From Zev Feldman.
FRIENDS, I'VE BEEN WAITING TO SHARE SOME NEWS.
Will you please watch this short video?
Over the last 3 years I've been involved in a historical preservation effort with ELEMENTAL MUSIC of Barcelona, Spain & THE ORCHARD to restore & reissue The XANADU RECORDS jazz album catalog. The first 6 albums are out June 30th. After Hurricane Sandy hit in 2012, many of the master tape reels were seriously damaged or destroyed (tapes literally unraveled in the floodwater). We had a long road to restore & reissue the recordings. We even lost all the album artwork so I used my personal LP's to have them drum scanned & our designer (Simon Svard) restored & made them look new again.
This became the perfect opportunity to celebrate one of my heroes, Xanadu's founder Don Schlitten, a man who I consider to be one of the architect's of this music & unjustly under-appreciated. You may not be aware of his name, but Don Schlitten has left one of the largest footprints in this music doing production, photography & design for many labels including Signal Records, Prestige, MPS, Cobblestone, Onyx, Muse, RCA & Xanadu. Xanadu was his brain-child and was a 'mom & pop' record label co-run with his wife Nina. Together they recorded & documented straight-ahead jazz in an era which was heavily influenced by fusion, funk rock, & R&B.
Over the next year, Elemental Music (in partnership with The Orchard) will reissue 25 key albums from the catalog which my label partner Jordi Soley and I personally selected). We've created definitive re-issue editions with 16-page booklets containing original notes, bonus photographs, & new liners by British jazz journalist legend Mark Gardner, in addition to yours truly. The first 6 releases include Jimmy & Albert 'Tootie' Heath, Al Cohn/Jimmy Rowles, Barry Harris, Sam Most & The Xanadu All-Stars. More releases to come from the likes of Joe Farrell, Bob Berg, Kenny Barron, Dexter Gordon, Cecil Payne plus others.
This is one of the most important musical projects I've ever been involved with. This was a labor of love & I'm proud of what we've accomplished. I hope you'll join us on this journey as we celebrate this music, and Don's accomplishments. It all starts June 30th.
OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE HERE: http://www.icontactarchive.com/Bp61cp1zavMD8u8e7KtgO4n8le3X…
Thanks for your interest & support.
Special thanks to Bret Primack & Zak Shelby-Szyszko for your help co-writing, directing, and producing this video with me.
Zev