Upcoming Concord/Fantasy releases

[Bluerein]

Speaking of these pointless 2-fers....did anyone buy one (or more) of these? They are newly remastered in 2007. Any opinions on the sound is appreciated.

[J.A.W.]

alan lankalin, where are you?

I think you mean Alan Lankin.

[Christiern]

far be it for me to give those racist bastards at concord any "props" (which means "respect")....

Misguided label destroyers, yes, but "racists"?

Kindly explain.

[Chuck Nessa]

Might be referring to the Yoshi's tribute cd debacle.

[NaturalSoul]

Fantasy Records will release the jazz title of Blue Soul from Blue Mitchell, scheduling the disc for March 4. Fantasy also plans Sextet in New York from Cannonball Adderley on the same date.

....yawn....zzzzzzzz

Agreed. Anyone who wants those has already been able to pick up them, since they have been available forever. How about reissuing albums that haven't been on CD before? In particular the Prestige catalogue is far from exhausted yet. There are several albums each by people like Gene Ammons, Shirley Scott, Willis Jackson, Don Patterson and Johnny "Hammond" Smith that they could reissue, perhaps on twofers, instead of those pointless 70s twofers they just did.

I agree. One i'd love to see is Willis Jackson's 'Star Bag' with Trudy Pitts on organ.

[Hoppy T. Frog]

well i wasn't really alive back then but it seems to me that the whole establishment of concord was sort of a backlash against the avante loft kind of scene which was predominantly black at the time. seemed like concord was a reactionary label and then getting back to buttoned down boring jazz, are you tellng me they couldn't have cut some more albums with some guys who had paid their dues? there were plenty of players who probably would have been ok doing a concord-ish album but instead they were stuck dicking around sweden....

I'm pretty sure Concord's roster was almost entirely people who had paid their dues and were no longer on major labels, maybe with the exception of Scott Hamilton.

[Aggie87]

who the hell cares? what is the point of correcting that? how the hell do i know his name? if you looked at his screen name it looked like alanakainin or something. not that that was even his real name. i don't know the guy. he had a helpful website which i used often. i wish it was still there. do you feel better having corrected me over something so petty?

Whoa, somebody pee in your Wheaties this morning?

His screen name is/was Alankin. Hans wasn't wrong in correcting your chewy-like name mangling, IMO. And he wasn't rude about it, either.

[J.A.W.]

who the hell cares? what is the point of correcting that? how the hell do i know his name? if you looked at his screen name it looked like alanakainin or something. not that that was even his real name. i don't know the guy. he had a helpful website which i used often. i wish it was still there. do you feel better having corrected me over something so petty?

Spelling someone's name correctly is just a matter of respect. Apparently you don't care about that.

[Christiern]

well i wasn't really alive back then but it seems to me that the whole establishment of concord was sort of a backlash against the avante loft kind of scene which was predominantly black at the time. seemed like concord was a reactionary label and then getting back to buttoned down boring jazz, are you tellng me they couldn't have cut some more albums with some guys who had paid their dues? there were plenty of players who probably would have been ok doing a concord-ish album but instead they were stuck dicking around sweden....

If you weren't alive when Carl Jefferson established the Concord label, you were born after 1973, which may partly excuse you for having it all wrong. Carl's going into the record business had a lot to do with his love for the music and nothing to do with the avant garde loft scene. I suggest that you read up on it before you again point the finger at the wrong people.

[Man with the Golden Arm]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvINxJFOcCU

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

well i wasn't really alive back then but it seems to me that the whole establishment of concord was sort of a backlash against the avante loft kind of scene which was predominantly black at the time. seemed like concord was a reactionary label and then getting back to buttoned down boring jazz, are you tellng me they couldn't have cut some more albums with some guys who had paid their dues? there were plenty of players who probably would have been ok doing a concord-ish album but instead they were stuck dicking around sweden....

