Approaching Steve Lacy's Discography
Dave Brubeck Changes with the Times
Evan Parker - Musical Chairs
John Coltrane: Box Set Keys... Box Set Mania!
John Zorn: Where to Begin?
Sonny Rollins: Lauded Early Years, Long Haul
10s and 12s (and 78s and 45s), Blue Note and Prestige
Tonal Views of the Atonal: Twelve Hybrid and-or Variable Sun Ra Albums
The Two Great Jazz Reissue Series: Original Jazz Classics (Fantasy) and Rudy Van Gelder Editions (Blue Note)
Uniform Titling of Anthony Braxton's Albums
~
Approaching Steve Lacy's Discography
Another Jazz artist besides Anthony Braxton whose prolific recorded output may leave the new or returning listener not knowing where to start is Steve Lacy. This is the second essay-discography intended to provide a "way in" to the vast discography of a major figure in modern music.
Lacy, who almost exclusively played the soprano saxophone, is likely to remain most known for the music that he made during three decades spent living and working as an expatriate in Paris, more than twenty of those years collaborating regularly with alto-soprano saxophonist Steve Potts. One can see Lacy as a lesser-known, but significant, addition to the long tradition of American and other foreign artists living and working in the City of Lights. Sadly, soon after Lacy moved back to the States to begin a new phase of his career as a teacher at the New England Conservatory of Music, he fell victim to cancer.
Lacy's work from the beginning of his time in Paris through his period of collaboration with Potts (roughly 1971 to 1994) can be easily split into two parts: what I call the "quintet/ Seventies" and "sextet/ Eighties" phases of his career. Throughout the period, Potts appears regularly on Lacy recordings. During the "quintet/ Seventies" phase, lasting from 1971 through 1979, Kent Carter played bass. Jean-Jacques Avenel took Carter's place for the "sextet/ Eighties" phase, 1980 through 1994. After brief turns on the drum kit by Noel McGuee and Kenneth Tyler, Oliver Johnson served as the drummer for many of Lacy's projects until 1989, when John Betsch replaced him. Irene Aebi on vocals and cello, like Lacy and Potts, is found on recordings throughout these two decades, though not as regularly as the two saxophonists. The sextet was formed by the addition of pianist Bobby Few, there having already been several occasions when the Seventies quintet was joined by pianists Mal Waldron or Michael Smith. With this overarching set-up in mind, one can begin to prioritize Lacy albums during those crucial years.
An album is noted as either a studio or concert recording and then followed by its release date in brackets; also found there is information about reissues and other discographical matters. This is followed by personnel. Lacy plays the soprano sax unless otherwise noted. Instrument abbreviations are those used at Tom Lord's Jazz Discography, right down to the bizarre choice not to abbreviate "cello," one obviously not made with Lacy's work in mind!
--
The first "classic," or quintet, phase is dated here from 1971. Though there are actually only two quartet recordings from that year (plus a solo album), the quartets include Carter on bass, with Aebi on the first, McGuee on the second, and Waldron, an important regular Lacy collaborator, on the second. They can be grouped into the quintet phase easily enough. Albums featuring the quintet are noted in asterisks; those albums on which the quintet are joined by other musicians are also noted.
As much as a new listener may choose wisely to focus on the quintet albums, one can also begin to trace other patterns in Lacy's work by looking at this discography closely. First, Lacy was one of several saxophonists in the world of Jazz and Improvised Music who, in the Seventies, delved into solo performance, an area previously dominated by pianists. Other major figures in this development include Evan Parker, Roscoe Mitchell, Joe McPhee, and Anthony Braxton, as well as the guitarist Derek Bailey. (One may prefer "free improvisation" or another term to indicate the post-Jazz music that emphasized "non-idiomatic" improvisation, to use Derek Bailey's preferred term, but for me Improvised Music works best.)
Another aspect of Lacy's Seventies work worth noting are his early collaborations with Japanese musicians, a rare instance in that era of North American or European artists making connections with the budding Japanese Improvised scene. Upon Lacy's passing, Gilles Laheurte wrote two articles about Lacy's Japanese connections for All About Jazz in 2004: 'Steve Lacy and Japan' and 'Steve Lacy's Japan Tours: 1975-2004'.
Fifty albums were recorded in these years, 1971-1979 (at least as currently documented; further archival releases undoubtedly are still to come). That total includes albums credited not only to Lacy or a group led by Lacy but also albums where other artists are given equal "billing," as it were. This total includes the two volumes of Axieme separately, as they originally came out.
The inclusion of albums not credited to Lacy presents the following complication: since another discography at this site covers Evan Parker, with whom Lacy collaborated on multiple occasions, the number of "Evan Parker" albums there would overlap with the number of "Steve Lacy" albums noted in this article. This complication, rather than avoided, should be embraced, to emphasize the collectivist nature of Jazz and Improvised musics. To look back at the Anthony Braxton article, for example, two "Anthony Braxton" albums (Duo (London) 1993 and Trio (London) 1993) are also "Evan Parker" albums; Parker also serves in more of a "sideman" role on the "Anthony Braxton" album Ensemble (Victoriaville) 1988, and the two of them together serve as "sidemen" on several releases, notably Company and Globe Unity Orchestra albums. These overlapping totals would be rare among the most prolific of artists—the kind we are featuring here—but more so when a broader selection of Jazz artists are brought into consideration: say, if we were to have the discographies of Joe McPhee and Ken Vandermark presented side-by-side. Granted, in the case of collectivist-named groups like Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza, A. M. M., or Mujician, this set-up of overlapping discographies may not be ideal. Is every Musica Elettronica Viva album, for example, a "Richard Teitelbaum," "Frederic Rzewski," and "Alvin Curran" album at the same time, with other participants (including, on occasion, Lacy) being "sidemen"?
recorded 1971
Steve Lacy - Wordless concert recording [1971; reissued 2009]
Lacy
Ambrose Jackson (tp)
Irene Aebi (cello)
Kent Carter (b)
Jerome Cooper (d)
Steve Lacy - Lapis studio recording [1971; reissued 1975; reissued 1997 on Dreams - Scratching the Seventies]
Lacy (ss, per, tapes)
Mal Waldron/ Steve Lacy - Journey without End studio recording [1971]
Lacy
Mal Waldron (p)
Kent Carter (b)
Noel McGuee (d)
recorded 1972
Steve Lacy - Estilhaços concert recording [1972; reissued 1996] *QUINTET*
Lacy
Steve Potts (as)
Irene Aebi (voc, cello, radio, hca)
Kent Carter (b)
Noel McGuee (d)
Mal Waldron with the Steve Lacy Quintet studio recording [1972; reissued 2004 with two bonus tracks] *QUINTET Plus*
Lacy
Steve Potts (as)
Mal Waldron (p)
Irene Aebi (cello)
Kent Carter (b)
Noel McGuee (d)
The Steve Lacy Quintet - The Gap studio recording [1972; reissued 2004 with one bonus track] *QUINTET*
Lacy
Steve Potts (as)
Irene Aebi (cello)
Kent Carter (b)
Noel McGuee (d)
Steve Lacy - Concert Solo concert recording [1974; all eight tracks reissued 1996 on Weal and Woe with three additional tracks recorded in 1973, which had been originally released as side B of The Woe/ Crops--see 1976 below; all eight tracks reissued again, 2012, on Avignon and After Volume 1 with nine bonus tracks, four of which also recorded 1972, the other five recorded 1975]
Lacy
Steve Lacy - Avignon and After Volume 2 concert recordings, 1972, 1974-1977 [2014]
Lacy
recorded 1973
Franz Koglmann with Steve Lacy - Flaps studio recording [1973; reissued 2019; four of these tracks reissued 2001 on Opium, credited to Bill Dixon/ Franz Koglmann/ Steve Lacy, and which also included three of four tracks from the album Opium/ For Franz, a Koglmann/ Bill Dixon album that features Lacy among others; that album, like Flaps, was reissued in its original form in 2019]
Lacy
Franz Koglmann (tp, flhorn)
Gerd Geier (electronics)
Toni Michlmayr (b)
Muhammad Malli (d)
Steve Lacy - The Crust concert recording [1973; three of six tracks reissued 1998 on Saxophone Special +; portions of two of the tracks reissued 1999 on the Derek Bailey album Fairly Early with Postcripts]
Lacy (ss, turntable)
Steve Potts (as, ss)
Derek Baily (g)
Kent Carter (b)
John Stevens (d)
recorded 1974
The Steve Lacy Sextet - Scraps studio recording [1974; reissued 1997 on Dreams - Scratching the Seventies] *QUINTET Plus*
Lacy (ss, bells)
Steve Potts (ts, as, ss)
Michael Smith (p, org)
Irene Aebi (voc, ce)
Kent Carter (b, cello)
Kenneth Tyler (d, fl)
The Steve Lacy Sextet - Flakes studio recording [1975] *QUINTET Plus*
Lacy
Steve Potts (as)
Michael Smith (p, org)
Irene Aebi (cello)
Kent Carter (b)
Kenneth Tyler (d)
Steve Lacy - Saxophone Special concert recording [1975; reissued 1998 on Saxophone Special + with one bonus track and three of of the six tracks that comprise The Crust—see above]
Lacy
Steve Potts (as)
Trevor Watts (as)
Evan Parker (ts)
Derek Baily (g)
Michael Waisvisz (synt)
Steve Lacy/ Michael Waisvisz/ Han Bennink/ Maarten van Regteren Altena - Lumps studio recording [1974]
Lacy
Michael Waisvisz (synt)
Maarten Altena (b)
Han Bennink (d, per)
recorded 1975
Steve Lacy - Axieme Vol. 1; Axieme Vol. 2 concert recordings [1978; reissued 1993 as a single C. D., entitled Axieme]
Lacy
Steve Lacy - Stalks studio recording [1975]
Lacy
Motoharu Yoshizawa (b)
Masahiko Togashi (per)
Steve Lacy - Solo at Mandara concert recording [1975]
Lacy
Steve Lacy/ Yuji Takahashi/ Takehisa Kosugi - Distant Voices studio recording [1976; reissued 1991 with additional tracks not featuring Lacy]
Lacy (ss, per)
Takehisa Kosugi (vl, fl, vcl, per)
Yuji Takahashi (p, celesta, vib, per)
Steve Lacy - Stabs/Solo in Berlin Side A concert recording; Side B ? [1975]
Lacy
Steve Lacy - Torments: Solo in Kyoto concert recording [1975]
Lacy
Steve Lacy - Dreams studio recording [1975; reissued 1997 on Dreams - Scratching the Seventies] *QUINTET Plus*
Lacy
Steve Potts (as, ss)
Derek Bailey (g)
Jack Treese (g)
Boulou Ferre (g)
Irene Aebi (voc, cello)
Kent Carter (b)
Jean-Jacques Avenel (b)
Kenneth Tyler (d)
The Steve Lacy Sextet - The Wire studio recording [1977]
Lacy
Masahiko Satoh (p)
Keiji Midorikawa (b, cello)
Yoshio Ikeda (b)
Motoharu Yoshizawa (b)
Masahiko Togashi (per)
recorded 1976
Steve Lacy/ Derek Bailey - Company 4 studio recording [1976]
Lacy
Derek Bailey (g)
Steve Lacy - Snips concert recording [2000]
Lacy
Steve Lacy/ Andrea Centazzo - Tao concert recording [2006]
Lacy
Andrea Centazzo (per)
Steve Lacy - The Ictus Archives, Volume 1 concert recording [2023]
Lacy
Andrea Centazzo (per)
Steve Lacy/ Andrea Centazzo - Clangs concert recording [?; reissued 2000 with one bonus track]
Lacy (ss, bird calls, synt)
Andrea Centazzo (d, per, vcl, whistles)
Steve Lacy/ Andrea Centazzo/ Kent Carter - Trio Live concert recording [?; reissued 1996]
Lacy
Kent Carter (b)
Andrea Centazzo (d, per)
Steve Lacy - Crops and the Woe [1979; side A's four tracks (concert recordings) reissued 2000 on Hooky: Solo in Montreal 1976 with nine bonus tracks; side B's three tracks (studio recordings), recorded in 1973, reissued 1995 on Weal and Woe and 2012 on The Sun] *QUINTET*
side A:
Lacy
side B:
Lacy
Steve Potts (as)
Irene Aebi (cello, vcl)
Kent Carter (b)
Oliver Johnson (d)
Steve Lacy - Straws studio recording [1976, reissued 1997]
Lacy
Steve Lacy/ Roswell Rudd/ Kent Carter/ Beaver Harris - Trickles studio recording [1976, reissued 1991]
Lacy
Roswell Rudd (tb)
Kent Carter (b)
Beaver Harris (d)
Steve Lacy/ Michael Smith - Sidelines studio recording [1977, reissued 1992]
Lacy
Michael Smith (p)
Steve Lacy/ Kent Carter/ Andrea Centazzo - October Wind Vol. 1 concert recording [2015]
Lacy
Kent Carter (b)
Andrea Centazzo (per)
Steve Lacy/ Kent Carter/ Andrea Centazzo - October Wind Vol. 2 concert recording [2015]
Lacy
Kent Carter (b)
Andrea Centazzo (per)
Steve Lacy - The Ictus Archives, Volume 2 concert recording [2023]
Lacy
Kent Carter (b)
Andrea Centazzo (per)
recorded 1977
Leo Smith/ Maarten van Regteren Altena/ Derek Bailey/ Tristan Honsinger/ Anthony Braxton/ Steve Lacy/ Evan Parker - Company 5 concert recording [1977; reissued 2001]
Lacy
Anthony Braxton (as, ss, cl, fl)
Evan Parker (ts, ss)
Leo Smith (tp, fl)
Derek Bailey (g)
Tristan Honsinger (ce)
Maarten Altena (b)
Leo Smith/ Maarten van Regteren Altena/ Evan Parker/ Steve Lacy/ Tristan Honsiner/ Lol Coxhill/ Anthony Braxton/ Steve Beresford/ Han Bennink/ Derek Bailey - Company 6 concert recording [1977; abridged version, 1991: Company 6 and 7]
Lacy
Evan Parker (ts, ss)
Anthony Braxton (as, ss, cl)
Lol Coxhill (ss)
Leo Smith (tp, fl)
Steve Beresford (p, tp)
Derek Bailey (g)
Tristan Honsinger (cello)
Maarten Altena (b)
Han Bennink (d, vi, banjo)
Derek Bailey/ Han Bennink/ Steve Beresford/ Anthony Braxton/ Lol Coxhill/ Tristan Honsinger/ Steve Lacy/ Evan Parker/ Maarten van Regteren Altena/ Leo Smith - Company 7 concert recording [1977; abridged version, 1991: Company 6 and 7]
Lacy
Lol Coxhill (ss)
Anthony Braxton (as, ss, cl)
Evan Parker (ts, ss)
Leo Smith (tp, fl)
Steve Beresford (p, g, miscellaneous)
Derek Bailey (g)
Tristan Honsinger (ce)
Maarten Altena (b)
Han Bennink (d, vla, cl, bj, miscellaneous)
Steve Lacy - Clinkers concert recording [1978]
Lacy
Steve Lacy - Raps studio recording [1977]
Lacy
Steve Potts (as, ss)
Ron Miller (b)
Oliver Johnson (d)
Steve Lacy/ Alvin Curran/ Frederic Rzewski - Threads studio recording [1977]
Lacy
Frederic Rzewski (p)
Alvin Curran (synt, flhorn, per)
Steve Lacy/ Joe McPhee - The Rest concert recording? [single-sided L. P., 2013]
Lacy
Joe McPhee (ss)
The Steve Lacy Quintet - Follies concert recording [1977] *QUINTET*
Lacy
Steve Potts (as, ss)
Irene Aebi (ce, voc, vl)
Kent Carter (b, cello)
Oliver Johnson (d)
Steve Lacy & Cie - The Owl concert recording [1977; reissued 1997 on Dreams - Scratching the Seventies] *QUINTET Plus*
Lacy
Steve Potts (as, ss)
Jean-Jacques Avenel (kora, cheng, autoharp)
Lawrence Butch Morris (cnt)
Takashi Kako (keys)
Irene Aebi (cello, vcl, vln)
Kent Carter (b, cello)
Oliver Johnson (d)
Steve Lacy/ Kent Carter/ Andrea Centazzo - Lost in June concert recording [2012]
Lacy
Kent Carter (p)
Andrea Centazzo (d, per)
Steve Lacy - Catch studio recording [1978]
Lacy
Kent Carter (b)
Steve Lacy - Shots studio recording [1977]
Lacy
Irene Aebi (vcl)
Masa Kwate (per)
Steve Lacy - Stamps concert recording [recorded 1977-1978] [1979; reissued 2018 with one bonus track] *QUINTET*
Lacy (ss, whistle)
Steve Potts (as, ss)
Irene Aebi (cello, vcl, vln, bells)
Kent Carter (b)
Oliver Johnson (d)
recorded 1978
Steve Lacy/ Maarten van Regteren Altena - High, Low and Order concert recording [1979; reissued 1990]
Lacy
Maarten Altena (b, cello)
Steve Lacy - Points concert recording? [1978]
Lacy
Steve Potts (ss)
Kent Carter (b)
Oliver Johnson (d)
recorded 1979
Steve Lacy - The Way concert recording [1980] *QUINTET*
Lacy
Steve Potts (as, ss)
Irene Aebi (cello, vcl, vln)
Kent Carter (b)
Oliver Johnson (d)
The Steve Lacy Quintet - Troubles studio recording [1979; reissued 1993 and 2016] *QUINTET*
Lacy
Steve Potts (as, ss)
Irene Aebi (cello, vcl, vln)
Kent Carter (b, ce)
Oliver Johnson (d)
Steve Lacy - Eronel studio recording [1979]
Lacy
Steve Lacy/ Steve Potts Featuring the Voice of Irene Aebi - Tips concert recording [1981; reissued 2015]
Lacy
Steve Potts (as)
Irene Aebi (vcl)
Walter Zuber Armstrong/ Steve Lacy - Duet concert recording [1979; reissued ? as Alter Ego]
Lacy
Walter Zuber Armstrong (bcl, fl, b)
Walter Zuber Armstrong/ Steve Lacy - Call Notes concert recording [1980]
Lacy
Walter Zuber Armstrong (fl)
Steve Lacy - Capers concert recording [1981; reissued 1985 as N.Y. Capers; abridged version, 2000: N.Y. Capers and Quirks]
Lacy
Ronnie Boykins (b)
Denis Charles (d)
--
sextet phase...
