Georges Arvanitas Soul Jazz reissues

[brownie]

The very rare album 'Soul Jazz' that Georges Arvanitas recorded in 1960 for French Columbia is currently being reissued twice.

The album sells for $hundreds whenever a good original copy appears.

Both reissues claim to be from the original masters.

First one (and expensive) from Atelier Sawano

Second one (and cheaper) from Vadim Music

I have not listened to these reissues yet.

[sidewinder]

First one (and expensive) from Atelier Sawano

I'd wondered where Paris Jazz Corner got their auction catalogue design from..

I'll bet the Sawano reissue/facsimile is superb - if it's anything like their Tempo label reissues.

[brownie]

Yes, the Paris Jazz Corner auction catalogue was a copy of the Arvanitas front cover.

The Arvanitas Soul Jazz front cover was a copy of a full page ad from Prestige Records which appeared in the August 18, 1960 issue of Down Beat. Same vertical letters and exact copy of the letter designs.

The ad was headlined 'PRESTIGE PRESENTS MUSIC FROM THE SOUL!' (with the same lettering).

Nice session by the way (from what I remember).

[sidewinder]

I think the only Arvanitas I've got Brownie is a live 2LP set by his trio from the 1970s - on Barclay, I think. Also that session he did with Dexter Gordon and Sonny Grey (the piano on that one was about as well tuned as the one at the Five Spot !) I'll definitely look out for this 'Soul Jazz'.

Edited December 10, 2011 by sidewinder

[Head Man]

There's a nice Georges Arvanitas 'two-fer' currently available from Amazon on one of the 'grey market' labels.

Here's a review from last August's Guardian:

George Arvanitas - 3 am/Cocktails for Three

[brownie]

Those two Pretoria trio sessions are fine.

The two live albums from the Futura catalogue are highly recommended

also if you are able to find the CD 'Rencontre' he recorded for Sony (with Ira Coleman and Joe Chambers), a long OOP session

Arvanitas was a vastly underrated pianist.

One of his problem probably was that Arvanitas looked more like a modest bank clerk than what people expect a jazz musician to look like.

But an oustanding pianist he was!

Edited December 11, 2011 by brownie

[Head Man]

Thanks for the recommendations, Brownie. I've ordered them as a treat for Christmas!