Duke Ellington – Ellington Indigos – Impex Records 180g Stereo Vinyl
Winner of a Gruvy Award, chosen by AnalogPlanet’s editor, Michael Fremer, for vinyl records that are musically and sonically outstanding and are also well mastered and pressed.
An all-analog shot of pure Duke at his most soulfully nocturnal. From the cats who brought you Time Further Out and Friday and Saturday Nights At the Blackhawk. Impex Records is making your nights a little cooler.
Duke Pearson – The Right Touch LP (Blue Note Tone Poet Series) – Blue Note Vinyl
Perhaps the perfect starting point for a reappraisal of Duke Pearson’s underrated career is his fantastic and aptly titled 1967 album The Right Touch. The album stands as perhaps the finest in Pearson’s discography and is a showcase of his sublime talents as a pianist, composer, and arranger. The Right Touch is comprised of six memorable Pearson compositions arranged for a dynamic 8-piece band featuring trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, trombonist Garnett Brown, alto saxophonist James Spaulding, alto saxophonist/flutist Jerry Dodgion, tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, bassist Gene Taylor, and drummer Grady Tate.
Lee Morgan – Infinity LP (Blue Note Tone Poet Series) – Blue Note Vinyl
Just two months after recording his exceptional sextet date Cornbread, the prolific trumpeter Lee Morgan was back in Van Gelder Studio in November 1965 with a slightly slimmed down—but no less robust—quintet line-up to record his next session Infinity, which wouldn’t be first released until 1981. Alto saxophonist Jackie McLean and drummer Billy Higgins—both of whom were featured on Cornbread—were at Morgan’s side once again along with pianist Larry Willisand bassist Reggie Workman for a five-song set that ventured to the far reaches of the hard bop tradition and beyond. Four compelling Morgan originals and McLean’s engaging ballad “Portrait of Doll” cover a wide expanse of musical terrain including the probing title track, the laid-back 6/8 groove of “Miss Nettie B,” the intricate interlaced lines of “Growing Pains,” and the hard-charging closer “Zip Code.”
Tchaikovsky / Monteux / Boston Symphony – Symphony No 4 – Analogue Products 200g Vinyl
Analogue Productions’ RCA Living Stereo Reissue Series No. 2, with 25 newly remastered mainstay classical albums, will delight and astound your ears with their clarity and warm, rich tone. As with our first highly-regarded LSC series, shortcomings of previous editions have been improved upon — from the mastering, to the LP pressing, to the sharp-looking glossy heavyweight Stoughton Printing tip-on jackets that faithfully duplicate the original artwork, “Living Stereo” logo, “Shaded Dog” label and all!
Big John Patton – Let ‘Em Roll – Blue Note (Tone Poet) 180g Vinyl
On 1967's Schizophrenia Shorter arrived at the pinnacle of post-bop and gazed out at the horizons around him. A current of the avant-garde already coursed through his music and the next time he would enter the studio for Blue Note would be for his 1969 fusion exploration Super Nova. But in this moment, he produced one of his most complete and stylistically diverse artistic statements with a sextet of like-minded musical adventurers, including James Spaulding on alto saxophone and flute, Curtis Fuller on trombone, Herbie Hancock on piano, Ron Carter on bass, and Joe Chambers on drums. The six-song set of original compositions includes several of Shorter's most enduring themes including the unforgettable groove of "Tom Thumb," the evocative "Go," and the beautiful ballad "Miyako," as well as Spaulding's churning piece "Kryptonite."
Roy Haynes – Out Of The Afternoon – Analogue Productions 180g Vinyl
Released in the summer of 1962 on Impulse! Records, Out Of The Afternoon is an album by jazz drummer Roy Haynes. It features multi-instrumentalist Roland Kirk among the musicians in the Haynes Quartet.
Roy Haynes was just about everywhere in the golden age of jazz, recording classic albums with some of the most legendary names of the genre: Miles, Coltrane, Monk, Bud Powell, Sarah Vaughan, Sonny Rollins, Eric Dolphy, Milt Jackson, McCoy Tyner and Jackie McLean. The hard-bop-verging-on-post-bop Out Of The Afternoon is an excellent example of the adventurous spirit that was taking flight in the jazz world in the early 1960s.
