It seems that every year the jazz detectives-those aficionados that love this music and don't mind putting the effort and time it takes to unearth musical gems from the past -have taken releasing historical releases to a new level. Archival music has been of special interest to true fans who seemingly cannot get enough of a favorite artists work. Previously, music that was for whatever reason, ignored, poorly recorded, legally hampered, or inexplicably misplaced have become sources of renewed interest. Recordings of artists of import who are still living or perhaps deceased, still generate almost a cult-like following and re-releases and previously undiscovered recordings of their work has become lost gold. Often these treasures were stored in neglected record industry vaults, or may have been forgotten audio mementos preserved by the artist's family or friends. Bootleg recordings, the unauthorized recording of artists work, and archived radio station tapes, or recorded concert performances that never saw the light of day to the listening public, could also be fertile sources for historical releases.
One of the pioneers who took a special interest in formerly unreleased material and bringing them to life, was the recently deceased (April 20, 2024) and rightfully revered Michael Cuscuna. Cuscuna was with Blue Note Records from 1975-1981 where he convinced management to let him dive deeply into the label's vast treasure trove of recorded jazz legend music. Blue Note was founded in 1939 by Alfred Lyon and Max Marguilis who started to record hot jazz and other forms that were considered at the time uncommercial. The professional photographer Francis Wolff joined with Lyon in late 1939. With Lyon's musical acumen and Wolff's keen photographic eye, the two rode, photographed and recorded the changes of jazz from hot jazz, stride, bebop, hard bop, fusion and beyond. Despite many corporate changes, the label had one of the richest catalogs of the music and an unmatched photographic record of the era's greats, and Cuscuna saw the historical importance of getting the unreleased material out to the public. In 1983, Cuscuna formed Mosaic Records. There, from his modest Stamford, CT base, he curated the release of over three hundred limited released, marvelously informative, smartly packaged boxed sets of musically important jazz that was previously neglected. His first Mosaic release was Thelonious Monk-The Complete Blue Note Recordings in 1983.The New York Times named Mosaic "the most distinctive reissue label in jazz."
Another producer who also made serious contributions to our trove of historical releases in the world of jazz has been Richard Seidel, who amongst other things worked for Verve records for twenty years and curated important reissue releases including artists work from Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald, Bill Evans and Miles Davis.
Today, names that seems synonymous with superb historical releases include George Klabin- the one time jazz radio station DJ on WKCR in NYC, record producer, sound studio owner, and self taught audio-engineer who created his Los Angeles based Resonance Records in 2008- has been a major force in the release of historical jazz since the label's inception.
His protege Zev Feldman, co-president of Resonance Records, has tirelessly worked to discover, refurbish, curate, and produce some of today's most sort after, never before released, archival recordings. Feldman has become today's pre-eminent Jazz Detective, a label he now uses on some of his releases. Besides his association with Resonance, Feldman has teamed up with other partners, like the Barcelona based Elemental Music label, with their President and Founder Jordi Soley under the labels of Elemental and Deep Dives Music Group. Feldman also teamed up with the Canadian based saxophonist Cory Weeds who is the founder of the label Cedar Music and the archival label Reel to Real.
What makes newer historical releases so appealing is that they follow Cuscuna's pattern of treating the music and the presentation with great respect for the listeners who will purchase and listen to it. Today, so much music is digitally streamed. The recording is less of a physical object where one can read about the music and the process, see the artists come to life in photographs, and listen to their art. Instead, streaming allows the music to become a transient piece of impersonal data. It has made the leisurely listening to of an extended album for enjoyment almost a lost art. Modern historical releases offer a difference. The packaging is of high quality, the notes informative, the photography is relevant and compliments the music, interviews add personality to the date and offer personal anecdotes from fellow musicians, and the recordings-often offered in CD, Vinyl or Digital packages- are enjoyable as well as important preservations of the music's history.
This year has been particularly rewarding year for historical releases . These are six of my best of historical releases for 2024, there are surely other equally as worthy releases that I have not had a chance to listen to, but these were the best that I had a chance to sample , so decide for yourself.
Art Tatum: Jewels in the Treasure Box: Resonance Records -3 CD Package-August 16-28, 1953
