[Rarebooks] F/S Jazz Check It Out

[Garry R Austin]

-- We offer for your consideration the following, net to all & postpaid 
@ the prices listed. A bit atypical for us but if you know this music 
and the market you will see great opportunities here.
Up till 2pm EST you can buy it all @$450.00 post paid 86 CDs in all

From
Austin's Antiquarian Books
PO Box 730
Wilmington, Vt. 05363
mail at austinsbooks.com
802 464-8438

Sonny Rollins; The Freelance Years; The Complete Riverside & 
Contemporary Recordings; Riverside Records, 2000; Five Disc Set;  $65.00

John Coltrane; The Heavyweight Champion The Complete Atlantic 
Recordings; Atlantic Records, 1995; Six Disc Set;  $45.00
7 CDs that chronicle the "Giant Steps" that John Coltrane took as a 
saxophonist and an artist during his hallowed 1959-61 stint with 
Atlantic. Here is every note he recorded for the label in chronological 
order, all documented inside a 72-page hardcover book. Landmark jazz!

Lester Young; The Complete Lester Young Studio Sessions On Verve; 
Polygram Records, 1999; Eight Disc Set;  $45.00
With his airy, vibratoless tone and sophisticated harmonic imagination, 
Lester Young (1909-59) was arguably the most influential tenor 
saxophonist after Coleman Hawkins. As the star in Count Basie's big band 
and Billie Holiday's favorite soloist, Young's breezy solos, along with 
his patented porkpie hat and unique hipster jargon, affected legions of 
musicians. This 8-CD compilation marks the 90th anniversary of Young's 
birth and contains all of the recordings he made for producer Norman 
Granz from 1946 to 1959, the last 13 years of Young's life. This 
collection aurally illustrates his supernatural ability to enliven the 
most familiar pop tunes and rise above his own pharmaceutically 
challenged physical state to create magic. The keys to Young's music 
making is his emphasis on knowing the lyrics to songs and on telling a 
story, delivering a melodic solo that communicates as it innovates.

Dexter Gordon; Settin The Pace; Proper Records, 2001; Four Disc Set;  
"Blowing The Blues Away"; "The Chase"; "Bop"; "Dexter's Mood". $25.00
As I parse through this collection I am amazed that Proper was able to 
compile such a complete collection surveying the early years of Dexter 
Gordon. It's all here, the historic Savoy sides that Dexter led between 
1945 through 1947 which include a stellar cast of sidemen such as Bud 
Powell, Max Roach, Fats Navarro and Leo Parker. There is also the 
historic Dial sides w/ Wardell Gray and Teddy Edwards that produced 
tracks like "The Chase" (w/ Gray), and "The Duel" (w/ Edwards). A set 
containing the Savoy and Dial sides would be fantastic on it's own but 
Proper has also included a number of other tracks of Dexter featured 
with the Billy Eckstine Band, Dizzy Gillespie's Sextet, Red Norvo, and 
Benny Carter's band. Also included is the historic 9/4/45 date led by 
Sir Charles Thompson for the Apollo label that also featured Charlie 
Parker! And if that wasn't enough there are 5 lenghty tracks recorded on 
7/6/47 at the Elk's Auditorium in Los Angeles and billed as the 
"Hollywood Jazz Concert". These tracks include Howard McGhee, Trummy 
Young, Sonny Criss, Wardell Gray, Hampton Hawes, and Barney Kessel and 
although the sound is not superb on the live tracks, the performances 
are excellent and give the listener an inside look at what the Central 
Avenue scene must have been like in the mid to late 1940s.

Sonny Rollins; The Blue Note Recordings; Blue Note / Capitol Records, 
1987; Five Disc Set;  $20.00
Sonny Rollins' music for the Blue Note label has to be counted among his 
personal best work, and as some of the best recordings in jazz history.

