ELGAR: ENIGMA COCKAIGNE OVERTURE

Presented together for the first time, American composer John McGuire's Pulse Music series (1975-1979) blurs the popular narrative that Minimalism was a reaction against Europe's angular, intellectual, inscrutable high-modernism. McGuire, born in California, studied at Occidental College in Los Angeles and UC Berkeley before going to Europe to study with Karlheinz Stockhausen, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Gottfried Michael Koenig. His compositions lock serialism's warped geometries onto an evenly spaced grid, perfectly preserving serial music's multi-dimensionality while smoothing it's wildest disjunctures and sharpest angles. If serialism is Montreal's Habitat 67 modular housing complex, McGuire's Pulse Music compositions are the primary-colored grids of Le Corbusier's L'Habitation apartment complex - an exuberant expression of the same materials and principles. Every layer of pulses is made distinct through it's timbre, register, and tempo. We hear them as a plurality, organized like stars in the sky. Every so often the sky rotates and the stars appear in a different arrangement. Our ear naturally starts to draw connections and, as it sweeps between one layer and another, what was discrete becomes continuous. Pulses become flows; quantitative reality becomes qualitative experience. McGuire's pulse pieces were realized electronically, in the newly built Studio for Electronic Music at the State University of Cologne and WDR, but Pulse Music II adapted his ideas to an orchestral canvas. Commissioned retrospectively by the composer and radio producer Hans Otte for his Pro Musica Nova festival at Radio Bremen. Alongside the Bremen orchestra, conducted by Klaus Bernbacher, were four pianists-Christoph Delz, Herbert Henck, Deborah Richards, Doris Thomsen-and McGuire himself playing a series of twelve drone-like chords on the organ. The techniques of the electronic Pulse Music pieces required a speed and precision too great for live musicians, so for Pulse Music II McGuire adapted his method to an expanding progression of durations; this had the advantage of being much slower and requiring none of the carefully calibrated tempo changes of Pulse Music I or III. It was still based, says the composer, "on what seemed to me an interesting foray into a completely different kind of time structure. Complex time structures had, by 1975, become a condition for me in two senses: a compositional requirement and maybe an illness." The present recording was made by Radio Bremen at the work's first and only performance, and has been held in their archive until now. "108 Pulses" - originally composed a proof-of-concept piece and realized as a single, repeating loop in a 20 minute tableau - is also presented here for the first time.

ARCHANGELS

In his "Pulse Music" compositions of the mid-1970s, composer John McGuire forged a unique interpretation of European serialism. A student of Karlheinz Stockhausen, Krzysztof Penderecki and Gottfried Michael Koenig, McGuire moved to Cologne, Germany in 1970, where he become associated with the world-leading Studio for Electronic Music at Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) in Cologne. Like Stockhausen, McGuire found his musical imagination both constrained and inspired by the technology that was available to him. A conversation with sculptor Hans Karl Burgeff led McGuire to think beyond the horizon and into limitless space. For "Vanishing Points" (1985-1988), McGuire used an entirely digital set-up for the first time: a digital sequencer, eight Yamaha DX-7 synthesizers and a Studer 24-track digital tape recorder. The piece was conceived as a "sequel" to the Pulse Music series, but also a step forward from it. Whereas the Pulse Music pieces had employed steady streams of pulses, with Vanishing Points McGuire employed pulse layers that accelerate or decelerate against one another, vastly increasing the resulting rhythmic complexity. McGuire's exploration of music technology continued in "A Cappella" (1990-1997), written for his wife, the soprano Beth Griffith, known for her recording of Morton Feldman's "Three Voices" made in 1983. Using samples, he created a four-voice choir of voice samples and arranged them into interacting parts. The composition faced challenges due to the organic nature of the human voice compared to the precision of synthesized sounds. This process involved extensive editing and a negotiation between the "material" and the "original conception". This sort of negotiation applies as much to the composition of a single piece as it does to the work of two decades.

The two most important modern jazz legends! The recordings that launched the careers of two giants and began Miles Davis' 30, year association with Columbia Records! Track listing includes "Two Bass Hit, " "Dear Old Stockholm, " "Bye Bye Blackbird, " plus lots more.

Two CD set. Blue Train: The Complete Masters includes a 2nd disc of alternate and incomplete takes, 4 of which have never been released. The 2 CD set comes with a bound booklet featuring session photos by Francis Wolff and an essay by Coltrane expert Ashley Kahn.

Born September 23, 1926 John Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes and was at the forefront of free jazz. He led at least fifty recording sessions and appeared on many albums by other musicians, including trumpeter Miles Davis and pianist Thelonious Monk. Over the course of his career, Coltrane's music took on an increasingly spiritual dimension, as exemplified on his most acclaimed albums A Love Supreme (1965) and Ascension (1966). He remains one of the most influential saxophonists in music history. He received numerous posthumous awards, including a Pulitzer Prize in 2007, and was canonized by the African Orthodox Church. This extraordinary collection features eight of John Coltrane's most cherished and popular albums, all from the era when the great man's star shined brightest. A fine selection of his best ever work, all now housed on 4 CDs, this set will work equally well for new converts to Coltrane's music as it will as a welcome reminder for those already hooked

John Coltrane saw the album-legenth suite a Love Supreme as his gift to God. The world has come to see it as a classic, not only Coltrane's best know n work, but one of the most important and influent ial jazz records ever made.