recorded 1980
Steve Lacy - Ballets [recorded 1980-1981] sides A and B, concert recordings; sides C and D, studio recordings *SEXTET* [sides C and D] and solo [sides A and B]
Lacy (ss, voc, gong, bells)
Steve Potts (as, ss)
Bobby Few (p, el-p)
Irene Aebi (cello, vln, voc)
Jean-Jacques Avenel (b)
Oliver Johnson (d, per)
recorded 1981
Various artists - Interpretations of Monk concert recording [1994, four-disc set; reissued 1997 as two two-disc sets, Interpretations of Monk Vol. 1 and Interpretations of Monk Vol. 2; the first disc features Abrams and Riley with Rouse, Lacy, Cherry, Rudd, and R. Davis; the second disc features Harris and Blackwell with Rouse, Lacy, Cherry, Rudd, and R. Davis; the third disc features A. Davis and Riley with Rouse, Lacy, Cherry, Rudd, and R. Davis; the fourth disc features Waldron and Blackwell with Rouse, Lacy, Cherry, Rudd, and R. Davis]
Lacy
Don Cherry (tp)
Charlie Rouse (ts)
Roswell Rudd (tb)
Muhal Richard Abrams (p)
Barry Harris (p)
Anthony Davis (p)
Mal Waldron (p)
Richard Davis (b)
Ben Riley (d)
Edward Blackwell (d)
Steve Lacy - Live at Jazzwerkstatt Peitz concert recording [2006]
Lacy
Steve Lacy/ Mal Waldron - Snake Out concert recording [1982; reissued 1996, as parts of the two-disc sets Live at Dreher, Paris 1981: Round Midnight, Vol. 1 and Live at Dreher, Paris 1981: The Peak, Vol. 2, both reissues also including additional, previously-unreleased material; both sets reissued 2003 as four-disc set, Live at Dreher Paris 1981]
Lacy
Mal Waldron (p)
Steve Lacy/ Mal Waldron - Herbe de L'Oubli concert recording [1983; reissued 1996, as part of Live at Dreher, Paris 1981: The Peak, Vol. 2]
Lacy
Mal Waldron (p)
Steve Lacy/ Mal Waldron - Let's Call This concert recording [1986; reissued 1996, as parts of Live at Dreher, Paris 1981: Round Midnight, Vol. 1 and Live at Dreher, Paris 1981: The Peak, Vol. 2]
Lacy
Mal Waldron (p)
Masahiko Togashi and Steve Lacy - Eternal Duo studio recording [1983]
Lacy
Masahiko Togashi (per)
Steve Lacy/ Brion Gysin - Songs [1981; reissued 1990 and 2006 with one bonus track] *SEXTET Plus*
Lacy (ss, voc)
Steve Potts (ts, as)
Bobby Few (p)
Irene Aebi (vln, voc)
Jean-Jacques Avenel (b)
Oliver Johnson (d)
Brion Gysin (voc)
recorded 1982
Steve Lacy Feat. Bobby Few and Denis Charles - The Flame studio recording [1982]
Lacy
Bobby Few (p)
Denis Charles (d)
Steve Lacy Seven - Prospectus concert recording [five of eight tracks reissued 1999 as Clichés] [1982] *SEXTET Plus*
Lacy
George Lewis (tb)
Steve Potts (as, ss)
Bobby Few (p)
Irene Aebi (cello, vln, voc)
Jean-Jacques Avenel (b)
Oliver Johnson (d, per)
Cyrille Few (per)
Sherry Margolin (per)
Uncredited artist (per)
Roswell Rudd/ Steve Lacy/ Misha Mengelberg/ Kent Carter/ Han Bennink - Regeneration studio recording [1982]
Lacy
Roswell Rudd (tb)
Misha Mengelberg (p)
Kent Carter (b)
Han Bennink (d)
Steve Lacy - Duets: Associates concert recordings? [recorded 1982-1983, 1985, 1992-1994] [1996, reissued 1997]
Lacy
Masahiko Togashi (per)
Steve Potts (as, ss)
Mal Waldron (p)
Irene Aebi (voc)
Roswell Rudd (tb)
Bobby Few (p)
Derek Bailey (g)
George Lewis (tb)
Ulrich Gumpert (p)
Muhammad Ali (d)
recorded 1983
Steve Lacy Two, Five & Six - Blinks concert recording [1983; reissued 1997; abridged version, with only the sextet tracks, issued 2011 as Blinks... Zürich Live 1983] *SEXTET*
Lacy
Steve Potts (as, ss)
Irene Aebi (cello, vln, voc)
Jean-Jacques Avenel (b)
Oliver Johnson (d)
Bobby Few (p)
Steve Lacy/ Derek Bailey - Outcome concert recording [1983]
Lacy
Derek Bailey
recorded 1984
Misha Mengelberg/ Steve Lacy/ George Lewis/ Harjen Gorter/ Han Bennink - Change of Season: Music of Herbie Nichols studio recording [1985]
Lacy
George Lewis (tb)
Misha Mengelberg (p)
Arjen Gorter [name misspelled on album] (b)
Han Bennink (d)
Futurities concert and studio recording [recorded 1984-1985] [1985; reissued in two parts: 1989, Futurities Part I; 1992, Futurities Part II]
Lacy
Steve Potts (as, ss)
Irene Aebi (voc)
Jean-Jacques Avenel (b)
Oliver Johnson (d, gongs, glockenspiel)
George Lewis (tb)
Barry Wedgle (g)
Gyde Knebusch (harp)
Jeff Gardener (p)
recorded 1985
Steve Lacy/ Ulrich Gumpert - Deadline concert recording [1987]
Lacy
Ulrich Gumpertv (p)
Steve Lacy Sextet - The Condor studio recording [1985] *SEXTET*
Lacy
Steve Potts (as, ss)
Bobby Few (p)
Irene Aebi (vln, voc)
Jean-Jacques Avenel (b)
Oliver Johnson (d)
Steve Lacy and Evan Parker - Chirps concert recording [1986]
Lacy
Evan Parker (ss)
Steve Lacy - Hocus-Pocus: Book H of "Practitioners" studio recording? [1986]
Lacy
Steve Lacy - Only Monk studio recording [1987]
Lacy
Steve Lacy - Solo concert recording [1991]
Lacy
recorded 1986
Masahiko Togashi - Bura Bura concert recording [1986]
Lacy
Masahiko Togashi (d)
Don Cherry (pocket tp, p, voc)
Dave Holland (b)
Steve Lacy Four - Morning Joy (Live at Sunset Paris) concert recording [1989; reissued 2001 with one bonus track, retitled Morning Joy; 2014 reissued, entitled Morning Joy... Paris Live also includes the bonus track]
Lacy
Steve Potts (ss, as)
Jean-Jacques Avenel (b)
Oliver Johnson (d)
Steve Lacy Sextet - The Gleam [1987] *SEXTET*
Lacy
Steve Potts (ss, as)
Bobby Few (p)
Irene Aebi (vln, voc)
Jean-Jacques Avenel (b)
Oliver Johnson (d)
Steve Lacy - Outings studio recording? [1986]
Lacy
Mal Waldron/ Steve Lacy - Sempre Amore studio recording [1987]
Lacy
Mal Waldron (p)
Steve Lacy and Steve Potts - Flim-Flam concert recording [1991]
Lacy
Steve Potts (as, ss)
Steve Lacy - The Kiss concert recording [1987]
Lacy
Steve Lacy Quartet Featuring Charles Tyler - One Fell Swoop studio recording [1986]
Lacy
Charles Tyler (as, bs)
Jean-Jacques Avenel (b)
Oliver Johnson (d)
recorded 1987
Subroto Roy Chowdhury/ Steve Lacy - Explorations studio recording [1987]
Lacy
Subroto Roy Chowdhury (sitar)
Shibsankar Ray (tabla)
Patricia Martin (tambura)
Misha Mengelberg/ Steve Lacy/ George Lewis/ Ernst Reÿseger/ Han Bennink Dutch Masters studio recording [1987]
Lacy
Misha Mengelberg (p)
George Lewis (tb)
Ernst Reÿseger (cello)
Han Bennink (d)
Steve Lacy - Momentum studio recording [1987] *SEXTET*
Lacy (ss, tambourine)
Steve Potts (as, ss, tambourine)
Bobby Few (p)
Irene Aebi (vln, cello, voc)
Jean-Jacques Avenel (b)
Oliver Johnson (d)
Steve Lacy Trio - The Window studio recording [1987]
Lacy
Jean-Jacques Avenel (b)
Oliver Johnson (d)
Steve Lacy/ Steve Argüelles - Image concert recording [1987]
Lacy
Steve Argüelles (d)
Gil Evans/ Steve Lacy - Paris Blues studio recording [1988]
Lacy
Gil Evans (p, el-p)
Eric Watson/ Steve Lacy/ John Lindberg - The Amiens Concert concert recording [1987]
Lacy
Eric Watson (p)
John Lindberg (b)
Steve Lacy and Steve Potts - Live in Budapest concert recording [1988]
Lacy
Steve Potts (as)
recorded 1988
Steve Lacy - The Door [1988] *SEXTET Plus*
Lacy
Steve Potts (as, ss)
Bobby Few (p)
Jean-Jacques Avenel (b)
Oliver Johnson (d)
Irene Aebi (vln)
Sam Woodyard (d)
Masahiko Togashi Trio - Voices [1988]
Lacy
Jean-Jacques Avenel (b, kalimba)
Masahiko Togashi (d)
recorded 1989
Steve Lacy - Anthem [1989] *SEXTET Plus*
Lacy
Steve Potts (as, ss)
Bobby Few (p)
Irene Aebi (voc)
Jean-Jacques Avenel (b)
John Betsch (d)
La Velle (voc)
Sam Kelly (per)
Glenn Ferris (tb)
Steve Lacy - More Monk studio recording [1991]
Lacy
Steve Lacy - Rushes: 10 Songs from Russia studio recording [1989]
Lacy
Irene Aebi (voc)
Frederic Rzewski (p)
recorded 1990
Steve Lacy + 16 - Itinerary concert recording [1990] *SEXTET Plus*
Lacy
Steve Potts (as, ss)
Bobby Few (p)
Irene Aebi (cello, vln, voc)
Jean-Jacques Avenel (b)
John Betsch (d)
Andreas Kolbe (fl, piccolo flute)
Urs Leimgruber (ts, ss)
Hans Steine (bcl)
Franz Koglmann (flhrn)
Klaus Peham (tp)
Glenn Ferris (tb)
Radu Malfatti (tb)
Raoul Herget (tu)
Burkhard Stangl (g)
Gyde Knebusch (harp)
Sam Kelly (per)
Gustave Bauer (conductor)
Steve Lacy & Mal Waldron - Hot House studio recording [1990]
Lacy
Mal Waldron (p)
recorded 1991
Steve Lacy - Remains studio recoding [1992]
Lacy
Masahiko Togashi/ Steve Lacy - Twilight studio recording [1992]
Lacy
Masahiko Togashi (per)
Steve Lacy/ Eric Watson - Spirit of Mingus concert recording [1992]
Lacy
Eric Watson (p)
The Steve Lacy Sextet - Live at Sweet Basil concert recording [1992] *SEXTET*
Lacy
Steve Potts (as, ss)
Bobby Few (p)
Irene Aebi (voc, vn)
Jean-Jacques Avenel (b)
John Betsch (d)
recorded 1992
Steve Lacy Double Sextet - Clangs studio recording [1993] *SEXTET Plus*
Lacy
Steve Potts (as, ss)
Bobby Few (p)
Irene Aebi (voc)
Jean-Jacques Avenel (b)
John Betsch (d)
Hans Kennel (tp)
Glenn Ferris (tb)
Nicholas Isherwood (voc)
Eric Watson (p)
Sonhando Estwick (vib)
Sam Kelly (per)
Steve Lacy 6 - We See concert recording? [1993; reissued 2002 as We See: Thelonious Monk Songbook with one bonus track]
Lacy
Steve Potts
Jean-Jacques Avenel (b)
John Betsch (d)
Hans Kennel (tp, fhrn)
Sohando Estwick (vib)
Steve Lacy/ Mal Waldron - Live at Jazz In'it: I Remember Thelonious concert recording [1996; reissued 1999]
Lacy
Mal Waldron (p)
Lol Coxhill/ Steve Lacy/ Evan Parker - Three Blokes concert recording [1994]
Lacy
Evan Parker (ss)
Lol Coxhill (ss)
recorded 1993
Steve Lacy Octet- Vespers studio recording [1993] *SEXTET Plus*
Lacy
Steve Potts (as, ss)
Bobby Few (p)
Irene Aebi (voc)
Jean-Jacques Avenel (b)
John Betsch (d)
Ricky Ford (ts)
Tom Varner (fhr)
Steve Lacy Quartet - Revenue studio recording [1995]
Lacy
Steve Potts (as, ss)
Jean-Jacques Avenel (b)
John Betsch (d)
Keptorchestra Meets Steve Lacy - Sweet Sixteen studio recording [1994]
Lacy
Keptorchestra
Steve Lacy/ Mal Waldron - Let's Call This... Esteem! concert recording [1993]
Lacy
Mal Waldron (p)
Antonyms 1 - Established Mode of Speech concert recording [1993]
Lacy
Ned Rothenberg (as)
Roy Nathanson (ts)
Eric Sleichim (bs)
recorded 1994
Steve Lacy - 5 x Monk x Lacy concert recording [1997]
Lacy
Steve Lacy - Findings studio recording [1994]
Steve Potts (as, ss)
Bobby Few (p)
John Betsch (d)
Jean-Jacques Avenel (b)
Irene Aebi (voc)
Steve Lacy/ Steve Potts - Steve Lacy Meets Steve Potts concert recording [1994]
Lacy
Steve Potts (as, ss?)
Steve Lacy/ Mal Waldron - Communiqué studio recording [1997]
Lacy
Mal Waldron (p)
Barry Wedgle/ Steve Lacy - The Rendezvous studio recording [1995]
Lacy
Barry Wedgle (g)
--
before and after the "Seventies/ quintet" and "Eighties/ sextet" periods...
