Miles Davis, The Dave Brubeck Quartet, Paul Desmond, Stan Getz,
Dexter Gordon, Billie Holiday, The Original Mahavishnu Orchestra,
Wynton Marsalis, Return To Forever, Woody Shaw, Wayne Shorter,
Nina Simone, Grover Washington Jr., and Weather Report
Each box set contains the artist’s complete album output for Columbia or RCA, or focuses on a particular period of the artist’s output for the labels; All albums are packaged in replica mini-LP sleeves with vintage front and back cover artwork, plus new booklet with liner notes, discographical information, photography, and more
Perfect box set gifts for the holiday season, available NOW
through Sony Music’s PopMarket.com
Call it the Ultimate Jazz Festival, as Sony Music’s PopMarket.com website presents Complete Album Collections on Columbia Records and RCA Records (spanning the 1950s to the ’00s) by the greatest names in modern jazz – the Dave Brubeck Quartet, Miles Davis, Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, Billie Holiday, the original Mahavishnu Orchestra, Wynton Marsalis, Return To Forever, Woody Shaw, Wayne Shorter, Grover Washington Jr., and Weather Report (all on Columbia); and Paul Desmond and Nina Simone (on RCA).
Newly assembled and affordably priced, the first wave of jazz titles in the Complete Albums box set series is available now at the PopMarket.com website – http://complete.popmarket.com through Columbia/Legacy and RCA/Legacy, divisions of SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT.
Each multi-disc box set contains the artist’s entire album output during their Columbia or RCA tenure, or focuses on some aspect of it. Each album is packaged in a replica mini-LP sleeve reproducing that LP’s original front and back cover artwork. Where applicable, the albums in each box include the bonus tracks that have been released on the expanded CD editions over the years.
Several of the box sets in this first wave of jazz titles contain bonus discs that build on the artists’ LP catalog. The Dexter Gordon bonus CD, for example, contains a full program of material not on his original Columbia LPs. The Wayne Shorter box set contains two bonus CDs of his compositions as recorded by Weather Report during his years with the group. The Stan Getz bonus CD includes selections from the Woody Herman Carnegie Hall 40th Anniversary Concert (1976), Montreux Summit (1977), and Havana Jam (1979), all featuring Getz. The original Mahavishnu Orchestra bonus CD contains live tracks from their Central Park (NYC) summer 1973 show. And the Woody Shaw Stepping Stones bonus CD contains additional live tracks from his August 1978 dates at the Village Vanguard.
The box sets in the series have been produced by long-time Grammy Award®-winning and Grammy Award®-nominated Legacy producers Richard Seidel, Michael Cuscuna, Michael Brooks, Didier Deutsch, and Bob Belden. All packaging has been supervised by Grammy Award®-winning former Legacy Vice President of Jazz Marketing Seth Rothstein, and art directed by award-winning designer Edward O’Dowd,.
Virtually all of the CDs in these box sets have been mastered by respected Sony Senior Mastering Engineer Mark Wilder. He has received seven Grammy Award® nominations and 3 Grammy Awards® in his nearly 25 years at Sony.
As the dominant jazz record label for most of the 20th century, Columbia was home to a myriad of leading jazz figures during the LP era, and into the digital age. Forthcoming titles in the Complete Albums series will include the music of Stanley Clarke, George Duke, Thelonious Monk, Shakti with John McLaughlin, Charles Mingus, The Brecker Brothers, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, and more.
