Jazz Reunion – Pee Wee Russell & Coleman Hawkins
Color Changes — Clark Terry
The World of Cecil Taylor – Cecil Taylor
Out Front — Booker Little
That’s It — Booker Ervin
Produced by Nat Hentoff and Remastered by Award Winning Audio Engineer Bernie Grundman
Available Now On CD and Streaming Services
Available on Vinyl Later This Year
The legendary jazz label Candid Records, which officially relaunched with five historic titles from its illustrious back catalogue, reissuing five additional titles, all of which were produced in 1960/61 at Nola Penthouse Studios in New York City by the label’s esteemed A&R director Nat Hentoff and originally released in 1961. They have been remastered by award-winning audio engineer Bernie Grundman directly from the original tapes for CD, streaming services and 180 gram vinyl.
The reissues include musicians who not only defined the music of their generation but influenced many of the greatest players for generations to come. Featured are two trumpeters (one of the most promising and one of the most legendary), two celebrated tenor sax players, one of whom reunites with a clarinetist whose style defied classification and one of the greatest pianists in jazz history.
“Candid Records is a treasure chest of the finest jazz albums ever made,’ states Mark Wexler head of Candid Records. “It is very gratifying to witness the extraordinary response our initial relaunch of this celebrated catalogue has received. As we continue to reissue the catalogue with these five additional titles it is our goal to not only present them to jazz aficionados, but to introduce an entire new generation to these legendary artists who helped define America’s greatest art form we call jazz.”
Pee Wee Russell & Coleman Hawkins – Jazz Reunion
This superb recording features a reunion of two of jazz’s finest – tenor-saxophonist Coleman Hawkins and clarinetist Pee Wee Russell. At the time of this session, the two had not been on a recording date together in 32 years. Here they revisit “If I Could Be With You One Hour,” a song they first recorded in a classic version back in 1929.
Color Changes is considered by many to be one of the finest albums by trumpeter and pioneer of the flugelhorn in jazz, Clark Terry. Rather than have the usual jam session with the stellar sidemen he’d assembled, Terry utilized specific arrangements by Yusef Lateef, Budd Johnson, and Al Cohn for the date. At the time of this recording, he had recently finished a stint with Charles Mingus’ group and one can hear the subtle influence that association had on these sessions. The result is an album which ranges through many moods and many textures as its title suggests.
The World Of Cecil Taylor is the fifth studio album by radical, free jazz pianist pioneer, Cecil Taylor. Taylor’s music is often described ahead of its time. And it’s easy to imagine what the reaction of the average jazz fan was to this recording. It is arguably a tremendous departure from what jazz was widely considered to be at the time.
Out Front is probably the greatest realization on record of trumpeter Booker Little’s scope as a musician and composer. It is also one of only five sessions led by Little as a band leader before his premature death at the age of 23 in 1961.
Mostly associated with Charles Mingus – with whom he recorded 10 albums between 1958 and 1961 – Booker Ervin is one of the great saxophone players of his generation, though arguably lesser known than many of his contemporaries. That’s It! is only Ervin’s third outing as a band leader. The sessions are no doubt influenced by Ervin’s time with Mingus’ Jazz Workshop, and indeed Mingus is quoted extensively in the album’s liner notes with singular praise for the saxophonist.
