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.
This special set of studio recordings, the first ones to be issued since 2004, gathers up fifteen outtakes from eight different sessions, including two songs from as far back as March 1987 (before the actual formation of the Rhythm Kings). These previously overlooked and unheard gems have been newly mixed for this album by Bill Wyman and Terry Taylor. The booklet contains all the musician credits. It's a very eclectic selection of songs, from Midnight Oil to Canned Heat to Dan Hicks, via classics by Willie Dixon, Slim Harpo, Jimmie Rodgers, Louis Jordan and Don Covay, and some originals - there's a solo song by Georgie Fame, "Skiing Blues", and "Jazz Walk", a Wyman/Fame co-write. Bill Wyman put together his ten-piece Rhythm Kings ensemble after leaving the Rolling Stones in 1992. The band has a core rhythm section, but features a revolving combination of all-star guest front men and women. These recordings feature the talents of Gary Brooker, Georgie Fame, Beverley Skeete, Terry Taylor, Mike Sanchez, Andy Fairweather Low, Martin Taylor, Chris Stainton and Albert Lee.
This release compiles all of the originally issued recordings made by the classic Ahmad Jamal Trio with Israel Crosby and Vernel Fournier between 1958 and 1962 (Crosby died on August 11, 1962 at the age of 43). Included here are the legendary club performances taped in 1958 at the Pershing Lounge, in Chicago, as well as the subsequent sets recorded at the Spotlight, the Alhambra and the Blackhawk, plus various other sessions. This was the music that made Jamal famous. As a bonus, nine earlier versions of tunes from our set recorded by different formations of the Jamal trio.