Lee

Special FOUR disc collection of some of NEA Jazz Master Lee Konitz's finest recordings. Among the most creative and prolific saxophonists of his generation, Lee Konitz was one of few altoists working in the early fifties who retained a unique style, in an era when Charlie Parker extended a huge influence. An early sideman for Miles Davis, Konitz participated in the legendary Birth Of Cool sessions, while his work with jazz pianist and teacher Lennie Tristano - Lee was a former pupil - remains highly sought. Comprising the musician's eight original albums made for Verve and Atlantic in the late 1950s, this four-disc set features the finest work this estimable sax-man ever produced. With over five hours of extraordinary music, this collection documents the most pivotal phase of what was both a widely celebrated and long standing career. Working as both an ideal introduction to Lee Konitz's best music, and a welcome reminder of his musical prowess, this delightful set will thrill newcomers and seasoned fans alike.

It's not quite rock, it's not quite country, not quite lounge - it's unique. It's Lee Hazlewood, that's what it is. This 2-CD set contains all his solo recordings for MGM from 1965-67, including the rare Something Special" LP, and comes with a fully illustrated 20-page biography."

It's not quite rock, it's not quite country, not quite lounge - it's unique. It's Lee Hazlewood, that's what it is. This 2-CD set contains all his solo recordings for MGM from 1965-67, including the rare Something Special" LP, and comes with a fully illustrated 20-page biography."

We are always sitting on a handful of unreleased songs that didn’t make their way to albums. Listening back to these gems we decided to launch a new series entitled Big Crown Vaults and the first volume features the music of Lee Fields & the Expressions. These tunes were cut during the Special Night & It Rains Love sessions.

Rare 1992 UK 127-track remastered 6-CD box set compilation featuring a complete as possible collection of recordings from John Lee Hooker's Vee-Jay years, including previously unreleased tracks. Themaster expresses the passion of the blues, from blue mood to the boogie, showing his ability to transcend generations and conquer new audiences. Each disc is issued in a jewel case picture sleeve and housed in a silver embossed picture slipcase with a 28-page booklet.
John Lee Hooker was beloved worldwide as the king of the endless boogie, a genuine blues superstar whose droning, hypnotic one-chord grooves were at once both ultra-primitive and timeless. But John Lee Hooker recorded in a great many more styles than that over a career that stretched across more than half a century.

Two classic Hooker LPs, all digitally re-mastered, 22 solid slabs of dark, leathery, brooding nostalgia. This is the electric blues at its very roots. This stripped-bare, one man and a growling electric guitar (on most tracks) music is the stuff those guys who fled the south for the auto production lines in the north used to listen to. Hooker’s ‘talking blues’ style is well represented on Folk Lore. Great numbers like I’m Going Upstairs (and we all know what John was going up for), I Like to See You Walk and My First Wife Left Me start to haunt you like some swamp ghost. The Folk Blues tracks are no less powerful. Half A Stranger, Shake, Holler And Run, Down Child and Gonna Boogie all roll into one another to form a big, dusty landscape punctuated by mid-20th century American industry.

Phoenix, Arizona 1955…a twenty-five year old disc jockey and fledgling songwriter, Lee Hazlewood, is trying to break into the music industry. He takes Greyhound bus trips to Los Angeles to pitch songs, only to be rejected each time. Undeterred, Lee starts a record label called Viv Records. Running the label out of his house, Lee finds the artists, writes the songs, produces the sessions, arranges the pressings of the records and handles distribution. Recently discovered tapes in the Viv Records archive yielded an unbelievable find, the earliest known recordings of Hazlewood singing his songs…Lee’s first demo! The mysterious and bountiful tapes featured Lee singing early unheard compositions and a complete first draft of his Trouble Is A Lonesome Town song cycle that would become his first official solo album in 1963.