recorded 1957
Steve Lacy - Soprano Sax studio recording [1958; reissued 1984; some European editions entitled Soprano Today]
Lacy
Wynton Kelly (p)
Buell Neidlinger (b)
Denis Charles (d)
recorded 1958
Steve Lacy - Reflections: Steve Lacy Plays Thelonious Monk studio recording [1959; reissued 1983]
Lacy
Mal Waldron (p)
Buell Neidlinger (b)
Elvin Jones (d)
recorded 1960
Steve Lacy - The Straight Horn of Steve Lacy studio recording [1962]
Lacy
Charles Davis (bs)
John Ore (b)
Roy Haynes (d)
recorded 1962
Steve Lacy with Don Cherry - Evidence studio recording [1962; reissued 1990]
Lacy
Don Cherry (tp)
Carl Brown (b)
Billy Higgins (d)
recorded 1963
Steve Lacy/ Roswell Rudd/ Henry Grimes/ Dennis Charles - School Days studio recording [1975; reissued 1995 and 2002 under the artist name, Steve Lacy-Roswell Rudd Quartet]
Lacy
Roswell Rudd (tb)
Henry Grimes (b)
Denis Charles (d)
recorded 1965
Steve Lacy - Disposability studio recording [1966]
Lacy
Kent Carter (b)
Aldo Romano (d)
recorded 1966
Carla Bley/ Mike Mantler/ Steve Lacy/ Kent Carter/ Aldo Romano - Jazz Realities studio recording? [1966]
Lacy
Mike Mantler (tp)
Carla Bley (p)
Kent Carter (b)
Aldo Romano (d)
Steve Lacy - Sortie concert recording? [1966]
Lacy
Enrico Rava (tp)
Kent Carter (b)
Aldo Romano (d)
Steve Lacy - The Forest and the Zoo concert recording [1967]
Lacy
Enrico Rava (tp)
Johnny Dyani (b)
Louis Moholo (d)
recorded 1967
Steve Lacy - The Sun studio recording; track 8, recorded 1967; tracks 1-7, 1968; tracks 9-12, 1973—these three 1973 tracks also released on The Crops & the Woe and Weal & Woe [2012]
Lacy
Steve Potts (as)
Enrico Rava (tp)
Irene Aebi (cello, voc)
Karl Berger (vib)
Richard Teitelbaum (synthesizer)
Kent Carter (b)
Aldo Romano (d)
Oliver Johnson (d)
recorded 1968
Steve Lacy - Sideways side A, concert recording? 1968; side B, concert recording, 1974 [2000]
Lacy
Richard Teitelbaum (elec)
Irene Aebi (voc)
Michael Waisvisz (elec)
Han Bennink (d)
recorded 1969
Steve Lacy Gang - Roba concert recording [1972; reissued 1997 on Dreams - Scratching the Seventies]
Lacy
Enrico Rava (tp)
Claudio Volonte (cl)
Italo Toni (tb)
Irene Aebi (cello)
Carlo Colnaghi (d)
Steve Lacy - Moon studio recording? [1971]
Lacy
Italo Toni (tb)
Claudio Volonte (cl)
Irene Aebi (ce)
Marcello Melis (b)
Jacques Thollot (d)
Steve Lacy - Epistrophy [1969; some later editions entitled Steve Lacy Plays Monk]
Lacy
Jean-François Jenny Clark (b)
Aldo Romano (d)
Michael Graillier (p)
--
recorded 1995
Frederic Rzewski/ Steve Lacy/ Irene Aebi - Packet [1995]
Lacy
Frederic Rzewski (p)
Irene Aebi (voc)
Steve Lacy - Actuality concert recording [1995]
Lacy
Steve Lacy - Blues for Aida: Sep. 10. '95 Solo at Egg Farm concert recording [1996]
Lacy
Steve Lacy & Irene Aebi - The Joan Mirò Foundation Concert [1995]
Lacy
Irene Aebi (voc)
Steve Lacy & Masahiko Togashi - Eternal Duo 95 studio recording [1996]
Lacy
Masahiko Togashi (d)
recorded 1996
Steve Lacy Trio - Bye-Ya studio recording [1996]
Lacy
Jean-Jacques Avenel (b)
John Betsch (d)
Irene Aebi (voc)
Steve Lacy Plus - Five Facings concert recording [1996; reissued 2008 under the artist name: Steve Lacy/ Five Pianists]
Lacy
Marilyn Crispell (p)
Misha Mengelberg (p)
Ulrich Gumpert (p)
Fred Van Hove (p)
Vladimir Miller (p)
recorded 1997
Steve Lacy - Solo: Live at Unity Temple concert recording [1997]
Lacy
Steve Lacy Trio - The Rent concert recording [1999]
Lacy
Jean-Jacques Avenel (b)
John Betsch (d)
recorded 1998
Steve Lacy + 6 - The Cry concert recording [1999]
Lacy
Irene Aebi (voc)
Tina Wrase (ss, sopranino saxophone, bcl)
Petia Kaufman (harpsichord)
Cathrin Pfeifer (accordion)
Jean-Jacques Avenel (b)
Daniel Topo Gioia (d)
Steve Lacy - Sands studio recording [1998]
Lacy
recorded 1999
Steve Lacy/ Roswell Rudd - Monk's Dream studio recording [1999]
Lacy
Roswell Rudd (tb)
Jean-Jacques Avenel (b)
John Betsch (d)
Irene Aebi (voc)
recorded 2000
Steve Lacy - 10 of Dukes + 6 Originals concert recording [2002]
Lacy
Lacy/ Togashi/ Satoh - Apices concert recording [2013]
Lacy
Masahiko Satoh (p)
Masahiko Togashi (per)
Togashi Masahiko/ Steve Lacy/ Takahashi Yuji - Togashi Masahiko/ Steve Lacy/ Takahashi Yuji concert recording [2009]
Lacy
Yuji Takahashi (p)
Masahiko Togashi (per)
recorded 2001
Steve Lacy Meets the Riccardo Fassi Trio - Dummy studio recording [2002]
Lacy
Riccardo Fassi (p)
Gianluca Renzi (b)
Ettore Fioravanti (d)
Steve Lacy - The Beat Suite studio recording [2003]
Lacy
Irene Aebi (voc)
George Lewis (tb)
Jean-Jacques Avenel (b)
John Betsch (d)
Steve Lacy - Best Wishes: Live At The Labirinti Sonori Festival 2001 concert recording [2001]
Lacy
Steve Lacy - Materioso: Monk's Moods concert recording [2003]
Lacy
Steve Lacy - Mother Goose concert recording [2003]
Lacy
recorded 2002
Mal Waldron/ Jean-Jacques Avenel/ Steve Lacy - One More Time studio recording [2002]
Waldron (p)
Lacy
Jean-Jacques Avenel (b)
Steve Lacy/ Daniel Humair/ Anthony Cox - Work studio recording [2002]
Lacy
Anthony Cox (b)
Daniel Humair (d)
Steve Lacy - Leaves Blossoms concert recording [2005]
Lacy
Frederic Rzewski (p)
Fred Van Hove (accor)
Joëlle Léandre (b)
Michail Bezverhny (vl)
Irene Aebi (voc)
Steve Lacy/ Mikhail Bezverhni - Cross Purposes concert recording [2002]
Lacy
Mikhail Bezverhni (vl)
Steve Lacy - Trinkle Trinkle (Hello) concert recording [2002]
Lacy
Irene Aebi (voc)
Steve Lacy/ Joëlle Léandre - One More Time concert recording [2005]
Lacy
Joëlle Léandre (b)
Steve Lacy with Frederic Rzewski - Deadline: Blossoms Farewell Concert of Steve Lacy to Europe with Frederic Rzewski concert recording [2002]
Lacy
Frederic Rzewski (?)
trio x 3 - New Jazz Meeting Baden-Baden 2002 studio and concert recordings [2003]
Marcus Weiss
Philippe Racine
Lacy
Paulo Alvares
Philip Jeck
Christof Kurzmann
Bernhard Lang
Peter Herbert
Wolfgang Reisinger
Steve Lacy - New Jazz Meeting Baden-Baden 2002 studio and concert recordings [2006; 2 of 4 tracks previously released on the Baden-Baden 2002 title above]
Lacy
Philip Jeck
Christof Kurzmann
Bernhard Lang
Peter Herbert
Wolfgang Reisinger
recorded 2003
Steve Lacy/ John Heward - Recessional (For Oliver Johnson) concert recording [2006]
Lacy
John Heward (d, per)
Steve Lacy - November concert recording [2010]
Lacy
~
Dave Brubeck Changes with the Times
I. Fantasy Records
Brubeck's 10-inch albums and 7-inch E. P.s were so confusingly thrown together to form 12-inch albums that track listings for each were necessary for me to delineate their interconnected discographical paths. To help clarify matters, each 10-inch is numbered in brackets like so: "[10LP-1]"; the 12-inch albums numbered in brackets like so: "ALBUM 1," a tally that will continue throughout the discography.
The Dave Brubeck Trio - Distinctive Rhythm Instrumentals [10LP-1]
Fantasy 10-inch L. P., 1951, catalog no. 3-1. Also released in the E. P. format [see the above Discogs link]
Eight tracks: side A: ‘You Stepped Out of a Dream’; ‘Lullaby in Rhythm’; ‘Singin' in the Rain’; ‘I'll Remember April’; side B: ‘Body and Soul’; ‘Let's Fall in Love’; ‘Laura’; ‘Indiana’
Recorded 1949 (‘Laura’; ‘Indiana’), 1950 (the remainder)
Combined with four of the eight tracks on the second Distinctive 10-inch to form the 12-inch L. P., The Dave Brubeck Trio [ALBUM 1], Fantasy, 1956, catalog no. 3-204, some later issues alternately titled The Dave Brubeck Trio Featuring Cal Tjader. All eight tracks also included on Distinctive Rhythm Instrumentals: 24 Classic Original Recordings, a double L. P. released in 1982 and reissued as a single C. D. in 1990.
Having said all that... these tracks did not first come to us via a 10-inch record. No, they came as old-fashioned shellac 78s, right before that format's dominant place in the music trade was usurped by vinyl 45s and L. P.s:
‘Laura’; ‘Indiana’ originally released together as a 78 in 1949
‘You Stepped Out of a Dream’; ‘Lullaby in Rhythm’ originally released as a 78 in 1950
‘Singin' in the Rain’; ‘I'll Remember April’ originally released as a 78 in 1950
‘Body and Soul’; ‘Let's Fall in Love’ originally released as a 78 in 1950
The Dave Brubeck Trio - Distinctive Rhyhtm Instrumentals [10LP-2]
Fantasy 10-inch L. P., 1951, catalog no. 3-2
Eight tracks: side A: ‘Blue Moon’; ‘Tea for Two’; ‘Undecided’; ‘That Old Black Magic’; side B: ‘September Song’; ‘Sweet Georgia Brown’; ‘Spring Is Here’ ‘'S Wonderful’
Recorded 1949 (‘Blue Moon’; ‘Tea for Two’), 1950 (the remainder)
Again, these tracks were originally released as shellac 78s:
‘Blue Moon’; ‘Tea for Two’ originally released together as a 78 in 1949
‘Undecided’; ‘That Old Black Magic’ originally released as a 78 in 1950
These four tracks also released as an E. P.
‘September Song’; ‘Sweet Georgia Brown’ originally released as a 78 in 1950
‘'S Wonderful’; ‘Spring Is Here’ originally released as a 78 in 1950
These four tracks also released as an E. P.
As noted above, four of the eight tracks on this album combined with all eight tracks of the first Distinctive to form the 1956 L. P. The Dave Brubeck Trio. The remaining four tracks combined with all eight tracks of the third Distinctive [see below] to constitute the album, entitled—surprise!—Distinctive Rhythm Instrumentals [ALBUM 2], also credited to the Dave Brubeck Trio, Fantasy, 1956, catalog no. 3-205, some later issues alternately titled Brubeck Tjader. All eight tracks included on Distinctive Rhythm Instrumentals: 24 Classic Original Recordings.
The Dave Brubeck Trio - Distinctive Rhythm Instrumentals [10LP-4]
Fantasy 10-inch L. P., 1952, catalog no. 3-4
Eight tracks: side A: ‘Perfida’; ‘Avalon’; ‘I Didn't Know What Time It Is’; ‘Always’; side B: ‘How High the Moon’; ‘Squeeze Me’; ‘Too Marvelous for Words’; ‘Heart and Soul’
Recorded 1950
These tracks too were originally released as 78s:
‘Avalon’; ‘Perfida’ originally released together as a 78 in 1951
‘Always’; ‘I Don't Know What Time It Was’ originally released as a 78 in 1951
These four tracks also released as an E. P.
‘Squeeze Me’; ‘How High the Moon’ originally released as a 78 in 1951
‘Too Marvelous for Words’; ‘Heart and Soul’ originally released as a 78 in 1951
These four tracks also released an E. P.
As noted above, combined with four of the eight tracks on the second Distinctive to form the album also called Distinctive Rhythm Instrumentals. All eight tracks included on Distinctive Rhythm Instrumentals: 24 Classic Original Recordings.
To summarize, the final result (one can hope it's final—with the way the music trade endlessly reissues things, a vain hope), the double L. P./ C. D. Distinctive Rhythm Instrumentals: 24 Classic Original Recordings includes the contents of two L. P.s, The Dave Brubeck Trio and Distinctive Rhythm Instrumentals, both of which contain tracks originally released as 78s and 10-inch albums and issued as E. P.s as well.
--
The Dave Brubeck Octet - Distinctive Rhythm Instrumentals [10LP-5]
Fantasy 10-inch L. P., 1951, catalog no. 3-3
Eight tracks: side A: ‘The Way You Look Tonight’; ‘Love Walked In’; ‘What Is This Thing Called Love’; ‘September in the Rain’ side B: ‘Prelude’; ‘Fugue on Bop Themes’; ‘IPCA’; ‘Let's Fall in Love’
Recorded 1950
These tracks originally released as 78s:
‘The Way You Look Tonight’; ‘Love Walked In’ originally released as a 78 in 1950.
‘What Is This Thing Called Love’; ‘September in the Rain’ originally released as a 78 in 1950.
These four tracks also released as an E. P.
‘Prelude’; ‘Fugue on Bop Themes’ originally released as a 78 in 1950.
‘Indiana’ [original title of ‘IPCA’]; ‘Let's Fall in Love’ originally released as a 78 in 1950.
These four tracks also released as an E. P.
Combined with the eight tracks originally released on the two Old Sounds from San Francisco E. P.s [see below] to constitute The Dave Brubeck Octet [ALBUM 7], Fantasy L. P., 1956, catalog no. 3-239.
Old Sounds from San Francisco Volume 1
Fantasy 7-inch E. P., 1954, catalog no. 4019
Three tracks: side A: ‘How High the Moon’; side B: ’Serenades Suite’; ’Playland-at-the-Beach’
Recorded 1948
Combined with Volume 2 to form the 10-inch album, Old Sounds from San Francisco [10LP-3], Fantasy, 1955, catalog no. 3-16. All three tracks reissued as part of The Dave Brubeck Octet.
Old Sounds from San Francisco Volume 2
Fantasy 7-inch E. P., 1954, catalog no. 4020
Six tracks: side A: ‘The Prisoner's Song’; ‘Schizophrenic Scherzo’; ‘Rondo’; side B: ‘You Go to My Head’; ‘Laura’; ‘Closing Theme’
Recorded 1948
As noted above, combined with Volume 1 to form the 10-inch album, Old Sounds from San Francisco. Reissued as part of The Dave Brubeck Octet, which includes a bonus track, ‘I Hear a Rhapsody’ from the same session that produced this E. P.
--
The Dave Brubeck Quartet - The Dave Brubeck Quartet [10LP-6]
Fantasy 10-inch L. P., 1952, catalog no. 3-5.
Eight tracks: side A: ‘Mam'selle’; ‘Me and My Shadow’; ‘At the Perfume Counter’; ‘Frenesi’; side B: ‘Somebody Loves Me’; ‘Crazy Chris’; ‘A Foggy Day’; ‘Lyons Busy’.
Recorded 1951.
All eight tracks reissued as Brubeck Desmond [ALBUM 5], a 12-inch L. P. credited to the Dave Brubeck Quartet Featuring Paul Desmond, Fantasy, 1956, catalog no. 3-229, with two bonus tracks, ‘Stardust’ and ‘Look for the Silver Lining’, both concert recordings, the former from 1954, originally released on the double-E. P. Jazz Interwoven and included on the Jazz Interwoven 10-inch L. P. [see below], the latter from 1952, originally released as a 78 and 45 (catalog nos. 521 and 521X, respectively) and included on the second Brubeck Quartet 10-inch L. P., catalog no. 3-7 [see next entry].
The Dave Brubeck Quartet - The Dave Brubeck Quartet [10LP-7]
Fantasy 10-inch L. P., 1952, catalog no. 3-7
Eight tracks: side A: ‘Stardust’; ‘Lulu's Back in Town’; ‘Alice in Wonerland’; ‘All the Things You Are’; side B: ‘This Can't Be Love’; ‘Look for the Silver Lining’; ‘My Romance’; ‘Just One of Those Things’.
Concert recordings, 1952
Six of eight tracks (excluding ‘This Can't Be Love’ and ‘Look for the Silver Lining’) made part of the 1956 12-inch L. P. The Dave Brubeck Quartet [ALBUM 6], catalog no. 3-230, which instead of those two tracks includes the concert recording of ‘At the Perfume Counter’ originally released on the Jazz Interwoven double-E. P. and 10-inch L. P. ‘Look for the Silver Lining’ made part of Brubeck Desmond, ‘This Can't Be Love’ made part of Jazz at Storyville.
All of the tracks from this set of 10-inch L. P.s and 12-inch L. P.s included on Stardust, a double L. P. released in 1983 and reissued as a single C. D. in 1990, credited to the Dave Brubeck Quartet Featuring Paul Desmond, except ‘This Can't Be Love’, which having been made part of Jazz at Storyville, became part of the Dave Brubeck/ Paul Desmond double L. P./ C. D. compilation [see below].
Note: the liner notes for the Stardust double L. P./ C. D. compilation mistakenly identify ‘Look for the Silver Lining’, instead of ‘At the Perfume Counter’, as recorded in 1954. The Brubeck pages at the Jazz Discography Project confirm this.
The Dave Brubeck Trio and Quartet - Jazz at Storyville [10LP-8]
Fantasy 10-inch L. P., 1953, catalog no. 3-8
Five tracks: side A: ‘Over the Rainbow’; ‘You Go to My Head’; side B: ‘Give a Little Whistle’; ‘Lady Be Good’; ‘Tea for Two’
Concert recordings, 1952
Reissued as a 12-inch L. P. in 1956 also called Jazz at Storyville [ALBUM 8], catalog no. 3-240, with the addition of two tracks, ‘Crazy Chris’, originally released on Jazz Interwoven [see below] and ‘This Can't Be Love’, originally released on the 10-inch version of Dave Brubeck Quartet [see above]. All seven tracks later made part of Dave Brubeck/ Paul Desmond, a 1982 double L. P. compilation later also issued on C. D.
‘Over the Rainbow’ and ‘You Go to My Head’ originally released as a 45, catalog no. 4011
‘Give a Little Whistle’, ‘Lady Be Good’, and ‘Tea for Two’ originally released as a 45, catalog no. 4012
Title on the cover of the 10-inch: George Wein Presents Jazz at Storyville. Both the 10-inch and 12-inch versions merely inscribe the names Brubeck and Desmond on the front cover, the name, Brubeck-Desmond, also appearing at times on the disk labels; some disk labels credit the Dave Brubeck Quartet Featuring Paul Desmond.
Dave Brubeck Quartet Featuring Paul Desmond - Jazz at the Blackhawk [ALBUM 3], later sometimes issued as Two Knights at the Blackhawk, with the name, Brubeck Desmond, used on the front cover
Fantasy L. P., 1956, catalog no. 3-210. All tracks later made part of Dave Brubeck/ Paul Desmond [see above]
Eight tracks: side A: ‘Jeepers Creepers’; ‘On a Little Street in Singapore’; ‘Trolley Song (Rehearsal)’; ‘Trolley Song’; B side: ‘I May Be Wrong’; ‘Blue Moon’; ‘My Heart Stood Still’; ‘Let's Fall in Love’
Concert and studio recordings, 1953
‘I May Be Wrong’ and ‘On a Little Street in Singapore’ originally released as both a 78, catalog no. 527; and a 45, catalog no. 4053, the E. P. also titled Jazz at the Blackhawk.
‘Jeepers Creepers’ also originally released on the Jazz at the Blackhawk 45
‘Blue Moon’ and ‘Let's Fall in Love’ originally released as a 45, catalog no. 4014.
‘My Heart Stood Still’ and ‘Trolley Song’ originally released as an 78, catalog no. 530, and a 45, catalog no. 530-X. ‘Trolley Song’ then also released with ‘Trolley Song (Rehearsal)’ as a 78 and 45, catalog nos. 535 and 535X, respectively
The Dave Brubeck Quartet [Paul and Dave] - Jazz Interwoven [10LP-10]
Fantasy 10-inch L. P., 1955, catalog no. 3-20. Also released as a double 45, with ‘At the Perfume Counter’ split between the two sides of the first 45.
Three tracks: side A: ‘At the Perfume Counter’; side B: ‘Stardust’; ‘Crazy Chris’
Concert recordings, 1954.
