WHY THESE RECORDINGS?

Of course there are any number of recordings that only exist on vinyl that were never reissued on cd, but there are some examples which are particularly criminal. I’ll be adding to this list as I think of notable examples.

Recordings like these are the part of the reason you still need to own a turntable. For more reasons, see my post Why You STILL Need to Own a Turntable.

Purple - Miroslav Vitous

I have never actually heard Purple. So why is it on this list? Purple came out a year after Miroslav’s first date as a leader in 1969, Mountain in the Clouds/Infinite Search (same release, different titles), one of the defining early fusion records of the era. Purple is rumored to have roughly the same personnel as Mountain in the Clouds. I refuse to believe it could be less than great, although an argument could be made that it should be released on CD for historical reasons alone.

Is the original master lost? I don’t know and I don’t care. That is no excuse. If necessary, the archivists at Columbia Records can track down an old vinyl copy of Purple and remaster the CD from that. This music needs to be heard. Purple is a particuarly tragic case because the average consumer (that’s me) can’t even find a used copy on vinyl.

Forgotten Fantasies - Dave Liebman and Richie Beirach

Probably the greatest single saxophone and piano duet jazz release in history. Forgotten Fantasies is impossibly beautiful from start to finish.

Special mention has to be made of Beirach’s composition Obsidian Mirrors, a driving, intense modal exploration that swings madly and ends the album with stunning finality. Simply a perfect recording. There is no excuse for it not being issued on CD.

Pendulum - Dave Liebman Quintet

The quintet consists of Randy Brecker (trumpet), Richie Beirach (piano), Frank Tusa (a fantastic bass player, not recorded nearly enough), Al Foster (drums) and Liebman himself on sax.

(editor: this recording has been released by Mosaic Records, along with two additional CDs worth of tunes from the Village Vanguard date — see my post Pendulum Live At The Village Vanguard - Dave Liebman Quintet.)

Pendulum, recorded live at the Village Vanguard, contains the 17 minute plus exhaustive and definitive version of Wayne Shorter’s Footprints, which is reason enough to reissue this date on CD right there. But there’s also Richie Beirach’s composition Pendulum, an ingenious tune that imposes chromatic harmonies around a rhythmic pedal point. Randy Brecker shows with his solo on that tune why he should be ranked with the cream of post bop trumpeters for the way he can wring singable melodies out of even the most dissonant materials. Beirach swings like mad when he’s comping and forges harmonic connections in his solos that you would never suspect were there. And Liebman is at his muscular, ascerbic best.

This release was put out by Artists House, a collective of musicians, which sadly didn’t last. But that’s no excuse. Pendulum needs to be liberated from the vaults! (Editor’s Note: Pendulum has been re-released! Check out my post Dave’s Liebman’s Pendulum Re-Released on Mosaic Records! )

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Related posts:

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• Pendulum - Dave Liebman Quintet
• Pendulum Live At The Village Vanguard - Dave Liebman Quintet
• Dave Liebman’s Pendulum Re-released on Mosaic Records!
• Father Time - Frank Tusa
• Forgotten Fantasies - Dave Liebman/Richie Beirach