Welcome to the first wave of jazz titles in the Complete Albums series:
MILES DAVIS - THE COMPLETE COLUMBIA ALBUMS COLLECTION
(Columbia/Legacy, 52 albums on 70 CDs, with previously unreleased material and bonus DVD; Available now; Selection # 88697 55852 2)
Perhaps the ‘granddaddy’ of the Complete Albums series (released in 2009), this deluxe oversized box contains the entire Columbia output of Miles Davis (1926-1991) from 1949 to 1985, a total of 52 album titles (CDs and double CDs) comprising 70 CDs in all. From the 1949 recording In Paris Festival Int’l De Jazz May, and 1957’s ’Round About Midnight, all the way through 1985’s Aura, this box set occupies a special place in jazz history. Bonus discs include the previously unreleased full-length audio version of the Isle Of Wight performance from 1970; and a bonus DVD, Miles Davis Quintet: Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Tony Williams / Live In Europe '67, filmed in Stockholm and Karlsruhe, Germany, the only video of this Miles Davis Quintet lineup ever to be officially commercially released.
THE DAVE BRUBECK QUARTET - THE COMPLETE COLUMBIA STUDIO ALBUMS COLLECTION (Columbia/Legacy, 19 CDs, 1954-67; Available December 6th; Selection # 88697 93881 2)
The 17 core years that Dave Brubeck spent at Columbia Records (from 1953 to 1970), saw this complex musician and compassionate bandleader develop into a multi-talented composer, arranger, producer, conductor, orchestrator, and ultimately a father figure for at least two generations of third through fifth stream jazz players. The Dave Brubeck Quartet, in its early lineup (with alto saxophonist Paul Desmond, drummer Joe Dodge, and a succession of bassists) was signed to Columbia in 1953, by the renowned George Avakian. He followed the pianist’s early lead (of live concert recordings on Fantasy) and also recorded him live for his Columbia debut. But this 19-album box set focuses on the Quartet’s studio LPs, which actually began with their second album, Brubeck Time (1954). The so-called ‘classic’ Dave Brubeck Quartet took shape with the entrance of drummer Joe Morello in 1956 and bassist Eugene Wright in 1958. They staked their claim to jazz immortality in 1959 with the Time Out album, the first million-selling LP in jazz history, featuring the single that changed all the rules, “Take Five” b/w “Blue Rondo A La Turk.” There are stories and backgrounds to be told of every Brubeck Columbia LP, for example, 1961’s Brandenburg Gate: Revisited, with its 10-part, 20-minute title suite, written by Dave and orchestrated and conducted by his brother Howard, a follow-up to their 1960 Leonard Bernstein project. Likewise, the Quartet’s “Jazz Impressions” series – Jazz Impressions Of The U.S.A. (1957), Jazz Impressions Of Eurasia (1958), Jazz Impressions Of Japan (1964), and Jazz Impressions Of New York (1965). The Quartet was disbanded in 1967, the year of their final Columbia studio LP, The Dave Brubeck Quartet Plays Cole Porter - Anything Goes!, a swingin’ affair.
1. Brubeck Time (1955)
2. Jazz Impressions Of The U.S.A. (1956, first time on CD in U.S.)
3. Jazz Impressions Of Eurasia (1958, first time on CD in U.S.)
4. Dave Digs Disney (1957)
5. Gone With The Wind (1959, first time on CD in U.S.)
6. Time Out! (1959)
7. Southern Scene (1960, first time on CD in U.S.)
8. Bernstein Plays Brubeck Plays Bernstein (1961, including for the first time on CD in U.S., “Dialogue For Jazz Combo And Orchestra” with New York Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein)
