ULTIMATE COLLECTION STEVE LAWRENCE / EYDI GORME The first track on this 4-CD set is "This Could Be the Start of Something Big," and it sure is: here, at last, is the Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme collection all of their fans have been waiting for, the biggest and (by far) best-sounding set ever devoted to the pair of legendary pop vocalists. Under the supervision of their son David Lawrence (who contributes a personal note to the booklet), we've gone back to the original tapes for most of these 72 tracks; some of these have never appeared on CD, and, with Eric Boulanger's new remastering, the ones that have come out sound much better than they did before. Disc One, "Duet Classics," features such career touchstones for the couple as "Baby It's Cold Outside," "For Once in Your Life," and "We Got Us." Disc Two, "Steve Classics," brings the hits with "Portrait of My Love," "Footsteps," and "Go Away Little Girl" along with such signature renditions as "I've Gotta Be Me" and "I Want to Be with You" and even an unreleased track, "You and I." Eydie takes over (and how!) on Disc Three with such smashes as "Blame It on the Bossa Nova," "What Did I Have That I Don't Have," "If He Walked into My Life," "Tonight I'll Say a Prayer, and her Spanish-language classic with Trio Los Panchos, "Sabor a Mi." And Disc Four revels in the duo's love of Broadway with songs like "Mama, A Rainbow," "The Ladies Who Lunch," "Two on the Aisle," and the uproarious "The Honeymoon Is Over." Like this collection, Joe Marchese's liner notes follow Steve and Eydie's career every step of the way, and we've included some rare photos courtesy of the estate. The ultimate collection indeed, the comprehensive, career-spanning collection these two icons have long deserved!

After keyboardist/composer Bayete a.k.a. Todd Cochran established his musical presence on the San Francisco scene playing in Bobby Hutcherson's band, and before becoming a key member of the innovative band Automatic Man, which he co-founded with Santana drummer Michael Shrieve, he recorded a couple of solo albums for the Prestige label that feature some of the most far-out, futuristic music the legendary jazz imprint ever released. The first, Worlds Around the Sun, created quite a critical stir and debuted his composition "Free Angela," which was later recorded again by Santana and sampled widely by artists like Kendrick Lamar, de la Soul, and Jay Electronica. But it was this album, 1973's Seeking Other Beauty, that represented the full flowering of his vision. As Bayete says in the notes by Pat Thomas that accompany our Real Gone reissue, "While I've held space for the blues aesthetic and jazz in everything I've done, I was leaving one world and entering another, unmooring the ship and heading into a sea of unknowns, so to speak." That ship ended up at a dazzling destination reached by few; early '70s electric Miles is a clear point on the compass, but so are Parliament-Funkadelic and Lonnie Liston Smith, if he were playing a fuzzed-out clavinet instead of a Fender Rhodes. Bayete went on to collaborate with everybody from Peter Gabriel to Herbie Hancock to Stanley Clarke, but Seeking Other Beauty delivers the full measure of the man. This is a first-ever reissue, featuring an all-analog pressing in either black vinyl or "plasma" vinyl, accompanied by an added insert. In it's attitude, emotion, and performance, this recording captures an urgency that people are feeling again today. If you're a fan of music that features a mosaic of influences - spiritual jazz with a fluid futuristic slant, akin to some of the Black Jazz label titles we reissued on Real Gone - this record is for you.

Critics everywhere agreed that Olu Dara's In the World-From Natchez to New York was one of 1998's best albums. The only problem was, in what category? Jazz? Dara came to this album with impeccable credentials in the genre, having played with David Murray, James "Blood" Ulmer, Henry Threadgill, and Don Pullen. However, though Dara does flash his burnished cornet tone on occasion, he is more often picking on guitar as opposed to blowing on trumpet on this record. And while there is definitely some of that arpeggiated African guitar sound to his playing, it would be a stretch to call In the World a "world music" release. No, in the end, this is a country blues album from the urban jungle, an utterly charming, all-in-one tour of Natchez and New York with maybe Nairobi thrown in there, with a little extra urban flavor courtesy of Dara's rapper son Nas, who contributes vocals to "Jungle Jay." Long a favorite of our Real Gone Music staff, In the World-From Natchez to New York debuts on vinyl in a green okra edition limited to 1000 copies, remastered for the format with insert included. Highly recommended!

