The Latest Reissues & Archival Finds

[JETman]

Originally Posted by jkelman

My review of King Crimson's Larks' Tongues in Aspic (40th Anniversary Series) box set, today at All About Jazz.

A whopping 15 discs - 13 CDs, 1 DVD and one Blu-Ray - feature every known note this short-lived quintet recorded, before percussionist wildcard Jamie Muir left, leaving guitarist Robert Fripp, violinist David Cross, bassist/vocalist John Wetton and drummer Bill Bruford to tour and record for the next two years.

From lo-fi audience recordings to Steven WIlson's sparkling new stereo and surround mixes, this is the new gold standard for how archival box sets should be done.

Review here.

Easily the boxed set of the century for me! I just wish DGM had done similar sets for Starless & Bible Black and Red.

Loved your review, btw.

[jkelman]

Originally Posted by JETman

Easily the boxed set of the century for me! I just wish DGM had done similar sets for Starless & Bible Black and Red.

Loved your review, btw.

Thanks jetman; I think they felt that LTIA was special because of the enduring impact of Muir on everyone in the band as they continued as a quartet.

Plus, a SaBB Box with "every known note every played by the group" would have been what, more than 30 CDs?

But it will be no surprise for me to give advance notice that the LTIA box certainly will be on my top list for 2012 in the reissue/archival category...

Best!
John

[JETman]

Originally Posted by jkelman

Thanks jetman; I think they felt that LTIA was special because of the enduring impact of Muir on everyone in the band as they continued as a quartet.

Plus, a SaBB Box with "every known note every played by the group" would have been what, more than 30 CDs?

But it will be no surprise for me to give advance notice that the LTIA box certainly will be on my top list for 2012 in the reissue/archival category...

Best!
John

I see your point, but maybe they could have limited the live releases this time to only stuff they hadn't previously released as Collector's Club or other miscellaneous cd's. I've heard that Wilson worked on Night Watch. Maybe they'll expand that in some way which will make up for their not giving boxed set treatment to my fave KC album.

[jkelman]

Originally Posted by JETman

I see your point, but maybe they could have limited the live releases this time to only stuff they hadn't previously released as Collector's Club or other miscellaneous cd's. I've heard that Wilson worked on Night Watch. Maybe they'll expand that in some way which will make up for their not giving boxed set treatment to my fave KC album.

Perhaps, but for those who didn't already have the KCCC sets, this was a cheaper alternative than buying the previously unreleased stuff + the KCCC. Also, am not sure, but suspect not all the KCCC of the Muir-era band are still in print plus, as I understand it (perhaps someone who has both could confirm) that additional sonic cleanup was done on those KCCC sets fr the LTIA box.

Not trying to justify, but I guess my point is you can't please everyone and come up with the multitude of options that would suit everyone. I've seen a lot of different suggestions; the problem being that, practically speaking, it would be very difficult to comply..and, from a manufacturing perspective , it would be a challenge to do it in a way that would be feasible.

But $120 for. Pa 15-disc set doesn't seem excessive. Tht's less than $10/ disc, and when you consider Mosaic charges $16/disc - and the same issues could be suggested to them....in the case if of his sets that have material that may have been available in CD before, sometimes it means getting duplicates of some music in a box.

It's a tough call to come up with a solution that makes the largest number of people happy, and the fewest number of people unhappy

Best!
John

[JETman]

Originally Posted by jkelman

Perhaps, but for those who didn't already have the KCCC sets, this was a cheaper alternative than buying the previously unreleased stuff + the KCCC. Also, am not sure, but suspect not all the KCCC of the Muir-era band are still in print plus, as I understand it (perhaps someone who has both could confirm) that additional sonic cleanup was done on those KCCC sets fr the LTIA box.

Not trying to justify, but I guess my point is you can't please everyone and come up with the multitude of options that would suit everyone. I've seen a lot of different suggestions; the problem being that, practically speaking, it would be very difficult to comply..and, from a manufacturing perspective , it would be a challenge to do it in a way that would be feasible.

But $120 for. Pa 15-disc set doesn't seem excessive. Tht's less than $10/ disc, and when you consider Mosaic charges $16/disc - and the same issues could be suggested to them....in the case if of his sets that have material that may have been available in CD before, sometimes it means getting duplicates of some music in a box.

It's a tough call to come up with a solution that makes the largest number of people happy, and the fewest number of people unhappy

Best!
John

Don't get me wrong; I'm not at all unhappy. No sonic clean up was done on the previously issued KCCC's as far as I can tell. Fwiw, Mosaic charges $17 per disc

[RogerFarbey]

Bob Downes Mixed Bag just released on the Openian label is a retrospective mélange of tracks charting this multi-instrumentalist’s career, back to 1971 although his actual career spans a bit further back than that. There are some vital tracks here for anyone seriously interested in Downes’ idiosyncratic music and a considerably varied range of styles. Solo tracks include him performing live variously on flute, contrabass flute, alto flute, tenor sax, bamboophone and wind chimes. Then there is Brotherhood of Breath-esque Downes Wind Band, a 65 piece orchestra performing a lively and engaging “Jamican Jump Up”.

