XANADU Records

[Leeway]

I've picked up a number of Xanadu LPs recently, which got me curious about the history of the label. I know that Don Schlitten founded and operated it, although don't know much more than that.

I found an online Xanadu discography (to which our own Chck Nessa contributed):

Xanadu Discography

Looks like there are a lot of good albums that went away with the label. How much of this was picked up on other labels? Or is currently available?

Also, are there any particularly strong dates in the Xanadu catalog worth dearching out?

[Dan Gould]

I think some Xanadu dates made it to emusic, transferred from previously unplayed vinyl.

[Brad]

I have a few Xanadu cds and can reccomend them all:

Bud in Paris

Barry Harris Plays Tadd Dameron - really good

International Jam Sessions

Barry Harris - Live in Tokyo

Al Cohn and Dexter Gordon - True Blue - a truly outstanding disc

I have all the Bebop Revisited and they're all fantastic. I don't think they've been reissued on lp (a pity)

Great label.

[etherbored]

i would love to have barry harris plays barry harris...

-e-

[jazzydaddy]

In addition to the ones already mentioned I would say the Teddy Edwards (The Inimitable Teddy Edwards), Sonny Criss (Saturday Morning), Kenny Drew (For Sure; a quintet w/ Charles McPherson & Sam Noto) and all of the ones by Charles McPherson are well worth getting.

Xanadu did a nice job. It's a shame most of their releases have not been

reissued on CD.

Don

[brownie]

Wasn't the Onyx label a predecessor of Xanadu?

http://www.jazzdiscography.com/Labels/onyx.htm

Onyx reissued had-to-find albums. The album covers layout for the Onyx and Xanadu labels was very similar.

A shame that the material that Xanadu reissued from the Jerry Newman archives (Trumpet Battle at Minton's, Harlem Odyssey, Sweets, Lips & Lots of Jazz, Roy Eldridge at Jerry Newman's) is unavailable by now.

[Brad]

Xanadu did a nice job. It's a shame most of their releases have not been

reissued on CD.

Don

Some of them have by a company called Prevue.

[jazzydaddy]

Xanadu did a nice job.  It's a shame most of their releases have not been

reissued on CD.

  Don

Some of them have by a company called Prevue.

Yes Brad, I have maybe a half dozen of them including

Jimmy Heath's "A Picture of Heath" (Nice album!) and

Dolo Coker's "Dolo!". The latter is a gem; quintet date

with Harold Land and Blue Mitchell; you can't beat that combination!!!!!

It's unfortunate that Prevue stopped after releasing only a dozen or so

albums from the Xanadu catalog. Probably went belly up like all too many

who try to mix jazz with profits.

If my memory serves me right (I'm at my day job now)

Xanadu was the product of Don Schlitten who I believe

also produced some fine albums on the Muse label.

Don

[cliffpeterson]

epm reissued xanadu titles other than those issued by prevue. you can generally find the prevue cd reissues on ebay for a fair price. the tal farlow dates from a private recording have been reissued as one of those definitive label releases under a title like "the complete tal farlow private recordings."

[jazzydaddy]

epm reissued xanadu titles other than those issued by prevue.  you can generally find the prevue cd reissues on ebay for a fair price.  the tal farlow dates from a private recording have been reissued as one of those definitive label releases under a title like "the complete tal farlow private recordings."

Hi Cliff, thanks for the info.

Do you know of any original 1970's Xanadu releases that

were reissued by EPM or where their releases limited to

the older items that Xanadu had reissued on their label?

Thanks,

Don

[mikeweil]

Wasn't the Onyx label a predecessor of Xanadu?

http://www.jazzdiscography.com/Labels/onyx.htm

Onyx reissued had-to-find albums. The album covers layout for the Onyx and Xanadu labels was very similar.

A shame that the material that Xanadu reissued from the Jerry Newman archives (Trumpet Battle at Minton's, Harlem Odyssey, Sweets, Lips & Lots of Jazz, Roy Eldridge at Jerry Newman's) is unavailable by now.

Both labels were founded by Don Schlitten, IIRC. He originally ran Onyx during his time with Muse as a reissue label for historical material, but AFAIR there were some legal issues about the material - that is why most of the ONYX material remains OOP. (I may be wrong about the details ...) Xanadu was Schlitten's next label after his departure from Muse, the Silver series was the new recordings, the Gold series continued the Onyx series.

Some of it was on CD in France through EPM, some in Japan.

Unfortunately I have pretty few Xanadu LPs, and only one CD (the Jimmy Rowles). I regret I never got the Barry Harris albums, especially the one where he plays only Dameron tunes.

[brownie]

Thanks Mike. I happen to be listening to Barry Harris Plays Tadd Dameron right now. Next will probably be Barry Harris Plays Barry Harris. Beautiful albums.

Glad I bought many of those Xanadus when they came out. Which also enabled me to avoid those French CD reissues. Hate their cover design!

[Brad]

I just realized that I have the Dolo Coker Cd and that is an outstanding cd. That along with the Barry Harris cds and True Blue are probably the best although the Jimmy Raney Sonny Clark Cd, Together, is pretty fantastic.

[Chuck Nessa]

Onyx was a "murky" partnership between Schlitten and Joe Fields. Don also produced new sessions for Muse and the labels were marketed in tandem. After Joe and Don "divorced" the Onyx tapes and some unissued Muse sessions were tied up in a prolonged legal squabble. This was sorted out a few years back and Don put out an unissued Terry Gibbs lp before he stopped operations. Joe has issued some on the Onyx material on High Note.

My favorite sessions on Xanadu are the Al Cohn, Jimmy Raney and Sonny Criss dates.