If you weren't alive when Carl Jefferson established the Concord label, you were born after 1973, which may partly excuse you for having it all wrong. Carl's going into the record business had a lot to do with his love for the music and nothing to do with the avant garde loft scene. I suggest that you read up on it before you again point the finger at the wrong people.

Of course, I'm not contradicting you, Chris, but I think I can understand what Donald is getting at, even though I wouldn't put it into the words he has. Concord albums, even when they feature some of my favourite musicians (Plas, Burrell, McDuff, Holloway and a few others), FEEL lame. And not too many of my favourite musicians ARE featured. Compared with the almost exactly contemporary efforts of Joe Fields, Concord really doesn't measure up, in my view. I have 21 Concord/Concord Picante albums; 220 on Joe's labels. OK, I think Joe has released more albums since 1972 than Concord, but it's a whole order of magnitude difference in my collection.

Now Carl may have deliberately decided not to make the kind of records I like, because he didn't like that kind of stuff. Fine; it's his business. But I DO wonder why.

MG

[Christiern]

Carl Jefferson owned a very successful car dealership in Concord, CA. Driven by his love for the music, he produced a festival in Concord. It, too, was successful, so he managed to have the town build a permanent stage for the Concord Jazz Festival. That led to recording. I don't recall the details--perhaps someone else can post them--but Carl had agreements with his artists that favored them. Of course he had his own taste in jazz and, of course, it was reflected in the Concord releases, but we should not hold that against him. All I know is that he put out a great number of fine albums and gave work to many artists. Whether they are "lame" really depends on one's yardstick--the bottom line is that they added many enduring performances to the jazz and borderline jazz catalogs.

[Chuck Nessa]

None of this really matters in consideration of the current Concord. After Carl's death the company holdings have shifted from corporation to corporation. They now seem to be a relatively faceless holding company with a bunch of assets they are trying to exploit. The current crew seems to want to do the right thing but ultimately choose dollars over artistry. In their defense they will say this is necessary to survive and at this point I'm not willing to argue the point.

[felser]

1 - I think we're way off the mark to take any shots at Carl Jefferson. He had a clear vision, a clear love of the jazz he loved, and he executed on that beautifully. His Concord stayed true to itself, you didn't have to worry about the "sell out". If the Concord vision isn't exactly what I would have wanted my dream company to be, well, so what? No different than ECM, Windham Hill, Pablo, in the sense that they are companies with a great integrity towards bodies of music I have very mixed (not to say totally negative, there's some great stuff on each label) feelings about. For that matter, Fantasy wasn't such a great jazz company either. A few wonderful early 50's Brubecks, some cool Cal Tjader, and what? The issue at hand is them as holding companies of Prestige/Riverside/Milestone. Which Fantasy did marverlously and Concord has mixed early returns (Trane, Stitt, Evans, Miles Quintet boxes good, ad infinitum reissues of same titles and lame collections bad). And that has NOTHING to do with Carl Jefferson, who fought the good fight.

2 - Alan Lankin really is Alan Lankin. I know him personally.

3 - Dumpy Mama (who isn't really named Donald Peterson either, but I'll keep the secret) is a great guy. He messes with my name all the time in posts on purpose, and I love it. Nicknames are a sign of collegiality, not of disrespect. I'd hate to see this place get so stiff we couldn't have fun like that. I'm sure he was stunned by the attack on him about the nickname for Alan. I would have been.

[Daniel A]

Nicknames are a sign of collegiality, not of disrespect. I'd hate to see this place get so stiff we couldn't have fun like that. I'm sure he was stunned by the attack on him about the nickname for Alan. I would have been.

Attack??!

I'd hate to see this place become something where you can't correct someone misspelling a name without getting back foul words. Correcting spelling in general and correcting spelling of names are two very different things IMO.

[brownie]

Nicknames are a sign of collegiality, not of disrespect. I'd hate to see this place get so stiff we couldn't have fun like that. I'm sure he was stunned by the attack on him about the nickname for Alan. I would have been.