9. Time Further Out (1961)
10. Countdown: Time In Outer Space (1962)
11. Bossa Nova U.S.A. (1963, first time on CD in U.S.)
12. Brandenburg Gate: Revisited (1963)
13. Time Changes (1964)
14. Jazz Impressions Of Japan (1964)
15. Jazz Impressions Of New York (1965, first time on CD in U.S.)
16. Angel Eyes (1965, first time on CD in U.S.)
17. My Favorite Things (1966, first time on CD in U.S.)
18. Time In (1966)
19. Plays Cole Porter - Anything Goes! (1967, first time on CD in U.S.)
PAUL DESMOND - COMPLETE RCA ALBUMS COLLECTION
(RCA/Legacy, 6 CDs, 1961-65, 50th anniversary box set from Dave Brubeck saxophonist; Available now; Selection # 88697 93941 2)
After ten years as a pivotal voice in the Dave Brubeck Quartet (starting in 1951), alto saxophonist Paul Desmond (1924-1977) signed to RCA Records as a solo artist in 1961, even as he continued with Brubeck through ’67. So this volume serves as a 50th anniversary celebration of Desmond at RCA, where he was mostly heard in quartet settings with guitarist Jim Hall plus bass and drums. The exception was Desmond Blue, his RCA debut, an orchestral session of standards arranged by Bob Prince (with a memorable “My Funny Valentine”). Take Ten and Bossa Antigua revealed Desmond’s interest in the bossa nova, and Brazilian music in general. Desmond and baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan proved a perfect match on Two Of A Mind. His final RCA releases, Glad To Be Unhappy and Easy Living presented an artist who had developed a solid identity and, just a few years later, would be able to venture out as a leader on his own. This box set, which includes a total of 24 bonus tracks over the course of the six albums, includes liner notes by Grammy Award®-winning producer Richard Seidel.
1. Desmond Blue (1961)
2. Take Ten (1963)
3. Bossa Antigua (1964)
4. Glad To Be Unhappy (1963-1965)
5. Easy Living (1963-1965)
6. Two Of A Mind with Gerry Mulligan (1962)
STAN GETZ - THE COMPLETE COLUMBIA ALBUMS COLLECTION
(Columbia/Legacy, 8 CDs, 1972-80, with bonus disc of ’70s live material; Available now; Selection # 88697 88058 2)
Tenor saxophonist Stan Getz (1927-1991) spent nearly a quarter century becoming one of the best known of all jazz musicians before his arrival at Columbia in 1972. There was his apprenticeship in the Swing era (notably with the Woody Herman Orchestra), his time on the post-war Bebop and Cool Jazz scenes of the ’50s, and his penultimate introduction of bossa nova to American ears in the early ’60s. Like Miles Davis, Getz (who was mainly self-produced at Columbia) thrived in the presence of younger, adventurous players. His label debut of 1972, Captain Marvel (with Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, and Tony Williams), remains a jazz benchmark. The Best Of Two Worlds was a reunion with Brazil’s João Gilberto; likewise, The Peacocks with pianist (and sometime singer) Jimmy Rowles was a long overdue collaboration by the two veterans. Four of the albums in the box set have never been on CD in the U.S.: The Master, Another World, Children Of The World, and Forest Eyes, a rare soundtrack to a Dutch film. As previously noted, the bonus CD includes selections featuring Getz from the Woody Herman Carnegie Hall 40th Anniversary Concert (1976), Montreux Summit (1977, unavailable on CD outside Japan), and Havana Jam (1979, also unavailable on CD outside Japan).
1. Captain Marvel (1972) with Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Tony Williams
2. Stan Getz/ João Gilberto: The Best Of Two Worlds (1975)
3. The Master (1975)
4. Stan Getz/ Jimmy Rowles: The Peacocks (1975)
5. Another World (1977)
6. Children Of The World (1980)
7. Forest Eyes (music composed, arranged & conducted by Jurre Haanstra) (CBS Holland, 1979)
8. Bonus Disc: selections from Woody Herman Carnegie Carnegie Hall 40th Anniversary Concert, Montreux Summit, and Havana Jam.
