New CTI Jazz Reissues

[Captain Bacardi]

Starting in February 2005 a few CTI albums will be reissued on CD. From the Jazz Times site:

Upcoming Releases From CTI Jazz Series

The CTI Jazz Series will release 11 new titles in early 2005 from artists Patti Austin, Deodato/Airto, Paul Desmond, Astrud Gilberto, Freddie Hubbard, Yusef Lateef, Idris Muhammad, Esther Phillips, Nina Simone and Stanley Turrentine. The series will also include the CTI Master Collection, a double-CD sampler of the series’ artists.

Creed Taylor founded CTI in 1967 and his label soon became one of their premier labels for jazz artists, earning a nod from Billboard in 1974 as their number one jazz label. In addition to the artists released in the series, in CTI’s heyday, its roster included Chet Baker, George Benson, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Grant Green, among others. When musical tastes began to change towards the end of the 1970s, CTI sales began to lag and Taylor signed his last distribution deal with Epic in 1981, giving Sony Music the stewardship of CTI’s collection.

Sony Legacy began the CTI Jazz Series in 1997 and by 2002, the series had more than 30 albums to its name. The following albums in the series’ upcoming release schedule have a street date of Feb. 15, 2005:

Deodato/Airto - Deodato/Airto in Concert
Astrud Gilberto - Astrud Gilberto with Stanley Turrentine
Idris Muhammad - House of the Rising Sun
Nina Simone - Baltimore
Stanley Turrentine - Don’t Mess with Mister T
CTI: The Master Collection – The Soul Jazz Legacy

The following albums will arrive in stores on May 17, 2005:
Patti Austin - Body Language
Paul Desmond - Pure Desmond
Freddie Hubbard - First Light
Yusef Lateef - Autophysiopsychic
Esther Phillips - Black-Eyed Blues


Capt. Bacardi

 

[mikeargo]

That's wonderful news. My old vinyl copy of Hubbard's First Light is about worn through and I've been looking for a CD replacement for a long time. No doubt about it, 2005 will be a welcome year, reissue-wise!

Mike A

 

[seashorepiano]

This is probably some of the best news I've heard all year, since CTi is my favorite label. I'm glad Paul Desmond's Pure Desmond is seeing the light of day on a domestic CD. However, I'd like to see some of Bob James' and Hubert Laws' works on there, too. Who knows, CTi might get around to it eventually. This news is good enough, however!

 

[LPJim]

Yes, it's good news. Only one thing could top it: an announcement that J.J. Johnson & Kai Winding's STONEBONE (SP 3027) will gets it's first U.S. release.
That'd make me a happy camper.
JB

 

[seashorepiano]

Yes, it's good news. Only one thing could top it: an announcement that J.J. Johnson & Kai Winding's STONEBONE (SP 3027) will gets it's first U.S. release.
That'd make me a happy camper.
JB

Motion seconded on the Johnson/Winding album, Jim! Aye, aye! How about some of that Gabor Szabo that's in the CTi catalogue as well, like Rambler?

 

[jimac51]

According to www.musictap.net,all of the scheduled CTI rereleases for February have been delayed with no set street date. I suspect with such a such soft Christmas,minor "deep catalog" releases are not a priority for the retail outlets that would carry them-just paying the Christmas bills will be tough enough. Mac

 

[Rudy]

I just found the Audio Master Plus LP reissue of the Paul Desmond "Summertime" LP. VERY nice. I wish I'd have bought all of these pressings when they were released. I have a few, but certainly not all of them. These LPs are pressed so nicely, I've not had a reason to get the CD versions.

 

[seashorepiano]

Paul Desmond's Summertime is among my top favorites. The song "Samba With Some Barbecue" is Desmond at top-notch. Unfortunately, I've not yet been able to find an original pressing or Audio Master Plus reissue in any local stores. I'm personally not big on eBay, so I just stay to the in-person purchases. As a result, I downloaded the album from iTunes, because I at least wanted to have it in some medium eventually. Good tracks, clean sound, but then again, I'm not a technician, so I wouldn't know the specifics...

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I want to get that Deodato/Airto IN CONCERT disk. It has a great song "Parana" that's one of my favorites, and I lost the LP a long time ago so haven't heard it in about 20 years.

