Interesting reissues from Fresh Sound

[mikeweil]

http://www.freshsoundrecords.com/newreleases.php

Scroll down beyond the Fresh Sound New Talent releases.

Among others, there is:

- the Hank Jones solo piano album for Savoy, that Denon never got around to reissue

- the Hank Jones trio sides for Savoy with Kenny Clarke

- the early Carmen McRae sessions with all-star accompaniment, half an LP each for Bethlehem and Decca

- the A.K. Salim Savoy sessions !!!!! (but without the alternate takes from a US reissue of "Pretty for the People")

- the Chico Hamilton Trio !!!! including the two tracks from the original Pacific Jazz 10" LP that were left off the 12" LP reissue and the Japanese LPs (with Howard Roberts, or Jim Hall, and George Duvivier)

- the Gil Mellé Prestige sides (see separate thread)

[king ubu]

Hm, the McRae was out in the US on Rhino/Avenue jazz's Bethlehem series some years ago. It included some alternates to beef up the disc to decent total time (the original was a 10" album). There are some issues there about the line-ups I think, but I don't have the disc at hand (a good Bethlehem disco would be very helpful anyway - though I do remember there being one good site, I think a Japanese one, the info on Jazzdisco is rotten).

[BruceH]

That "Westlake Bounce" album looks interesting.

[AllenLowe]

the Hank Jones solo is his best work, IMHO -

[mikeweil]

the Hank Jones solo is his best work, IMHO -

... agreed - like it much better than his earlier solos and trios for Norman Granz.

I still have the French LP reissue, an equivalent to the US Savoy Jazz LP reissue. The sound is a little hazy, like it were dubbed from vinyl ... maybe the tapes are lost and that's the reason Denon never got around to do a CD of this fine LP.

I wonder what the Fresh Sound CD sounds like - as soon as it is in my favorite Frankfurt store I will give it a listen.

[jazzbo]

Sound is very good on the A. K. Salim which includes the "Stablemates" side of Salim's and the track from "Swing not Spring"

Edited February 16, 2008 by jazzbo

[mikeweil]

Got the A.K. Salim double CD yesterday - there would have been enough playing time left for the two alternates from the Pretty For The People session!

From the Savoy label discography I know there are still three unissued tracks - but this includes everything originally issued.

[JohnS]

The AK Salim is a great set. So disapponting that the alternates are excluded. But knowing Fresh Sound they don't have access to the master tapes. The two Pretty For the People alternates surfaced on the Atlantic reissue of that album not too long ago.

On the credit side there's some hard to find music here.

[jazzbo]

The Lateef is a great one. I confess I bought it because I wanted the tracks not previously on cd that I only had on lp before. I love this music, it's some of my all-time favorite jazz. Now I would love love love to have this material not yet on cd otherwise from the US holder, but. . . I just don't see it happening. I'll buy it if it does. This music deserves to be in print in the US.

I've been emailing about this set with JET. He likes the packaging and presentation a bit more than I do, but we both agree the sound is great.

[Daniel A]

Now that I've got the Fresh Sound CD reissue of the Hank Jones Savoy solo album I can attest that to my ears it sounds like the CD is transferred from vinyl, albeit decently done. The best sounding version would still probably be the 70s reissue from Arista which - if found - could be had for next to nothing, no doubt partly because of the ugly cover. To me, it really sounds as if it is mastered from tape rather than a previous LP release. If you don't do vinyl the Fresh Sound is however a decent option to get one of Hank's best albums.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

The Ramsey Lewis and Sam "The Man" Taylor both look interesting.

MG

[Kyo]

I wonder what the Fresh Sound CD sounds like - as soon as it is in my favorite Frankfurt store I will give it a listen.

Did you get to hear it by now? I'm still on the fence about this one.