Birth Of The Blue: “Uncompromising Expression” Box Set Celebrates 75 Years of Blue Note

Blue Note Records’ 75th anniversary celebration has already encompassed compact disc and vinyl reissues from the venerable jazz label’s classic roster of artists including Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Clifford Brown and Thelonious Monk.  On November 4, the Blue Note party continues with the release of a new 5-CD box set.  Blue Note: Uncompromising Expression is the title of both the box set, a 75-track compendium of key Blue Note singles, and an accompanying hardcover book.  Uncompromising Expression, the book, has been written by jazz historian Richard Havers who has also curated the box set.  Havers performed the same duties last year for the book and CD releases of Verve: The Sound of America from Blue Note sister label Verve Records.

Blue Note: Uncompromising Expression, the box set, opens with the label’s very first artist, pianist Meade “Lux” Lewis, and comes to a close 75 years later with bassist Derrick Hodge.  Among the numerous artists featured are drummer Art Blakey, trumpeters Miles Davis and Donald Byrd, saxophonist John Coltrane, pianists Bud Powell and  Thelonious Monk, and vocalists including Norah Jones, Rosanne Cash and Cassandra Wilson.  (A separate set, with all of Monk’s Blue Note single releases on two CDs, will be issued on the same date of November 4.)

Founded in 1939 by German immigrant/impresario Alfred Lion and musician Max Margulis, Blue Note was quick to recognize the seismic changes coming to the sound of jazz – namely bebop and hard bop – in the late 1940s.  Adapting with the times, the Blue Note roster boasted some of the most legendary names in jazz, among them Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Art Blakey, Fats Navarro, Hank Mobley, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, McCoy Tyner and Herbie Hancock. In the late 1960s, Blue Note was acquired by Liberty Records, which was in turn acquired by United Artists (the conglomerate of which was bought by EMI in 1979). The label’s output waned by the end of the 1970s, but within a few short years, the Blue Note name was reactivated as many of the label’s past triumphs were revisited on CD.  Eventually, Blue Note returned to new music including Come Away with Me, the Grammy-winning 2002 debut album by Norah Jones.  In 2006, a number of related labels were consolidated by EMI as the Blue Note Label Group, and today, Blue Note is a division of Universal Music Enterprises, a result of Universal’s purchase of many of EMI’s assets.

Each of the box set’s five discs covers a specific era of the label’s evolution.  Over 75 years, Blue Note has been at the vanguard of boogie, bebop, hard bop, bossa nova, soul jazz and beyond, and Havers has chronologically compiled the discs as follows:

• Disc 1: From Boogie To Bop 1939 – 1953
• Disc 2: Messengers, Preachers and Hard Bop 1953 – 1958
• Disc 3: Struttin’, Moanin’ and Somethin’ Else 1958 – 1960
• Disc 4: Bossa, Blues and Hits 1961 – 1965
• Disc 5: Can You Dig It? 1969 – 2014

After the jump, we have more on these upcoming releases!

Release Round-Up: Week of September 23

George Harrison, The Apple Years 1968-1975 (Apple/Universal, 2014) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Here, at last, are George Harrison’s complete albums for Apple Records, all beautifully remastered and featuring select bonus material.  These six albums are available in a deluxe box set with a bonus DVD or as individual reissues:

Wonderwall Music (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Electronic Music (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

All Things Must Pass  (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Living in the Material World  (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Dark Horse (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Extra Texture (Read All About It)  (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

David Bowie, Sound + Vision  (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

In case you missed it the last time around, here’s a slimmed-down reissue of the 2003 iteration of Bowie’s box set covering the chameleonic rock star’s career through 1997 on four CDs.

John Coltrane, Offering: Live at Temple University (Impulse!/Resonance) (Amazon U.S. /Amazon U.K.)

Here, at last, is the famous concert in which John Coltrane put down his saxophone and sang – or at least vocalized in an intense, some might say inexplicable, manner.  Ashley Kahn puts this remarkable, and remarkably inscrutable, 1966 Philadelphia performance in perspective in the deluxe 24-page booklet that accompanies this 2-CD release.

Hollies, Fifty at 50 (Parlophone/Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. )

This new 3-CD Hollies anthology, marking the harmony purveyors’ 50th year of recording, arrives in the U.K. today with a U.S. edition to follow next month.

