★Transition
Jazz By Sun Ra Vol.2
** Deluxe edition, Tip-on jacket, 24 pp booklet ** Sam Records continues its essential reissue series of Transition Records' visionary catalog with Jazz By Sun Ra Vol. 2, the companion piece to Sun Ra's landmark 1957 Jazz by Sun Ra Vol. 1. Originally intended as Transition TRLP-28 but left unreleased when the label folded, these recordings remained in limbo until Bob Koester rescued them for Delmark in 1968 as Sound of Joy [DS-414]. Now, over half a century later, this crucial document of the Ar…
Jazz By Sun Ra Vol.1
** Deluxe edition, Tip-on jacket, 24 pp booklet ** Did you know that the short-lived Transition label released the first LPs, or first sessions as leaders of three of the greatest performers in modern jazz? Donald Byrd – Byrd Jazz – Transition TRLP 5; Sun Ra – Jazz by Sun Ra Vol. 1 – Transition TRLP 10; Cecil Taylor – Jazz Advance – Transition TRLP 19. Tom Wilson, its founder and manager, was undoubtedly a man of taste more than a businessman as the label had to close its doors after only two ye…
Byrd Jazz
** Deluxe edition, Tip-on jacket, 12 pp booklet ** Sam Records returns with a significant archival gem: the long-awaited reissue of Donald Byrd's Byrd Jazz, originally released on Transition Records in 1955. Capturing the Donald Byrd Sextet's electrifying performance in Detroit on August 23, 1955, organized by the New Jazz Society under the impetus of Kenny Burrell, this recording stands as a crucial document of both Byrd's emerging artistry and the vibrant Detroit jazz scene of the 1950s.
The r…