Verve Label Group is getting into the subscription vinyl game with the recently-announced Verve Record Club. The new monthly venture will offer fans new vinyl pressings of classic albums from the Verve, Impulse!, Mercury, CTI, Decca and MGM label catalogues, promising titles by John Coltrane, Nina Simone, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Bill Evans, Billie Holiday, Ahmad Jamal and Sarah Vaughan, to name a few. The new pressings will all be remastered from the original analog tapes by Ryan K.
Welcome to The Weekend Stream, a relaxing review of notable digital-only catalogue titles. There may be no CD or vinyl, but there's plenty of great new/old music to float you into the weekend. Today brings remixes from ABC, Madonna and Cypress Hill, plus rarities from Stan Getz and Julie Andrews! ABC, The Look of Love (Single) (Mercury/UMC) (iTunes / Amazon) Another single from the upcoming reissue of The Lexicon of Love; like last week's, it focuses on "The Look of Love" - arguably the
Bill Evans would have earned his place in the jazz history books if only for his role on Miles Davis' landmark 1959 set Kind of Blue. But the pianist-composer and modal jazz innovator recorded over 50 live and studio albums as a leader before his untimely death in 1980 at the age of just 51, leaving behind a legacy of some of the most beautiful jazz ever committed to tape. In addition to Davis, he also served as a sideman to musicians including Chet Baker, Cannonball Adderley, Charles Mingus,
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! America, Half Century (America Records/Gonzo) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) The 50th anniversary celebration of America rolls on with a massive new box set. Half Century is an expansive 7-CD/1-DVD box packed with rare and previously unreleased material from the beloved band featuring Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell, and the late Dan Peek. There's a slew of unreleased demos circa 1970; a remastered full-length radio session in Bremen
Verve Label Group and UMe have announced a new collaboration with the audiophile reissue label Acoustic Sounds that finds the team offering up what's said to be "definitive audiophile grade versions of some of the most historic and best jazz records ever recorded." It's set to launch this Friday, July 31, on August 28 with two classic duets albums: Stan Getz and João Gilberto's landmark Getz/Gilberto (featuring Astrud Gilberto) and the singular Louis Armstrong Meets Oscar
1962 is rightfully viewed as a breakthrough year for tenor saxophonist Stan Getz, the year in which he successfully brought the Brazilian bossa nova sound to the mainstream with guitarist Charlie Byrd on Jazz Samba. 1961, on the other hand, has receded as a kind of footnote in his musical history despite two strong albums: the orchestral jazz fusion Focus, with arranger Eddie Sauter (late of The Sauter-Finnegan Orchestra and later an in-demand orchestrator of such Broadway musicals as 1776),
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Johnny Mathis, Killing Me Softly with Her Song/When Will I See You Again (Second Disc Records/Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Second Disc Records and Real Gone Music continue celebrating Johnny Mathis' discography with two albums on one CD. 1973's Killing Me Softly with Her Song and 1975's When Will I See You Again both spotlight Mathis' silky interpretations of the day's greatest hits. Killing Me Softly with Her
Tenor saxophone legend Stan Getz's career spanned six decades in which he played with everyone from Antonio Carlos Jobim and Dizzy Gillespie to Barry Manilow and Huey Lewis. On June 14, Verve Records and UMe will take fans back to the evening of November 26, 1961, when Getz and his quartet comprising pianist Steve Kuhn, bassist John Neves, and drummer Roy Haynes took the stage at New York's Village Gate. The show was professionally recorded, possibly for release, but for one reason or another,
On December 7, Verve/UMe will release The Founder, a 4-CD box set in honor of Norman Granz's centennial earlier this year (August 6, 1918). The collection will also be available as a digital download and on streaming services. The set includes 44 tracks, some appearing on CD for the first time ever. It presents a chronological overview of the first two decades of the jazz impresario's impressive career by way of recordings of the musicians he recorded. The booklet includes new liner notes by
Verve/UME celebrate the career of a jazz impresario for the ages. As founder of the Clef, Norgran and Verve labels, Granz helped bring jazz to the masses and launched the careers of many of the genre's brightest stars. The 4-CD set includes 44 tracks, some appearing on CD for the first time ever. The booklet includes new liner notes by Tad Hershorn, author of Norman Granz: The Man Who Used Jazz For Justice. On the discs, you'll find incendiary performances by the likes of Coleman Hawkins
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! The Beatles, The Christmas Records (Capitol/Apple/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Happy Christmas, Beatle people! The Christmas Records, a seven-disc vinyl box set from the Fab Four, features colored 45 RPM recreations of the Beatles' original Christmas fan club flexi-discs (all single-sided except for the last two in 1968 and 1969). The original sleeve artwork has been recreated for each title, and an enclosed 16-page booklet
Resonance Records has recently tapped the archives of the fondly-remembered San Francisco jazz spot Keystone Korner for two valuable additions on compact disc and vinyl to the Stan Getz discography. The late tenor saxophone legend's appearances at the nightspot between May 11 and 16, 1976 have been culled to create two new albums. Moments in Time preserves nine performances from Getz's core sets, while its companion is even more special. Getz/Gilberto '76 is a new entry to the small but
