Today, the Vinyl Me Please record club celebrates its 100th Essential Record of the Month. The club’s flagship line, the monthly Essentials program has encompassed titles from a wide variety of artists including John Prine, Aretha Franklin, Jorge Ben, Van Morrison, Mavis Staples, Miles Davis, Fiona Apple, Billie Holiday, The Notorious B.I.G., and Loretta Lynn. While VMP also offers Classics (Soul, Blues, and Jazz), Hip-Hop, and Country tracks (the latter a new addition for 2021), the Essentials line remains the cornerstone. Now, to commemorate 100 releases since VMP’s founding in 2013, ten…
A Bandcamp Friday with Prestige: Classic Jazz Label Added to Indie Music Service
Just one recommendation of sorts for April 2021’s Bandcamp Friday – but it’s a big one: 61 great albums from Prestige Records are now available to stream and download on the service. Founded by Bob Weinstock in 1949, Prestige was an early home for some of the mid-century’s most revolutionary jazz figures, including Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz and Thelonious Monk. The label’s output, much of it impeccably recorded by engineer Rudy Van Gelder, was a haven as hard bop gained prominence in the ’50 and free jazz helped…
Better Get Hit In Yo’ Soul: 60 Years of Impulse! Records Celebrated On New CD, LP Box Set
Since its initial 1961 releases produced by founder Creed Taylor, Impulse! Records has been synonymous with excellence in jazz. “The House That Trane Built” was stylish both in packaging (with its distinctive orange-and-black color scheme and exclamation point) and content, with a remarkable artist roster boasting not only John Coltrane but Charles Mingus, Ray Charles, Archie Shepp, Alice Coltrane, Quincy Jones, McCoy Tyner, Gil Evans, Oliver Nelson, Duke Ellington, Johnny Hartman, and Pharoah Sanders. On Friday, Impulse! and UMe announced a 60th anniversary celebration of the still-active label encompassing a new box…
Like Someone In Love: Craft Recordings Launches New “Small Batch” Audiophile Vinyl Series With John Coltrane’s “Lush Life”
Craft Recordings has announced a new series of specially curated and high-quality vinyl reissues: the Small Batch collection. It kicks off with a new pressing of John Coltrane’s Lush Life, due February 19. Each limited edition release in the Craft Recordings Small Batch series is a deluxe affair, combining audiophile-approved mastering techniques, a special vinyl lacquering process, and stunning design – adding up to what the label promises is the highest quality listening experience. The albums in the series will undergo all-analog remastering, the results of which will be pressed onto special…
Release Round-Up: Week of September 18
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! John Coltrane, Giant Steps: 60th Anniversary Edition (Rhino) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada John Coltrane’s 1960 Atlantic debut was entitled Giant Steps, and indeed, that’s what the saxophonist took on this groundbreaking album. Intense, dark, probing: the color of his saxophone was all his own. Rhino is celebrating 60 years of Giant Steps with a multi-format anniversary edition encompassing 2-LP and 2-CD sets as well as a digital Super Deluxe Edition for streaming or download. Both the CD & 2-LP editions include a newly remastered…
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Countdown: Rhino Celebrates 60 Years of John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps”
John Coltrane’s 1960 Atlantic debut was entitled Giant Steps, and indeed, that’s what the saxophonist took on this groundbreaking album. Intense, dark, probing: the color of his saxophone was all his own. On September 18, Rhino will celebrate 60 years of Giant Steps with a multi-format anniversary edition encompassing 2-LP and 2-CD sets as well as a digital Super Deluxe Edition for streaming or download. An early innovator in bebop and hard bop and later a groundbreaker in modal and free jazz, Coltrane eventually became known for his deeply spiritual, moody, avant-garde explorations…
A New Sound: El Collects the Far-Out Music That Inspired Sixties Rock
For years, the El imprint of Cherry Red has been collecting all the strangest and most fascinating avant-garde classical pieces, electronic experiments, and oddball rarities for a fervent group of admirers. Though their releases can be a little esoteric, El’s collections have always been able to welcome in new listeners. And now, they offer what might be the essential introduction to twentieth-century avant-garde and classical (at least for listeners tuned to popular music). It’s called I’d Love To Turn You On: Classical and Avant-Garde Music That Inspired The Counter-Culture, and it’s in…
Release Round-Up: Week of September 27
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! The Beatles, Abbey Road: Anniversary Edition [Various Formats] (Apple/UMe) Super Deluxe 3CD/Blu-ray: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Deluxe 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 1LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Abbey Road celebrates 50 with a variety of editions built around a new 2019 stereo mix by Giles Martin and Sam Okell. The centerpiece of the campaign, a 3CD/1BD box,…
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Traneing In: Never-Before-Released John Coltrane Tapes Set To Arrive on “Blue World”
Jazz aficionados worldwide have good reason to celebrate with the news of a new John Coltrane album that features lost performances from 1964! The album arrives on September 27 through Verve/Impulse! and is entitled Blue World. The 8-song collection features Coltrane’s “Classic Quartet” as recorded in a newly unearthed session at Rudy Van Gelder’s studio in June of that year. The sessions that make up Blue World were commissioned by Quebecois filmmaker Gille Groulx, a rabid Coltrane fan who was intent on getting the musician to score his love film Le chat…
Release Round-Up: Week of March 29
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up. Here’s what’s due for March 29! John Coltrane, Coltrane ’58: The Prestige Recordings [5 CD] (Craft Recordings) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) The year 1958 was a breakout one for saxophone legend John Coltrane. It marked the year when Coltrane–already well-established as a talented sideman–began to make a name for himself as a solo musician and developed his signature “sheets of sound” style while exploring many other routes. To mark the 70th anniversary of Prestige, Coltrane’s complete 1958 recordings are released today on…