 

[seashorepiano]

Mike: I've seen that LP a few times in the stores, but haven't had the chance to pick it up. I've got the Prelude and Deodato 2 albums, but I hear that the live recording with Deodato and Airto is really something.

 

[Rudy]

Paul Desmond's Summertime is among my top favorites. The song "Samba With Some Barbecue" is Desmond at top-notch. Unfortunately, I've not yet been able to find an original pressing or Audio Master Plus reissue in any local stores. I'm personally not big on eBay, so I just stay to the in-person purchases. As a result, I downloaded the album from iTunes, because I at least wanted to have it in some medium eventually. Good tracks, clean sound, but then again, I'm not a technician, so I wouldn't know the specifics...

It's very nice on the AM+ pressing! Nice quiet pressing, and it sounds cleaner than the stock A&M vinyl I have (which is also a little worn). Definitely a keeper. I also got another Bridge Over Troubled Water but it's not as clean, unfortunately--I may have to get a bit more aggresive with the record vacuum

I have two CD versions of From The Hot Afternoon, but I do want to get the AM+ vinyl of this one also. Some of my favorite songs are on that one.

 

[seashorepiano]

I recently picked up a copy of From the Hot Afternoon on vinyl, original pressing, for a few dollars. It was a very quiet pressing, surprising to me compared to the other A&M/CTi albums I own. I was apprehensive initially because part of the gatefold was badly warped. The spindle hole had almost no sign of use, so I'm guessing whoever owned it beforehand cared for it very well when playing or else never played it much at all.

I wasn't very happy with the Verve By Request reissue of this album. Now that I have a clean vinyl of it, my eyes have since been widely opened to the real beauty of the music. The CD came off with some static (probably tape deterioration) and a persistent, annoyingly muted sound.

 

[Rudy]

I recently picked up a copy of From the Hot Afternoon on vinyl, original pressing, for a few dollars. It was a very quiet pressing, surprising to me compared to the other A&M/CTi albums I own. I was apprehensive initially because part of the gatefold was badly warped. The spindle hole had almost no sign of use, so I'm guessing whoever owned it beforehand cared for it very well when playing or else never played it much at all.

I wasn't very happy with the Verve By Request reissue of this album. Now that I have a clean vinyl of it, my eyes have since been widely opened to the real beauty of the music. The CD came off with some static (probably tape deterioration) and a persistent, annoyingly muted sound.

I have the VBR reissue along with the original "gatefold" DigiPak release way back from the 80s. Overall though, these CTi albums seem to have an overly warm mid-bass to them. When I did a needle drop once, I did a small 1dB cut somewhere around 150-300 Hz and it cleared up the sound nicely. If I did it again, I would use an outboard parametric EQ rather than use the digital EQ in software, which has some unwanted side effects.

 

[mikeargo]

Does anyone know if the CTi Jazz Series version of Freddie Hubbard's FIRST LIGHT reissue has been released yet? I just went and ordered the album from amazon (through Rudy's site! important!) to piggyback with my next TJB preorder, but taking a second look I think what I ordered is a different CD from the early 90s. Did I jump the gun? Should I cancel my order?

-Mikeargo

 

[Captain Bacardi]

The one listed on Amazon is the older CD version, which was released in 1990. The version first mentioned in this thread hasn't yet been issued, and we have no word on when it will actually be released. So you may want to cancel it, unless you really want the older version.


Capt. Bacardi

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Mike: I've seen that LP a few times in the stores, but haven't had the chance to pick it up. I've got the Prelude and Deodato 2 albums, but I hear that the live recording with Deodato and Airto is really something.

I got the CD (Deodato IN CONCERT Airto) a couple of months ago. It is excellent! Liner notes tell the story of the concert, which was a bunch of CTI artists. The original album had 2 Airto tracks and 3 Deodato tracks, and this reissue adds two more Deodato songs from the same show. (Why they didn't just issue the whole show is a mystery-- unless they're saving it for a later release.) Sound quality is top notch and it's a great listen. Normally I don't like live albums, but this one is killer. The style of music really lends itself to the Live format (similar to the Alpert/Masekela live album.)

The only quibble I have is, the sound "fades out" between the tunes. I can see why -- they are culled from different parts of the show -- but it would have flowed better if they'd bridged some applause across the track gaps.