Former Weather Report Drummer Alex Acuña , His First Album as a Leader in 17 Years. Runs a Stylistic Gamut from Funk to Fusion Brazilian Flavored Jazz.

The incredible journey of Alex Acuña has seen the renowned drummer-percussionist travel from his small rural hometown in Peru to being a first-call session drummer in the country's capital city, Lima, then touring the United States with mambo king Pérez Prado, gigging in Las Vegas with Elvis Presley and ultimately touring internationally with Weather Report, the premiere fusion band of the mid-1970s. An in-demand Los Angeles session musician for decades, he has appeared on nearly 900 studio records and movie soundtracks while also releasing half a dozen albums under his own name.

His latest as a leader, the dynamic Gifts, reunites him with his musical cohorts from The Unknowns -- Venezuelan keyboardist Otmaro Ruiz, Peruvian guitarist Ramón Stagnaro and New York City-born, Puerto-Rican-bred bassist John Peña -- that band that Acuña's led on 1990's Thinking of You and 2005's No Accent.

Joined by Peruvian tenor sax powerhouse Lorenzo Ferrero, this gifted and versatile crew runs the stylistic gamut from funk to fusion, soul-jazz, ambient, Latin and Brazilian flavored jazz on Gifts. "These guys can play more than one style," Acuña said. "And I like to play with musicians that I don't have to tell them what to play. It's fun to play with them. They understand my musical lingo."

Regarding the album title, Acuña said: "I call it Gifts because, first of all, God gave me the gift of music. And then each tune was a gift from some composer friend of mine." To be blessed with such immense talent was truly a gift. And now Acuña is passing on that gift to his many listeners with this heartfelt offering.

Gifts - Alex Acuña

French pianist, jazz vocalist, and songwriter Matthieu Boré grew up surrounded by music and the arts. While his great-grandfather loved to give impromptu renditions of famous opera arias, his father's tastes were more modern and Matthieu's childhood was punctuated by the sounds of Eric Clapton, Bob Marley, and the Stray Cats. At age seven, Matthieu began taking piano lessons, focusing predominantly on classical repertoire. In the 1990s he took his first steps into the music profession, singing in various punk and trip hop outfits, before pursuing his love of 1930s and '40s jazz. In early 2000, the young singer-pianist began playing the Parisian jazz club circuit and a year later, released an entire album of Fats Domino covers. In keeping with his fascination of 1950s R&B music, he issued Doo Wop in 2003. Sometimes On My Own (2007) is inspired by his idols Irvin Berlin, Hoagy Carmichael, and Gershwin. 2009 saw the release of FriZZante!!, an album featuring a blend of covers and his own originals, with full orchestra. Matthieu Boré has performed at festivals and concert venues in both France and around the world, including the Montreal Festival, the Jarasum Festival (Korea), the New Morning, and the Olympia. In 2011, he released a live album recorded at Paris's iconic Duc des Lombards. Roots (2012) was a surprising cocktail -- a strong dose of New Orleans funk, from with Matthieu draws his own nonchalant style, combined with a predilection for acoustic sounds and syncopated grooves. In 2015, Grammy-nominated Leo Sidran produced Naked Songs which explores the idea of paring back songs to their defining elements. In Gumbo Kings (2019), Matthieu pays tribute to Allen Toussaint and The Meters through twelve original songs whilst his most recent release Till The Morning Light (2022) combines Jamaican ska and '60s garage rock influences.

“Orange And Blue” was first released in 1994 and is a remarkable testament of Al Di Meola’s unique sense of swing. The legendary guitarist recorded the album on the “Al Di Meola Jazz Guitar”, a custom hollow-body guitar designed in collaboration with Gibson, which allowed him a warmer tone to add to his established signature sound. The album itself is a tasteful collection of explorative compositions, with standout songs such as ‘Chilean Pipe Song’ further cementing Al Di Meola’s growth as a versatile writer and gifted guitarist.

On September 15, 1957, John Coltrane went into Rudy Van Gelder's living room studio in Hackensack, New Jersey and recorded his first great masterpiece: Blue Train. It would be the legendary saxophonist's sole album as a leader for Blue Note, a locomotive five-track album fueled by the bluesy title track that featured a dynamic six-piece band with Lee Morgan on trumpet, Curtis Fuller on trombone, Kenny Drew on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums. To mark the 65th anniversary of the album's recording, Blue Train will be released in two special editions as part of Blue Note's acclaimed Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series: a 1-LP mono pressing of the original album and a 2-LP stereo pressing of Blue Train: The Complete Masters which includes a second disc of alternate and incomplete takes, four of which have never been released before, and none of which have been available previously on vinyl. The 2-LP set comes with a bound booklet featuring session photos by Francis Wolff and an essay by Coltrane expert Ashley Kahn.

Both Tone Poet Vinyl Editions were produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analog master tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI, and packaged in deluxe gatefold tip-on jackets.