John Coltrane; Live Trane The European Tours; Pablo Records, 2001; Seven 
Disc Set;  $45.00
Not just live Trane live PRIME Trane, for this 7-disc set takes its 37 
performances from the three early '60s European tours Norman Granz 
produced under the auspices of his Jazz at the Philharmonic series. Over 
half of the selections here are unreleased, representing the biggest 
cache of newly discovered Trane in quite a while. Newly remastered, with 
notes wait till you hear the FIVE different versions of My Favorite Things !

Miles Davis; The Blue Note And Capitol Recordings; Blue Note / Capitol 
Records, 2003; Four Disc Set;  $25.00
Miles only did a few recordings for the Blue Note label (most notably 
the amazing "Birth of the Cool" lp) as he was under contract to 
Presitge, so this box set is of importance to Miles completists, and are 
well worth the purchase price for the novice fan, as well.

Sonny Rollins; The Complete Prestige Recordings; Prestige Records, 1992; 
Seven Disc Set;  Includes "The Bird Medley". $45.00

7 CDs, 90 tracks that chronicle the emergence of this Harlem tenor man 
as a giant of modern jazz, from the early sideman work with Miles and 
Monk to the ten sessions he led for Prestige, culminating in the 
historic meeting with Trane and the crucial Saxophone Colossus album. 
"The best jazz tenor playing you will ever hear " Jazz Times .

John Coltrane Quartet; With Red Garland Complete Recordings; Essential 
Jazz Classics, 2008; Three Disc Set;  $20.00


Bill Evans; The Complete Fantasy Recordings; Fantasy Records, 1989; Nine 
Disc Set;  $45.00
Here is the complete body of work recorded by Bill Evans as released by 
the Fantasy label. Reissued in sleek and compact new packaging, the 9-CD 
box set contains 98 track selections recorded by the influential jazz 
pianist between 1973 and 1979 in club, concert, and studio settings; 
plus a fascinating hour-long interview with Evans at the piano is 
included, conducted by Marian McPartland and originally broadcast on 
National Public Radio in 1978.

In these solo, duo, trio, and quintet performances with Tony Bennett, 
Ray Brown, Kenny Burrell, Eddie Gomez, Philly Joe Jones, Lee Konitz, 
Harold Land, Warne Marsh, Marty Morell, and Eliot Zigmund, Bill Evans is 
revealed as a commanding artist at the peak of his powers.

Miles Davis; In Person, Friday And Saturday Nights At The Blackhawk 
Complete Recordings; Sony Music, 2003; Four Disc Set;  $45.00
It doesn't get much better than this: a full night of Miles Davis 
captured live in his prime at an intimate jazz club. In 1961, Davis, 
pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers, tenor saxophonist Hank 
Mobley, and drummer Jimmy Cobb recorded at San Francisco's legendary 
Blackhawk. Originally released as two LPs, the complete sets, with nine 
previously unissued tracks, have been compiled in this superb, 
digitally-remastered, two-CD set. Davis's pithy and poetic trumpet tones 
signature a number of standards and original compositions. Backed by 
Kelly's in-the-pocket pianisms, Cobb's articulate drumwork, Chamber's 
intelligent basslines, and Mobley's Dexter Gordon-ish sax tones, Davis 
bares his wounded and wonderful musical soul to an engaging and 
enthralled audience. The elongated and illuminated renditions of the 
quicksilver modal number "So What," the dancing "On Green Dolphin 
Street," and the Latin-tinged "Neo" bridge the 1959 masterpiece LP Kind 
of Blue and the forthcoming '60s superband with Herbie Hancock, Wayne 
Shorter, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams. The scene-stealer on this date 
is Mobley. His ebullient tone and sterling improvisations remind us of 
Miles Davis's equally impressive talents and a bandleader. --Eugene 
Holley, Jr.