DEXTER GORDON - THE COMPLETE COLUMBIA ALBUMS COLLECTION
(Columbia/Legacy, 7 CDs, 1976-80, with bonus disc compilation of non-LP material; Available now; Selection # 88697 91891 2)
Initially influenced by the Swing era’s two greatest tenor saxophonists Lester Young and Coleman Hawkins, Dexter Gordon (1923-1990) made his mark in the bebop era, adapting alto saxophonist Charlie Parker’s idiosyncratic rhythms and harmonies to the tenor sax. ‘Long Tall Dexter’ became a regular in the Blue Note stable, but his battles with drugs took their toll, and he was forced to relocate to Europe in 1962. At a rare New York club appearance in 1976, expatriate Gordon was signed to Columbia Records by Bruce Lundvall. Gordon soon thereafter made headlines with his live double-LP, Homecoming: Live At The Village Vanguard. It was the start of a wonderful five year stand at the label, where Gordon was heard with younger players like trumpeter Woody Shaw, pianist George Cables, and others. Of special note is the rhythm section on 1980’s Gotham City – Cedar Walton on piano, bassist Percy Heath, and drummer Art Blakey – with guest shots from Shaw and guitarist George Benson. The additional bonus disc contains rarities from Montreux Summit, Havana Jam, and a rare studio single. This box set was produced by Grammy Award®-winner Michael Cuscuna, co-directed by Woody Shaw III, and includes liner notes by Cuscuna and Gordon's widow and long-time manager, Maxine Gordon.
1. Homecoming: Live At The Village Vanguard [2 CDs] (1976)
2. Sophisticated Giant (1977)
3. Manhattan Symphonie (1978)
4. Live At Carnegie Hall (1978)
5. Gotham City (1980)
6. Bonus Disc: selections from Montreux Summit, Havana Jam, and a rare studio single.
LADY DAY: THE COMPLETE BILLIE HOLIDAY ON COLUMBIA (1933-1944)
(Columbia/Legacy, 10th Anniversary reconfiguration of historic 10-CD 2001 box set; Available November 21st; Selection # 88697 93036 2)
2011 marks the 10th anniversary of this 10-CD release, produced by Michael Brooks and Michael Cuscuna, which won the Grammy Award® for Best Historical Album. This reconfigured package contains the same 230 tracks on 10 CDs, including Billie Holiday’s 153 masters released on the Columbia, Brunswick, Vocalion, OKeh, and Harmony labels, plus 77 ‘Alternate Sides, Radio Air-Checks and Rarities.’ Here are her two premiere Columbia recordings of November-December 1933, backed by the Benny Goodman Orchestra and produced by John Hammond (“Your Mother’s Son-In-Law” and “Riffin’ The Scotch”). 151 songs follow, starting with her July 1935 session with Teddy Wilson & His Orchestra (including “I Wished On The Moon,” “What A Little Moonlight Can Do” and “Miss Brown To You”), through some 42 sessions culminating in February 1942 (with “It’s A Sin To Tell A Lie” and “Until The Real Thing Comes Along”). Nearly half of the 77 rarities that follow (from 1934 to ’44) were previously unreleased in the U.S. when this box set was issued in 2001. Lady Day leads her own band or is accompanied by orchestras led by Goodman, Teddy Wilson, Count Basie, Benny Carter, Eddie Heywood (and, on one historic track, Duke Ellington) – and sings in the company of such giants as Roy Eldridge, Gene Krupa, Ben Webster, Chu Berry, Johnny Hodges, Artie Shaw, Jonah Jones, Buck Clayton, Lester Young, Freddie Green, Walter Page, Jo Jones, Charlie Shavers, Harry James, Hot Lips Page, and dozens of others. This new box set reprises Gary Giddins liner notes essay from the 2001 edition. 70 years after Billie Holiday’s signature recording of “God Bless the Child” in May 1941, her original body of work continues to fascinate generations of fans
THE ORIGINAL MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA - THE COMPLETE COLUMBIA ALBUMS COLLECTION (Columbia/Legacy, 40th Anniversary Celebration includes
