VERVE'S
FREE AMERICA SERIES
In the late 1960s and early part of the 1970s,
it seemed that much of the world’s cultural and social
institutions were in upheaval. In the world of music, boundaries
were becoming much less distinct and musicians were finding
ways to elaborate on whatever form of music they were creating.
Modern and avant-garde composers and musicians from the
classical music tradition, jazz musicians, rock and popular
artists, were all experimenting with new sounds, new media,
and new ways of expressing what was happening through music.
Like their older counterparts, many young,
radically experimental jazz musicians found their way to
Europe, where they found a more ready audience for their
experimentation. Paris, specifically, became home to many
of these musicians for various periods of time. The America
Records label began in Paris under the umbrella of the Fantasy
label, as a European distribution channel for the label’s
reissues. The label also released albums by many of the
musicians who lived and worked in Paris and Europe, musicians
whose work has come to define avant-garde and free jazz
in the latter twentieth century. The albums that America
released were pressed in small quantities and quickly became
collectors’ items.
It is therefore with great anticipation that
free jazz fans have eyed Verve’s reissue of much of
the America free jazz catalog under its new Free America
series. The releases are magnificent. Tri-fold digipak sleeves
each feature distinctive abstract artwork that give the
series a really smart look. A booklet is enclosed in each
release that contains the musician credits, a new essay
by Philippe Carles, and the original liner notes, if any.
The CD itself is housed inside a paper sleeve that offers
a black and white reproduction of the original album cover.
The music is glorious and can be clearly heard thanks to
24-bit remastering. Many of these performances were recorded
inexpensively under less-than- perfect circumstances, yet
the sound quality of each reissue is simply exquisite. The
reissues themselves are limited editions, so anyone with
an interest in any of these should pick them up sooner rather
than later.
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Dave Burrell/After Love
coming!Review
| Buy
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Mal Waldron & Steve Lacy/Mal Waldron with
the Steve Lacy Quintet
coming! Review
| Buy
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Anthony Braxton/Saxophone Improvisations Series
F
coming!Review
| Buy
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Art Ensemble of Chicago/Certain Blacks
Buy
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Art Ensemble of Chicago/Phase One
Buy
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Anthony Braxton/Donna Lee
Buy
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Steve Lacy/The Gap
Buy
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Roswell Rudd/Roswell Rudd
Buy
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Archie Shepp/Black Gipsy
Buy
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Clifford Thornton/The Panther and the Lash
coming!Review
| Buy
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Frank Wright/Uhuru Na Umoja
Buy
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Art Ensemble of Chicago with
Fontella Bass
Buy
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