Front cover credits Paul and Dave; the back cover, the Dave Brubeck Quartet; the back cover also provides a subtitle: Concert Versions. ‘At the Perfume Counter’ later made part of the 1956 L. P. The Dave Brubeck Quartet [see above]. ‘Stardust’ later made part of the L. P. Brubeck Desmond [see above]. ‘Crazy Chris’ later made part of the L. P. Jazz at Storyville [see above].
--
The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Jazz at Oberlin [10LP-9] [ALBUM 9]
Fantasy 10-inch L. P., 1953, catalog no. 3-11; 12-inch L. P., 1957, catalog no. 3-245
10-inch L. P. track listing: side A: ‘Perdido’; ‘Stardust’; side B: ‘These Foolish Things’; ‘The Way You Look Tonight’
12-inch L. P. track listing: side A: ‘The Way You Look Tonight’; ‘How High the Moon’; side B: ‘These Foolish Things’; ‘Perdido’; ‘Stardust’
Concert recordings, 1953
The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Jazz at the College of the Pacific [10LP-8] [ALBUM 4]
Fantasy 10-inch L. P., 1954, catalog no. 3-13; 12-inch L. P., 1956, catalog no. 3-223
10-inch L. P. track listing: side A: ‘I'll Never Smile Again’; ‘Laura’; ‘Lullaby in Rhythm’; side B: ‘For All We Know’; ‘All the Things You Are’
12-inch track listing: ‘All the Things You Are’; ‘Laura’; ‘Lullaby in Rhythm’; side B: ‘I'll Never Smile Again’; ‘I Remember You’; ‘For All We Know’;
Concert recordings, 1953
To summarize this era of 78s, 45s, and 10-inch L. Ps., the major albums (that it, those released as 12-inch L. P.s) with their Fantasty catalog numbers are as follows:
The Dave Brubeck Trio, 1956, 3-204
Distinctive Rhythm Instrumentals, 1956, 3-205
Jazz at the Blackhawk, 1956, 3-210
Jazz at the College of the Pacific, 1956, 3-223
Brubeck Desmond, 1956, 3-229
The Dave Brubeck Quartet, 1956, 3-230
The Dave Brubeck Octet, 1956, 3-239
Jazz at Storyville, 1956, 3-240
Jazz at Oberlin, 1957, 3-245
--
into the L. P. era...
Dave Brubeck & Paul Desmond at Wilshire-Ebell [rec. 1953, rel. 1957, Fantasy]
Dave Brubeck Plays and Plays and Plays... [rec. 1957, rel. 1958, Fantasy; reissued 1992, Original Jazz Classics/ Fantasy, with one bonus track]
Brubeck à la Mode [rec. and rel. 1960]
Near-Myth [rec. and rel. 1961]
Jazz at the College of the Pacific Volume 2. Original Jazz Classics/ Fantasy, 2002. Concert recordings, 1953; additional recordings from the same performance documented on Jazz at the College of the Pacific; plus one track, ‘I've Found a New Baby’, a studio recording (to be exact, a recording made in rehearsal room at the College of the Pacific) ca. 1942, featuring Brubeck alone.
--
II. Columbia Records
Jazz Goes to College [rec. and rel. 1954; concert recordings]
Brubeck Time [rec. 1954, rel. 1955; reissued at times under the alternate titles Instant Brubeck and A Place in Time]
Jazz: Red Hot and Cool [rec. 1954-1955, rel. 1955; concert recordings]
Brubeck Plays Brubeck [rec. and rel. 1956]
Jazz Impressions of the U. S. A. [rec. 1956-1957, rel. 1957]
Dave Digs Disney [rec. and rel. 1957]
The Dave Brubeck Quartet in Europe [rec. and rel. 1958; concert recordings]
Newport 1958 [rec. and rel. 1958; concert and studio recordings]
Jazz Impressions of Eurasia [rec. and rel. 1958]
Gone with the Wind [rec. and rel. 1959]
Time Out [rec. and rel. 1959]
Brubeck and Rushing [rec. and rel. 1960]
Bernstein Plays Brubeck Plays Bernstein [rec. 1960, rel. 1961]
Tonight Only! [rec. 1960, rel. 1961]
Time Further Out [rec. and rel. 1961]
Take Five [rec. 1961, rel. 1962; concert recordings]
Countdown: Time in Outer Space [rec. 1961-1962, rel. 1962]
Brandenburg Gate: Revisited [rec. 1961, rel. 1963; concert recordings]
Bossa Nova USA [rec. 1962, rel. 1963]
Brubeck in Amstersdam [rec. 1962, rel. 1969; concert recordings]
The Dave Brubeck Quartet at Carnegie Hall [rec. and rel. 1963; expanded version, 2001; concert recordings]
Time Changes [rec. 1963; rel. 1964]
Jazz Impressions of Japan [rec. 1960, 1964; rel. 1964]
Jazz Impressions of New York [rec. 1964, rel. 1965]
Dave Brubeck in Berlin [rec. and rel. 1964; concert recordings]
Angel Eyes [rec. 1962, 1965; rel. 1965]
My Favorite Things [rec. 1962, 1965; rel. 1965]
Time In [rec. 1965, rel. 1966]
Anything Goes! The Dave Brubeck Quartet Plays Cole Porter [rec. 1965-1966, rel. 1967]
Bravo! Brubeck! [rec. and rel. 1967; concert recordings]
Buried Treasures: Recorded Live in Mexico City [rec. 1967, rel. 1998; concert recordings]
The Last Time We Saw Paris [rec. 1967, rel. 1968; concert recordings]
Jackpot! [rec. 1966, rel. 1968; concert recordings]
The Dave Brubeck Trio Featuring Gerry Mulligan - Blues Roots [rec. and rel. 1968]
The Dave Brubeck Trio Featuring Gerry Mulligan - Compadres [concert recordings, 1968; rel. 1968]
Live at the Berlin Philharmonie [rec. 1970, rel. 1972; concert recordings]
La Fiesta de la Posada/ The Festival of the Inn: A Christmas Choral Pageant [rec. and rel. 1979]
Since the early Columbia albums came out before the 12-inch versions of some of the Fantasy material, a list collating the Fantasy albums and Columbia albums released through 1957, arranged (roughly) chronologically by release date, may prove helpful:
Jazz Goes to College, 1954, rec. 1954
Brubeck Time, 1955, rec. 1954
Jazz: Red Hot and Cool, 1955, rec. 1954-1955
The Dave Brubeck Trio, 1956, rec. 1949-1950
Distinctive Rhythm Instrumentals, 1956, rec. 1950
Jazz at the Blackhawk, 1956, rec. 1953
Jazz at the College of the Pacific, 1956, rec. 1953
Brubeck Desmond, 1956, 3-229, rec. 1951-1952, 1954
The Dave Brubeck Quartet, 1956, rec. 1952, 1954
The Dave Brubeck Octet, 1956, rec. 1948, 1950
Jazz at Storyville, 1956, rec. 1952, 1954
Brubeck Plays Brubeck, 1956, rec. 1956
Jazz at Oberlin, 1957, rec. 1953
Dave Brubeck & Paul Desmond at Wilshire-Ebell, 1957, rec. 1953
Jazz Impressions of the U. S. A., 1957, rec. 1956-1957
Dave Digs Disney, 1957, rec. 1957
--
III. Decca, Atlantic, and A & M
The Gates of Justice [concert recordings, 1969]
Brubeck Mulligan Cincinnati [concert recordings, 1970]
The Last Set at Newport [concert recordings, 1971; rel. 1972]
The Truth Is Fallen [rec. 1971; rel. 1972]
We're All Together Again for the First Time [concert recordings, 1972; rel. 1973]
All the Things We Are [rec. 1973-1974; rel. 1976]
Two Generations of Brubeck [rec. and rel. 1973]
Brother, the Great Spirit Made Us All [rec. and rel. 1974]
Brubeck & Desmond - 1975: The Duets [rec. and rel. 1975]
The Dave Brubeck Quartet - 25th Anniversary Reunion [concert recordings, 1976; rel. 1977]
IV. Concord Jazz
The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Back Home [concert recordings, 1979; rel. 1979]
The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Tritonis [rec. and rel. 1980]
The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Paper Moon [rec. and rel. 1981]
The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Concord on a Summer Night [concert recordings, 1982; rel. 1982]
The Dave Brubeck Quartet - For Iola [rec. 1984; rel. 1985]
The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Reflections [rec. 1985, rel. 1986]
The 1987 Dave Brubeck Quartet - Blue Rondo [rec. 1986, rel. 1987]
Moscow Night [concert recordings, 1987; rel. 1988]
--
V. MusicMasters and Telarc
The Dave Brubeck Quartet with the Montreal International Jazz Festival Orchestra - New Wine [concert recordings, 1987; rel. 1990]
Quiet As The Moon [rec. 1988-1989, 1991; rel. 1991]
Once When I was Very Young [rec. 1991, rel. 1992]
Trio Brubeck [rec. ?; rel. 1993]
Late Night Brubeck: Live from the Blue Note [concert recordings, 1993; rel. 1994]
Nightshift: Live at the Blue Note [concert recordings, 1993; rel. 1995]
Just You, Just Me [rec. and rel. 1994]
Dave Brubeck with Curtis, Dan, Darius and Matthew Brubeck - In Their Own Sweet Way [rec. 1994-1995; rel. 1997]
Young Lions & Old Tigers [rec. 1994-1995; rel. 1995]
To Hope! A Celebration [concert recording, 1995; rel. 1996]
A Dave Brubeck Christmas [rec. and rel. 1996]
One Alone [rec. 1997-2000; rel. 2000]
The Dave Brubeck Quartet - So What's New [rec. and rel. 1998]
The 40th Anniversary Tour of the U.K. [concert recordings, 1998, rel. 1999]
The Dave Brubeck Quartet - The Crossing [rec. 2000, rel. 2001]
Dave Brubeck Quartet - Park Avenue South [concert recording, 2002, rel. 2003]
Dave Brubeck - Classical Brubeck [rec. ?, rel. 2003]
Dave Brubeck - Private Brubeck Remembers [rec. ?, rel. 2004]
The Dave Brubeck Quartet - London Flat, London Sharp [rec. 2004, rel. 2005]
Dave Brubeck - Indian Summer [rec. and rel. 2007]
[To come... or not?]
VI. Miscellaneous
~
For the Evan Parker discography, no distinction is made between studio and concert recordings. Recording dates are given in parentheses before the album title. Some may prefer a strictly-chronological list. I would prefer to split the Duos, Trios, and Quartets sections into further categories, for example: collaborations with John Edwards, the bassist for many of Parker's later projects; collaborations with Derek Bailey; and perhaps spliting the "Sideman" section into two, one for smaller groups, one for larger. The artist name is given as it is inscribed on the original release, with the use of slash marks between personal names when names are presented without any punctuation between them. The record label and release date are provided in brackets after the title. Discogs links are provided except in the rare instances for which one does not exist, in which case a link is provided to the album's page at the European Free Improvisation site (sadly no longer online—last updated December 2017—but accessible via the Internet Archive) or at Bandcamp. As with all of these discographies, little primary research was done on my part. Without the aforementioned European Free Improvisation site, not to mention the numerous pseudonymous contributors at Discogs, this discography could not exist. A trirple asterisk at the end of an album's entry indicates that it could in some fashion be considered highly significant to Parker's discography.
I. Evan Parker/ Barry Guy/ Paul Lytton et al. :: solo/ duo/ trio (or...). 52 albums.
The discographer, and the listener too perhaps, likely begins with "Parker/ Guy/ Lytton," as the trio of Parker on soprano and tenor saxophones, bassist Barry Guy, and drummer Paul Lytton is often called, formally and informally. Here, unlike most discographies of the trio, we expand to include Parker's solo albums and his duo albums with either Guy or Lytton. However, as soon as we consider this approach, since several of the trio albums feature a guest artist, we cannot help but include other albums with small-ish groupings that feature Parker with one of the other two. This approach begins to show the overlapping connections among musicians in the realm of "Improvised Music," with its underlying emphasis on the individual improviser meeting others in an seemingly-endless array of combinations, paving the way for the rest of the discography, not to mention discographies of Guy and Lytton; for example, Guy and Lytton have recorded trio albums with pianist Marilyn Crispell, who plays on two albums with the Parker/ Guy/ Lytton trio. Again, this section limits itself to smaller groupings, so that the many Barry Guy Jazz Composers' Orchestra albums on which Parker appears are not listed here, but are found in the "sideman" section. On the other hand, one of the albums, the five-disc set Mad Dogs, found in the section for larger or variable groupings, should be noted here, since it includes a complete disc of the trio in addition to two other tracks of the trio with Agustí Fernández.
(June 1971, June 1973, July 1974) Evan Parker & Paul Lytton - Three Other Stories [Emanem, 1995]
(April 1972) Evan Parker/ Paul Lytton - Collective Calls (Urban) (Two Microphones) [Incus Records, 1972; Psi, 2002] ***
(October 1972, October 1974, November 1975) Evan Parker & Paul Lytton - Two Octobers [Emanem, 1996]
(January 1975) Evan Parker & Paul Lytton - At the Unity Theatre [Emanem, 1996]
(June, September 1975) Evan Parker - Saxophone Solos [Incus Records, 1976; Chronoscope, 1994, and Psi, 2009, both with the same nine additional tracks, all of which had been released on a cassette included with a 1989 Incus boxed set, titled Collected Solos, of Parker's first-fourth solo albums; one track on that cassette is not included on the C. D. reissues] ***
(June 1976) Evan Parker-Paul Lytton Duo - Ra 1 + 2 [Ring Records, 1976; Moers Music, 1977, retitled Ra]
(April 1978) Evan Parker - Monoceros [Incus Records, 1978] ***
(August 1978) Evan Parker/ Barry Guy/ Paul Rutherford/ John Stevens - 4,4,4, [View, 1980; Konnex Records, 1993, with two additional tracks, one of which recorded August 1992; Emanem, 2012, retitled One Four and Two Twos, credited to John Stevens/ Paul Rutherford/ Evan Parker/ Barry Guy, with six additional tracks, one of which is the bonus 1978 recording included on the Konnex reissue, three of the remaining five recorded November 1979, the remaining two recorded January 1992]
(October 1978) Evan Parker - NYC 1978 [Relative Pitch Records, 2023]
(November 1978) Evan Parker - Vaincu.Va! Live at Western Front 1978 [Western Front New Music, 2013]
(November 1978) Evan Parker - At the Finger Palace [The Beak Doctor/ Metalanguage, 1980]
(June 1980) Evan Parker - Six of One [Incus Records, 1982; Psi, 2002]
(March 1981) Evan Parker/ Barry Guy - Incision [Free Music Production, 1981] ***
(November, December 1982) Evan Parker - Zanzou [Jazz & Now, 1983]
(November 1982, November 1985) Evan Parker/ Barry Guy/ Ken'ich Takeda/ Onnyk (1985) - To Whom It May Concern: Dedicated to Kunio Nakamura [Allelopathy, 1994]
(January 1983) Evan Parker/ Barry Guy/ Paul Lytton - Tracks [Incus Records, 1983] ***
(February 1983) Evan Parker/ George Lewis/ Barry Guy/ Paul Lytton - Hook, Drift and Shuffle [Incus Records, 1985; Psi, 2007] ***
(September 1984) Evan Parker/ Keith Rowe/ Barry Guy/ Eddie Prévost (1984) - Supersession [Matchless Recordings, 1988]
(November 1985) Evan Parker & Barry Guy - Tai Kyoku [Jazz & Now, 1985]
(January 1986) Evan Parker - The Snake Decides [Incus Records, 1986; Psi, 2003] ***
(December 1986) Evan Parker/ Barry Guy/ Paul Lytton - Atlanta [Impetus Records, 1990]
(June 1989) Evan Parker - Conic Sections [Ah Um, 1993; Psi, 2008]
(May 1991) Evan Parker - Process and Reality [Free Music Production, 1991]
(March 1993) Evan Parker/ Paul Dunmall/ Barry Guy/ Tony Levin - Birmingham Concert [Rare Music, 1996]
(March 1993) Parker - Guy - Lytton - Imaginary Values [Maya Recordings, 1994] ***
(April 1994) Evan Parker - 50th Birthday Concert [Leo Records, 1994; the Parker/ Schlippenbach/ Lovens trio featured on the first disc, the Parker/ Guy/ Lytton trio featured on the second disc] ***
(December 1994) Parker/ Guy/ Lytton Trio - Breaths and Heartbeats [Rastacan Records, 1995]
(December 1994) Evan Parker/ Barry Guy - Obliquities [Maya Recordings, 1995]
(June 1995) Evan Parker/ Barry Guy/ Paul Lytton with Guest Joe McPhee (1995) - The Redwood Session [Creative Improvised Music Productions, 1996]
(November 1995) Evan Parker - Chicago Solo [Okka Disk, 1997]
(May 1996) Parker/ Guy/ Lytton and Marilyn Crispell - Natives and Aliens [Leo Records, 1997]
(June 1996) Evan Parker/ Barry Guy/ Paul Lytton - At the Vortex (1996) [Emanem, 1998] ***
(October 1996-June 2001) Evan Parker - Time Lapse [Tzadik, 2006]
(December 1997) Parker/ Guy/ Lytton - At Les Instants Chavirés [Psi, 2002]
(June 1999) Parker/ Guy/ Lytton and Marilyn Crispell - After Appleby [Leo Records, 2000] ***
(August 1999) Parker/ Guy/ Lytton/ Schlippenbach Trio - 2 x 3 = 5 [Leo Records, 2001; as the title indicates, since Parker is a member of both trios, this recording features a quintet of Parker, Alex von Schlippenbach, Guy, Paul Lovens, and Lytton]
(October 2001) Evan Parker - Lines Burnt in Light [Psi, 2001]
(September 2002) Evan Parker/ Barry Guy - Birds and Blades [Intakt Records, 2003]
(May 2004) Sten Sandell / David Stäckenas/ Parker/ Guy/ Lytton - Gubbröra [Psi, 2004]
(March 2006) Parker/ Guy/ Lytton - Zafiro [Maya Recordings, 2006]
(March 2006) Agustí Fernández/ Evan Parker/ Barry Guy/ Paul Lytton - Topos [Maya Recordings, 2007]
(July 2008) Evan Parker - Whitstable Solo [Psi, 2010]
(September 2009) Parker/ Guy/ Lytton + Peter Evans - Scenes in the House of Music (2009)
(January 2010) Evan Parker/ Barry Guy/ Paul Lytton - Nightwork [Marge, 2010]
(September 2011) Evan Parker/ Barry Guy/ Lytton - Live at Maya Recordings Festival [NoBusiness Records, 2013]
(July 2016) Evan Parker/ Barry Guy/ Paul Lytton - Music for David Mossman: Live at Vortex London [Intakt Records, 2018]
(October 2017) Evan Parker - Barry Guy - Paul Lytton - Concert in Vilnius [NoBusiness Records, 2019]
(August 2018) Evan Parker - Work in Progress [The Vortex Jazz Club, 2019]
(March 2019) Evan Parker/ Paul Lytton - Collective Calls (Revisited) (Jubilee) [Intakt Records, 2020]
(September 2020) Evan Parker - Winns Win [Byrd Out, 2021]
(February 2023) Evan Parker/ Barry Guy - So It Goes... [Maya Recordings, 2023]
(June 1994, July 2018-April 2024, September 2023) Evan Parker - The Heraclitean Two-Step, etc. [False Walls, 2024]