Jerry Lee Lewis, The Knox Phillips Sessions: The Unreleased Recordings (Saguaro Road) (Amazon U.S. /Amazon U.K. )

In the mid-1970s, Jerry Lee Lewis returned to Sun Studios with Sam Phillips’ son Knox now running the show; Knox recorded the piano pounder on country, pop and gospel classics from “Beautiful Dreamer” to “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown.”  Ten tracks from the Knox Phillips sessions are included on this single-disc release.

Pugwash, A Rose in a Garden of Weeds (Omnivore) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. )

Omnivore has a “preamble through the history of Pugwash,” the Irish band described by the label as a “mix of The Beach Boys meets ELO meets XTC.”  This 17-track collection spans the period between 1999’s Almond Tea As Served By… through 2011’s The Olympus Sound and should serve as a perfect introduction to an underrated group.

Edwin Starr, Soul Master: Expanded Edition / Involved: Expanded Edition (Big Break)

Big Break dips back into the Motown vault for two generously expanded editions of albums from “War” hero Edwin Starr including his 1968 Motown LP debut Soul Master with a whopping 17 bonus tracks, and 1971’s Involved (featuring “War’) with 13 bonuses!

Soul Master: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Involved: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Leonard Cohen, Popular Problems (Columbia) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The poet and troubadour celebrates his 80th birthday with the release of a new album featuring nine new songs.

Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, Cheek to Cheek (Interscope/Columbia) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Also not a reissue, but certainly of interest – the 88-years young jazz vocal great teams with the audacious pop superstar for a set of swinging standards.  Available in standard and deluxe editions, as well as Target, iTunes and HSN exclusives with extra material.

Release Round-Up: Week of July 15

Average White Band, All the Pieces: The Complete Studio Recordings 1971-2003 (Edsel)

Nineteen discs of AWB goodness, including two discs of rarities? Now that’s something to blow your horn over. Full specs will be posted later today. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

John Coltrane and Friends, Sideman: Trane’s Blue Note Sessions (Blue Note)

Three discs of ‘Trane’s time as a sideman, with performances by Miles and Monk, all in glorious mono. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The Jerry Garcia Band, Garcia Live Volume 4: March 22, 1978 – Veteran’s Hall (ATO)

The latest volume in this official vintage live series is an unreleased, double-disc show of Garcia and band (including fellow Dead Keith and Donna Jean Godchaux) in Sebastopol, California. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Ride This ‘Trane: Blue Note Preps Complete Packages For Clifford Brown, Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane

The 75th anniversary campaign for Blue Note Records is continuing with a trio of titles from some of the venerable jazz label’s all-time greatest artists.  Following up on the recent deluxe presentation from Miles Davis of his Complete Blue Note Recordings, the label has announced new collections for Clifford Brown, John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk.  The Miles volume represented his complete Blue Note recordings as a leader, derived from his 10-inch LPs Young Man with a Horn, Miles Davis Volume 2 and Volume 3 as well as the alternate takes issued on the 12-inch LPs Miles Davis Volume 1 and Volume 2 and the expanded CD issues of those two releases.  In that spirit, each of the new sets will present the artists’ original recordings sequenced as they were first released on 10-inch or 78 RPM singles – a marked departure from previous CD versions, which have used recording chronology or later 12-inch versions of the albums for their sequencing.  Also like the Davis release, each of these Blue Note Select collections will be housed in hardbound book-style packaging with a new essay, session photos, and original album art elements.  For those preferring their jazz digital-style, all packages will also be made available as digital downloads.

The 3-CD set Brownie Speaks: The Complete Blue Note Recordings arrives from trumpet great Clifford Brown on June 10.  The set chronicles his three 10-inch albums from 1953 as recorded with trombonist J.J. Johnson (Jay Jay Johnson with Clifford Brown), saxophonist Lou Donaldson (New Faces New Sounds) and his own sextet (New Star on the Horizon).  It adds live recordings from New York’s fabled Birdland.  These performances were led by drummer Art Blakey, and feature Brown alongside Donaldson and pianist Horace Silver. Brownie Speaks presents the three original 10-inch album sequences for the first time since the mid-1950s, with the Birdland shows in their original performance sequence for the first time ever. The 34-page booklet includes a new essay by Kirk Silsbee.