Bill Evans; The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings 1961; Riverside 
Records, 2005; Three Disc Set;  $25.00

Bill Evans; The Secret Sessions Recorded At The Village Vanguard 
1966-1975; Milestone  Records, 1996; Eight Disc Set;  $100.00
"Bill [Evans] was being recorded once a year, if that," notes Mike 
Harris, who surreptitiously recorded all of the music found on this 
revelatory eight-CD collection, "and this incredible music was just 
going up in the air 363 days out of 365." Thanks to the sheer devotion 
(obsession?) of Harris, it wasn't. Harris and his wife were always 
front-and-center at New York's Village Vanguard whenever Evans brought 
his trio in for a run, tape machine humming. Evans was notoriously 
reluctant to record, so, moral issues aside, the release of secret Evans 
recordings carries even more weight than it would for nearly any other 
jazz musician. Evans always made bold decisions at the piano in terms of 
chord voicings and rhythmic innovation--these elements are on display 
across his body of recorded work. On this set, however, the music 
itself--the nature of the actual notes and chords that he chooses and 
the resulting "sound"--is often quite bold, as is his expression and 
execution (touch) of them. Long pigeonholed as a "cool" pianist, Evans 
even sounds like Bud Powell at moments! Of course, Evans's amazing 
beauty and subtlety is in boundless display as well. Spanning 1966 to 
1975, the set features the technically stunning Eddie Gomez on bass for 
all but 8 of the 104 cuts, plus a rotation of seven drummers, each one 
pushing the music in new directions. Of special note are the nearly two 
discs' worth of 1967 material with the great Philly Joe Jones at the 
kit. Dating back to their very brief tenure together in Miles Davis's 
late-1950s sextet and also Evans's own albums like Everybody Digs and 
Interplay, the aggressive Jones seemed to inspire the pianist more than 
any other drummer. Also illuminating is the repetition of favorite 
numbers throughout the box; to hear Evans reinvent these songs (his own 
as well as standards) almost every year (if not every month) is nothing 
short of fascinating.

Miles Davis; The Complete Live at The Plugged Nickel 1965; Columbia 
Legacy, 1995; Seven Disc Set;  $75.00
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not to be missed. Beg, borrow or steal, but buy this set.
By Richard Thurston on June 24, 1998
Format: Audio CD
Go without espresso for a month. Pack your own sandwich, make your own 
soup. have your kid pay his/her own tuition. Save your money anyway you 
wish but buy this set. This is such an extraordinary document of one of 
the very greatest groups in all of music one would be remiss in not 
including it in one's collection.

Sonny Rollins; The Complete Sonny Rollins RCA Victor Recordings; DWG 
Music, 1997; Six Disc Set;  $45.00
Sonny Rollins emerged from a three-year retirement in 1961 and soon 
signed with RCA Victor, remaining with the label until 1964. It was one 
of his most creative periods, and if the music is sometimes less focused 
than in the period from 1956 to 1959, these were years of musical 
adventure and whimsical exploration when Rollins seemed to challenge the 
limits of his own mastery. That sense of ferment is apparent in the 
sudden shifts in group architecture. The first recordings here have 
Rollins leading a quartet with the guitarist Jim Hall, a group of 
stunning empathy in which the understated Hall sounds like Rollins's 
perfect foil, deftly matching his lyricism and his rhythmic invention. 
The most startling music, though, comes from the live recordings with a 
quartet that included former Ornette Coleman sidemen Don Cherry and 
Billy Higgins. Together they shatter two of Rollins's best-known tunes, 
"Oleo" and "Doxy," into a thousand pieces, reassembling and reinventing 
them in extended group improvisations that represent a stunning 
rapprochement between hard-bop swing and free-jazz dialogue. It's some 
of the greatest music in the Rollins canon and a neglected landmark of 
early free jazz. His quixotic side may be most evident in a session with 
Coleman Hawkins joining Rollins's quartet (with pianist Paul Bley) in 
one of jazz history's strangest intergenerational meetings. Both 
camaraderie and competition seem to arise, with Rollins at times 
plumbing the tenor's oddest sonorities. The later sessions have Rollins 
returning to something like his classic mold, using relatively 
conventional rhythm sections, including the young Herbie Hancock, as a 
springboard for solos of majestic power. --Stuart Broomer
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