5 CDs, 1971-74, with bonus CD of previously unreleased live concert material; Available November 21st; Selection # 88697 93034 2)
Forty years after their debut, the original Mahavishnu Orchestra lineup is celebrated on this box set. Their truly international lineup may have contributed to their immediate global popularity: John McLaughlin (guitar, born in England, 1942), Jan Hammer (piano and keyboards, b. Czechoslovakia, 1948), Jerry Goodman (violin, b. Chicago, 1949), Rick Laird (bass, b. Dublin, 1941), and New Yorker Billy Cobham (drums, b. Panama, 1944). Mahavishnu was formed by McLaughlin in 1971, after he had spent his first two years in the U.S. at the dawn of the jazz-rock fusion movement, playing with the Tony Williams Lifetime, and on Miles Davis’ studio sessions (starting with In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew in 1969). At Miles’ suggestion, McLaughlin finally formed his own group. Mahavishnu’s legend played out on three LPs over the course of three years, during which time they played 530 shows around the world before their farewell concert of December 31, 1973. Sessions for (what was to be) their third studio LP, recorded in London in June 1973, were shelved until their discovery by producer Bob Belden in 1999, when they were released as The Lost Trident Sessions. Most of the same music from those sessions showed up on Between Nothingness And Eternity, the original band’s final LP, and was also performed live at Central Park in August ’73. The bonus CD here includes over an hour of music from Central Park, completely different songs from the original Between Nothingness album, including the only authorized live versions of tunes from both Inner Mounting Flame and Birds Of Fire. One more bonus track, the rare “Noonward Race” (originally recorded on Inner Mounting Flame), was released on the soundtrack of Mar y Sol (Atco), a legendary rock festival in Puerto Rico, 1972.
1. The Inner Mounting Flame (1971)
2. Birds Of Fire (1972)
3. The Lost Trident Sessions (rec. 1973, rel. 1999)
4. Between Nothingness and Eternity (1973)
5. Bonus Disc: Between Nothingness And Eternity [Disc 2], previously unreleased.
RETURN TO FOREVER - COMPLETE COLUMBIA ALBUMS COLLECTION
(Columbia/Legacy, 5 CDs, 1976-77, includes entire 3-CD RTF Live concert of 1977; Available now; Selection # 88697 88319 2)
Return To Forever was initially built on the shoulders of keyboardist Chick Corea (b. 1941), a seasoned veteran of jazz and Latin bands for nearly a decade (including his stint with Miles Davis from 1968 to 1970), by the time he formed the first RTF in ’71. After several personnel shifts over five years and five LPs, the classic lineup of the second more electric version of RTF included Corea, guitarist Al Di Meola (b. 1954), bassist Stanley Clarke (b. 1951), and drummer Lenny White (b. 1949). Their Columbia debut, Romantic Warrior was the third RTF album to break the Top 40, and the first to earn RIAA gold. Corea (with Clarke) then completely reorganized the lineup again, adding four horns to record Musicmagic, another Top 40 success. Their live album of 1977 (recorded at the Palladium in New York City) turned into a 4-LP box set – and this new release marks the first time that the entire two and a half hour concert (unavailable for some 20 years) has been released on CD in the U.S. (Highlights include extended takes on the Musicmagic material plus Corea’s “Spanish Fantasy” suite, and the jazz standards “Green Dolphin Street” and “Come Rain Or Come Shine.”) As evidenced by their recent 70-date reunion world tour (Corea, Clarke and White, plus violinist Jean Luc Ponty and guitarist Frank Gambale), RTF has never lost its mystery and appeal. This box set, remastered by Mark Wilder, with liner notes by producer Bob Belden, is a fitting tribute to the legend of Return To Forever.