Next up, on July 15, is another 3-CD set: John Coltrane and Friends’ Sideman: Trane’s Blue Note Sessions.  This set covers the period between 1956-1957 during which time saxophonist Coltrane was a member of the Miles Davis Quintet and was also playing with pianist Thelonious Monk (the subject of a future Blue Note Select project).  Sideman has been conceived by former Blue Note Records president Bruce Lundvall, and marks the first time Coltrane’s sideman sessions for Blue Note have been collected in one place.  (A similar collection, Side Steps, was issued collecting Coltrane’s Prestige Records sessions in 2009.)  These recordings include albums led by bassist Paul Chambers (Chambers’ Music, a.k.a. High Step, and Whims of Chambers), saxophonist Johnny Griffin (A Blowing Session) and pianist Sonny Clark (Sonny’s Crib). The entire set will be in mono, and premieres the mono version of Clark’s album on CD. The 34-page booklet boasts a new essay from Coltrane biographer and jazz historian Ashley Kahn, author of A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane’s Signature Album.

After the jump: details on Blue Note Select’s upcoming release from Thelonious Monk, plus track listings and pre-order links!

Favorite Things: Resonance Celebrates Wes Montgomery, Charles Lloyd For Record Store Day, Plans Lost John Coltrane Concert For Fall

Resonance Records, known for its deluxe archival packages of recently-discovered recordings from jazz greats including Bill Evans and Wes Montgomery, has a busy 2014 ahead. The label has recently announced plans for two Record Store Day releases with more unheard Montgomery music and one RSD exclusive with never-before-released material from Charles Lloyd.  Then, this fall, the label will premiere a live performance from John Coltrane for the first time on commercially released CD.

Resonance’s Echoes of Indiana Avenue preserved early 1957-1958 recordings from the influential guitarist Wes Montgomery, and as such was the first full collection of unheard Montgomery material in over 25 years. On Record Store Day – Saturday, April 19 – Resonance will issue two rare recordings from even earlier in the late artist’s career, both with the Montgomery-Johnson Quintet (Buddy, Monk and Wes Montgomery plus Alonzo Johnson on saxophone and Robert Johnson on drums).

Wes Montgomery and the Montgomery-Johnson Quintet is a limited edition 10-inch vinyl release produced in cooperation with Sony Music. Culled from a recently-discovered lost recording session for Epic Records, these recordings are amongst the earliest known recordings of Wes Montgomery and his brothers, plus the now-legendary Quincy Jones as a producer. Jones organized the session after knowing the Montgomery brothers through his tenure in the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, and it predates his 1957 debut album This is How I Feel About Jazz which was produced by Creed Taylor. Resonance has designed this release as it might have appeared in 1955 with vintage art, logos, and the classic period Epic label. Liner notes include highlights of an interview of Quincy Jones conducted by Ashley Kahn in 2013. These five songs (“Love for Sale, “Leila,” “Undecided,” “The Blues” and “Far Wes”) will also be featured on the 2-CD or 3-LP Resonance release Wes Montgomery: In The Beginning, due later this year. The RSD 10-inch vinyl collectible is limited to 2,000 copies.

It’s joined on RSD by Wes and the Montgomery-Johnson Quintet’s Live at the Turf Club. Sourced from recordings made by 22-year old Butler College student and devoted Montgomery Brothers fan Philip Kahl, Turf Club also makes its first-ever commercial appearance. Kahl had access to the brothers at this period of time, recording them at three different venues. (All three recordings will appear on In the Beginning.) The six tracks here were captured at Indianapolis’ Turf Club in 1956. On “Going Down To Big Mary’s House,” Debbie Andrews of Duke Ellington’s band drops in to supply guest vocals. Resonance first obtained these recordings in 2011 from Buddy Montgomery’s widow Ann, who also provided never-before-published photos taken at The Turf Club. Resonance tracked down the original quarter-inch tape reels, and Bernie Grundman was enlisted to remaster the music for optimal sound.  The RSD release of Live at the Turf Club is limited to 2,000 copies on “whiskey-colored” translucent 10-inch vinyl. The album features “Wes’s Tune”, “Fascinating Rhythm”, “Six Bridges to Cross”, “Down To Big Mary’s”, “Caravan” and “Django.”