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up with titles from legends of pop, jazz, country and more! Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto, Getz/Gilberto '76 (Resonance) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) In 1976, Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto reunited at San Francisco's Keystone Korner alongside pianist Joanne Brackeen, bassist Clint Houston and drummer Billy Hart. Their never-before-released set arrives in lavish fashion from Resonance Records on CD and vinyl. The deluxe CD includes a
That tall and tan and young and lovely “Girl from Ipanema” is back, thanks to Verve Records’ 50th Anniversary Edition of Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto’s Getz/Gilberto. In stores today, this new deluxe edition presents the seminal bossa nova album in both mono and stereo, with the mono mix appearing on CD for the very first time. In addition, this release retains the bonus tracks – single versions of “The Girl from Ipanema” and “Corcovado” – from Verve’s previous reissue. Bossa nova, translated,
Holland-Dozier-Holland: The Complete 45s Collection: Invictus/Hot Wax/Music Merchant 1969-1977 (Harmless) The H-D-H compositions/production didn't stop after the trio left Motown; they in fact created several labels and did an awful lot of work for them, as evidenced by this massive eight-disc box set of their works for three labels through the late '60s and '70s. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) KISS,
More than half a century after visionary music impresario Norman Granz founded his third and arguably most successful label, Verve Records, the label will be celebrated in style next month with a new book and a five-disc box set, The Sound of America: The Singles Collection. Granz had previously come to prominence in the jazz world a decade before, when he organized a diverse jam session of a concert at Los Angeles' Philharmonic Auditorium in 1944. This regular session turned into a
Today, The Second Disc remembers Phil Ramone. The multiple Grammy-winning producer, 79, died on Saturday, leaving behind a legacy of song from artists ranging from Barbra Streisand to Paul McCartney, Barry Manilow to The Band. Yet unlike so many of his contemporaries, Phil Ramone didn’t have a signature style. Instead of molding a band or singer to a preferred sonic specialty, he was a true architect of sound, tailoring each production to the individual artist. Ramone was equally comfortable
Following in the footsteps of Matthew Weiner’s 1960s drama Mad Men, Jack Orman’s Pan Am takes to the airwaves each week on ABC with a period-perfect recreation of the days when "the world's most experienced airline" ruled the skies. Now, the show’s impeccably-selected music can be yours to keep - and perhaps used as the soundtrack to your very own swinging cocktail party! - on Verve’s Pan Am: Music From and Inspired by the Original Series, due to arrive on January 17. How appropriate that one
Bossa nova, translated, literally means "new trend." And as 1964 began, with the British Invasion taking flight, America was also experiencing a Brazilian Invasion thanks to this new trend in popular music and jazz. Identified by gentle acoustic guitar and sometimes piano, and often adorned with subtle string or horn accents, bossa nova was based on the rhythms of the samba. It soon was adapted on stages from the concert hall to Broadway, spawned the "lounge" genre and influenced countless
This morning, Sony’s Legacy division kicked off a new catalogue initiative that’s sure to raise a few eyebrows! The Complete Album Collection box sets bring together an artist’s entire tenure at a label (in these cases, Columbia and RCA Victor) in one tidy box set, with albums in individual mini-LP sleeves. The first four artists to receive this treatment are The Byrds, Sam Cooke, Stan Getz and Return to Forever, and the boxes are available for pre-order now exclusively through PopMarket.
While Barry Manilow's fans patiently wait for 15 Minutes, his first album of all original material since 2001's Here at the Mayflower, Arista and Legacy will offer a chance to look back at some past moments in Manilow's long career. Duets compiles fifteen teamings, some more difficult to find than others, spanning the period between 1980 ("The Last Duet" with Lily Tomlin, from Barry) and 2008 ("Islands in the Stream" with Reba McEntire, from The Greatest Songs of the Eighties.) This 15-track
It's hard not to be skeptical over the fact that Catch Me If You Can, the amazing "true story of a real fake," is coming to Broadway. Modern musicals based on existing properties either hew too close to their original musical source material (if they were already rooted in song, like Footloose) or not close enough; consider Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, for instance. (Or don't!) The few songs this author's heard from the Catch Me musical score, sent on a promotional disc, are jaunty and fun
The Beatles, Love (iTunes Version) (Apple/EMI) Another Beatles album drops on iTunes: the 2006 soundtrack to the Cirque du Soleil attraction - and this version has two previously unreleased bonus tracks. (iTunes) Miles Davis, Bitches Brew Live (Columbia/Legacy) The jazz great lights up the Newport Jazz and Isle of Wight Festivals in this vintage compilation (Sony) The Stan Getz Quintets, The Clef & Norgran Studio Albums (Verve/Hip-o Select) A three-disc box collating Getz's early
Legacy's latest release schedule update promises three new titles in the Essential series: Paul Revere & The Raiders, Django Reinhardt and Eartha Kitt. All are going to be double disc sets, and specifically, the Raiders set (compiled by Bob Irwin of Sundazed Music) will feature some promo-only tracks and some mono single mixes. All are due on March 15. Concord has four new reissues of classic jazz titles also planned for March 15. They are Monk's Music (1958) by Thelonious Monk, Cal
Hip-o Select kicks off 2011 with a new set of early works by Stan Getz. Quintets: The Clef & Norgran Albums is three discs of Getz in his first recordings for Verve founder Norman Granz's earliest labels. Five 10" LPs are represented here, alongside some single and EP tracks and three previously unreleased alternate takes. If you can believe it, the set marks the CD debut of much of this material as well. Order the set from the label now and have a look at the track lists after the jump.