Art Farmer – Portrait of Art Farmer – Contemporary Records (Acoustic Sounds Series) 180g Vinyl
Acoustic Sounds and Contemporary Records present this new reissue of iconic jazz trumpet player Art Farmer’s 1958 Contemporary Records debut, “Portrait of Art Farmer”. Featuring Hank Jones (piano), Addison Farmer (bass) and Roy Haynes (drums) with this edition pressed on 180-gram vinyl pressed at QRP with (AAA) lacquers cut from the original tapes by Bernie Grundman. It is presented in a tip-on jacket.
Art Pepper – Gettin’ Together – Contemporary Records (Acoustic Sounds Series) 180g Vinyl
Continuing Craft Recordings’ celebration of seminal jazz artists from Contemporary Records
This new edition, released as part of the Contemporary Records Acoustic Sounds Series, features (AAA) lacquers cut from the original master tapes by Bernie Grundman and is pressed on 180-gram vinyl at QRP, and presented in a Stoughton Printing tip-on jacket.
Art Pepper – Intensity – Contemporary Records (Acoustic Sounds Series) 180g Vinyl
ART PEPPER + Eleven – Contemporary Records (Acoustic Sounds Series)180g Vinyl
Throughout the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, Lester Koenig’s artist-friendly Los Angeles-based audiophile jazz label documented career-defining performances by some of modern jazz’s most influential and accomplished improvisers, including Ornette Coleman, Sonny Rollins, Harold Land and Benny Golson. No musician is more closely identified with Contemporary than Pepper, whose cool tone and simmering lyricism made him one of the very few mid-century alto saxophonists to forge a path independent of bebop patriarch Charlie Parker’s pervasive influence.
Produced by Koenig and recorded in 1959, Art Pepper +Eleven: Modern Jazz Classics is one of the saxophonist’s masterpieces. Featuring brilliant arrangements by Marty Paich, the album elaborates on the lush but lithe sound introduced by the epochal Birth of the Cool sessions, which Miles Davis started to record almost exactly a decade earlier (like Birth, +Eleven kick offs with Denzil Best’s “Move”). Surrounded by the cream of the LA scene, including fellow saxophone masters Herb Geller, Bill Perkins and Med Flory, Pepper brings all his scorching lyricism to a program of modern jazz standards by Horace Silver, Thelonious Monk, Gerry Mulligan and Sonny Rollins.
Art Taylor – Taylor’s Wailers – Analogue Productions (Prestige 7117) 180g Vinyl
In 1956 drummer Art Taylor formed a group called Taylor’s Wailers. Donald Byrd and Charlie Rouse were members of the working group that debuted at The Pad, a Greenwich Village nightclub on Sheridan Square booked by Bob Reisner, the man who had run the legendary Open Door Sessions. In 1957 Taylor recorded the Wailers for Prestige, adding the alto saxophone of Jackie McLean to the front line. Two of the highlights are the Thelonious Monk compositions, “Well, You Needn’t” and “Off Minor,” with arrangements by Thelonious himself. One track, “C.T.A.,” by Jimmy Heath, is from another session featuring John Coltrane backed by Red Garland, Paul Chambers, and Taylor, a potent Prestige studio combination in those days. There have been many distinguished drummer-leaders in jazz. One expects their groups to be rhythmically exciting. Taylor’s Wailers are no exception to this swinging heritage.
Audiophile Masters Volume I – PS Audio SACD
A stunning new collection of great music and breathtaking recordings direct from the DSD masters.
Ten of the best recordings we have ever made. From the beautiful piano stylings of Don Grusin, to the rich and fiery guitar work of Kyle Donovan and Taylor Sims.
If you love great, well recorded music, then this is the album for you.
Ben Webster – At the Renaissance – Concord Records 180g Vinyl
Ben Webster – Gentle Ben Analogue Productions 200g 45RPM Vinyl
"The soundstage is intimate and inviting, Webster's horn beautifully captured with sweet, rich overtornes, the bass liquid, chugging, and textured, piano and drums easy and natural. As with each title, the music emerges from QRP's beautifully flat and wonderfully silent surfaces with that much more "there-ness." Sonics = 4/5; Music = 3.5/5 — Wayne Garcia, The Absolute Sound, January 2013
Ben Webster – See You at the Fair (Verve Acoustic Sounds) 180g Vinyl LP Gatefold Sleeve
Ben Webster’s final American recording was one of his greatest. At 55, the tenor saxophonist was still very much in his prime but considered out of style in the U.S. He would soon permanently move to Europe where he was better appreciated. Webster’s tone has rarely sounded more beautiful than on “Someone to Watch Over Me” and “Our Love Is Here to Stay.”
Ben Webster Meets Oscar Peterson (Acoustic Sounds) 180g 1LP Gatefold Sleeve
Ben Webster was, without a doubt, one of the most important and influential tenor saxophonists in jazz.
Ben Webster Meets Oscar Peterson features some of his finest collaborations with Oscar Peterson, who Webster often stated was his favourite accompanist.
Verve’s Acoustic Sounds Series features transfers from analog tapes and remastered 180-gram vinyl in deluxe gatefold packaging.