II. The Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble and related groupings. 12 albums.
(May 1996) Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble [Parker/ Guy /Lytton/ Philipp Wachsmann/ Walter Prati/ Marco Vecchi] - Toward the Margins [E. C. M. Records, 1997] ***
(May 1996) Evan Parker Electroacoustic Ensemble [Parker/ Guy/ Lytton/ Wachsmann/ Prati/ Vecchi] with Sainkho Namtchylak - Fixing the Fluctuating Idea [Les Disques Victo, 2021]
(January 1997) Evan Parker/ Lawrence Casserley - Solar Wind [Touch, 1997]
(February 1997) Evan Parker/ Barry Guy/ Lawrence Casserley - Dividuality [Maya Recordings, 2001]
(December 1997) Evan Parker with Noel Akchoté, Lawrence Casserly and Joel Ryan - Live at Les Instants Chavirés [Leo Records, 1998]
(December 1998) Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble [Parker/ Guy/ Lytton/ Wachsmann/ Casserley/ Prati/ Vecchi] - Drawn Inward [E. C. M. Records, 1999] ***
(October 2000) Evan Parker Electroacoustic Quartet [Parker/ Lytton/ Casserley/ Ryan] - Concert in Iwaka [Uchimizu Records, 2021]
(October 2002) Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble [Parker/ Guy/ Lytton/ Wachsmann/ Agustí Fernández/ Casserley/ Ryan/ Prati/ Vecchi] - Memory/Vision [E. C. M. Records, 2003]
(October 2003) Evan Parker - Set [Psi, 2009; features Parker/ Guy/ Lytton/ Casserley/ Prati/ Vecchi/ Richard Barrett/ Paul Obermayer]
(November 2004) Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble [Parker/ Adam Linson/ Lytton/ Wachsmann/ Fernández/ Casserley/ Ryan/ Prati/ Vecchi/ Barrett/ Obermayer] - The Eleventh Hour [E. C. M. Records, 2005]
(November 2007) Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble [Parker/ Guy/ Lytton/ Wachsmann/ Ned Rothenberg/ Peter Evans/ Fernández/ Casserley/ Ryan/ Prati/ Vecchi/ Barrett/ Obermayer] - The Moment's Energy [E. C. M. Records, 2009]
(May 2010) Evan Parker Electroacoustic Ensemble [Parker/ Guy/ Lytton/ Rothenberg/ Peter van Bergen/ Evans/ Ishikawa Ko/ Fernández/ Casserley/ Ryan/ Prati/ Vecchi/ Barrett/ Obermayer] - Hasselt [Psi, 2012]
III. Duos. 67 albums.
(February 1972) Evan Parker/ Frank Perry - For the Love of... [Qbico, 2002; an abridged version of the two-track titular piece is included on the Frank Perry album Temple of the Ancient Magical Presence, 2001]
(February 1975) Derek Bailey/ Evan Parker - The London Concert [Incus, 1975] ***
(December 1976) John Stevens/ Evan Parker - The Longest Night Vol. 1 [Ogun, 1978] ***
(December 1976) John Stevens/ Evan Parker - The Longest Night Vol. 2 [Ogun, 1978] ***
(July 1977) Evan Parker/ Andrea Centazzo - Duets 71977 [Ictus Recods, 2016]
(December 1977) Evan Parker/ Andrea Centazzo - Bullfighting on Ice! [Ictus Recods, 2025]
(November 1978) Evan Parker/ Greg Goodman - Abracadabra [Metalanguage/ The Beack Doctor, 1978]
(May 1980) Evan Parker/ George Lewis - From Saxophone and Trombone [Incus, 1980; Psi, 2002] ***
(October 1980) Derek Bailey & Evan Parker - Arch Duo [Rastacan Records, 1999]
(April, July 1985) Derek Bailey/ Evan Parker - Compatibles [Incus, 1986]
(July 1985) Steve Lacy & Evan Parker (1985) - Chirps [Free Music Production, 1986; Corbett vs. Dempsey, 2022]
(February 1990) Evan Parker/ Walter Prati - Hall of Mirrors [M. M. & T. Records, 1990; Auditorium Edizioni, 2017; reissue includes second album, Pulse recorded May 2016]
(March 1990) Borah Bergman with Evan Parker - The Fire Tale [Soul Note, 1994]
(? 1991) Gianni Gebbia + Evan Parker - Duos [Object-a, 2017]
(June 1993) Evan Parker/ John Stevens - Corner to Corner [Ogun, 1995]
(May 1993) Evan Parker/ Anthony Braxton - Duo (London) 1993 [Leo Records, 1993]
(November 1995) Evan Parker & Agusti Fernández - Tempranillo [Música Secreta, 1996]
(April 1996) Evan Parker & Motoharu Yoshizawa - Two Chaps [Chap Chap Records, 2015]
(May 1996) Evan Parker - Sainko Namtchylak - Mars Song [Les Disques Victo, 1996]
(February, April 1997) Evan Parker & Eddie Prévost - Most Materiall [Matchless Recordings, 1997] ***
(May 1997) Evan Parker/ Ned Rothenburg - Monkey Puzzle [Leo Records, 1997]
(January, April 1998) Evan Parker/ Günter Christmann - Here Now: Solos/Duos [Concepts of Doing, 1998]
(May 1998) Evan Parker/ Georg Grawe - Unity Variations [Okka Disk, 1999]
(May 1998) Evan Parker/ Joe McPhee - Chicago Tenor Duets [Okka Disk, 2002]
(August 1998) John Tilbury & Evan Parker - Two Chapters and an Epilogue [Matchless Recordings, 2000] ***
(October 1999) Richard Nunns/ Evan Parker - Ranguira [Leo Records, 2001]
(December 1999, January 2000) Evan Parker/ Keith Rowe - Dark Rags [Potlatch, 2000] ***
(March 2000) Han Bennink/ Evan Parker - The Grass Is Greener [Psi, 2002]
(September 2000) Evan Parker/ Peter A. Schmid - September Duos [Creative Works Records, 2001]
(November 2000) Evan Parker/ Patrick Scheyder - Evan Parker/ Patrick Scheyder [Leo Records, 2001]
(? 2001) Evan Parker/ Richard Barrett - 2001 [Strange Strings, 2021]
(April 2003) Parker/ Joe McPhee - Sweet Nothings (For Milford Graves) [Corbett vs. Dempsey, 2022]
(September 2003) Stan Tracey/ Evan Parker - Suspensions and Anticipations [Psi, 2004]
(November 2003) Evan Parker/ Eddie Prévost - Imponderable Evidence [Matchless Recordings, 2004]
(July 2004) Stan Tracey/ Evan Parker - Crevulations [Psi, 2005]
(December 2004) Charles Farrell/ Evan Parker - Glossolalia [World Tribe Music, 2005]
(March 2005) Fred Van Hove/ Evan Parker - Blossoms Festival 25.03.05 [2005?]
(May 2005) John Tchichai and Evan Parker - Clapham Duos [Treader, 2015]
(February 2006) Misha Mengelberg & Evan Parker - It Won't Be Called Broken Chair [Psi, 2011]
(July 2006) Evan Parker/ Matthew Shipp - Abbey Road Duos [Treader, 2007]
(October 2006) Evan Parker/ Ned Rothenberg - Live at Roulette [Animul Records, 2007]
(February 2007) Urs Leimbruber/ Evan Parker - Twine [Clean Feed, 2010]
(May 2008) Evan Parker/ John Wiese - C-Section (Second Layer Records, 2009)
(May 2008) Evan Parker/ Ingebright Håker Flaten - The Brewery Tap (Smalltown Superjazz, 2008)
(June 2008) Uwe Oberg & Evan Parker - Full Bloom [Jazzwerkstatt, 2010]
(October 2008, June 2009, February 2010, February 2011) Evan Parker & Matthew Wright - Trance Map [Psi, 2011] ***
(July 2009) Evan Parker/ Zlatko Kaucic - Round about One O'Clock [Not Two Records, 2011]
(September 2009) Evan Parker & Sten Sandell - Psalms [Psi, 2010]
(November 2009) Evan Parker/ Agustí Fernández - The Voice Is One [Not Two Records, 2012]
(September 2011) Evan Parker - Matthew Shipp - Rex, Wrecks & XXX [Rogue Art, 2013]
(October 2011) Evan Parker/ Georg Graewe - Dortmund Variations [Nuscope Recordings, 2012]
(July 2012) Evan Parker & Joe McPhee - What/If/They Both Could Fly [Rune Grammofon, 2013]
(October 2012) Evan Parker/ Peter Jacquemyn - Marsyas Suite [El Negocito Records, 2015]
(September 2013) Evan Parker/ Sylvie Courvoisier - Either Or And [Relative Pitch Records, 2014]
(May 2014) Fred Frith/ Evan Parker - Hello, I Must Be Going [Les DIsques Victo, 2015]
(September 2014) Evan Parker/ Joe Morris - The Village [Fundacja Słuchaj!, 2019]
(October 2014) Evan Parker/ Seymour Wright - Tie the Stone to the Wheel [Fataka, 2016]
(February 2015) Alexander Hawkins/ Evan Parker - Leaps in Leicester [Clean Feed, 2016]
(March 2015) Evan Parker/ Paul G. Smyth - Calenture and Light Leaks [Weekertoft, 2019]
(March 2017) Evan Parker/ Paul G. Smyth - The Dogs of Nile [Weekertoft, 2019]
(May 2017) Limpe Fuchs & Evan Parker - 28.5.17 [Otoroku, 2017]
(August 2017) Matthew Shipp - Evan Parker - Leonine Aspects [Rogue Art, 2021]
(September 2017) Evan Parker/ Eddie Préost - Tools of Imagination [Fundacja Słuchaj!, 2018)
(December 2021) Henry Dagg & Evan Parker - Then through Now [False Walls, 2022]
(? 2023) Sergio Armaroli & Evan Parker - Dialog [Ezz-thetics, 2023]
(? 2024) Trance Map (Evan Parker and Matthew Wright) - Horizons Held Close [Relative Pitch Records, 2024]
(May 2024) Evan Parker & Bill Nace - Branches (Live at Cafe OTO) [Otoroku/ Open Mouth, 2025]
IV. Trios. 44 albums.
(July 1970) Evan Parker/ Derek Bailey/ Han Bennink - The Topography of the Lungs [Incus, 1970; Psi, 2006] ***
(December 1977) Andrea Centazzo/ Alvin Curran/ Evan Parker - Real Time [Ictus Records, 1978; New Tone Records, 1996, retitled Real Time One; portions of this album reissued on In Real Time, which also features a previously-unreleased track]
(December 1977) Andrea Centazzo/ Alvin Curran/ Evan Parker - Real Time Two [New Tone Records, 1998; portions of this album reissued on In Real Time—see above]
(April 1981) Derek Bailey/ Han Bennink/ Evan Parker - Topographie Parisienne: Dunois, April 3d, 1981
(September 1992) Lol Coxhill/ Steve Lacy/ Evan Parker - Three Blokes
(May 1993) Anthony Braxton/ Evan Parker/ Paul Rutherford - Trio (London) 1993 [Leo Records, 1994]
(January 1994) Paul Bley/ Evan Parker/ Barre Phillips - Time Will Tell [E. C. M. Records, 1995]
(January 1995) Evan Parker/ Antonello Salis/ Mauro Orselli - Improvvisazioni [A. D. A., 1995]
(May 1995) Joe McPhee/ Evan Parker/ Daunik Lazro - McPhee-Parker-Lazro [Vand'Oeuvre, 1996]
(May 1995) Evan Parker/ Daunik Lazro/ Joe McPhee - Seven Pieces: Live at Willisau 1995 [Clean Feed, 2016]
(April 1996) Paul Bley/ Evan Parker/ Barre Phillips - Sankt Gerold [E. C. M. Records, 2000]
(June 1997) Mauro Orselli/ Evan Parker/ Antonello Salis - True Live Walnuts [Splasc(H) Records, 1998]
(? 1998?) Thurston Moore/ Evan Parker/ Walter Prati - The Promise [Materiali Sonori, 1999]
(February, July 1999) Evan Parker/ John Edwards/ Mark Sanders - The Two Seasons [Emanem, 2000] ***
(June 2000, April 2001) Evan Parker/ Phil Wachsmann/ Teppo Hauta-aho - The Needles [Leo Records, 2002]
(September 2000) Parker/ Haslam/ Edwards - Parker/Haslam/Edwards [Slam Productions, 2001]
(? 2004?) Evan Parker with Birds [John Coxon/ Ashley Wales] - Evan Parker with Birds [Treader, 2004, 2018]
(October 2005) François Houle/ Evan Parker/ Benoît Delbecq - La Lumière de Pierres [Psi, 2007]
(August 2006) Evan Parker/ John Edwards/ Chris Corsano - A Glancing Blow [Clean Feed, 2007]
(February 2007) Herb Robertson with Evan Parker & Agusti Fernández - Parallelisms [Ruby Flower Records, 2007]
(July 2007) Paolo Angeli/ Evan Parker/ Ned Rothenberg - Free Zone Appleby 2007 [Psi, 2009]
(January 2008) Dave Liebman - Evan Parker - Tony Bianco - Relevance [Red Toucan Records, 2010]
(March 2008) John Coxon/ Evan Parker/ Eddie Prévost - Cinema [Fataka, 2012]
(February 2009) Parker/ Barrett/ Vatcher - On Growth and Form [Sound Anatomy, 2016]
(February 2009) Evan Parker/ Wes Neal/ Joe Sorbara - At Somewhere There [Barnyard Records, 2011]
(October 2009) Evan Parker/ John Edwards/ Tony Marsh - Medway Blues [F. M. R. Records, 2021]
(May 2010) Parker/Lee/Evans - The Bleeding Edge [Psi, 2011]
(May 2011) Evan Parker/ John Edwards/ Eddie Prévost - Meetings with Remarkable Saxophonists Volume 1 [Matchless Recordings, 2012]
(May 2012, January 2013) Sebastian Lexer/ Evan Parker/ Eddie Pévost - Tri-Borough Triptych [Matchless Recordings, 2013]
(September 2012) Evan Parker/ Mark Nauseef/ Toma Gouband - As the Wind [Psi, 2016]
(January 2013) Trance Map [Parker/ Wright/ Toma Gouband] - Trance Map [Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, 2013]
(September 2013) Cymerman/ Parker/ Wooley - World of Objects [5049 Records, 2014]
(June 2014) Evan Parker/ Paul Dunmall/ Tony Bianco - Extremes [Red Toucan Records, 2014]
(August 2014) Evan Parker/ John Edwards/ Chris Corsano - The Hurrah [Otoroku, 2015]
(September 2014) Evan Parker/ Joe Morris/ Nate Wooley - Ninth Square [Clean Feed, 2015]
(September 2014) Mat Maneri/ Evan Parker/ Lucian Ban - Sounding Tears [Clean Feed, 2017]
(January 2015) Evan Parker/ John Edwards/ Steve Noble - P. E. N. [Dropa Disc, 2017]
(July 2015) Evan Parker/ Toshi Tsuchitori/ William Parker - The Flow of Spirit (Live Concert Tokyo) [Ryuko Gakusha, 2018]
(? 2015) Parker, Edwards and Day - Parker, Edwards and Day (Terry Day Archives, 2020)
(May 2016) Evan Parker/ Agustí Fernández/ Ivo Sans - Locations [Vector Sounds, 2019]
(September 2016) Evan Parker/ Lotte Anker/ Torben Snekkestad - Inferences [Fundacja Słuchaj!, 2019]
(November 2016) Yoshihide/ Yamazaki/ Parker - 14.11.16 [Otoroku, 2017)
(November 2016) Evan Parker/ John Edwards/ John Russell - Walthamstow Moon ('61 Revisited) [Byrd Out, 2017]
(January 2022) Transmap+ [Parker/ Wright/ Robert Jarvis] - Grounded Abstraction [F. M. R. Records, 2022]