Also on Record Store Day, Resonance unveils Live at Slugs from multi-instrumentalist (and to fans of The Beach Boys, “Feel Flows” flautist) Charles Lloyd.  Recorded at the long-gone Manhattan nightspot Slugs Saloon, Live at Slugs features Lloyd’s 1965 all-star quartet with guitarist Gabor Szabo, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Pete LaRoca.  Resonance describes the release:  “Slugs was a staple of the Manhattan Jazz Scene from 1965 to 1972, and was the intersection of music and counterculture. Live at Slugs was recorded by Swedish visionary Bjorn von Schlebrugge, who accompanied Lloyd to his Manhattan gigs. This release features the earliest recording of the Charles Lloyd classic composition “Dream Weaver,” (which would later be recorded with Keith Jarrett, Cecil McBee, and Jack DeJohnette for Atlantic Records on the album of the same name). The interplay between the musicians is remarkable, especially the musical dialogue between Lloyd and Szabo which goes back to their days together, playing with the late, great, Chico Hamilton. This special limited edition 10-inch record is to commemorate the upcoming Charles Lloyd release Manhattan Stories, out later this year on Resonance Records.”  The RSD-exclusive vinyl pressing at 33-1/3 RPM is limited to 2,000 copies worldwide.

After the jump: what does Resonance have planned from John Coltrane?  Plus: full track listings for all releases!

75 Years of Blue Note Records to Be Honored in Two Years of Reissues

Venerable jazz label Blue Note Records celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, and they’re celebrating well into the next year with an ambitious campaign that will see parent company Universal Music Group reissue dozens of titles on vinyl through 2015.

Founded in 1939 by mogul Alfred Lion and musician Max Margulis, Blue Note started as your average traditional jazz label before 1947, at which point the company started to focus on innovations in the genre, namely bebop and hard bop. Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Art Blakey, Fats Navarro, Hank Mobley, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, McCoy Tyner and Herbie Hancock are just a few names that recorded for the label at some point in their storied careers. The label began to fade by the late ’60s, when it was acquired by Liberty Records, which was in turn acquired by United Artists (the conglomerate of which was bought by EMI in 1979). However, an early CD-era reissue program saw the name revived in the mid-’80s, and the label became associated with many of Capitol-EMI’s jazz ventures since – most notably Come Away with Me, the Grammy-winning 2002 debut album by Norah Jones.

Of the ambitious venture to release classic albums from the Blue Note repertoire on vinyl, five at a time, between this March and October of 2015(!), label president and noted producer Don Was issued this statement:

Two years ago, we decided to begin remastering the jewels of the Blue Note catalog in hi-def resolutions of 96k and 192k. In order to develop a guiding artistic philosophy for this delicate endeavor, we donned our lab coats, ran dozens of sonic experiments and carefully referenced every generation of our reissues. Ultimately, we decided that our goal would be to protect the original intentions of the artists, producers and engineers who made these records and that, in the case of pre-digital-era albums, these intentions were best represented by the sound and feel of their first-edition vinyl releases. Working with a team of dedicated and groovy engineers, we found a sound that both captured the feel of the original records while maintaining the depth and transparency of the master tapes…the new remasters are really cool!

While these new versions will become available in Digital Hi Def, CD and the Mastered for iTunes formats, the allure of vinyl records is WAY too potent to ignore. This year, Blue Note – along with our friends at Universal Music Enterprises – is launching a major 75th Anniversary Vinyl Initiative that is dedicated to the proposition that our catalog should be readily available at a low cost – featuring high quality pressings and authentic reproductions of Blue Note’s iconic packaging. Beginning in March 2014, we’ll start rolling out five remastered vinyl reissues every month. Although this program begins in celebration of Blue Note’s 75th Anniversary, our catalog runs so deep that we will faithfully be reissuing five albums a month for many years to come!

The first two batches will be available in stores March 25 and April 22, featuring titles by Coltrane, Rollins, Hancock, Adderley, Wayne Shorter and more. Pre-order links for these vinyl reissues are after the jump; click here for the full list of planned titles!

Favorite Things: Concord Reissues, Expands John Coltrane’s “Afro Blue Impressions”

When John Coltrane’s Afro Blue Impressions was released on LP by Pablo Records in 1977, it marked the tenth anniversary of the saxophone great’s 1967 passing.  Capturing his classic quartet in its prime, Afro Blue was recorded live in 1963 in Stockholm and Berlin.  Now, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of its recording, and the fortieth anniversary of Pablo, Concord Music Group has remastered and expanded Afro Blue Impressions.

