A vanguard is, by definition, a position at the forefront of new ideas or developments. And in the fertile musical stomping ground of the early 1960s, some of the newest, most avant-garde ideas were being espoused on the Vanguard Records label. Yet these so-called radical, even "dangerous" thoughts were being espoused in forms so traditional, they might have seemed as old as time. Vanguard was formed in 1950 by Maynard and Seymour Solomon as a classical label and later moved into jazz. The
Rounder Records, the pioneering American roots music label, is in the midst of its 45th anniversary celebration. Over the past months, the Cambridge-founded, Nashville-based Rounder has been making titles from its deep catalogue available as digital downloads. Last month, the label threw a Mardi Gras party with digital reissues of R&B, blues, jazz and Cajun music of the Crescent City. This month, the 51-time Grammy-winning Rounder - since 2010 under the umbrella of the Concord Music Group
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Packed with over 30 titles including highly-anticipated reissues, a slew of box sets, collections and more, it just may be the mightiest of the year! The Velvet Underground, Loaded: Re-Loaded 45th Anniversary Edition (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) The Velvet Underground's 1970 album - and Lou Reed's swansong with the band - gets the deluxe expanded treatment from Rhino in this new box set featuring the original stereo and mono
The Bottom Line Archive Series, preserving performances from the late, renowned New York club, will roll out a new trio of releases on October 30. Joining previous entries from artists including The Brecker Brothers, Harry Chapin and Janis Ian are new titles from Tony Orlando, Doc Watson, and the duo of Pete Seeger and Roger McGuinn. One 1994 evening at The Bottom Line, famed disk jockey Vin Scelsa joined folk legend Pete Seeger and The Byrds' Roger McGuinn for one-of-a-kind exchange of