Oliver Lake

Seven albums by Oliver Lake, recorded between March 1976 and July 1997 and first issued by Black Saint and, for the last one, Soul Note. The alto and soprano saxophonist, who also plays flute, moves from a quartet with guitar in New York in the mid-1970s to quartets and quintets with trumpet and piano, and ends with a live duo with a pianist. Twice the box returns to Eric Dolphy: Prophet in 1980 opens with two of his pieces, and in 1994 Lake recorded a whole album dedicated to him. Each disc comes in a card sleeve with the original artwork.

Holding Together was recorded at Generation Sound Studios in New York in March 1976 with Michael Gregory Jackson on electric and acoustic guitar and electric mandolin, Fred Hopkins on bass and Paul Maddox on drums. Prophet, taped at Sound Heights in Brooklyn in August 1980, is a quintet with Baikida Carroll on trumpet and flugelhorn, Donald Smith on piano, Jerome Harris on electric bass and Pheeroan akLaff on drums. It begins with Dolphy's Hat And Beard and Something Sweet, Something Tender. Carroll, Smith and akLaff stay for the quartet Clevont Fitzhubert, released in 1981. Expandable Language, cut at Vanguard Studios in New York in September 1984, brings in Geri Allen on piano and Kevin Eubanks on guitar, with Hopkins and akLaff, and every composition is Lake's. Edge-ing was made at Mu Rec Studio in Milan in June 1993 with pianist Charles Eubanks, Reggie Workman and Andrew Cyrille. Dedicated To Dolphy, recorded at East Side Sound in New York in November 1994 with Russell Gunn on trumpet, Charles Eubanks, Belden Bullock and Cecil Brooks III, plays Fire Waltz and both Dolphy pieces from Prophet beside Lake's own. The box ends at the Knitting Factory on July 8, 1997: A New Organization is a duo with pianist Borah Bergman in five pieces, with composer credits shared between them.

The Complete Remastered Recordings On Black Saint & Soul Note, CAM Jazz box BXS 1026 from 2013: seven remastered CDs reissuing albums first released between 1976 and 1999.