Attack??!

I'd hate to see this place become something where you can't correct someone misspelling a name without getting back foul words. Correcting spelling in general and correcting spelling of names are two very different things IMO.

Well said! The attack on J.A.W. was totally inappropriate!

[Tony Pusey]

And Dumpy- some of us are still dicking around Sweden!

[Niko]

what i find so strange about their current reissue program is how greatly the expertise varies between the different branches of the reissue program, there is the Keepnews edition which is maybe a little smaller than i would wish, but there are titles that have been unavailable in there, some new extra trakcs like on the Jimmy Heath or Wes Montgomery..., then there is the RVG edition which would maybe be more impressive if there hadn't been OJCs but which at least i would consider a reasonably interesting reissue program and then there are these new 2fers... seems hard believe that for instance, the person who did the Roland Kirk 2fer talked to the person behind the Keepnews edition (Keepnews himself?) during a coffee break and the latter person said, great idea, that you will put out another version of Kirk's Works...

[Jim Alfredson]

3 - Dumpy Mama (who isn't really named Donald Peterson either, but I'll keep the secret) is a great guy. He messes with my name all the time in posts on purpose, and I love it. Nicknames are a sign of collegiality, not of disrespect. I'd hate to see this place get so stiff we couldn't have fun like that. I'm sure he was stunned by the attack on him about the nickname for Alan. I would have been.

Maybe, but is it too much to ask for an adult response instead of a "who fucking cares, dude! fuck you!" type of reply?

I'm getting tired of the childish postings around here. How about a little respect for our fellow posters?

[Aggie87]

From Musictap:

Fantasy Records will re-reissue a Miles Davis title, Bag’s Groove (1954), on April 1. They will reissue Rollins Plays for Bird (1956) from Sonny Rollins on the same date.

Also - great news:

Concord Jazz has already penciled in Charlie Brown TV Themes from David Benoit, putting this on the calendar for release on April 15. Concord will also release Rhythm and Romance from Kenny G on February 5.

Edited October 31, 2007 by Aggie87

[Ron S]

This could mean that they'll need to free up warehouse space and dump some more old box sets and OJCs at super-bargain prices.

On second thought, I won't hold my breath.

[RDK]

From Musictap:

Fantasy Records will re-reissue a Miles Davis title, Bag’s Groove (1954), on April 1. They will reissue Rollins Plays for Bird (1956) from Sonny Rollins on the same date.

Also - great news:

Concord Jazz has already penciled in Charlie Brown TV Themes from David Benoit, putting this on the calendar for release on April 15. Concord will also release Rhythm and Romance from Kenny G on February 5.

Geez. I'm almost more excited by the Benoit. Almost.

[mikeweil]

I'd say the Keepnews series is okay 'cause he knows his stuff. Still one could wonder why the series includes sessions that are still available as OJCs ....

The RVG works because RVG knows his stuff - I suppose he has a hand in chosing the titles, or there is someone who knows the catalogue.

The remainder looks like it's done by a new team that has no idea what this huge catalogue is all about and doesn't even care to look what's available and what's not. I cannot follow the mind who brought up the idea of reissuing those twofer LP compilations on CD. I dare not think any farther into the future of the label.

[Tony Pusey]

I ordered the Keepnews version of Monk at the Town Hall at my favourite bricks and morter- they had difficulty finding it on the computer, but found it eventually as released in february 2007 (?), a bit early I thought but, well anything is possible from Concord, so imagine my delight when the old OJC turned up!

Edited November 1, 2007 by Tony Pusey

[mikeweil]

I had a listen today at my retailer to the Pre-Rahsaan CD - the credits say it is a new remastering by Joe Tarrantino, and it sounds indeed very good, and can compete with the RVG.

Saturn in Frankfurt sells it at € 9,99! That means, you get two sessions for the price of one! Wish I hadn't already bought the RVG of Funk Underneath!