Jackie McLean – Action Blue Note Tone Poet Series 180g Vinyl
The albums leaps out of the gate with McLean’s searing title track followed by two pensive Tolliver originals: “Plight” and “Wrong Handle.” On a highly original version of the standard “I Hear a Rhapsody” the melody is answered by discordant interjections from the horns before the album comes to a close with McLean’s grooving minor key piece “Hootnan.”
Booker Ervin – Tex Book Tenor Blue Note Tone Poet Series 180g Vinyl
Booker Ervin cut two stellar Blue Note records as a leader in 1968 including Tex Book Tenor which had to wait nearly 40 years until 2005 for its first standalone release. With a sleek post-bop quintet featuring trumpeter Woody Shaw, pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Jan Arnet, and drummer Billy Higgins, the Texas-born saxophonist slices through a set of compelling bandmember originals including Barron’s sinuous tune “Gichi” and Shaw’s lilting waltz “In a Capricornian Way,” as well as Ervin’s lovely ballad “Lynn’s Tune” and the hard-swinging “Den Tex,” named for his hometown of Denison.
Steely Dan – Aja – Analogue Productions Hybrid Stereo SACD
A record by Elvis, produced in Tennessee. What’s so special about that? Surely everyone knows that the King sobbed his early songs into the local radio microphones. But From Elvis in Memphis is far more than just one of around 40 albums which he produced during the course of 35 years. “This marks what is probably the most impressive comeback in the entire history of pop music,” enthused the normally reticent New York Times.
Ruth Brown – Rock & Roll – 180g 33RPM Mofi Mono Vinyl LP
The Dynamite Sound Of “Miss Rhythm” And The Singer That Helped Build An Iconic Label: Ruth Brown’s Rock & Roll Bristles With Electrifying Emotion, Vocal Power, And R&B-Fueled Energy
Reissued in Audiophile Quality in Partnership with Atlantic Records’ 75th Anniversary: Mobile Fidelity 180g Mono LP Is Pressed at RTI and Strictly Limited to 2,000 Numbered Copies
1/4″ / 15 IPS to DSD 256 to analog console to lathe
Rock & Roll, indeed. Ruth Brown’s sizzling full-length debut — also known by its eponymous title — symbolizes what was exciting, fresh, invigorating, and raw about the burgeoning style in its halcyon days. Originally released in 1957, and reissued here in audiophile quality for the first time in partnership with Atlantic Records’ 75th anniversary, the set remains a testament to one of the most pioneering and talented vocalists to ever command a stage.
Pharoah Sanders – Live – Theresa Records 180 Vinyl 2 LP Gatefold Sleeve
This album features Pharoah Sanders playing some no-nonsense tenor in a quartet with pianist John Hicks, bassist Walter Booker, and drummer Idris Muhammad. Sanders performs “It’s Easy to Remember” (in a style very reminiscent of early-’60s John Coltrane), an original blues, and two of his compositions, including the passionate “You’ve Got to Have Freedom.”
The musicianship is at a high level and, although Sanders does not shriek as much as one might hope (the Trane-ish influence was particularly strong during this relatively mellow period), he is in fine form. Review by Scott Yanow/AMG
Eric Dolphy – At The Five Spot, Vol. 1 (Stereo) Analogue Productions 180 Gram Vinyl Record
Part of the ultimate audiophile Prestige stereo reissues from Analogue Productions — 25 of the most collectible, rarest, most audiophile-sounding Rudy Van Gelder recordings ever made. All cut at 33 1/3 and also released on Hybrid SACD
All mastered from the original analog master tapes by mastering maestro Kevin Gray. 180-gram LPs pressed at Acoustic Sounds' state-of-the-art pressing plant, Quality Record Pressings, plated by Gary Salstrom
Tip-on jackets on thick cardboard stock
First 250 LP copies of each title will be numbered editions and will only be available to series subscribers