Some essential archival tracks follow including Lola performed by Downes on flute and vocals, Brian Godding on guitar, Barry Guy on bass and John Stevens on drums recorded in 1977. Going East sees Downes accompanied by the great Ray Russell on guitar plus Daryl Runswick on bass, Alan Rushton on drums and an unnamed horn section recorded in 1974. The next track, another live one, with a brilliantly memorable repeated riff (Seashore) with the same line up substitutes Runswick with Harry Miller dating back to 1974. Following further solo tracks, the CD concludes with a haunting piece recorded in 1971 with Downes on feedback flute plus Laurie Baker on EMS VCS3 synthesizer, Barry Guy on bass and Derek Hogg on drums.

Having recently celebrated his 75th birthday this gifted multi-instrumentalist has produced some excellent work over the course of his career and was a mainstay of various British jazz bands in the 1960s before he moved permanently to Germany. But he still plays and sometimes, albeit rarely performs in public. A “free gift” (short at around 10 minutes) CD which is included with Mixed Bag, and entitled Requiem was performed by Downes earlier this year and is dedicated to Faruq Z. Bey an American saxophonist who died in June 2012. Four tracks here see Downes performing on tenor sax and on the final track on bass flute. This extra CD is witness to Downes’ talents being in no way diminished by age (what is 75 now anyway?) and is a fine addition to an exceptional archive set.

More info here:
http://www.bobdownesmusic.de/

[jkelman]

My review of The Brecker Bros.': The Complete Arista Albums Collection, today at All About Jazz.


Collection all six of The Brecker Brothers albums from 1975-81, from The Brecker Bros. to Straphangin', this 8-CD box also includes two albums, while not exactly Brecker Bros records - 1979's Blue Montreux and Blue Montreux II - seeing American release for the first time and featuring, in addition to Randy and Michael Brecker, guitarist Steve Khan, pianist Warren Bernhardt, bassist/stick player Tony Levin (back when he was a jazz bassist), drummer Steve Khan and vibraphonist Mike Mainiere (who originated the idea for this group, called The Arista All Stars), with guitarist Larry Coryell guesting on two tracks and bassist Eddie Gomez on one.


For an uptown funk alternative to the fusion of the day, The Brecker Bros.': The Complete Arista Albums Collection is a monster collection of killer grooves, monster playing and fantastic charts that, while filled with virtuosity at every turn, somehow largely manages to avoid the utter excesses of the fusion movement (though 1978's Heavy Metal Bebop comes close).


Review here.

[The elephant shrew]

These were my 4 favourite reissues from 2012:

Various artists – Spiritual Jazz 3
Calvin Keys – Shawn-Neeq
Don Byas with Jan Johansson – At Nalen
Hilton Fenton – The Best of Hilton Fenton 1970-74


I don't think I've seen any references to the Don Byas album on this site.



It's a very enjoyable straight-ahead set, recorded live at the Nalen club in Stockholm in 1962. On the piano accompanying Byas is the great Swedish pianist Jan Johansson, who died in a car crash 6 years later, aged only 37.

[jkelman]

My review of Bill Frisell's Live Download Series, #14-17, today at All About Jazz.

Following on the review of the first 13 installments of the guitarist's series of high quality live downloads, culled from shows dating back to 1989 and, with one of next four installments covered here, right into 2012, it's been a treasure trove for fans unable to catch shows by particular groups - including some that have not made it to commercial release. The four titles covered here are:

• #014: Chapel Hill, NC March 22, 2009 - duo with Greg Liesz;
• #015: Seattle, WA August 6, 2011 - Beautiful Dreamers Trio with Eyvind Kang & Rudy Royston;
• #016: Florence, Italy February 10, 1993 - Have a Little Faith (Elektra/Nonesuch, 1993) group (Guy Klucevesk, Don Byron, Kermit Driscoll, Joey Baron) performing music from the album (including the entire Aaron Copland Billy the Kid suite) and music from the yet-to-be-released This Land (ELektra/Nonesuch, 1994) (a personal fave);
• #017: Portland, OR February 25, 2012 - Frisell's 858 Quartet (with Jenny Scheinman, Eivind Kang and Hank Roberts), performing, along with some other music, a good chunk of the recent Sign of Life (Savoy Jazz, 2011).

For Frisell fans, manna from heaven! Review here.

[jkelman]

My review of Jack DeJohnette's Special Edition box set, today at All About Jazz.