The roots of Coltrane’s great quartet can be traced to 1960.  By fall of that year, Coltrane’s group had coalesced with McCoy Tyner on piano, Elvin Jones on drums, and Steve Davis on bass.  The foursome recorded material released by Atlantic on Coltrane Jazz, Coltrane Plays the Blues, Coltrane’s Sound, and most notably, My Favorite Things.  The title track became a landmark in jazz, with Coltrane on soprano saxophone leading a tour de force modal interpretation of the then-recent Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway hit.  The transformation from bop to modal jazz (in which solos build from the key rather than from chord changes only) was a key one in Coltrane’s tragically-curtailed career.  By early 1961, Davis had been replaced by Reggie Workman on bass, and the following year saw Jimmy Garrison fill that role.  The classic John Coltrane Quartet line-up (1962-1965) was born.

Tyner, Garrison and Jones would support Coltrane as he experimented with more avant-garde free jazz forms.  The group reached its pinnacle with the 1965 album A Love Supreme.  Its marriage of free jazz and hard bop on yielded one of the most influential, and most successful, jazz albums of all time.  Afro Blue Impressions is imbued with this probing and adventurous style – haunting and creative, yes, but also accessible.  (“My Favorite Things,” in its first Atlantic recording by Coltrane, was even released as a single!)  These performances – with Coltrane on tenor and soprano saxes – pointed the way towards 1964’s dark Crescent as well as A Love Supreme.  The great impresario Norman Granz, founder of Pablo, not only produced the original album but also produced the concerts at which the recordings were made.

On Afro Blue Impressions, Coltrane can be heard on “My Favorite Things,” of course, reinventing Richard Rodgers’ melody (now regarded as a holiday perennial as well as a theatrical standard) in ways the composer surely never imagined.  Though the quartet also found room for Billy Eckstine’s “I Want to Talk About You” and Mongo Santamaria’s “Afro Blue,” most songs were Coltrane originals. These included reinterpretations of music from the classic Giant Steps (“Naima,” “Cousin Mary”), Crescent (“Lonnie’s Lament”), Live at the Village Vanguard (“Chasin’ the Trane,” “Spiritual”) and Impressions (its title track).  Most tracks were recorded in Berlin on November 2, 1963; “Spiritual” and “Impressions” hailed from an October 22, 1963 performance in Stockholm.

What will you find on this new edition?  Hit the jump for full details plus order links!

Release Round-Up: Week of August 20

Fleetwood Mac, Then Play On: Deluxe Edition / Fleetwood Mac: 1969-1972 (Warner Bros./Rhino)

The pre Buckingham-Nicks era of the Mac gets some love on CD and vinyl: their last Peter Green-led album from 1969 is expanded with bonus tracks, and it’s also included in a remastered vinyl box set with follow-ups Kiln House (1970), Future Games (1971) and Bare Trees (1972) (plus the 1969 single “Oh Well” on 45).

Then Play On: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
1969-1972: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Jimi Hendrix, The Jimi Hendrix Experience (Experience Hendrix/Legacy)

The famous “purple box” from 2000 – the first box set released in the official Experience Hendrix catalogue – is reissued with four extra tracks, including live material and rare non-LP B-side “The Stars That Play with Laughing Sam’s Dice.” (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Richard Pryor, The Studio Albums 1974-1983 (Warner Bros./Rhino)

A rather interesting discovery: Rhino has given the complete-albums-in-an-affordable-box treatment to Richard Pryor (whose Warner Bros. catalogue was rather generously sampled on Shout! Factory’s recent box set No Pryor Restraint). So this is essentially Rhino’s …And It’s Deep Too! box in a smaller package and without the bonus disc. Given the price of that long out-of-print box, the loss of the bonus disc is acceptable compared to the wealth of material herein. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

John Coltrane, Afro Blue Impressions (Pablo/Concord)

Recorded in Europe in 1963 and released in 1977, this double-disc offering of live ‘Trane is newly remastered and expanded with new liner notes and three unreleased bonus tracks. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The Staple Singers, This Time Around (Stax/Ace)

Previously unreleased on CD, this 1981 compilation features outtakes from 1970-1972 sweetened with overdubs from Herb Jimmerson, one half of Fantasy recording duo Paradise Express. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The Monkees, Headquarters: Deluxe Edition (Friday Music)

Rhino’s 2007 double-disc deluxe edition, featuring the 1967 album in stereo and mono mixes and a host of bonus tracks, is licensed and reissued by Friday Music. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The Lumineers, The Lumineers: Deluxe Edition (Duatone)

The “Ho Hey” folk rockers expand their album with unreleased tracks and a DVD. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Sarah McLachlan, Nas, Santana, Britney Spears, Bill WIthers, Tammy Wynette, The Essential (Legacy)

The latest entries in Legacy’s two-disc compilation series. (That feeling you’re experiencing is horror that Britney Spears has had enough time on the market to rack up enough material for The Essential series!)