After keyboardist/composer Bayete a.k.a. Todd Cochran established his musical presence on the San Francisco scene playing in Bobby Hutcherson's band, and before becoming a key member of the innovative band Automatic Man, which he co-founded with Santana drummer Michael Shrieve, he recorded a couple of solo albums for the Prestige label that feature some of the most far-out, futuristic music the legendary jazz imprint ever released. The first, Worlds Around the Sun, created quite a critical stir and debuted his composition "Free Angela," which was later recorded again by Santana and sampled widely by artists like Kendrick Lamar, de la Soul, and Jay Electronica. But it was this album, 1973's Seeking Other Beauty, that represented the full flowering of his vision. As Bayete says in the notes by Pat Thomas that accompany our Real Gone reissue, "While I've held space for the blues aesthetic and jazz in everything I've done, I was leaving one world and entering another, unmooring the ship and heading into a sea of unknowns, so to speak." That ship ended up at a dazzling destination reached by few; early '70s electric Miles is a clear point on the compass, but so are Parliament-Funkadelic and Lonnie Liston Smith, if he were playing a fuzzed-out clavinet instead of a Fender Rhodes. Bayete went on to collaborate with everybody from Peter Gabriel to Herbie Hancock to Stanley Clarke, but Seeking Other Beauty delivers the full measure of the man. This is a first-ever reissue, featuring an all-analog pressing in either black vinyl or "plasma" vinyl, accompanied by an added insert. In it's attitude, emotion, and performance, this recording captures an urgency that people are feeling again today. If you're a fan of music that features a mosaic of influences - spiritual jazz with a fluid futuristic slant, akin to some of the Black Jazz label titles we reissued on Real Gone - this record is for you.

If you could actually hear an abstract expressionist painting, it would probably sound a lot like the work of Morton Feldman. And that's no accident: Feldman hung out in '50s and '60s New York with Jackson Pollock, Philip Guston (whose work graced the cover of Feldman's first album), and Robert Rauschenberg. Like the paintings of his visual artist peers, Feldman's work emphasized tonal color over structure, rhythm, or melody, the traditional building blocks of music. It also employed the musical equivalent of painterly "negative space" with it's use of silence and stasis; that Feldman and John Cale were enormous influences on each other will come as no surprise. So, it makes sense that Feldman would dedicate probably his two most celebrated compositions to two giants of the New York scene: abstract expressionist Mark Rothko, whose famous Chapel adorns this LP's front cover, and writer and critic Frank O'Hara, whose own work drew inspiration from the same sources as Feldman's. Rothko Chapel and For Frank O'Hara first were released in 1976 on a seminal album from the Odyssey imprint on Columbia Records; for it's 50th anniversary and first LP reissue, we've had it pressed on 180-gram black vinyl at Gotta Groove Records for the quietest listen achievable, using new transfers from the original master tapes. Profound, career-defining work that opened the door for latter-day ambient composers like Brian Eno to walk through.

Originally released on the Concord label, this masterful 1978 meeting of jazz guitar giants has quietly become one of the most collectible albums of it's era. Herb Ellis and Remo Palmier (a.k.a Palmieri) were contemporaries in the red-hot NYC jazz scene of the '40s, but they arrived at this recording through very different routes. Ellis' reputation steadily grew as he went from being a sideman in the Glen Gray and Jimmy Dorsey orchestras to being a mainstay in the Oscar Peterson Trio in the '50s, and later playing in a guitar trio with Barney Kessel and Charlie Byrd. Palmier, on the other hand, got his career off to a blazing start, playing with Coleman Hawkins before appearing on seminal bebop sides (e.g. "Groovin' High") with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. But then, health issues intervened, and Palmier spent the next three decades or so working a staff job at CBS for The Arthur Godfrey Show. Finally, after the show was canceled, Palmier re-entered jazz circles but never really recorded much, which only makes Windflower that much more of a treasure. "Sublime" is the word that springs to our mind, but you can substitute your own superlative; backed by George Duvivier on bass and Ron Traxler on drums, Ellis and Palmier bring an organic sense of swing, beautifully-voiced chords, and lyrical lead lines to such fare as "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes," "Groove Merchant," and even "Danny Boy." Produced by Concord label founder Carl Jefferson, pressed on black vinyl for maximum fidelity. A1. Windflower A2. The Night Has a Thousand Eyes A3. My Foolish Heart A4. Close Your Eyes A5. Danny Boy B1. Walkin' B2. Stardust B3. Triste B4. Groove Merchant