V. Quartets. 29 albums.
(November 1976, April 1985) Evan Parker/ Paul Rutherford/ Dave Holland/ Paul Lovens - The Ericle of Dolphi [Po Torch Records, 1989]
(January 1978) Mark Chaig/ Radu Malfatti/ Evan Parker/ Tony Rusconi - Live in Mestre: Teatro Toniolo [W. M. Boxes, 2011]
(December 1980) Evan Parker/ Jon Rose/ Barry Guy/ John Russell - Hypa-Stretch [Fringe Benefit Records, 1981, 2022]
(July 1982) Derek Bailey/ Joëlle Léandre/ George Lewis/ Evan Parker - 28 Rue Dunois Juillet 1982 [Fou Records, 2014]
(August 1985) Evan Parker with Paul Lytton, Paul Rutherford & Hans Schneider - Waterloo 1985 [Emanem, 1999]
(July 1995) Louis Moholo/ Evan Parker/ Pule Pheto/ Gibo Pheto/ Barry Guy Quintet - Bush Fire [Ogun, 1996]
(December 1996) Evan Parker with John Russell, John Edwards, Mark Sanders - London Air Lift ***
(April 1997) Noël Akchoté/ Mark Sanders/ Paul Rogers/ Evan Parker - Somewhere Bi-lingual [Siesta Records, 1997]
(July 1999) Evan Parker/ Steve Beresford/ John Edwards / Louis Moholo - Foxes Fox [Emanem, 1999] ***
(March 2000) School of Velocity [Parker/ David Tucker/ John Edwards/ Steve Noble] - Homework [GROB, 20001]
(August 2003) Evan Parker/ Philipp Wachsmann/ Hugh Davies/ Eddie Prévost - 888 [F. M. R. Records, 2003]
(? 2004?) Trio with Interludes [Parker/ Ashley Wales/ Mark Sanders/ John Coxon] - Trio with Interludes [Treader, 2004]
(October 2004) Foxes Fox [Parker/ Beresford/ Edwards/ Moholo] - Naan Tso [Psi, 2005]
(November 2004) Dave Green Trio [Iain Dixon/ Dave Green/ Gene Calderazzo] + Evan Parker - Raise Four [Trio Records, 2022]
(January 2006) Tony Levin/ Paul Dunmall/ Ray Warleigh/ Evan Parker - Life of Dreams [Rare Music, 2011]
(September 2007) Max Eastley/ Graham Halliwell/ Evan Parker/ Mark Wastell - A Life Saved by a Spider and Two Doves [Another Timbre, 2008]
(January 2008) Marteau Rouge & Evan Parker [Parker/ Jean-Marc Foussat/ Jean-François Pauvros/ Makoto Sato] - Live [In Situ, 2009]
(December 2009) Marteau Rouge & Evan Parker [Parker/ Foussat/ Pauvros/ Sato] - Gift [Fou Records, 2023]
(March 2010) McPhee/ Corsano/ Coxhill/ Parker - Tree Dancing [Otoroku, 2019]
(May, August 2010, February 2011) Mark Naussef/ Ikue Mori/ Evan Parker/ Bill Laswell - Near Nadir [Tzadik, 2011]
(May 2012) Evan Parker/ Craig Taborn/ Sam Pluta/ Peter Evans - Rocket Science [More Is More Records, 2013]
(September 2014) Parker/ Trzaska/ Edwards/ Sanders - City Fall: Live at Cafe Oto [Fundacja Słuchaj!, 2016]
(September 2015) Sylvie Courvoisier/ Mark Feldman/ Ikue Mori/ Evan Parker - Miller's Tale [Intakt Records, 2016]
(June 2016) Evan Parker & RGG [Łukasz Ojdana/ Maciej Garbowski/ Krzysztof Gradziuk]- Live @ Alchemia [Fundacja Słuchaj!, 2017]
(May-July, December 2017) Dave Holland, Evan Parker, Craig Taborn and Ches Smith - Uncharted Territories [Dare2 Records, 2018; an out-take from this session, ‘QW3’, was released as a download by the Vortex Jazz Club, 2020]
(February 2018) Evan Parker & Kinetics [Jacob Anderskov/ Adam Pultz Melbye/ Anders Vestergaard]- Chiasm [Clean Feed, 2019]
(June 2019) The Evan Parker Quartet [Parker/ Alexander Hawkins/ John Edwards/ Paul Lytton] - All Knavery and Collusion [Cadillac Records, 2021]
(March 2020) Foxes Fox [Parker/ Beresford/ Edwards/ Mark Sanders] - Foxes Fox [Vortex Jazz Club on Bandcamp, 2020]
(March 2022) Trance Map+ [Parker/ Wright/ Evans/ Mark Nauseef] - Etching the Ether [Intakt Records, 2023]
VI. Larger groups and albums featuring multiple groupings. 55 albums.
With this section, we arrive at albums that some may not classify as "Evan Parker" albums. For the most part, though, I would like to think that the distinction between even the most collectivist of these albums (such as the Company releases, often categorized under Company or Derek Bailey) and those in the "sideman" category below is clear enough. Like all of the albums above for which the artist name is comprised merely of the names of the individuals involved ("Evan Parker/ Derek Bailey" and so on), each of these albums could be considered "Evan Parker" albums as much as they could be considered albums by the other artists in question.
(May 1970) Instant Composers Pool - Groupcomposing [Instant Composers Pool, 1978; Corbett vs. Dempsey, 2018] ***
(May 1976) Maarten van Regteren Altena/ Tristan Honsinger/ Evan Parker/ Derek Bailey - Company 1 [Incus, 1977] ***
(August 1976) Evan Parker/ Anthony Braxton/ Derek Bailey - Company 2 [Incus, 1979] ***
(May 1977) Leo Smith/ Maarten van Regeteren Altena/ Derek Bailey/ Tristan Honsinger/ Anthony Braxton/ Steve Lacy/ Evan Parker - Company 5 [Incus, 1978] ***
(May 1977) Leo Smith/ Maarten van Regeteren Altena/ Evan Parker/ Steve Lacy/ Tristan Honsinger/ Lol Coxhill/ Anthony Braxton/ Steve Beresford/ Han Bennink/ Derek Bailey - Company 6 [Incus, 1978; four of six tracks reissued on Company 6 & 7] ***
(May 1977) Derek Bailey/ Han Bennink/ Steve Beresford/ Anthony Braxton/ Lol Coxhill/ Tristan Honsinger/ Steve Lacy/ Evan Parker/ Maarten van Regeteren Altena/ Leo Smith - Company 7 [Incus, 1978; reissued on Company 6 & 7] ***
(July 1978) Paul Lytton/ David Toop/ Max Eastley/ Paul Burwell/ Annabel Nicholson/ Evan Parker/ Hugh Davies/ Paul Lovens - Circadian Rhythm [Incus, 1980]
(May 1980) Company [Dave Holland/ George Lewis/ Evan Parker/ Derek Bailey] - Fables [Incus, 1980] ***
(June 1980) Maarten Altena/ Derek Bailey/ Barry Guy/ George Lewis/ Paul Lovens/ Paul Lytton/ Evan Parker/ Paul Rutherford/ Giancarlo Schiaffini/ Philipp Wachsmann - Pisa 1980: Improvisors Symposium [Incus, 1981; Psi, 2004, expanded reissue with three additional tracks and unabridged versions of two of the five tracks on the original release]
(September 1980) The Wuppertal Workshop Ensemble - The Family [Free Music Production, 1982]
(October 1980) Greg Goodman/ Henry Kaiser/ Toshinori Kondo/ Evan Parker/ ROVA Saxophone Quartet - Metalanguage Festival Of Improvised Music 1980 - Volume 1: The Social Set [Metalanguage/ The Beak Doctor, 1981; reissued as part of The Social/Science Set, The Beak Doctor, 2002]
(October 1980) Derek Bailey/ Evan Parker/ Henry Kaiser/ Larry Ochs/ Jon Raskin/ Greg Goodman/ Toshinori Kondo/ Andrew Voigt (1980) - Metalanguage Festival Of Improvised Music 1980 - Volume 2: The Science Set [Metalanguage/ The Beak Doctor, 1981; five of eight tracks reissued as part of The Social/Science Set, noted above]
(December 1983, August 1991) Evan Parker/ Paul Rogers/ Jamie Muir// Evan Parker/ Wolter Wierbos/ Paul Rogers/ Mark Sanders - The Ayes Have It [Emanem, 2001]
(July 1990) Wolfgang Fuchs/ Hans Koch/ Evan Parker/ Louis Sclavis - Duets, Dithyrambisch [Free Music Production, 1990, 2015]
(September 1993) Evan Parker with Jin Hi Kim/ George Lewis/ Thebe Lipere/ Carlo Mariano/ Sainko Namchylak/ Walter Prati/ Marco "Bill" Vecchi/ Motoharu Yoshizawa - Synergetics - Phonomanie III [Leo Records, 1996]
(September 1993) Evan Parker with Ghost-in-the-Machine - Evan Parker with Ghost-in-the-Machine [Leo Lab, 1996]
(January 1997, January 1998, July 2000) Strings with Evan Parker - Strings with Evan Parker [Emanem, 2001]
(June 1998) Evan Parker + Ghost-in-the-Machine - New Excursions [Ninth World Music, 1998]
(October 1999) Evan Parker/ TonArt Ensemble - Brot & Honig [True Muze, 2000]
(September 2000) Jah Wobble & Evan Parker - Passage to Hades [30 Hertz Records, 2001]
(September 2000) Hans Anliker/ Evan Parker/ Peter A. Schmid/ Reto Senn/ Jürg Solothurnmann - September Winds ***
(May 2001) London Improvisors Orchestra// Strings with and without Evan Parker - Freedom of the City 2001: Large Groups
(May 2002) Chris Burn & Matt Hutchinson// Lol Coxhill/ Paul Rutherford/ Ian Smith// Sylvia Hallett// Evan Parker & John Russell// Roger Smith// Trevor Watts & Veryan Weston - Freedom of the City 2002: Small Groups [Emanem, 2003]
(July 2002) John Edwards/ Sylvia Hallett/ Marcio Mattos/ Neil Metcalfe/ Evan Parker/ John Rangecroft/ Mark Sanders/ Philipp Wachsmann - Free Zone Appleby 2002 [Psi, 2003]
(September 2002) Evan Parker and September Winds - Alder Brook [Leo Records, 2003]
(January 2003) Evan Parker/ Kenny Wheeler/ Paul Dunmall/ Tony Levin/ John Edwards - Live at the Vortex, London [Rare Music, 2011]
(May 2003) Evan Parker Trio & Peter Brötzmann Trio - The Bishop's Move [Les Disques Victor, 2004] ***
(July 2003) Tony Coe/ John Edwards/ Alan Hacker/ Slyvia Hallett/ Marcio Mattos/ Evan Parker/ Philipp Wachsmann/ Kenny Wheeler - Free Zone Appleby 2003 [Psi, 2004]
(October 2004) Evan Parker and September Winds - Short Stories [Leo Records, 2005]
(July 2004) Barry Guy/ Paul Lytton/ Evan Parker/ Joel Ryan/ Philipp Wachsmann - Free Zone Appleby 2004 [Psi, 2005]
(September 2004) Evan Parker/ Transatlantic Art Ensemble - Boustrophedon [E. C. M. Records, 2008] ***
(May 2005) Evan Parker Octet - Crossing the River [Psi, 2006] ***
(July 2005) Gerd Dudek/ Tony Levin / Evan Parker/ Tony Marsh/ Paul Dunmall/ Philipp Wachsmann/ John Edwards/ Kenny Wheeler/ Paul Rogers - Free Zone Appleby 2005 [Psi, 2006]
(July 2006) Philipp Wachsmann/ Rudi Mahall/ Aki Takase/ Alexander von Schlippenbach/ Evan Parker/ Paul Rutherford/ Paul Lovens - Free Zone Appleby 2006 [Psi, 2007]
(January 2007) Urs Leimgruber/ Evan Parker/ Nils Gerold/ Reinhart Hammerschmidt/ Uli Sobotta/ Hainer Wörmann - Striking a Blow [Nur/Nicht/Nur, 2010]
(February 2007) Foxes Fox [Parker/ Kenny Wheeler/ Beresford/ Edwards/ Moholo] - Live at the Vortex [Psi, 2012]
(October 2007) Evan Parker/ Stephen Grew/ Bruno Guastalla/ Dominic Lash/ Philipp Wachsmann - Pent (Spoonhunt, 2021)
(March 2009) Otomo Yoshihide/ Sachiko M/ Evan Parker/ Tony Marsh/ John Edwards/ John Butcher - Quintet, Sextet, Duos [Otoroku, 2014]
(December 2009) Grutonic and Evan Parker - Together in Zero Space [Psi, 2011]
(? 2009) Evan Parker - House Full of Floors [Tzadik, 2009]
(October 2010) Evan Parker & konstruKt - Live at Akbank Jazz Festival [Re:konstruKt, 2011]
(November 2010) Barry Guy New Orchestra Small Formations - Mad Dogs [Not Two Records, 2010; five-disc set; second disc features the Parker-Guy-Lytton trio; fourth disc features two tracks of the trio with Agustí Fernández, and one track of the Parker-Lytton duo]
(July 2011) Mark Solborg/ Mats Eilertsen/ Peter Bruun/ Herb Robertson/ Evan Parker - The Trees [I. L. K. Music, 2013]
(August 2012) Evan Parker/ X-Jazz Ensemble - A Schist Story [JACC Records, 2022]
(April 2013) Evan Parker/ John Russell/ John Edwards/ Pat Thomas// Alison Blunt/ Benedict Taylor/ David Leahy// Kay Grant/ Alex Ward - Mopomoso Tour 2013: Making Rooms [Weekertoft, 2016]
(December 2012) Christof Thewes/ Martin Schmidt/ Hartmut Oßwald/ Paul Lovens/ Alexander von Schlippenbach/ Evan Parker - Live at Spielraum (Trio/Quartet/Sextet) [Gligg Records, 2016]
(May 2013) Evan Parker/ John Edwards/ Eddie Prévost// Alexander v. Schlippenbach/ Evan Parker/ John Edwards/ Eddie Prévost// Christof Thewes/ Evan Parker/ John Edwards/ Eddie Prévost - 3 Nights at Cafe Oto [Matchless Recordings, 2015]
(May 2014) Evan Parker - Seven ElectroAcoustic Septet [Les Disques Victo, 2014]
(June 2014) Evan Parker and Dissonanzen - Linger like Joy in Memory [Black Sheep Power Desco Music, 2018]
(October 2014) Evan Parker & A. M. M. - Title Goes Here [Otoroku, 2015] ***
(January 2015) Sant'Anna Arresi Quintet by Evan Parker - Fili 'e Ferru [self-released, 2015]
(August 2016) Evan Parker/ John Russell/ Ian Brighton/ Phillip Wachsmann/ Marcio Mattos/ Trevor Taylor - Reunion Live from Cafe Oto [F. M. R. Records, 2017]
(July 2017) Trance Map+ - Crepuscule in Nickelsdorf [Intakt Records, 2019]
(May 2018) Setoladimaiale Unit & Evan Parker - Live at Angelica 2018 [Setola di Maiale, 2019]
(June 2019) Evan Parker/ Zlatko Kauĉiĉ// Evan Parker/ Zlatko Kauĉiĉ/ Massimo de Mattia/ Boŝtjan Simon - Arkosberg [Klopotec, 2020]
VII. The Schlippenbach Trio.
These albums are generally going to be catalogued as "Alexander von Schlippenbach" albums, if one has to choose among the three. But, given our approach of designating an album as, for example, both an "Evan Parker" album and a "Barry Guy" album and the significance of the Schlippenbach trio to Parker's work, these albums need to be given pride of place in any Parker discography. So far, we have a total of 252 "Evan Parker" albums. Here we have another 20 albums, since the 50th Birthday Concert and 2 x 3 = 5 albums are being grouped into the Parker/ Guy/ Lytton category and thus not counted here. In a separate listing for the this trio, or a Schlippenbach discography, we would at least count 50th Birthday Concert. However, in such a discography, America 2003, on which Lytton replaces Lovens, may not be considered a "Schlippenbach Trio" album, as strictly speaking it presents a merging of that trio with the Parker/ Guy/ Lytton trio, with two players absent, as compared to the merging that took place on 2 x 3 = 5. Also, many discographers would not include the Bernd Schoch film, Aber Das Wort Hund Bellt Ja Nicht; I do because, as far as I can tell, it includes an album's worth of music.
(April 1972) Schlippenbach Trio - First Recordings [Trost Records, 2014; two of the four tracks previously released on the compilation For Example: Workshop Freie Music 1969-1978]
(November 1972) Alexander von Schlippenbach Trio - Pakistani Pomade [Free Music Production, 1973; Atavistic, 2003, with four bonus tracks] ***
(June 1974, February 1975) Schlippenbach-Quartett - Three Nails Left [also featuring Peter Kowald; Free Music Production, 1975; Corbett vs. Dempsey, 2020; tracks 2 and 3 also reissued on At Quartier Latin, released 2010 as part of the box set FMP Im Rückblick - In Retrospect and separately 2011] ***
(September 1975) Schlippenbach Quartet - Hunting the Snake [also featuring Peter Kowald; Atavistic, 2000]
(January 1977) Schlippenbach Quartett - The Hidden Peak [also featuring Peter Kowald; Free Music Production, 1977; reissued 2010, retitled At Quarter Latin, part of the box set FMP Im Rückblick - In Retrospect (released separately 2011), with a portion of the first track excised and, as noted above, tracks 2 and 3 of Three Nails Left included as bonus tracks]
(June 1981) Alexander von Schlippenbach/ Evan Parker/ Paul Lovens - Detto fra Di Noi [Po Torch Records, 1982; one track reissued on the compilation Free Jazz West: Musik in Deutschland 1950-2000]
(November 1981) Schlippenbach Quartett - Das Hohe Lied [also featuring Alan Silva; Po Torch Records, 1991]
(September 1982) Schlippenbach Quartet - Anticlockwise [also featuring Alan Silva; Free Music Production, 1983]
(May 1990) Schlippenbach Trio - Elf Bagatellen [Free Music Production, 1990] ***
(June 1991) Schlippenbach Trio - Physics [Free Music Production, 1993]
(April 1994) Evan Parker - 50th Birthday Concert [see above, under Parker/ Guy/ Lytton trio]
(April 1998) Schlippenbach Trio - Complete Combustion [Free Music Production, 1999]
(November 1998) Schlippenbach Trio - Swinging the BIM [Free Music Production, 2000]
(August 1999) Parker/ Guy/ Lytton/ Schlippenbach Trio - 2 x 3 =5 [see above, under Parker/ Guy/ Lytton]
(November 2002) Schlippenbach Trio - Compression: Live at Total Music Meeting 2002 [A/ L/ L, 2004]
(May 2003) Parker/ Schlippenbach/ Lytton - America 2003 [Lytton replaces Lovens; still generally catalogued under the Schlippenbach trio; Psi, 2004]
(December 2004, December 2005) Schlippenbach Trio - Winterreise [Psi, 2006]
(June 2007) Schlippenbach Trio - Gold Is Where You Find It [Intakt Records, 2008]
(December 2007, December 2008, December 2009, December 2010) - Paul Lovens, Evan Parker & Alexander von Schlippenbach - Aber Das Wort Hund Bellt Ja Nicht [2015]
(November 2009) Schlippenbach Trio - Bauhaus Dessau [Intakt Records, 2010]
(December 2013) Schlippenbach Trio - Features [Intakt Records, 2015]
(October 2015) Schlippenbach Trio - Warsaw Concert [Intakt Records, 2016]
VIII. "Sideman" appearances
These albums, not released in any way as "Evan Parker" albums, are presented here in the same format as the rest of the discography. Doing so, we highlight the collectivist nature of some of the music. But if we do not specify which of the albums below are less the work of a single composer, and thus could be an "Evan Parker" album, this point is moot. More important, what we are doing here is suggesting the interlocking/ interchangeable possibilities of musics that, like Jazz/ Improvised, tend to feature a small number of players. If we used the same format for the discographies here, any entry in this list of Parker's supporting roles that is also in, for example, Cecil Taylor's discography can be linked to the corresponding entry in the Taylor discography.
