded at the Village Vanguard. Originally, one or two LPs were to be released featuring his brilliant new trio (with bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Joe LaBarbera), but after the innovative pianist's death, the project was stalled for over 15 years. Finally, when Warner Bros. got around to it, a definitive six-CD box set was released (although unfortunately in limited-edition form). Evans sounded quite energized during his last year, Johnson was developing quickly as both an accompanist and a soloist, and the interplay by the trio members (with subtle support from LaBarbera) sometimes bordered on the telepathic. The playing throughout these consistently inventive performances ranks up there with the Evans-Scott LaFaro-Paul Motian trio of 20 years earlier.

Ornette Coleman - Beauty Is a Rare Thing: The Complete Atlantic Recordings (1993) {6CD Box Set Rhino R2 71410 rec 1959-1961}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 2.45 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 998 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 105 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1959-61, 1993 Atlantic / Rhino | R2 71410
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Free Jazz / Saxophone

While it's true this set has been given the highest rating AMG awards, it comes with a qualifier: the rating is for the music and the package, not necessarily the presentation. Presentation is a compiler's nightmare in the case of artists like John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman, who recorded often and at different times and had most of their recordings issued from the wealth of material available at the time a record was needed rather than culling an album from a particular session.

Rhino's 2018 box The Atlantic Years offers new vinyl pressings of Ornette Coleman's Atlantic discography. This isn't limited to the nine albums that were recorded between 1959 and 1961 then parceled out on LP between 1959 and 1975 (which is the date when To Whom Who Keeps a Record finally hit the stores, following the comps The Art of Improvisers and Twins to market): the unreleased material gathered on Rhino's definitive 1995 box Beauty Is a Rare Thing is here as a bonus LP dubbed The Ornette Coleman Legacy…