CONCORD MUSIC GROUP PRESENTS ITS 13th EDITION OF CLASSIC PRESTIGE RECORDS RVG REMASTERS ON SEPTEMBER 8th

CONCORD MUSIC GROUP PRESENTS
ITS 13th EDITION OF CLASSIC PRESTIGE RECORDS RVG REMASTERS
ON SEPTEMBER 8th

TITLES INCLUDE REMASTERED CDS
BY LEGENDARY ENGINEER RUDY VAN GELDER:
THELONIOUS MONK QUINTET: MONK (1953)
SONNY ROLLINS WITH THELONIOUS MONK AND KENNY DORHAM: MOVING OUT (1954)
RED GARLAND QUINTET WITH JOHN COLTRANE: DIG IT! (1957)

On September 8th, the Concord Music Group will release the next installment of the popular Rudy Van Gelder Remasters Series of classic Prestige albums. This 13th edition of the RVG series includes three more classics that engineer Rudy Van Gelder originally recorded in the 1950s and recently upgraded to 21st century standards of digital audio. The new remasters bring the total number of releases in the series to more than 60.

Originally recorded under the supervision of Prestige owner and founder Bob Weinstock, each of the three remasters is a fascinating slice of jazz history - a vivid portrait of ambitious and innovative young artists in their formative years, all of whom have since become iconic figures in the annals of American jazz:

Sonny Rollins with Thelonious Monk and Kenny Dorham: Moving Out

Thelonious Monk Quintet: Monk

Red Garland Quintet with John Coltrane: Dig It!

As with the previous recordings in the series - first launched in March 2006 - Van Gelder breathes new life into his original vision by meticulously transferring these albums from the analog master tapes from the Prestige vault to digital at 24-bit resolution.

"Given that Rudy was the original recording engineer on these projects, there's something that he brings to these remasters that no one else possibly could," says Nick Phillips, Vice President of Jazz and Catalog A&R. "He was the person who was documenting these great sessions on tape at the time. He remembers the performances, the interplay, the spontaneous actions and reactions among the artists on hand."

Each RVG series album includes both new and original liner notes - in this case by the same authors - and sells at the midline price of $11.98.

Thelonious Monk Quintet: Monk (1953)

From the new liner notes: "Monk was marvelously magical on and off the stand. He continues to have an effect on musicians of all generations through his compositions and recordings. When his friend and patron Baroness Nica de Koenigswarter asked me to deliver the eulogy at his funeral in 1982, she sent me a passage from Milan Kundera's The Book of Laughter and Forgetting. Where the name Beethoven appeared she had substituted Monk. It worked perfectly and I incorporated the excerpt in my text." (Ira Gitler)

Personnel: Thelonious Monk, piano; Frank Foster (#1-4), Sonny Rollins (#5-7), tenor saxophones; Ray Copeland, trumpet (#1-4); Julius Watkins, French horn (#5-7); Curly Russell (#1-4), Percy Heath (#5-7), bass; Art Blakey (#1-4), Willie Jones (#5-7), drums.

Sonny Rollins with Thelonious Monk and Kenny Dorham: Moving Out (1954)

From the new liner notes: "This is one of Sonny's classic ballad performances, summoned from deep inside within the aura of one of his early and major mentors. It is one of many milestones worth revisiting in a career that really began to soar when he returned to New York in late 1955 as a member of the Max Roach/Clifford Brown Quintet following a year of personal rebirth in Chicago. There have been many artistic triumphs since that time in his ascent to universally recognized greatness. This CD is one of many stops along the way that reward both the new listener and the revisitor." (Ira Gitler)

Personnel: Sonny Rollins, tenor saxophone; Kenny Dorham, trumpet; Elmo Hope, piano; Percy Heath, bass; Art Blakey, drums. (On "More Than You Know" only: Sonny Rollins, tenor saxophone; Thelonious Monk, piano; Tommy Potter, bass; Arthur Taylor, drums.)

Red Garland Quintet with John Coltrane: Dig It! (1957)

From the new liner notes: "It would seem that openness to the vulnerability that comes with spontaneity was the essence of Bob Weinstock's philosophy of recording. In one sense, the very act of recording would seem to be the exact opposite of the core premise of jazz-that is, in and of the moment, and therefore unrepeatable. To capture that moment and make it permanent, as a photograph does through mechanical means, would seem to be the elusive thing that Bob Weinstock did with such regularity that, as you can hear by listening to this music, the artists made it look, and sound, easy." (Joe Goldberg)

Personnel: Red Garland, piano; John Coltrane, tenor saxophone (#1, 3, 4); Donald Byrd, trumpet (#1, 4); George Joyner (#1, 3, 4), Paul Chambers (#2), bass; Arthur Taylor, drums.

For more information onthe 13th Edition of Classic
Prestige Records RVG Remasters, please contact:

Don Lucoff/ DL Media
don@jazzpublicity.com 610.667.0501
www.jazzpublicity.com

Julie Murray Porter / Concord Records:
Julie.Porter@concordmusicgroup.com
310.385.4234
www.concordmusicgroup.com

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