FEATURES:

• 180g Vinyl
• Double LP
• Stereo
• Second LP of Alternate & Incomplete Takes - First Time on Vinyl
• Four Previously Unreleased Tracks
• Bound Booklet - Session Photos by Francis Wolff & Essay by Coltrane Expert Ashley Kahn
• Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series
• Mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio
• Mastered from Original Analog Master Tapes
• Produced by Joe Harley
• Pressed at RTI
• Deluxe Gatefold Tip-On Jacket

DEETS:

• Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series.
• Mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio.
• Mastered Directly from the Original Analog Master Tapes!
• Pressed At RTI.

MUSICIANS:

Paul Chambers

Philly Joe Jones

Kenny Drew

John Coltrane

Curtis Fuller

Lee Morgan  

Also Available: Mono LP and 2CD

Ella Fitzgerald's "Songbook" records - with her peerless renditions of the best songs from iconic composers from Irving Berlin to Rogers & Hart to Cole Porter to George & Ira Gershwin - are the cornerstone of the Verve catalog and the standard for jazz vocal recordings. Ella never released a live version of these Songbooks. This record, discovered in the private collection of Norman Granz, will make the first time a live Songbook has been released from the First Lady of Song.

Gerald Wilson's 1962 album, Moment of Truth, features his dynamic big band on an action-packed 9-song set (7 of which were composed by Wilson) with highlights including the swaggering blues of the title track, the irrepressible Latin groove of "Viva Tirado," and a fleet-footed version of Miles Davis's "Milestones." Blue Note Tone Poet Series features all-analog, remastered 180-gram vinyl in deluxe gatefold packaging.

This release marks the first vinyl reissue of the jazz classic by master conguero Mongo Santamaría.  First released in 1976, Sofrito combines jazz with Afro-Cuban grooves, funk and soul. From the simmering blues of “Spring Song” to the devastating bass line of “O Mi Shangó” to the rousing groove of the title track, this set exemplifies the heady ambition of ’70s Afro-fusion at its most soulful. This edition features lacquers cut by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio and is pressed on 180-gram vinyl.

Coleman shook the jazz world when he arrived at the Five Spot Café in New York City in 1959 and began his run of seminal albums on Atlantic that laid the foundation for the free jazz movement to come. After a period of disillusionment during which he withdrew from public music making, Coleman re-emerged on Blue Note in 1966 and began writing an intriguing new chapter of his legendary career.

"I have been an Ornette Coleman fanatic going back to the late-60s, in fact going back to the time the records in this set were originally recorded for Blue Note," says Harley. "Turns out Don Was is as big an Ornette fan as me, so it was only a matter of time before we put our heads together to plan this boxset. I love those early records Ornette did for Atlantic. who doesn't? But I feel that Ornette's later recordings for Blue Note are every bit as vital and important to gain a more complete understanding

"It is true that the most shattering of his wails could wake the proverbial dead," writes Conrad in his essay. "But something happened to Coleman's tone while he was woodshedding those two years. In the Golden Circle it is still penetrating but more pure. His cries are even more vocal, more human. His control of microtones provides new resources of expression. He can now make the same note sound ecstatic or despairing or anywhere in between, through microtonal nuance."

At The `Golden Circle' Stockholm, Vol. 1 (1965)

At The `Golden Circle' Stockholm, Vol. 2 (1965)

In late 1965, Coleman embarked on his first tour of Europe with a new trio featuring David Izenzon on bass and Charles Moffett on drums. Two nights of the trio's two-week engagement at the Golden Circle (Gyllene Cirkeln) in Stockholm, Sweden were recorded and released across two volumes the following year. The freewheeling live sets were electrifying and found the saxophonist jumping off into sound explorations on the violin and trumpet as well.

The Empty Foxhole (1966)

Coleman's first studio recording for Blue Note was his first studio album in four years and he once again confounded expectations by selecting his 10-year-old son Denardo Coleman to play drums on the date alongside bassist Charlie Haden. The music is raw and exploratory with solemn ruminations and bursts of unbridled joy. The striking album cover features a painting by Ornette himself.

New And Old Gospel (1967)

Coleman's next appearance on a Blue Note album came in a rare sideman role on this explosive session led by alto saxophonist Jackie McLean. McLean had already waded into the avant-garde on prior Blue Note dates like One Step Beyond and Destination. Out!, but he went even deeper here with Coleman featured entirely on trumpet along with LaMont Johnson on piano, Scott Holt on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums. Following an extended suite by McLean on Side 1, the second half of the program featured two Coleman c

New York Is Now! (1968)

Love Call (1968)

On April 29 and May 7, 1968, Coleman brought a dynamic quartet with tenor saxophonist Dewey Redman, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Elvin Jones into the studio to record what would yield his final two albums for Blue Note. The alchemy of this group, which combined Coleman's first-time two-saxophone pairing with a rhythm team deeply associated with John Coltrane, produced thrilling results.

BLUE NOTE RECORDS - ROUND TRIP - THE COMPLETE ORNETTE COLEMAN