The veteran drummer's longest-lasting group, though not without significant personnel shifts over the years, this ECM box collects the first four albums that started it all - two out of print and one, 1983's Inflation Blues, appearing on CD for the first - in newly remastered form, as part of its Old & New Masters Series, including previously unreleased photos and new liner notes.

The first record, 1980's Special Edition, was an instant masterpiece, but each successive record had its own charms, its own things to recommend, and with Special Edition, the box set, they're all back in print in a budget-priced collection.

Review here.

[jkelman]

My review of Keith Jarrett's Hymns/Spheres, today at All About Jazz.

Previously only available in a severely truncated single-disc form called Spheres, this beautifully packaged 2-CD set - replicating, as closely as possible, the original gatefold two-LP set right down to the wax paper CD sleeves - finally sees this unusual but significant entry in the pianist's discography released on CD, also lovingly remastered. Improvisations on Ottobeuren, Germany's Karl Joseph Riepp Organ, the broader sonic potential of the instrument pushes Jarrett in some different directions than he'd been pursuing in his "regular" piano improvisations of the time.

A stunning, majestic recording that's finally out the way it always should have been. Review here.

[jkelman]

My review of Miles Davis' Miles Davis Quintet: Live in Europe 1969: The Bootleg Series Vol. 2, today at All About Jazz.

The first release to focus exclusively - and so heavily, with three CDs and one DVD - on the trumpet icon's third "lost" quintet - Davis, saxophonist Wayne Shorter, pianist Chick Corea, bassist Dave Holland and drummer Jack DeJohnette - much of it has been available in bootleg form, but never sounding this good (and some, while all sounding fine, is a little thin, not as overall excellent as the first volume of the series). It's also unique in its setlist, which has material dating back to Davis' first record for Columbia, straight through to music from Bitches Brew. While Corea's Fender Rhodes makes this an electric band by definition, this is really closer to the free-bop of the previous quintet, but in a transitional form as Davis moves forward to the denser electric funk of his early-to-mid-'70s.

Essential stuff, review here: http://j.mp/VJ53SO

[HutchFan]

Originally Posted by jkelman

My review of Miles Davis' Miles Davis Quintet: Live in Europe 1969: The Bootleg Series Vol. 2, today at All About Jazz.

The first release to focus exclusively - and so heavily, with three CDs and one DVD - on the trumpet icon's third "lost" quintet - Davis, saxophonist Wayne Shorter, pianist Chick Corea, bassist Dave Holland and drummer Jack DeJohnette - much of it has been available in bootleg form, but never sounding this good (and some, while all sounding fine, is a little thin, not as overall excellent as the first volume of the series). It's also unique in its setlist, which has material dating back to Davis' first record for Columbia, straight through to music from Bitches Brew. While Corea's Fender Rhodes makes this an electric band by definition, this is really closer to the free-bop of the previous quintet, but in a transitional form as Davis moves forward to the denser electric funk of his early-to-mid-'70s.

Essential stuff, review here: http://j.mp/VJ53SO

I'm really, really looking forward to hearing this.

Is it sacrilege to say that I probably prefer this group to the "Second Great Quintet"?

Heresy, I know!

[jkelman]

My review of Quartets, by saxophonist Charles Llloyd, one of two new ECM Old & New Masters Edition series boxes.

Collecting Lloyd's first five recordings for the label, from Fish Out of Water (1990) to the outstanding and definitive Canto (1997), in addition to following Lloyd's gradual formation of a band that would carry him through to the late nineties, one member at a time - first, pianist Bobo Stenson on Fish, then double bassist (and Stenson Trio mate) Anders Jormin on Notes from Big Sur and, finally, drummer Billy Hart on The Call - it was a formidable group that helped kickstart Lloyd's career again after considerable time away (with the exception of two recordings made, mid-'80s, with pianist Michel Petrucciani).

The music is not remastered, and there are no bonus tracks, but a terrific essay by Thomas Conrad. Most importantly, it brings all of them back into print and, when heard back-to-back, really clarifies the importance changing personnel in band can be.

Review here.

[jkelman]

My review of ECM's new Paul Motian box, today at All About Jazz.

The six-CD box collects the late drummer's first six releases as a leader for the label: Conception Vessel (1973), Tribute (1975), Dance (1978), Le Voyage (1979), Psalm (1982) and It Should've Happened a Long Time Ago (1985).

The six albums can really be grouped into sets of three: Conception and Tribute being largely predicated on the core trio of Charlie Haden and much-overlooked guitarist Sam Brown (but with additional players on each), with Tribute being an overlooked gem; Dance and Le Voyage being saxophone trios; and the quintet recording Psalm and trio set It Should've introducing the core trio with Joe Lovano and Bill Frisell that would continue to the drummer's passing in November, 2011.

Some long out of print, others available, at this budget price and for those who don't have all of these remarkable recordings, now's the time!

Review here.