1. Romantic Warrior (1976)
2. Musicmagic (1977)
3. Return To Forever Live [3 CDs] (1977)
WOODY SHAW - THE COMPLETE COLUMBIA ALBUMS COLLECTION
(Columbia/Legacy, 6 CDs, 1977-81, with Stepping Stones: Bonus Tracks; Available now; Selection # 88697 91890 2)
Miles Davis said of Newark’s Woody Shaw (1944-1989), “Now there's a great trumpet player. He can play different from all of them.” In his 20s, Shaw learned from and worked alongside an eclectic and dazzling array of musicians, from Eric Dolphy and Bud Powell, to Larry Young and Horace Silver. Like Dexter Gordon, nearly 20 years his senior, Shaw gathered momentum as a regular in the Blue Note stable starting in the late ’60s, so it was no surprise when he joined Gordon on his Homecoming album of 1976. Shaw’s own Columbia debut came the following year, Rosewood, a program of sextet and concert ensemble pieces voted Best Jazz Album of the year in the Down Beat Readers’ Poll, which also named Shaw Best Trumpeter. A year later, Shaw followed Gordon’s lead with his own Village Vanguard live album, Stepping Stones, and this box set includes a bonus CD of live tracks from those August 1978 dates. Younger players openly expressed their admiration for Shaw, among them Wynton Marsalis, Kenny Garrett and Steve Turre. Shaw’s death from medical problems at age 45 robbed jazz of a trumpet giant. This box set was co-produced and co-directed and designed by his son, Woody Shaw III, who also contributed liner notes along with Shaw's long time friend and producer, Michael Cuscuna.
1. Rosewood (1977)
2. Stepping Stones (1978)
3. Stepping Stones: Bonus Tracks
4. Woody III (1979)
5. For Sure! (1979)
6. United (1981)
WAYNE SHORTER - THE COMPLETE COLUMBIA ALBUMS COLLECTION
(Columbia/Legacy, 6 CDs, 1974-88, with 2 bonus CDs of Weather Report compositions; Available now; Selection # 88697 92024 2)
The odyssey of Wayne Shorter (b. 1933) from the mean streets of Newark to worldwide respect and recognition as a musician, composer and bandleader is one of the great stories in modern jazz. He was 26 in 1959, when he joined Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers on tenor saxophone for a five year stint as music director that propelled him into the front ranks. Like many others (including Dexter Gordon and Woody Shaw in this series), Shorter became a regular in the Blue Note stable, on the label’s blowing sessions and on his own albums starting in 1964. That same year, Shorter became a member of Miles Davis’ so-called ‘second great quintet’ (joining Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams). Over the course of a dozen LPs, he established himself as both instrumentalist (adding soprano saxophone to his arsenal) and as composer of some of the group’s signature tracks, “Footprints,” “E.S.P.,” and “Nefertiti” among them. At Miles’ In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew sessions in 1969, Shorter crossed paths with Joe Zawinul, and in 1971, they formed Weather Report with bassist Miroslav Vitous. (This box set includes two bonus CDs comprising all of the compositions that Shorter wrote for Weather Report, 23 tracks totaling 90 minutes). In 1974, Shorter brought U.S. attention to the celebrated Brazilian artist Milton Nascimento on the Native Dancer LP. Upon Weather Report’s dissolution in 1985, Shorter commenced his solo career at Columbia with three CDs over the next three years, Atlantis, Phantom Navigator, and Joy Ryder, hard-to-find rarities until now, newly remastered for this collection.