Release Round-Up: Week of April 16

Shuggie Otis, Inspiration Information/Wings of Love (Epic/Legacy)

Nearly 40 years after Inspiration Information, Shuggie Otis’ second and most recent LP, the R&B singer/songwriter/guitarist returns with a greatly expanded double-disc edition of that album featuring material recorded in the intervening years. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

David Bowie, Aladdin Sane: 40th Anniversary Remaster (EMI)

Ziggy goes back to America in this newly-remastered straight reissue of the 1973 classic. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Blind Melon, Blind Melon: 20th Anniversary Edition (Capitol/UMe)

The alt-rock album that gave us “No Rain” is remastered and expanded with several unreleased studio tracks. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

John Coltrane, Sun Ship: The Complete Session (Verve Select)

One of ‘Trane’s last quartet recordings, released posthumously, is expanded as a two-disc set that covers every last second of the session that birthed the album. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Frankie Valli, Hits (Rhino Flashback)

A budget reissue of Valli’s solo hits compilation from 1978. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Dust, Hard Attack/Dust (Kama Sutra/Buddah/Legacy)

A newly-remastered single CD collecting both albums by the proto-heavy metal band (featuring a young Marc Bell, who ended the 1970s as Marky Ramone). (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Jack Jones, Our Song/For the “In” Crowd and Lady/Jack Jones Sings (Zone)

Four Kapp Records albums between 1966 and 1968 on two CDs from the crooner who welcomed us aboard The Love Boat later in his career!

‘Trane’s “Sun Ship” Sails Anew

On the heels of yesterday’s Sarah Vaughan set from Verve Select, we’ve got another upcoming title from the label for your enjoyment, too: an expansive edition of John Coltrane’s Sun Ship LP.

Recorded in 1965 but not released until 1971, years after Coltrane’s death, Sun Ship was notable for several reasons: it was one of the only sessions for ‘Trane’s quartet (bassist Jimmy Garrison, drummer Elvin Jones and pianist McCoy Tyner) recorded without engineer Rudy Van Gelder, and it was one of the last true “quartet” albums he cut, too. (First Meditations, recorded a week later but released in 1977, was the last.) Afterward, ‘Trane would experiment with larger ensembles, and within six months of Sun Ship‘s recording, Tyner and Jones had left. What remains, though, is one of several albums that shows the saxophonist starting to experiment with more elements of free jazz – slow burning, but intense, with much more focus on tones over tunes.

For the first time anywhere, Sun Ship: The Complete Session features the entire recording cut on August 26, 1965 with producer Bob Thiele, from start to finish. The two-disc set boasts over an hour of unheard music – all remastered in high-resolution audio – with plenty of alternate takes and even conversations between the band members. New liner notes by David Wild and rare photos by Chuck Jackson, who shot the image that appears on the LP sleeve, round out the package.

Available on April 16, you can order Sun Ship: The Complete Session below.

Sun Ship: The Complete Session (originally released as Impulse! AS-9211, 1971 – reissued Verve Select B0018075-02, 2013)

Disc 1

1. Dearly Beloved (Takes 1 & 2 – False Start and Alternate Version)
2. Dearly Beloved (Take 3 – Breakdown)
3. Dearly Beloved (Take 4) *
4. Attaining (Take 1 – Alternate)
5. Attaining (Take 2 – Breakdown)
6. Attaining (Take 3) *
7. Attaining (Take 4 – Insert) *
8. Sun Ship (Take 1 – Breakdown)
9. Sun Ship (Take 2 – Alternate)
10. Sun Ship (Take 3 – Insert)
11. Sun Ship (Take 4) *

Disc 2

1. Ascent (Take 1) *
2. Ascent (Take 2 – Incomplete Version)
3. Ascent (Take 3 – Incomplete Version)
4. Ascent (Take 3 (again) – Incomplete Version)
5. Ascent (Takes 4-6 – Inserts/False Starts)
6. Ascent (Take 7 – Complete Insert 4)
7. Ascent (Take 8 – Complete Insert 5)
8. Amen (Take 1 – Alternate)
9. Amen (Take 2) *

* denotes takes utilized for final album