COLTRANE JAZZ

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This newly discovered live-recording of a performance of the Love Supreme suite is a revelation. Recorded at The Penthouse in Seattle on October 2, 1965, this recording transports the listener to a prime seat for piece of musical history. While not studio-quality audio, the power of the performance shines through. This version is also of the full suite and features an expanded band that includes the same Classic Quartet and Pharoah Sanders in his first official gig as part of Coltrane’s group.

[Note: This product is an authorized CD-R and is manufactured on demand] OLE COLTRANE

Limited vinyl LP repressing of this album by the Jazz great. Trane is joined by Pharoah Sanders, Freddie Hubbard and four other horn players for an explosion of fiery solos and free improvisation on this famous 1965 session. Recorded with three tenors (Trane, Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp), two altos (Marion Brown, John Tchicai), two trumpet players (Freddie Hubbard, Dewey Johnson), two bassists (Art Davis, Jimmy Garrison), the lone McCoy Tyner on piano, and Elvin Jones on the drums, this large group is both relentless and soulful simultaneously. Includes "Ascension" in two parts (one per side).

Double vinyl LP pressing. This newly discovered live-recording of a performance of the Love Supreme suite is a revelation. Recorded at The Penthouse in Seattle on October 2, 1965, this recording transports the listener to a prime seat for piece of musical history. While not studio-quality audio, the power of the performance shines through. This version is also of the full suite and features an expanded band that includes the same Classic Quartet and Pharoah Sanders in his first official gig as part of Coltrane's group.

Archive live release. This newly discovered live-recording of a performance of the Love Supreme suite is a revelation. Recorded at The Penthouse in Seattle on October 2, 1965, this recording transports the listener to a prime seat for piece of musical history. While not studio-quality audio, the power of the performance shines through. This version is also of the full suite and features an expanded band that includes the same Classic Quartet and Pharoah Sanders in his first official gig as part of Coltrane's group.

Limited 180gm vinyl LP pressing in gatefold jacket. Includes two bonus tracks. Collection of classic performances from John Coltrane as a sideman, featuring fellow jazz legends Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins, Tadd Dameron, and Art Taylor. This insightful new compilation features liner notes from award-winning music historian Doug Ramsey - recipient of the Jazz Journalists Association's Lifetime Achievement Award.

Vinyl LP pressing. Standard version incorporates seven tracks, two of which are completely unheard original compositions. 2018 archive release. Unknown until 2004 and unheard until now, these recordings by the John Coltrane Quartet are, as Sonny Rollins says in the liner notes, like finding a new room in the Great Pyramid. Featuring the Classic Quartet - John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones - and recorded at the end of a two-week run at Birdland, the music on this album represents one of the most influential groups in music history both performing in a musical style it had perfected and reaching in new, exploratory directions that were to affect the trajectory of jazz from that point forward.

Double vinyl LP pressing. Taken from the notable Thanksgiving Jazz benefit concert in 1957 (which also featured the likes of Billie Holiday and Dizzy Gillespie), Blue Note/UMe reissue this classic Thelonious Monk Quartet recording on double vinyl to commemorate the album's 60th anniversary. Covering two separate sets from the evening, the recording documents the blossoming relationship between Monk and John Coltrane. The Thanksgiving Jazz concert was produced by Kenneth Lee Karpe for the Morningside Community Center in Harlem. The tape was stored at the Library of Congress where it sat untouched, until 2005 when it was discovered by recording lab supervisor Larry Appelbaum. The recording was then restored by producer Michael Cuscuna and T.S. Monk (Thelonious Monk's son).

Another Coltrane landmark, in which he lends his inimitable style to pop standards.

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2 LP collection of classic performances from John Coltrane as a sideman, featuring fellow jazz legends Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins, Tadd Dameron, and Art Taylor. This insightful new compilation features liner notes from award-winning music historian Doug Ramsey - recipient of the Jazz Journalists Association's Lifetime Achievement Award. Includes 2 bonus tracks not available on CD or digital versions: "Nutty" and "Birks' Works." Gatefold Jacket, 180-gram heavy vinyl.

Considered by many to be his finest single album, Coltrane finds John Coltrane displaying all of the exciting elements that sparked brilliance and allowed his fully formed instrumental voice to shine through in the most illuminating manner. On tenor saxophone, he's simply masterful, offering the burgeoning sheets of sound philosophy into endless weavings of melodic and tuneful displays of inventive, thoughtful, driven phrases. Coltrane also plays a bit of soprano saxophone as a primer for his more exploratory work to follow. Meanwhile, bassist Jimmy Garrison, drummer Elvin Jones, and especially the stellar McCoy Tyner have integrated their passionate dynamics into the inner whole of the quartet. The result is a most focused effort, a relatively popular session to both his fans or latecomers, with five selections that are brilliantly conceived and rendered. "Out of This World," at over 14 minutes in modal trim, is a powerful statement, stretched over Tyner's marvelous and deft chords, the churning rhythms conjured by Jones, and the vocal style Coltrane utilizes as he circles the wagons on this classic melody, including a nifty key change.

Coltrane put together an all star group for this 1957 session featuring Art Taylor, Red Garland and Paul Chambers.

SOLAR

18 tracks by sextet w. Charlie Shavers, Billy Kyle, Russell Procope + 1940.

In 1960, the hugely innovative Coltrane was taking some giant steps of his own - this was the first recording of an entirely Trane-penned set and it achieved the stunning emotional intensity for which his live work was renowned. Warner Jazz. 2005.

Includes "Dedicated to You," "My One And Only Love," "In a Sentimental Mood," "They Say It's Wonderful," "Nancy (With the Laughing Face)" and more.