This CD is quite a bit different than most audiophile releases for it contains rare rather than famous recordings. 1959's The Fourth Herd (which features an all-star group of studio musicians and Woody Herman alumni along with his octet of the time) was only put out briefly by Jazzland while the music on 1962's The New World of Woody Herman was never available commercially before; both were originally cut for the SESAC Transcribed Library and were available only to selected radio stations on a subscription basis…
Since the definitive three-LP box set Thundering Herds is out-of-print, this single CD is the best place for listeners to go first when starting to explore the music of Woody Herman. There are 16 selections from what was arguably his best band, his First Herd, and two numbers (including the original version of "Four Brothers") by The Second Herd…
Hit Parade Story: The Legendary Wurlitzer Sound is a collection of 17 music classics from 1938 to 1949 that were originally released on 78 rpm records and played on the Wurlitzer Juke Box of that era. The songs have been recorded from the Jukebox with the legendary Neumann U47 microphones to enable their transfer to Analog Tape and DSD by Fone’s Giulio Cesare Ricci…
Tasteful, low-key, and ingratiatingly melodic, Charlie Byrd had two notable accomplishments to his credit – applying acoustic classical guitar techniques to jazz and popular music and helping to introduce Brazilian music to mass North American audiences…
In their eight-year existence, Ekseption came as close as any group from the European continent ever did to stealing the thunder of early classical rock outfits such as the Nice and rivaling the early work of Emerson, Lake & Palmer. In Holland, they charted singles based on classical compositions and released successful concept albums, and were – along with Focus – the top progressive rock band in the Dutch-speaking world. The group's roots actually go back to 1958 and a Haarlem-based band called the Jokers, formed by Hans Alta (bass), Tim Griek (drums), Rein van den Broek (trumpet), and Huib van Kampen (guitar, saxophone), who specialized in covers of American rock & roll…
A superior bop-based pianist who has worked with a countless number of top jazz artists, Lou Levy started on piano when he was 12…