[Leeway]

In addition to the ones already mentioned I would say the Teddy Edwards (The Inimitable Teddy Edwards), Sonny Criss (Saturday Morning), Kenny Drew (For Sure; a quintet w/ Charles McPherson & Sam Noto) and all of the ones by Charles McPherson are well worth getting.

Xanadu did a nice job. It's a shame most of their releases have not been

reissued on CD.

Don

It was McPherson's "Free Bop!" which I just picked up that got me to start this thread.

[mikeweil]

Onyx was a "murky" partnership between Schlitten and Joe Fields. Don also produced new sessions for Muse and the labels were marketed in tandem. After Joe and Don "divorced" the Onyx tapes and some unissued Muse sessions were tied up in a prolonged legal squabble. This was sorted out a few years back and Don put out an unissued Terry Gibbs lp before he stopped operations. Joe has issued some on the Onyx material on High Note.

Thanks for writing that up once more, Chuck.

Do you remember which label the Terry Gibbs was on?

I have that Sonny Criss - it is a very moving album!

[Bill Fenohr]

Mike,

If the Gibbs album was the one titled Bopstacle Course, it was on Xanadu, #210, with Barry Harris, Sam Jones and Alan Dawson. It was recorded in July 1974.

[robviti]

Mike,

If the Gibbs album was the one titled Bopstacle Course, it was on Xanadu, #210, with Barry Harris, Sam Jones and Alan Dawson. It was recorded in July 1974.

i have this on cd. it's excellent.

Edited December 14, 2004 by jazzshrink

[mikeweil]

Mike,

If the Gibbs album was the one titled Bopstacle Course, it was on Xanadu, #210, with Barry Harris, Sam Jones and Alan Dawson. It was recorded in July 1974.

A rare bird - never heard of this. Sounds good, with such a first-class rhythm section.

[Chuck Nessa]

Don produced the Gibbs for Muse but it was not issued by them. Don got the tapes as part of the split.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

My Favorite Xanadu dates are Billy Mitchell's "Colossus of Detriot" and "De Lawd's Blues" and Ronnie Cuber's 2 dates... although I do dig Sonny Criss's "Saturday Morning" and Jimmy Heath's "Picture of Heath". Hmm... and there's the Joe Farrell's "Skate Board Park". Actually that Dolo Coker date is pretty damn good too.

The Xanadu LPs I've been looking for are the live from Montreux dates they put out. They were listed at http://www.jazzatharbor.com for a while but that website seems to have gone belly up.

Later,

Kevin

[pryan]

Is that Paul Chambers/Hampton Hawes album available on CD?

[Brad]

I just picked up, coincidentally, the Al Cohn Barry Harris cd so looking forward to that.

[BFrank]

That Joe Farrell "Skateboard Park" album IS really good. Probably the last great thing he did.

I'm going to have to check out those Billy Mitchells. Thanks for the heads up there, Kevin.

For any of you who don't mind MP3's, it's true that eMusic carries quite a few Xanadu's - not the entire catalog, but a good representation. I believe they are all transferred from vinyl, but the sound is pretty anyway.

Here's the artist list:

Auld, George

Barron, Kenny

Berg, Bob

Butler, Frank

Clark, Sonny

Cohn, Al

Cohn, Al (Al Cohn And Barry Harris)

Cohn, Al (Al Cohn And Jimmy Rowles)

Coker, Dolo

Coleman, Earl

Criss, Sonny

Cuber, Ronnie

Dorham, Kenny

Dorham, Kenny (Kenny Dorham And Conte Candoli)

Drew, Kenny

Dunbar, Ted

Edison, Harry (Harry Edison / Hot Lips Page / Roy Eldridge)

Eldridge, Roy

Farlow, Tal

Farrell, Joe

Flanagan, Tommy

Gibbs, Terry

Gordon, Dexter

Gray, Wardell

Guy, Joe (Joe Guy And Hot Lips Page)

Harris, Barry

Hawes, Hampton

Hawkins, Coleman

Heath, Jimmy

Hines, Earl

Hines, Earl (Earl Hines And Roy Eldridge)

Jones, Sam

McPherson, Charles

Mitchell, Billy

Monterose, J. R.

Moody, James (James Moody And Bennie Green)

Most, Sam

Mover, Bob

Norvo, Red

Noto, Sam

Payne, Cecil (Cecil Payne And Duke Jordan)

Powell, Bud

Raney, Jimmy

Rodgers, Shorty (Shorty Rodgers And Art Pepper)

Rodney, Red

Rowles, Jimmy

Russell, Pee Wee

Sprague, Peter

Thompson, Lucky

Tucker, Mickey

Various Artists - Xanadu

FWIW, they do NOT have those Montreux albums. But they DO have "Silver Blue" - a three-tune jam session with Al Cohn, Dexter Gordon, Blue Mitchell, Sam Noto, Barry Harris, Sam Jones, Louis Hayes.

[mikeweil]

Is that Paul Chambers/Hampton Hawes album available on CD?

Hampton Hawes is not heard on that record, it's Paul Moer. It was a session recorded for VeeJay on the occasion of a Miles Davis Quintet visit to California, to feature Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones along with some West Coasters: Bill Perkins, Jack Montrose, and Paul Moer - Montrose and John Graas wrote the arrangements. Two tunes were recorded with Mel Lewis on drums as Philly Joe did not show up on the first day of recording. Don Schlitten somehow got hold of the tapes and released 7 of the 9 tracks with incorrect personnel and tune titles on that Xanadu LP.

The session was first issued completely with correct personnel and track titles on a British Affinity LP AFF 56 in 1980. IIRC there was a Charly CD of this, or on some Spanish label.