(September, October 1966, March 1967) The Spontaneous Music Ensemble - Withdrawl (1966-7) [Emanem, 1997]
(August, September 1967) The Spontaneous Music Ensemble - Summer 1967 [Emanem, 1995]
(October 1967, November 1970) Alexander von Schlippenbach's Globe Unity Orchestra - Globe Unity 67 & 70 [Atavistic, 2001; Parker plays on one of two tracks]
(February 1968) The Spontaneous Music Ensemble - Karyōbin [Hexagram/ Island Records, 1968; Chronoscope Records, 1993] ***
(March 1968, March 1970) P. Brötzmann Group - Fuck de Boere: Dedicated to Johnny Dyani [Atavistic, 2001]
(May 1968) Peter Brötzmann - Machine Gun [BRÖ, 1968; Free Music Production, 1972, 1990—this 1990 C. D. version includes two additional tracks; these two bonus tracks are also included with another bonus track, a concert recording, on the 2007 Atavistic reissue misleadingly titled The Complete Machine Gun Sessions] ***
(January 1969) The Tony Oxley Quintet - The Baptised Traveller [C. B. S., 1969; Columbia Records/ Sony Music Entertainment, 1999]
(February 1969) John Stevens/ Spontaneous Music Ensemble - John Stevens/ Spontaneous Music Ensemble [Marmalade, 1969; informally known as ‘Oliv’, the name of the composition featured on the album, reissued as Oliv & Familie with the addition of two performances of the piece ‘Familie’, recorded January 1968; Parker only plays on the two versions of ‘Familie’—that is, he is not on the original album]
(April 1969) The Peter Brötzmann Sextet/Quartet - Nipples [Calig, 1969; Atavistic, 2000] ***
(April 1969) Peter Brötzmann - More Nipples [Atavistic, 2003; Parker plays on one of three tracks]
(June 1969) Manfred Schoof - European Echoes [Free Music Production, 1969; Atavistic, 2002]
(November 1969) The Pierre Favre Quartett - The Pierre Favre Quartett [WERGO-Jazz, 1970]
(? 1969) The Chris McGregor Septet - Up to Earth [Fledg'ling Records, 2008]
(? 1969, ? 1970, ? 1972, ? 1974) - Laurie Scott Baker - Gracility [Musicnow, 2009; Parker performs two solo compositions by Baker; these comprise only a small portion of the entire two-C. D. set]
(February 1970) Tony Oxley - 4 Compositions for Sextet [C. B. S., 1970; Columbia Records/ Sony Music Entertainment, 1999]
(? 1971?) Tony Oxley - Ichnos [R. C. A./ Victor, 1971]
(? 1971, ? 1972, ? 1973, ? 1975) Tony Oxley - Tony Oxley [Incus, 1975; Parker plays on two of six tracks]
(April 1972) Barry Guy/ The London Jazz Composers Orchestra - Ode [Incus, 1972; Intakt Records, 1996] ***
(September 1972, October 1973, May 1974) Paul Rutherford/ Iskra 1912 - Sequences 72 & 73 [Emanem, 1997]
(January 1973) Kenny Wheeler - Song for Someone [Incus, 1973; Parker plays on two of six tracks]
(January 1973) Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath - Travelling Somewhere [Cuneiform Records, 2001]
(March 1973) Globe Unity 73 - Live in Wuppertal [Free Music Production, 1973]
(February 1974) The Spontaneous Music Ensemble - Eighty-Five Minutes Part 1 [Emanem, 1986; reissued 1997, retitled Quintessence 1, with three additional tracks]
(February 1974) The Spontaneous Music Ensemble - Eight-Five Minutes Part 2 [Emanem, 1986; reissued 1997, retitled Quintessence 2, with two additional tracks]
(November 1974) The Globe Unity Orchestra and the Choir of the NDR-Broadcast - Hamburg '74 [Free Music Production, 1979; Atavistic, 2004]
(December 1974) Steve Lacy - Saxophone Special [Emanem, 1975; reissued 1998, retitled Saxophone Special + with four additional tracks, one of which previously unreleased and three of which originally released on the Lacy album The Crust; the previously-unreleased bonus track features Parker but the tracks from The Crust do not]
(? 1974?) Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath - Live at Willisau [Ogun, 1974, 1994]
(January 1975) The Spontaneous Music Orchestra - SME+=SMO [A Records, 1975; Emanem, 2001, retitled Plus Equals, with one additional track recorded January 1974; original album without bonus track also included on Search & Reflect, Emanem, 2016, with additional material]
(March 1975) Globe Unity Special - Evidence Vol. 1 [Free Music Production, 1976; reissued with Into the Valley as Rumbling, credited to Globe Unity Special '75]
(March 1975) Globe Unity Special - Into the Valley Vol. 2 [Free Music Production, 1976; reissued as Rumbling—see note above]
(June, November 1975) The Globe Unity Orchestra - Jahrmarket/Local Fair [Po Torch Records, 1977; ‘Local Fair’, the second of two tracks also included on Baden-Baden '75—see note below]
(November 1975) The Globe Unity Orchestra & Guests - Baden-Baden '75 [Free Music Production, 2011; also released as part of the box set FMP Im Rückblick - In Retrospect
(May 1977) Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath - Processions [Ogun, 1978, 2013—retitled Procession (Live at Toulouse)
(September 1977) Globe Unity - Improvisations [Japo Records, 1978; E. C. M. Records, 2010]
(November 1977) The Globe Unity Orchestra & Guests - Pearls [Free Music Production, 1977; BE! Jazz, 2020]
(January 1978) The Louis Moholo Octet - Spirits Rejoice! [Ogun, 1978; Otoroku, 2019]
(January 1979) Globe Unity - Compositions [Japo Records, 1980; E. C. M. Records, 2010]
(August 1979) Kenny Wheeler - Around 6 [E. C. M. Records, 1980]
(March 1980) The London Jazz Composers' Orchestra/ Barry Guy - Stringer [Free Music Production, 1983; Intakt Records, 2005, retitled Study II/ Stringer, with additional track recorded February 1991; Parker does not play on bonus track]
(? 1980, ? 1983, ? 1984, ? 1985, ? 1986) Jon Rose - Forward of Short Leg [Dosier, 1987; Paker plays on one of 16 tracks]
(June 1982) The Globe Unity Orchestra - Intergalactic Blow [Japo Records, 1983; Free Music Production, 2019]
(February 1984, March, June, October, December 1986, August 1987, April, July, September 1988, February, August, December 1989, June 1990) Peter Kowald - Duos: Europa-America-Japan [Free Music Production, 1991; Parker plays on one track on Europa, one of three albums in a box set; the albums were also released separately]
(March, June, October, December 1986, August 1987, April, July 1988, February, August 1989) Peter Kowald - Duos: Europa-America-Japan [Free Music Production, 1991; despite the title, this is a different release; Parker again plays on one track]
(November 1986) The Globe Unity Orchestra - 20th Anniversary [Free Music Production, 1993]
(November 1987, March 1988) Barry Guy/ Anthony Braxton/ The London Jazz Composers' Orchestra - Zurich Concerts [Intakt Records, 1988, 1995]
(? 1988) John Stevens - Fast Colour: Antwerp 1988 [Loose Torque, 2004]
(October 1988) Anthony Braxton - Ensemble (Victoriaville) 1988 [Les Disques Victo, 1989]
(January-February 1990) Kenny Wheeler - Music for Large and Small Ensembles [E. C. M. Records, 1990; Parker plays on nine of 15 tracks] ***
(June 1988) Cecil Taylor with Tristan Honsinger & Evan Parker - The Hearth [Free Music Production, 1989]
(July 1988) The Cecil Taylor European Orchestra - Alms/Tiergarten (Spree) [Free Music Production, 1989]
(April 1989) Barry Guy and the London Jazz Composers' Orchestra - Harmos [Intakt Records, 1989]
(April 1989) Barry Guy and the London Jazz Composers' Orchestra - Double Trouble [Intakt Records, 1990]
(March 1990) Mario Schiano - Unlike [Splasc(H) Records, 1990]
(September 1990) C. T.: The Workshop Ensemble - Melancholy [Free Music Production, 1999]
(September 1990) C. T.: The Quartet - Nailed [Free Music Production, 2000]
(February 1991) Barry Guy/ The London Jazz Composers' Orchestra - Theoria [Intakt Records, 1992]
(August 1991) Joe Gallivan - Innocence [Cadence Jazz Records, 1992]
(October 1991) The Chris Burn Ensemble - The Place 1991 [Emanem, 2001; Parker plays on one of six tracks]
(January 1992) The Dedication Orchestra - Spirits Rejoice [Ogun, 1992]
(March 1993) Barry Guy/ The London Jazz Composers' Orchestra - Portraits [Intakt Records, 1994]
(May 1993) The John Stevens Ensemble - Blue [Culture Press, 1998]
(July 1993) Alexander von Schlippenbach/ The Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra - Morlocks and Other Pieces [Free Music Production, 1994]
(? 1980, August 1992, July, August, September 1994, ? 1995) Susanna Ferrar - A Boy Leaves Home [Mash Productions, 1997; Parker plays on three of 13 tracks]
(January 1994) The Dedication Orchestra - Ixesha (Time) [Ogun, 1994]
(September 1995) Wolfgang Fuchs - Bits and Pieces [Free Music Production, 1996; Parker plays on two of 13 tracks]
(September, October 1995) Peter Kowald/ Ort Ensemble Wuppertal/ Evan Parker/ Lê Quan Ninh/ Carlos Zingaro - Cuts [Free Music Production, 1998]
(November 1995) Jon Rose - Techno Mit Störungen [Plag Dich Nicht, 1996]
(December 1995) Barry Guy/ The London Jazz Composers Orchestra - Three Pieces for Orchestra [Intakt Records, 1997]
(December 1995) Barry Guy/ The London Jazz Composers Orchestra - Double Trouble Two [Intakt Records, 1998]
(May 1996) Mario Shiano - Social Security [Les Disques Victo, 1997]
(July, August 1996) The Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra - Live in Japan '96 [D. I. W., 1997]
(September 1996) Francine Luce - Bò Kay La Vi-a [Ogun, 1999]
(July 1997) The John Wolf Brennan HeXtet - ...Through the Ear of a Raindrop [Leo Records, 1998]
(July 1999) The London Improvisors Orchestra - Proceedings [Emanem, 2000]
(May 2000) Barry Guy New Orchestra - Inscape-Tableaux [Intakt Records, 2001]
(September 2000) The London Improvisors Orchestra - The Hearing Continues... [Emanem, 2001]
(? 2001?) Spring Heel Jack - Masses [Thirsty Ear Recordings, 2001]
(January 2002) The Globe Unity Orchestra - Globe Unity 2002 [Intakt Records, 2003]
(May 2002) The London Improvisors Orchestra - Freedom of the City 2002 [Emanem, 2003]
(July 2002) Paal Nilssen-Love/ Evan Parker/ Sten Sandell/ Ingebrigt Håker Flaten - Townorchestrahouse [Clean Feed, 2005]
(November 2002, April 2005) Simon H. Fell - Composition No. 62: Compilation IV [Bruce's Fingers, 2005]
(? 2002?) Spring Heel Jack - AMaSSED [Thirsty Ear Recordings, 2002]
(January 2003) Spring Heel Jack/ Matthew Shipp with Evan Parker/ J. Spaceman/ William Parker/ Han Bennink - Live [Thirsty Ear Recordings, 2003]
(February, July, August 2003, June 2007) London Improvisors Orchestra - Improvisations for George Riste [Psi, 2008]
(May 2003, May 2004) The London Improvisors Orchestra - Responses, Reproduction & Reality: Freedom of the City 2003-4 [Emanem, 2005; Parker plays on two of seven tracks]
(September, December 2003) The Glasgow Improvisors Orchestra with Evan Parker - Munich and Glasgow [F. M. R. Records, 2004]
(May, July 2004) Barry Guy New Orchestra - Oort-Entrop [Intakt Records, 2005]
(July 2004, July 2006) The Stan Tracey Orchestra - At the Appleby Jazz Festival [Resteamed, 2007]
(September 2004) Roscoe Mitchell - Composition/Improvisation No. 1, 2, & 3 [E. C. M. Records, 2007] ***
(November 2004-April 2005) Charles Farrell - Hope Springs Eternal [World Tribe Music, 2005]
(May 2005) Freedom of the City 2005 - Freedom of the City 2005 [Emanem, 2006; Parker plays on the three London Improvisors Orchestra tracks]
(June 2005, January 2011, October, November 2015, February, June 2016) Joëlle Léndre - A Woman's Work [Not Two Records, 2016; eight discs, the seventh of which features a quartet of Léndre, Zlatko Kauĉiĉ, Parker, and Agustí Fernández; the eight features duos, including one track with Parker]
(July 2006) Lawrence Casserley/ Simon Desorgher - Music from ColourDome [Psi, 2007]
(November 2006) Alexander von Schlippenbach/ Globe Unity Orchestra - Globe Unity - 40 Years [Intakt Records, 2007]
(February 2007) The Townhouse Orchestra - Belle Ville [Clean Feed, 2008]
(May 2007) The London Improvisors Orchestra/ The Glasgow Improvisors Orchestra - Seprately & Together: Freedom of the City 2007 [Emanem, 2008]
(May 2008) Barry Guy/ London Jazz Composers Orchestra/ Irène Schweizer - Radio Rondo/ Schaffhausen Concert [Intakt Records, 2009]
(November 2009) Hans Koller - Cry, Want [Psi, 2010]
(August 2010) Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris - Possible Universe [Nu Bop Records, 2014]
(March 2011) The Glasgow Improvisors Orchestra with Lol Coxhill & Evan Parker - Improcherto (For HB) By George Burt [Iorram Records, 2012]
(April 2011) Le Grand Groupe Régional d'Improvisation Libérée avec Evan Parker - Vivaces [Tour de Bras, 2012]
(October 2012) The Konvoj Ensemble Feat. Evan Parker & Sten Sandell - Colors Of: [Konvoj Records, 2013]
(November 2012) Barry Guy New Orchestra Small Formations - Mad Dogs on the Loose [Not Two Records, 2014; four-disc set; Parker plays on three of 16 tracks]
(March 2013) The Barry Guy New Orchestra - Amphi - Radio Rondo [Intakt Records, 2014]
(December 2013, June 2014) The Glasgow Improvisors Orchestra Featuring Marilyn Crispell & Evan Parker - Parallel Moments Broken [F. M. R. Records, 2018]
(March 2014) Black Top - #Two [Babel, 2015]
(November 2014) The Konvoj Ensemble - Mira [Konvoj Records, 2016]
(December 2014) John Russell - With [Emanem, 2015; Parker plays on one of four tracks]
(September, October, November 2015) IMPAKT Meets Lê Quan Ninh/ Eve Risser/ Evan Parker - Live @ Loft Köln [Impakt Records, 2016]
(February, March 2016) Seymour Wright - Seymour Wright with 23.2.16 - Evan Parker/ 1.3.16 - Rie Nakajima [Otoroku, 2016]
(April, September 2016) Hideaki Shimada with Evan Parker and Roger Turner - Kanazawa Duos [Pico, 2019; Parker plays on one of two tracks]
(November 2016) Alexander von Schlippenbach/ Globe Unity Orchestra - Globe Unity - 50 Years [Intakt Records, 2018]
(July 2019) The Natural Information Society with Evan Parker - Descension (Out Of Our Constrictions) [Aguirre Records, 2021]
(January 2020) Jean-Marc Foussat (solo) + J-M. F./ Daunik Lazro/ Evan Parker - Cafe Oto Wed 22 Jan [Fou Records, 2020]
(July 2020) Alexander Hawkins Feat. Evan Parker + Riot Ensemble - Togetherness Music (For Sixteen Musicians [Intakt Records, 2021]
IX. Compilation appearances
In this section, the artist name provided is that which pertains to the track on which Parker appears, unlike all of the entries above, for which, even in the cases where Parker appears only only one or a small number of tracks on an album, the artist to whom the album is credited is provided. That's quite a mouthful. Another way of saying it: this section lists tracks, not albums.
