Kenny Barron • Sunset to Dawn Muse Records/Time Traveler Recordings TT-M002 Roy Brooks • The Free Slave Muse Records/Time Traveler Recordings TT-M001 Carlos Garnett • Cosmos Nucleus Muse Records/Time Traveler Recordings TT-M003
ev Feldman got his nickname the old-fashioned way -- he earned it. "The Jazz Detective," Feldman has unearthed a wide array of important jazz performances, producing them for release on both CD and vinyl. Many were sought-after Record Store Day and Black Friday drops -- important "lost" concerts from the likes of Bill Evans, Art Tatum, Chet Baker, Wes Montgomery, Wynton Kelly, Cannonball Adderley, and Sun Ra, among many others -- on his own Resonance Records label or for other labels, like Elemental Music and Deep Digs Music, with similar aims. I have written about several of these releases, and I own others. Many are long out of print on both LP and CD. This new trio of LPs is different from those earlier releases, following a well-worn path familiar to audiophiles. With them, Feldman launches a new label, Time Traveler Recordings, by reissuing titles originally released on Muse Records in the 1970s. Joe Fields, an executive at Prestige Records, founded Muse to continue the work of post-bop labels like Prestige, Riverside and Milestone. Finding a Muse record "in the wild" is always an event; the label's bird-headed lyre is easy to recognize, and the music is adventurous and vital. I have multiple copies of evergreens like Kind of Blue and Time Out, but I would be lucky to find any three Muse titles at a well-stocked record store. Feldman recognized this, saying, "Muse Records is really one of the great untapped record labels when it comes to reissues." The Muse catalogue spans hundreds of releases from a lineup that includes names every jazz lover recognizes and others that are more obscure. It's fertile ground. Eighty-two-year-old Kenny Barron is an NEA Jazz Master and continues to release noteworthy recordings, including his latest, Songbook, which will appear next month. Sunset to Dawn was Barron's first as a leader, and it features five of his original compositions. The quintet -- Barron on piano, Freddie Waits on drums, Bob Cranshaw on electric bass, and Richard Landrum and Warren Smith on vibes, congas, or other percussion -- embraces a wide aesthetic; you will hear passages and echoes of Latin and modal jazz, hard bop, and even funk across the two sides. The opening cut, "Sunset," features Barron on electric piano, a pulsating, atmospheric opening giving way to a slow-boil exposition, culminating in a stirring solo. It's a number Barron covers on his upcoming Songbook, this time with lyrics, underscoring the notion that jazz is a living art, always in flux. Roy Brooks's The Free Slave is a live set from 1970 at Baltimore's Left Bank Jazz Society, which promoted live jazz and recorded hundreds of performances. The lineup is formidable: Brooks on drums, Woody Shaw on trumpet, George Coleman on tenor sax, Hugh Lawson on piano, and Cecil McBee on bass. Such a quintet might predict challenging music, but much of the tuneful playing will sound familiar for the pronounced rhythms and confident ensemble collaboration. These give way to some stirring solos, especially from Shaw, who has a natural magnetism and great rapport with Brooks and Lawson. The four long cuts, the shortest being just a shade over nine minutes, give plenty of space for the musicians to spread out while weaving their sounds into a compelling whole. I've listened to this prismatic record multiple times; it reveals something new on each spin. On Cosmos Nucleus, tenor saxophonist Carlos Garnett leads a 26-piece band through six compositions of astonishing reach -- the recording is a profusion of funk and bop rhythms. Among the notables in the band are trumpeter Abdul Malik and bassist Cecil McBee, whose own music pushed boundaries. Teenager Kenny Kirkland also makes his recorded debut on electric piano. Two of the six cuts include vocals from Garnett. The compositions are intricate, and the 18 horns have a choir-like voice -- individuals in collective performance. This is music that seeps into your psyche more than overwhelms with sheer force, its diverse textures the product of finely wrought arrangements and improvisation.
The care with which the LPs were created is obvious from the look, feel and sound. Matthew Luthans used the original tapes to master the LPs and cut the lacquers at The Mastering Lab, and Optimal Media pressed the 180-gram LPs, which are flat and noiseless. Each comes in a heavy rice-paper sleeve; the Stoughton-printed outer sleeves are substantial and gorgeous, with high-gloss artwork, including the original notes on the back cover. Everything fits into a protective outer sleeve that gives full view of what's inside. Also included is a single sheet of commentary about each LP from a noted jazz critic. The quiet vinyl helps make instrumental lines easy to follow, especially important for Cosmos Nucleus. Sunset to Dawn sounds the most delicate and atmospheric, reminding me of so many ECM releases, while The Free Slave has the greatest impact and vivacity. The sound of all three is clear, crisp, and vivid. Feldman has ensured that the Time Keeper LPs are the
equal of the reissues from usual suspects like Mobile Fidelity, Analogue Productions and
Impex. "I am much more than just a jazz guy," he has said, and two upcoming
releases prove his point: Bad Brains Live at the Bayou and B.B. King Broadcasting
the Blues: Live from Germany and Sweden. Both will be released for Record Store Day's
Black Friday sale. For selfish reasons, I would love to see him tackle some of the Dave
Pike and Woody Shaw titles in the Muse catalogue, but he has wider aims: "My label is
dedicated to meaningful curations covering a wide variety of genres, even possibly
classical." Regardless what's coming, Time Traveler Recordings is off to an
auspicious start. |