Though the trio of John Medeski, Billy Martin, and Chris Wood had already expanded the jazz genre with their first three records (two of which we have reissued here at Real Gone Music), it was this 1996 album that really crossed over and won the ensemble a whole new legion of listeners in the "jam band" camp. Recorded in a remote, solar-powered plywood shack in Hawaii (hence the title), Shack-Man brought the '70s soul-jazz beloved by the band firmly into the '90s, propelled by Medeski's simultaneously nostalgic yet forward-thinking excursions on the Hammond B-3. A masterpiece of groove, out on vinyl for the first time! A1. Is There Anybody Here That Love My Jesus A2. Think A3. Dracula A4. Bubblehouse A5. Henduck A6. Strance of the Spirit Red Gator B1. Spy Kiss B2. Lifeblood B3. Jelly Belly B4. Night Marchers B5. Kenny

Three CDs. Live archive release. Start spreading the news: Liza Minnelli's long-lost live album recorded in the very heart of New York, New York is getting the deluxe treatment. When the Oscar, Emmy, and Tony-winning superstar (and future Grammy Legend) took the stage at the legendary Carnegie Hall on September 4, 1979, the concert was already a hotly-anticipated event. It would be the first of eleven consecutive shows through September 14 - the longest run in the Hall's history. Not only that, but every show in the five-level, 2, 804-seat venue was sold out. Liza had the foresight to record three nights of concerts; two years later, in 1981, she began selling the limited release on vinyl at her live dates. But, deprived of proper retail distribution, the album never reached a wide audience... until now! It even gets better, though: Liza kept those pristine multitrack tapes of the three nights recorded at Carnegie Hall. The tapes revealed a treasure trove of performances not included on the original double album. These tapes have been painstakingly restored and beautifully mixed by acclaimed engineer Ted Carfrae (Doris Day, Cilla Black) for this first-ever COMPLETE presentation of Liza's Carnegie Hall show from curtain up to curtain down. Live in New York 1979: The Ultimate Edition is available on 3 CDs, all of which overflow with showbiz sizzle: one disc with Mike Milchner's remastered version of the original vinyl release, which premieres on CD, and two discs with the never-before-released complete show. This deluxe edition also features an expanded booklet with new introductions by both Ms. Minnelli and Great American Songbook champion Michael Feinstein, both of whom served as executive producers for this release, plus photos of the artist and liner notes from reissue producers Joe Marchese and Charles L. Granata, and exclusive tributes from Liza's friends and collaborators inside a gorgeous, 8-panel digipak boasting the Warhol portrait. Again, NONE of this material has ever been available at music retail... this is indeed the ultimate Liza package!

Digitally remastered edition. The first release on Black Jazz was by pianist and label producer Gene Russell; for the label's second release, Russell chose another piano man of impeccable taste, Walter Bishop, Jr. But while much of Russell's record consisted of songs composed by others, Bishop's record features all originals, most notably 'Soul Turn Around,' a groover that later turned up on Freddie Hubbard's 1969 LP A Soul Experiment. Bishop had helmed several releases before this one, including dates with John Coltrane bassist Jimmy Garrison and Miles Davis drummer Jimmy Cobb among others, so it's not surprising he assembled a heavy hitting line-up for Coral Keys, including Woody Shaw on trumpet, Reggie Jackson on bass, Idris Muhammad on drums, and Harold Vick on flute, tenor, and soprano sax. Think Herbie Hancock's '60s Blue Note recordings gently polished with a soul jazz sheen; this is some tasty stuff that's been hard to find for way too long.