1. New bonus disc: Weather Report Recordings of Wayne Shorter Compositions 1
2. New bonus disc: Weather Report Recordings of Wayne Shorter Compositions 2
3. Native Dancer with Milton Nascimento (1974)
4. Atlantis (1985)
5. Phantom Navigator (1986)
6. Joy Ryder (1988)
NINA SIMONE - THE COMPLETE RCA ALBUMS COLLECTION
(RCA/Legacy, 9 CDs, 1967-74, pinnacle of Simone’s recording career; Available now; Selection # 88697 93890 2)
Singer and songwriter Nina Simone (1933-2003) holds a special position of honor in the grand hierarchy of great African-American female vocalists of the 20th century – Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Mahalia Jackson, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington, and Aretha Franklin among them. Simone’s music encompasses a broad palette, ranging from 1920s blues and the jazz of Duke Ellington and Miles Davis, to the standard songbook of Berlin and the Gershwins. There is traditional American balladry and the poetry of Langston Hughes, and the folk rock of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Randy Newman, Richie Havens, Sandy Denny, Jimmy Webb (and many others). Simone brought the Beatles, the Byrds, the Bee Gees, and Hair into her repertoire, as well as Olatunji and the exciting new strains of Afro-pop and World Music before the genre even had a name. It is all here, and much more on her nine RCA albums recorded between 1967 and 1974, considered the pinnacle of her recording career. All of the bonus tracks that have been added to expanded editions of the albums over the years around the world – a total of 35 – are included here. All of the albums have been re-mastered by Mark Wilder, seven of them for the first time ever in the U.S. As with Desmond (above), liner notes are written by producer Richard Seidel, who also produced the expanded versions of Silk & Soul and Nina Simone Sings The Blues in 2006, and compiled Legacy’s three-disc, multi-label Grammy Award®- nominated anthology of 2008, To Be Free: The Nina Simone Story.
1. Nina Simone Sings The Blues (1967)
2. Silk & Soul (1967)
3. ’Nuff Said (1968)
4. Nina Simone And Piano! (1969)
5. To Love Somebody (1969)
6. Black Gold (1970)
7. Here Comes The Sun (1971)
8. Emergency Ward (1972)
9. It Is Finished (1974)
GROVER WASHINGTON Jr. - COMPLETE COLUMBIA ALBUMS COLLECTION
(Columbia/Legacy, 9 CDs, 1986-2000, with rare Cosby Show CD, Christmas CD, and classical CD; Available now; Selection # 88697 92448 2)
The multi-instrumental alto, tenor and soprano saxophonist Grover Washington Jr. (1943-1999) enjoyed a career that spanned all musical boundaries, from swing to funk, from big city R&B and soul to smooth pop. Underneath it all was a grounding in jazz that infused every note he played. He spent most of the ’70s at CTI/Kudu, leading his own LP sessions and appearing as sideman on many others. After a brief stay at Motown, he moved to Elektra for five albums, where he recorded his signature, “Just The Two Of Us” with vocalist Bill Withers. GW arrived at Columbia in 1986, with House Full Of Love (Music from The Cosby Show), a very rare, out-of-print album that opens this box set. At Columbia, he virtually invented the Smooth Jazz genre, showing off his diversity by alternating R&B-jazz-pop albums (Strawberry Moon, Time Out Of Mind, Next Exit, and Soulful Strut) featuring Nancy Wilson, Ramsey Lewis, B.B. King, Levi Stubbs, and others – with straight ahead jazz sessions (Then And Now, All My Tomorrows) with Herbie Hancock, Hank Jones, Tommy Flanagan, Ron Carter, and Eddie Henderson, among other top jazz luminaries. Grover consistently placed his albums in the Top 5 of both the Top Jazz and Top Contemporary Jazz charts. His eclectic nature was underscored by a beautiful Christmas album (Breath of Heaven: A Holiday Collection); and Aria, a set of classical pieces adapted for saxophone.
