Soul and jazz fans should keep their eyes peeled for some excellent new titles in Rhino’s ongoing no-frills catalogue series, ‘Original Album Series,’ which reissues classic albums in miniature LP sleeves as part of a mid-price 5-CD pack.
The new batch of titles includes all the Elektra/Asylum studio albums by reclusive Detroit soulstress ANITA BAKER: namely ‘The Songstress,’ ‘Rapture,’ ‘Giving You The Best I Got,’ ‘Compositions,’ and ‘Rhythm Of Love.’
Another artist who seamlessly melded soul with jazz is AL JARREAU – five of his LPs are now available in a single package; ‘We Got By,’ ‘Glow,’ ‘All Fly Home,’ ‘This Time,’ and ‘Breakin’ Away.’
For jazz fans – both veterans and novices – collections by the legendary JOHN COLTRANE, ORNETTE COLEMAN and HERBIE MANN are well worth tracking down. The COLTRANE set features the seminal Atlantic albums ‘Giant Steps,’ ‘Coltrane Jazz,’ ‘My Favorite Things,’ ‘Coltrane Plays The Blues’ and ‘Coltrane’s Sound’ while the COLEMAN collection brings together the classic Atlantic albums ‘The Shape Of Jazz To Come,’ ‘Change Of The Century,’ ‘This Is Our Music,’ ‘Free Jazz,’ and ‘Ornette!’
The late flautist HERBIE MANN also recorded some classic albums during a fertile tenure at Atlantic in the ’60s – now five of his albums from that era (‘At The Village Gate,’ ‘Do The Bossa Nova With Herbie Mann,’ ‘Nirvana’ – recorded with the BILL EVANS TRIO – ‘Muscle Shoals Nitty Gritty’ and ‘Hold On, I’m Comin”) are available in a single package.
Look out for reviews of some of these titles soon at SJF.