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Invitation: John Coltrane’s First Year Celebrated With “Coltrane ’58: The Prestige Recordings”
The year 1958 was a breakout one for saxophone legend John Coltrane. It marked the year when Coltrane – already well-established as a talented sideman – began to make a name for himself as a solo musician and developed his signature “sheets of sound” style while exploring many other routes. Now, to mark the 70th anniversary of the Prestige label, Coltrane’s 1958 recordings will be celebrated on a new box set from Craft Recordings. Due for release on March 29, Coltrane ’58: The Prestige Recordings brings together the 37 tracks recorded he for…
Release Round-Up: Week of November 16
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Fleetwood Mac, 50 Years: Don’t Stop (Warner Bros./Rhino) 3CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 5LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada In celebration of its 50 years, Fleetwood Mac is issuing a new career-spanning collection featuring 50 songs on either 3 CDs or 5 LPs. These include hits, favorites, and a smattering of rarities such as the CD premiere of 2013’s “Sad Angel” from the digital release Extended Play. A 1-CD distillation…
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They Say It’s Wonderful: Impulse! Collects John Coltrane Takes on “1963: New Directions” CD and LP Sets
Jazz historians have long designated 1963 as a pivotal year in the genre’s history, thanks in no small part to John Coltrane’s indelible contributions to jazz that year. In the summer, Impulse! stunned jazz fans worldwide when they unveiled a lost Coltrane artifact, entitled Both Directions at Once, that reaffirmed Coltrane’s excellence. The unreleased recording session within showed the saxophonist wholeheartedly exploring new territories in jazz. Though that session remained unreleased for 50+ years, Coltrane released an impressive four albums on Impulse! in 1963, also recorded a live album at Birdland that…
Release Round-Up: Week of June 29
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! The Supremes, Sing Holland-Dozier-Holland: Expanded Edition (Motown/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) The Supremes’ smash 1967 album featuring “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” and “Love Is Here and Now You’re Gone” gets a must-have 2-CD deluxe treatment, including the original mono and stereo albums, rarities, outtakes, remixes, and a live set from The Copacabana in 1967 featuring one of the last joint performances of Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, and Florence Ballard! Read more here! Guns N’ Roses, Appetite for Destruction [Various Formats] (Geffen/UMe) 1CD:…
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One Up, One Down: Lost 1963 John Coltrane Album Premieres In June
2018 has already seen the announcement of never-before-heard recordings by the late legends Prince and Bobby Darin. Now, a third artist joins that elite club with Impulse! Records’ discovery of a lost 1963 album from The John Coltrane Quartet. Saxophone titan Coltrane was joined by Jimmy Garrison on double bass, Elvin Jones on drums, and McCoy Tyner on piano – the same group behind the monumental A Love Supreme and other Coltrane classics – for a March 6, 1963 session that will see release on June 29 as Both Directions at Once:…
Release Round-Up: Week of March 23
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Miles Davis and John Coltrane, The Final Tour: Bootleg Series Vol. 6 (Columbia/Legacy) 4CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Copenhagen LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada This latest volume of Miles Davis’ Bootleg Series brings together five performances by Davis and John Coltrane recorded during the Spring 1960 Jazz at the Philharmonic European Tour, Coltrane’s final such outing as a sideman: two shows from Paris’s L’Olympia Theater on Monday, March 21; two shows from the next night at Stockholm’s Konserthuset; and one from Copenhagen’s Tivolis Koncertsal three days later, on…
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‘Round Midnight: Miles Davis’ New “Bootleg Series” Volume Offers Concerts with Coltrane
The Miles Davis Bootleg Series is returning with a vengeance in 2018. On March 23, Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings will journey back to one of the legendary musician’s most cherished collaborations with the release of Miles Davis & John Coltrane – The Final Tour: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 6. This landmark set brings together five performances recorded during the Spring 1960 Jazz at the Philharmonic European Tour, Coltrane’s final such outing as a sideman: two shows from Paris’s L’Olympia Theater on Monday, March 21; two shows from the next night at…
Release Round-Up: Week of June 9
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Glen Campbell, Adios (UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Glen Campbell’s final recordings, produced by his longtime band member Carl Jackson, comprise this release. Selections include the lead-off single “Everybody’s Talkin’,” and four songs by Jimmy Webb (including the touching title track as well as “Postcard from Paris,” “Just Like Always” and “It Won’t Bring Her Back”), plus compositions from Bob Dylan, Jerry Reed, Dickey Lee, and Roger Miller. The late Miller is heard is on his demo of “Am I Alone (Or…
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Masters of Their Craft: Concord Assembles New Reissue Label
Concord Bicycle Music has been an aggressive recent player in catalogue music. The indie giant has succeeded with a variety of jazz, soul and rock titles, controlling such labels as Fantasy, Stax and Wind-Up Records; elsewhere, they’ve brought the Traveling Wilburys discography back into print and signed a bold deal with R.E.M. to distribute their Warner Bros.-era masters, from 1988 to their final bow in 2011. With all this activity, Concord’s latest step was inevitable: they announced last week the founding of Craft Recordings, a label to handle their back catalogue affairs….
