Between January of 1958 and April of 1959, famed English jazz writer Stanley Dance produced nine glorious LPs of traditional jazz for the Felsted label. Among the performers were many superb jazzmen who had been forgotten for decades or had rarely recorded as leaders. This 5-CD box set puts together, for the first time ever, all of the Felsted swing albums in their complete form, half of which had never previously appeared on CD, while many others have been long unavailable and truly hard to find. The leaders on the nine albums are clarinettist Buster Bailey, trombonist Dicky Wells (two LPs), tenor saxophonists Coleman Hawkins, Buddy Tate and Budd Johnson, pianists Earl Hines and Billy Strayhorn, and drummer Cozy Cole. Also featured are: Buck Claytonlayton, Charlie Shavers (tp),Johnny Hodges (as), Vic Dickenson (tb), Willie “The Lion” Smith, Hank Jones, Dick Caryary (p), Kenny Burrell (g), Rayay Brown (b),Jo Jones (d), among many others.
Davis toured Europe with this septet in 1971 — during his controversial, rock-oriented fusion era — but he never recorded with them in a studio. This concert was only previously broadcast on the radio.
Interplay, Prestige Records' 5-CD set, containing early collaborative recordings of the peerless tenor saxophonist and visionary John Coltrane,
serves two distinct purposes. The first is to offer an extraordinary
collection of music that provides an excellent overview of the modern
jazz scene during the fertile 1956-1958 period. The other - and
arguably more important purpose to the legions of Coltrane faithful -
is its rich delineation of the evolutionary process behind one of the
most profoundly important and emotionally compelling artists this planet
has ever seen.
