REVIEW: Peter Appleyard & The Jazz Giants’ “The Lost Sessions 1974”

Look at this line-up. LOOK AT IT!:
Peter Appleyard
Hank Jones
Slam Stewart
Mel Lewis
Zoot Sims
Bobby Hackett
Urbie Green

If that isn’t class, I don’t know what is. The Lost Sessions 1974 (Linus) comes from a session that came after they performed one night in Toronto. When they called around and found out that there was time and space to record at RCA Studios, they ate some Chinese food, had some wine, each musician picked a song, and played. For the next four hours they recorded what would become a collection of songs meant for an album, but remained unreleased until almost 38 years after the fact. When you read the recent-written liner-notes from Appleyard himself, it showed a sense of jazz brotherhood that makes me wish I was a jazz musician so I could jam and play all day and night. Hearing songs like “Tangerine”, “Indian”, “Dancing On The Ceiling”, and “After You’re Gone” is just powerful, all due to the power of the music and everyone celebrating each other in song. The CD also contains 25 minutes of outtakes, so you get to hear the flaws, mistakes, and studio dialogue too. It feels like you’re listening to music created in the shadows of Duke Ellington or Lionel Hampton, and I wish more people would share in the treasures that jazz music provides.

(The Lost Sessions 1974 will be released on February 28th.)

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RECORD CRACK: 1965 Elvin Jones album to get audiophile treatment, courtesy Analogue Productions

Elvin Jones, along with Charlie Mariano, Richard Davis, Roland Hanna, and Elvin’s brother Hank, went into a recording studio in 1965 and offered a friendly note to John Coltrane. The end result was the great Dear John C., originally released on Impulse. Analogue Productions will now be releasing the album for the audiophile market 46 years after its original release.

Dear John C. will be pressed up as a double 45rpm release on 180g vinyl, and is scheduled for release around February 2011. Considering the price for this new pressing (anywhere between $45 to $65), normal record buyers may find a need to save up or try to find an older pressing. Again, the album is being presented for the first time as a double LP at 45rpm, so if quality is a must, make sure to widen the hole in your checkbook or PayPal account for this one.