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Holiday Gift Guide Review: John Coltrane, “The Atlantic Years in Mono”
John Coltrane’s tenure at Atlantic Records was a short one – from January 1959 to May 1961 – yielding just four albums in that period, and then another four through mid-1966. One year later, the saxophone great was gone; in the years since, Atlantic continued to mine his recordings for the label including on two posthumously-issued LPs from 1970 and 1975. Of Trane’s original albums for Atlantic, most were first experienced in mono, and it’s those releases that form the basis of Rhino’s recent box set John Coltrane – The Atlantic Years…
Release Round-Up: Week of July 8
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! John Coltrane, The Atlantic Years in Mono (Atlantic/Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Rhino’s new box set, available on both CD and LP, includes original mono mixes of Trane’s Giant Steps; Bags & Trane (with Milt Jackson); Ole Coltrane; Coltrane Plays The Blues and The Avant Garde (with Don Cherry) plus one disc of outtakes. All of these remastered albums are housed in replica jackets and a 32-page booklet is also included with new liner notes by Ashley Kahn and photos by Lee Friedlander. The CD version has…
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Release Round-Up: Week of June 10
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, with some of the most high-profile releases yet for 2016! The Beach Boys, Pet Sounds 50 (Various Editions) (Capitol/UMe) 4-CD/1-BD Deluxe Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2-CD Deluxe Edition (CD 1 + highlights from 4-CD set): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Mono 180-Gram Vinyl Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Stereo 180-Gram Vinyl Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada The Beach Boys’ landmark 1966 album Pet Sounds is turning 50, and Capitol/UMe is celebrating…
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Release Round-Up: Week of November 20
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up which continues this autumn’s tradition of having each week packed with box sets from heavy hitters – in this case, The Rolling Stones, The Velvet Underground, The Who, Queen, Grateful Dead, Frank Sinatra, and they’re still not all! Plus: CD and vinyl reissues, anthologies, and much more! The Beach Boys, Beach Boys’ Party: Uncovered and Unplugged (Capitol) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) The first disc of this 2-CD, 81-track set features the original 1965 Beach Boys Party! album as remixed in original, pre-overdubbed form and then…
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Acknowledgement: John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” Goes Super Deluxe With “Complete Masters”
John Coltrane’s essential jazz masterpiece, A Love Supreme, is getting the red-carpet treatment for its 50th anniversary, expanded to three discs in A Love Supreme: The Complete Masters. A fusion of Coltrane’s early hard bop and later free jazz styles, A Love Supreme is an arresting four-part suite inspired in part by Coltrane’s increasing faith, after a near-overdose some years before. Coltrane’s tenor saxophone conveys his gratitude to a higher power through a repeating four-note motif (later accompanied literally by Coltrane himself, through vocal overdubs). The album’s closing “Psalm” features a “musical…
Seven Steps to Heaven: Miles Davis’ Bootleg Series Continues With “Newport 1955-1975”
Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings are headed to Newport with Miles Davis. The Friday, July 17 release of Miles Davis at Newport 1955-1975: The Bootleg Series Vol. 4 chronicles the evolution of Davis’ style as it treks from 1955 to 1975 with live performances from the Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island as well as New York City, Berlin, and Switzerland. The set arrives sixty years to the day of the first performance it includes (July 17, 1955) and just before this summer’s annual Fest, to be held on July 31-August 2….
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Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention
September 25, 2026