1. House Full Of Love (Music from The Cosby Show) (1986)
2. Strawberry Moon (1987)
3. Then And Now (1988)
4. Time Out Of Mind (1989)
5. Next Exit (1992)
6. All My Tomorrows (1994)
7. Soulful Strut (1996)
8. Breath of Heaven: A Holiday Collection (1997)
9. Aria (Sony Classical, 2000)
WEATHER REPORT - THE COLUMBIA ALBUMS 1976-1982 FEATURING JOE ZAWINUL, WAYNE SHORTER AND JACO PASTORIUS (Columbia/Legacy; Available November 21st; Selection # 88697 93940 2)
The origins and sound of Weather Report in 1971 are credited to the bond created by veterans Joe Zawinul on keyboards (1932-2007) and saxophonist Wayne Shorter (b. 1933). They met while working with Miles Davis on his transitional sessions of 1969, that led to In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew. By 1975, the jazzman’s grapevine had gone into overtime with the news that Weather Report (i.e. Shorter and Zawinul) were having a fifth overhaul of the lineup in as many years. Most notable was the decision to change up the rhythm section yet again, with a new drummer (WR fans always looked forward to new drummers and percussion on every LP), and a new bassist. At first, skepticism greeted the choice of 23-year old South Florida’s Jaco Pastorius (1951-1987), who was stepping into the shoes of WR bass heroes Miroslav Vitous and Alphonso Johnson. A teenage bass prodigy around Miami’s eclectic jazz, rock, funk and Latin scenes, Jaco powered his way into the Black Market sessions, and the group soared on his first WR composition, “Barbary Coast.” Onstage, Jaco quickly turned the band’s front-line into a triumvirate, just what WR needed to break through the commercial barriers of jazz-rock fusion and win their first RIAA platinum album, Heavy Weather, with its signature hit (“Birdland”) and Jaco’s brief yet distinctive “Teen Town” (on which he also played drums). Jaco was developing into a daring and innovative instrumentalist as well as composer, getting more groove time on 1978’s Mr. Gone (with “Punk Jazz” and the danceable “River People”), and on the Grammy Award®-winning 8:30, the part-studio and part-live double-LP of 1979, with new drummer Peter Erskine poached from the Maynard Ferguson big band (check out the six-minute live version of “Teen Town,” and Jaco’s five-minute solo piece, “Slang”). He injected an energy and infectious rhythm into Weather Report during his too-brief five-year stay, setting the band in a new direction, and winning himself a devoted following among generations of bassists to come. This box set contains all of the authorized albums (studio and live) that Jaco made with Weather Report during his period with the group.
1. Black Market (1976)
2. Heavy Weather (1977)
3. Mr. Gone (1978)
4. 8:30 (1979)
5. Night Passage (1980)
6. Weather Report (1982)
WYNTON MARSALIS - SWINGING INTO THE 21st ALBUMS COLLECTION
(Columbia/Legacy, 10 albums of 1999-2002; Available now; Selection # 88697 94428 2)
Back in 1998, Wynton Marsalis began to plan an unprecedented release of nine major album projects – septet sessions, jazz and blues tributes, film music, scores for ballet, modern classical and orchestral works, and of course plenty of bonafide swing. Recorded between 1993 and 2000, they were all released during 1999 and 2000, under the banner “Swinging into the 21st!” Now, in honor of Wynton’s (ongoing) 50th birthday celebration [October 18, 2011], those nine albums have been brought together as a box set, along with his career-defining masterpiece All Rise double-CD as the tenth title. Recorded in Los Angeles three days after 9/11, and released in 2002, All Rise is the perfect climax to this look into the musical universe of Pulitzer and 9-time Grammy Award®-winner Wynton Marsalis.
1. A Fiddler's Tale (1999)
2. Standard Time, Vol. 4: Marsalis Plays Monk (1999)
3. At The Octoroon Balls (1999)
4. Big Train (1999)
5. Sweet Release & Ghost Story (1999)
6. Standard Time, Vol. 6: Mr. Jelly Lord (1999)
7. Reeltime (1999)
8. Selections from The Village Vanguard Box (2000)
9. The Marciac Suite (2000)
10. All Rise [2 CDs] (2002)
For further information contact:
Aliza Rabinoff at DKC Public Relations, 212-981-5157, aliza_rabinoff@dkcnews.com
Tom Cording at Legacy Media Relations, 212.833.4448,
Randy Haecker at Legacy Media Relations, 212.833.4101,
Randy.Haecker@sonymusic.com
ADDRESS TEARSHEETS TO:
Tom Cording or Randy Haecker
SONY MUSIC / LEGACY
550 Madison Avenue, 17th floor
New York, NY 10022-3211
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