Having mixed feelings about Record Store Day is the way. It looks like a holiday, sort of, but it’s like one of those days that are supposed to be a day for some bullshit, like National Chocolate Chip Day (May 15)—which somehow manages to share the same day with Asphalt Day and Straw Hat Day and Vascular Birthmarks Awareness Day, so mark your calendar and hope you’re not busy—an event created by some organization or institution to perhaps harmlessly promote awareness of something, more perniciously to make the idea of buying something seem somehow virtuous. And that is Record Store Day—next one is April 18—which launched in 2008 with the purpose of promoting shopping and buying vinyl albums at local record stores.
Now, that is a pretty good thing. And it was, at the start, truly celebratory, and a way for musicians and fans to come together, not just via albums but in person. Approaching twenty years of events, a penumbra of that spirit remains, but RSD has also moved past its origins, past what used to be the hipness of vinyl, into mainstream consumerism. The fundamental draw, finding albums you want that would never have mainstream appeal while also supporting a favorite local business, has been swamped by timed releases for obscure, indie artists like Taylor Swift (an “exclusive” 7” will be available on RSD), and the general problem of planned scarcity via limited editions. That’s a maddening feature of consumerism that is doubly troubling when it comes to RSD, because there are people who might want records because they love the music, and people who might want them to collect and then resell, damn the contents.
That is the point where making money outweighs making music available to fans; if you’re heading out on the morning of April 18, hoping to snag something, there’s no guarantee that the store you go to will have what you’re looking for, nor that it won’t sell out before you can continue your search at any other store. Because within the hundreds of albums that are going to be released that day, and only available at participating stores, there are plenty of worthwhile things to please every kind of listener. And for jazz, this RSD has some archival issues that fans of the music are going to want to hunt down. Despite being saved for special release this day, quantities are so limited that some luck will be required to find them.
They include two special, historic John Coltrane releases. The first is a teaser from Impulse! Records, The Tiberi Tapes: A Preview of the Mythic Recordings, a 2-track EP with excerpts from a larger release scheduled around Coltrane’s centennial in September. Saxophonist and former Woody Herman Orchestra bandleader Frank Tiberi used to follow Coltrane around the New York City clubs in the early 1960s, taping the sets. These have turned up and Impulse! is preparing a package that’s likely going to be one of the most important archival jazz releases of this century.
The other RSD Coltrane vinyl set is not as rare but no less important. In July, 1965, Coltrane and his quartet of McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones played in France, and there are three dates, July 26-28, that have previously been issued on CD and are now being collected in a 4-LP box set from Charly, France 1965: The Complete Concerts. This is vintage live Coltrane Quartet, with two different “Impressions,” “Afro Blue,” and a wonderful “My Favorite Things” with Coltrane on soprano. The centerpiece of this, and worth the cost of the box alone, is a complete performance of A Love Supreme, with “Impressions” tacked on the end, from Juan-les-Pins, that went past midnight July 26-27. Although promoted as “painstakingly restored” and “long thought to survive only in a brief French tv excerpt,” this is a full recording that has always been in good sound thanks to a French TV/radio tape and was released on CD in 1987 on the INA label.
In 2021, Impulse! released the archival A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle, which caused quite a stir. That was deserved: it was a vital piece of jazz history and fantastic music. But it isn’t on the level of this French performance, which is incredibly powerful and intense, not in the way of ‘Trane running through the music, but in the fantastic expressive weight and focus of the playing from the whole quartet. I prefer it even to the studio album, so if you have any interest in Coltrane and the cash, you absolutely need this box set. You also need to scramble, because there are only 2,500 copies available, and it’s a big city and a bigger country.
From John Coltrane to Joe Henderson via Coltrane’s tune “Mr. P.C.” (bassist Paul Chambers), the opening track on Consonance: Live at the Jazz Showcase, is one of a new, exceptional, and generous batch of archival jazz releases from Resonance Records and superstar producer Zev Feldman. The track launches the set with a blistering pace and feel. Henderson had a great balance in his playing of both emotional and intellectual toughness and an underlying rigor that gave every idea and note a focus that could be deceptively succinct. Live at this Chicago club in 1978, he often seems to be blowing past himself, not just in tempo—“Mr. P.C.” just flies—but in the sense of an intensity that is just at the edge of control; “Inner Urge” is, well, urgent.
There’s some stretches where he does lower the heat a little, with “‘Round Midnight” and a lovely “Good Morning Heartache,” those are the contrasts that make this not just a great Joe Henderson album but a great live jazz album. That’s even before you consider who’s in the band behind him: pianist Joanne Brackeen, bassist Steve Rodby (who would join Pat Metheny’s group just a few years later), and drummer Danny Spencer. Highly recommended. (2,000 copies)
There are two other recommended collections recorded at the Jazz Showcase, 1,800 copies of a Mal Waldron double-LP, Stardust & Starlight, from 1979, with Rodby again, drummer Wilbur “the Chief” Campbell, and saxophonist Sonny Stitt sitting in for a few numbers. This is stately, thoughtful Waldron. The other double-LP, At The Jazz Showcase: Live in Chicago, is something of a surprise from Ahmed Jamal. In this 1976 date with bassist John Heard and drummer Frank Gant, Jamal erupts past his typic swinging, soulful, succinct self into gleefully intense stream-of-consciousness improvisations, the trio shifting through pulses and moods, Jamal pulling ideas from his deep history in jazz. Another exceptional Jamal find from Feldman, 2,000 copies issued.
A freelance producer, Feldman has two more sensational RSD releases on the Elemental Music label from two of the greatest pianists in jazz history: Bill Evans at the BBC and Fragments, The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts from the Cecil Taylor Unit. In 1965, Evans appeared on Jazz 625, hosted by Humphrey Lyttelton—this is the broadcast audio. The sound is subpar but acceptable, the music is wonderful, Evans and his trio of bassist Chuck Israels and drummer Larry Bunker playing with attentive and easy going interaction. There are 3,500 copies of this one, which adds to Feldman’s ongoing legacy of unearthing unheard Evans.
The 3-LP Taylor set is another television broadcast performance, one that’s been on YouTube for several years. The audio is much improved for this release of 1,550 copies, and it reveals the crushing intensity of the evening. Saxophonist Sam Rivers joins the frontline with Jimmy Lyons, as both buttress and foil, and with no bassist, just dummer Andrew Cyrille, there’s a deceptive lightness to the music. Taylor, even at his most pummeling, was always supple, and this music moves like a race car, even as it bristles. A fine companion to the January release from Polish label Fundacja Słuchaj of Words & Music: The Last Bandstand, Taylor’s final public performance, from the 2016 Whitney Museum retrospective of his career.