(March 1970) The Peter Brötzmann Group, ‘Fuck de Boere (Ausschnitt)’, Born Free: The 12. German Jazz Festival [Scout, 1970; B.Free, 2015, 9-C. D. reissue, which includes two tracks ‘Fuck de Boere’, (confusingly) both titled such, perhaps a single performance split into two; the original 1970 triple L. P. features an abridged version of (presumably) one of these two tracks]
(March 1971) Evan Parker & Paul Lytton, ‘As It Were’, Not Necessarily "English" Music [Leonardo Music Journal/ Electronic Music Foundation, 2001]
(March or April 1973) The Globe Unity Orchestra, ‘Thin in the Upper Crust’, For Example: Workshop Freie Musik 1969-1978 [Free Music Production, 1978; BE! Jazz, 2019]
(June 1977) Evan Parker/ Martin Joseph/ Eugenio Colombo/ Andrea Centazzo, ‘Church Music #1’, ‘Church Music #2’, ‘Church Music #3’// Lester Bowie/ Alvin Curran/ Giancario Schiaffini/ Evan Parker/ Tony Oxley/ Andre Centazzo, ‘Rebels, Travelers & Improvisers’, Rebels, Travelers and Improvisors [Ictus Records, 2006]
(April 1983) Schlippenbach Trio, ‘Option Abdullah’, Jazzgalerie Nickelsdorf (The 20th Anniversary Album) [Jazzgalerie Nickelsdorf, 1997]
(October 1991) Evan Paker, Steve Beresford, Arjen Gorter, Han Bennik, ‘The Bear’, October Meeting 1991: 3 Quartets [Bimhuis Records, 1997; this quartet performs one of six tracks]
(? 1991 or ? 1992) Charlie Watts, ‘Blue in the Cave’, ‘Laughing in Rhythm’, Vol pour Sidney (Aller) [Nato, 1992]
(February 1992) Evan Parker, ‘Sonf (For Mr Patak)’, The Saxophone Phenomenon [Slam Productions, 1992]
(October 1996 and January 1997 [1st track] January 1997 [2nd track]) Evan Parker, ‘Voices of Unreason’, ‘Solo 2 (Working Title)’, Gramophone Explorations: Counter-currents In Modern Music, Volume 3 [Gramophone Magazine, 1998]
(? 1996?) Zoviet France & Evan Parker, ‘Improvisation’, Resonance Radio Issue [London Musicians' Collective, 1997]
(December 1997 or January or February 1998) Evan Parker, ‘No. 112 (Ausschnitt)’, 3 Concerts Per a A. T.: In Der Kestner Gesellschaft Hannover [Edition Explico, 1998]
(? 1997?) Evan Parker/ Lawrence Casserley, ‘Work in Progress’, FMR Sampler 3 [Avant Magazine, 1997]
(April 1999-April 2000) Parker/Fernandez, ‘Parker/Fernandez’, IBA 20 Aniversario [Collective I. B. A., 2000]
(September 2000) Evan Parker, untitled track, Deluxe Improvisation Series Vol. 1: 2000 [A. S. E., 2001]
(April 2001) Sam Rivers & Evan Parker, ‘Confluence’, Visions: Performances from the EMIT Series [Isospin Labs, 2002]
(May 2001) Tilbury & Parker, ‘@ 9.15pm’, Seventh of May 2001: Freedom of the City, Radical Improvised Musics [Matchless Recordings, 2002]
(? 2001?) Evan Parker, ‘Mono’, Ringtones [Touch, 2001]
(October-November 2002) 2 x 3 = 5, ‘Pars Pro Toto’; Evan Parker Trio, ‘Chevreul's Pendulum’; Schlippenbach Trio, ‘The Unresolved Remnant’, 2002: Audiology II: 11 Groups Live In Berlin [a/l/l, 2003]
(January 2005) Evan Parker, ‘Solo for Hugh Davies’, Horn_bill: Reed Solos [Matchless Recordings, 2006]
(December 2010) Evan Parker, untitled track, 13 Miniatures for Albert Ayler [RogueArt, 2012]
(September 2017) Evan Parker/ John Russell/ John Edwards, ‘The Hallmark Channel’, Discovery Festival 2017: Channel [Weekertoft, 2018]
(? 2022?) Evan Parker/ John Coxon, ‘Grus Grus’, For the Birds: The Birdsong Project [Search Party/ Downtown Records, 2022]
X. Singles and E. P.s, Curios
(? 1980?) Andy Burns/ John Huscroft/ Evan Parker - untitled 7-inch 45 [1980]
(? 2000?) Evan Parker - High Tide [Wire Magazine, 2000]
(? 2011?) Evan Parker & Walter Prati// Lukas Ligeti & João Orecchia - PhonoMetak Series # 9 [split release; PhonoMetak Laboratories/ Wallace Records, 2011]
--
A short list of the albums marked above as being significant to understanding Parker's work, excluding Schlippenbach, Company, and "sideman" albums; 31 albums strictly speaking, but The Longest Night become a single C. D. when reissued with the later Parker-John Stevens duo album (Corner to Corner + The Longest Night), so think of it as Evan's Even Thirty:
Groupcomposing, May 1970
The Topography of the Lungs, July 1970
Collective Calls (Urban) (Two Microphones), April 1972
The London Concert, February 1975
Saxophone Solos, June, September 1975
The Longest Night Vol. 1, June 1976
The Longest Night Vol. 2, June 1976
Monoceros, April 1978
From Saxophone and Trombone, May 1980
Incision, March 1981
Tracks, January 1983
Hook, Drift and Shuffle, February 1983
The Snake Decides, January 1986
Imaginary Values, March 1993
50th Birthday Concert, April 1994
Toward the Margins, May 1996
At the Vortex (1996), June 1996
London Air Lift, December 1996
Most Materiall, February, April 1997
Two Chapters and an Epilogue, August 1998
Drawn Inward, December 1998
The Two Seasons, February, July 1999
After Appleby, June 1999
Foxes Fox, July 1999
Dark Rags, December 1999, January 2000
September Winds, September 2000
The Bishop's Move, May 2003
Boustrophedon, September 2004
Crossing the River, May 2005
Trance Map, October 2008, June 2009, February 2010, February 2011
Title Goes Here, October 2014
~
John Coltrane: Box Set Keys... Box Set Mania!
Consult the essay 'Box Set Key: Ray Charles: Pure Genius - The Complete Atlantic Recordings (1952-1959)' at Rockissue for an explanation of a "box set key."
Heavyweight Champion: The Complete Atlantic Recordings:
Giant Steps, rec. May, Dec. 1959, rel. Jan. 1960
2-7: Giant Steps
2-8: Cousin Mary
2-2: Countdown
2-1: Spiral
2-4: Syeeda's Song Flute
3-4: Naima
2-6: Mr. P. C.
First C. D. version (1987) included five alternate takes previously released on Alternate Takes [see below]; the second C. D. version (1998) included those same five tracks plus three additional alternate takes originally released on Heavyweight Champion (tracks 7-5, 7-12, and 7-22). A third C. D. version (2020) is a slight variation on the 1998; it has an incomplete take of ‘Giant Steps’ originally released in the box set (track 7-1) instead of the alternate take that is track 1-9 in the box set; and it has an alternate take of ‘Like Sonny’ that had been released on Alternate Takes (track 1-11 in the box set) instead of the alternate take of ‘Naima’ originally released in the box set (track 7-12); as noted below, this version of ‘Like Sonny’ had been a bonus track on the 2000 C. D. version of Coltrane Jazz (part of the same reissue series as the 1998 C. D. of this album).
Coltrane Jazz, rec. Nov.-Dec. 1959, Oct. 1960, rel. Jan. 1961
2-12: Little Old Lady
4-1: Village Blues
3-3: My Shining Hour
3-6: Fifth House
3-2: Harmonique
3-1: Like Sonny
2-10: I'll Wait and Pray
3-5: Some Other Blues
The 2000 C. D. version includes (as noted above) the alternate take of ‘Like Sonny’ originally released on Alternate Takes (track 1-11 in the box set) and a version of ‘Like Sonny’ originally released in the box set (track 7-19). It also includes an alternate take of ‘I'll Wait and Pray’ originally released on Alternate Takes (track 2-11 in the box set) and an alternate take of ‘Village Blues’ originally released in the box set (track 4-2).
My Favorite Things, rec. Oct. 1960, rel. Mar. 1961
4-3: My Favorite Things
5-8: Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye
4-7: Summertime
5-10: But Not for Me
The 1998 C. D. version includes the 7-inch version of ‘My Favorite Things’, as it was originally released, split into Part 1 and Part 2.
Bags and Trane, rec. Jan 1959, rel. Jul. 1961
1-3: Bags & Trane
1-4: Three Little Words
1-5: The Night We Called It a Day
1-6: Be-Bop
1-2: The Late Late Blues
The first C. D. version (1988) included three bonus tracks, all of which had been released on Coltrane Legacy.
Olé, rec. May 1961, rel. Nov. 1961
6-4: Olé
6-5: Dahomey Dance
6-6: Aisha
The first C. D. version (1989) includes the bonus track, ‘To Her Ladyship’, originally released on The Coltrane Legacy and titled in the box set ‘Original Untitled Ballad (To Her Ladyship)’ (track 6-7). For the 2000 reissue, it takes on its new title, ‘Original Untitled Ballad (To Her Ladyship)’.
Coltrane Plays the Blues, rec. Oct. 1960, rel. Jul. 1962
5-2: Blues to Elvin
5-6: Blues to Bechet
5-5: Blues to You
5-3: Mr. Day
4-5: Mr. Syms
4-10: Mr. Knight
The first C. D. version (1989) includes the bonus track, ‘Untitled Original’, originally released on The Coltrane Legacy and titled in the box set ‘Untitled Original (Exotica)’ (track 4-6). For the 2000 reissue, it takes on its new title, ‘Untitled Original (Exotica)’. This C. D. version includes four additional bonus tracks, all originally released in the box set: ‘Blues to Elvin (Alternate Take 1)’ (‘Blues To Elvin (Alternate Take)’, track 5-1 in the box set), ‘Blues to Elvin (Alternate Take 2)’ (‘Blues to Elvin (Take 3)’, track 7-24 in the box set); ‘Blues to You (Alternate Take 1)’ (‘Blues to You (Alternate Take)’, track 5-4 in the box set), and ‘Blues to You (Alternate Take 2)’ (‘Blues to You (Take 2)’, track 7-25 in the box set)
Coltrane's Sound, rec. Oct. 1960, rel. June 1964
6-2: The Night Has a Thousand Eyes
4-4: Central Park West
6-1: Liberia
4-8: Body and Soul
6-3: Equinox
5-7: Satellite
The 1988 and 1999 C. D. versions include the bonus tracks ‘26-2’, originally released on The Coltrane Legacy, and ‘Body and Soul (Alternate Take)’, originally released on Alternate Takes.
The Avant-Garde, rec. June-Jul. 1960, rel. Apr. 1966
3-7: Cherryco
3-9: Focus on Sanity
3-8: The Blessing
3-10: The Invisible
3-11: Bemsha Swing
The Coltrane Legacy, rec. Jan. 1959, Oct. 1960, May 1961, rel. Apr. 1970
5-9: 26-2
6-7: Original Untitled Ballad (To Her Ladyship)
4-6: Untitled Original (Exotica)
1-8: Centerpiece
1-1: Stairway to the Stars
1-7: Blues Legacy
As noted above, these are the titles as inscribed in Heavyweight Champion; on The Coltrane Legacy, neither ‘Original Untitled Ballad’ and ‘Untitled Original’ sport their alternate titles.
Alternate Takes, rec. Mar., May, Nov. 1959, Oct. 1960, rel. Jan. 1975
1-9: Giant Steps (Alternate Take)
1-10: Naima (Alternate Take)
1-11: Like Sonny (Alternate Take)
2-9: Cousin Mary (Alternate Take)
2-11: I'll Wait and Pray (Alternate Take)
2-3: Countdown (Alternate Take)
4-9: Body and Soul (Alternate Take)
2-5: Syeeda's Song Flute (Alternate Take)
Again, these are the titles as inscribed in Heavyweight Champion; on the original release, the ‘Alternate Take’ portion of the titles was not necessary given the album's title.
Tracks 5-4, 5-1, and 4-2, and the entirety of the seventh C. D., of Heavyweight Champion were previously unreleased. As noted above, some of these tracks were subsequently released as bonus tracks on later C. D. reissues, but many of them remain exclusively available in the box set.
--
The Classic Quartet: Complete Impulse! Studio Recordings:
Coltrane, rec. Apr., June 1962, rel. Jul. 1962
1-5: ‘Out of This World’
1-6: ‘Soul Eyes’
1-3: ‘The Inch Worm’ (‘The Inchworm’)
1-8: ‘Tunji’
1-7: ‘Miles' Mode’
The Classic Quartet includes ‘Big Nick’ (1-4), available on the 1997 C. D. reissue of this album and originally released on The Definitive Jazz Scene Volume 1. The C. D. reissue also included ‘Up 'gainst the Wall’ (1-11), originally released on Impressions [see below], an odd redundant selection given that Impressions was reissued as part of the same series three years later. See below for information about the 2002 two-disc edition of this album.
Ballads, rec. 1961-62; rel. 1963
2-2: ‘Say It (Over and Over Again)’
2-1: ‘You Don't Know What Love Is’
1-12: ‘Too Young to Go Steady’
1-13: ‘All or Nothing at All’
1-14: ‘I Wish I Knew’
1-10: ‘What's New’
1-2: ‘It's Easy to Remember’
1-9: ‘Nancy (With the Laughing Face)’
Crescent, rec. and rel. 1964
3-1: ‘Crescent’
2-10: ‘Wise One’
3-2: ‘Bessie's Blues’
2-8: ‘Lonnie's Lament’
2-9: ‘The Drum Thing’
A Love Supreme, rec. 1964, rel. '65
3-3: ‘Acknowledgement’
3-4: ‘Resolution’
3-5: ‘Pursuance’
3-6: ‘Psalm’
The John Coltrane Quartet Plays, rec. Feb., May. 1965, rel. Aug. 1965
3-10: ‘Chim Chim Cheree’
4-1: ‘Brazilia’ [‘Brasilia’]
3-8: ‘Nature Boy’
4-2: ‘Song of Praise’
The Classic Quartet includes ‘Nature Boy (First Version)' (3-7) and ‘Feelin' Good’ (3-9), both available on the 1997 C. D. reisssue of this album and originally released on The Mastery of John Coltrane Vol. I: Feelin' Good; ‘Feelin' Good’ had also been included on the 1991 Japanese C. D. version.
Transition, rec. May 1965 (track no. 2), June 1965 (nos. 1, 3), rel. Jul. 1970
5-2: ‘Transition’
4-4: ‘Dear Lord’
5-3: ‘Suite’
The 1993 C. D. reissue of this album (unlike the 1987 C. D.) replaced ‘Dear Lord’ with two tracks originally released on Kul Sé Mama: ‘Welcome’ (4-6) and ‘Vigil’ (6-1). Since these two tracks remained part of Kul Sé Mama when that album was reissued on C. D., Transition returned to its original form beginning with a Japanese reissue in 2001, as well as a U. S. reissue in 2011. A side note: ‘Vigil’ is included in the box set though it is a Coltrane-Jones duet (appropriately enough, as the track ‘The Drum Thing’ on Crescent does not include Tyner; excluding it from the box set would have been an unpopular decision, to say the least).
Living Space, rec. June 1965, Mar. 1998
5-4: ‘Living Space’
5-1: ‘Untitled Original 90314’
5-5: ‘Dusk Dawn’
6-2: ‘Untitled Original 90320’
4-7: ‘Last Blues’
A compilation of tracks that conveniently puts (most of the) June 1965 recordings together, all of them except ‘Last Blues’ previously released. ‘Dusk Dawn’ (5-5) and its alternate take are also available on the Kul Sé Mama C. D. reissue, 2000. ‘Dusk Dawn’ and the remaining three tracks were originally released on The Mastery of John Coltrane Vol. I: Feelin' Good. Also, ‘Living Space’ was released with additional material added after Coltrane's death on the album Infinity, 1972.
Sun Ship, rec. Aug. 1965, rel. Apr. 1971
6-5: ‘Sun Ship’
6-3: ‘Dearly Beloved’
6-7: ‘Amen’
6-4: ‘Attaining’
6-6: ‘Ascent’
First Meditations, rec. Sep. 1965, rel. Dec. 1977
7-1: ‘Love’
7-2: ‘Compassion’
7-3: ‘Joy’
7-4: ‘Consequences’
7-5: ‘Serenity’
The Classic Quartet includes ‘Joy (Second Version)’ (7-6), available on the 1992 C. D. reissue of this album (where it is titled ‘Joy (Alternate Version)’) and originally released on The Mastery of John Coltrane Vol. I: Feelin' Good; as with ‘Living Space’, a version of ‘Joy’ was released with additional material added after Coltrane's death on the album Infinity, 1972.
In addition, The Classic Quartet includes all five tracks included on the 1993 album Dear Old Stockholm; these tracks had previously been released over the years: ‘Dear Lord’ (4-4), as noted above released on the original version of Transition (note that the odd-reissue-out version of Transition also came out in '93, and both it and Dear Old Stockholm were deprecated when an extensive series of Impulse reissues began in '95); ‘After the Rain’ (2-4), originally one of the studio tracks on Impressions; ‘Dear Old Stockholm’ (2-5) on The Definitive Jazz Scene Volume 2 and more recently as a bonus track on the 2000 C. D. reissue of Impressions; ‘One Down, One Up’ (4-5) and ‘After the Crescent’ (4-3) on The Mastery of John Coltrane Vol. II: To the Beat of a Different Drum.
Dear Old Stockholm's key:
2-5: ‘Dear Old Stockholm’
2-4: ‘After the Rain’
4-5: ‘One Down, One Up’
4-3: ‘After the Crescent’
4-4: ‘Dear Lord’
As indicated by their placement in the box set, the first and second tracks were recorded earlier (1963) than track nos. 3-5 (May 1965). Another way of organizing the music found on Living Space, Dear Old Stockholm, and Kul Sé Mama could have been: a May 1965 album (‘One Down, One Up’, ‘After the Crescent’, ‘Dear Lord’), slightly more than 34 minutes long; a June 1965 double album (‘Welcome’, ‘Vigil’, and the entirey of Living Space) that would total a little more than 106 minutes (not including the ‘Dusk Dawn’ alternate take); and an October 1965 album of two tracks with an expanded line-up (‘Kul Sé Mama’ and ‘Selflessness’), slightly less than 34 minutes long. Without ‘Dear Lord’, Transition (also a June '65 recording) is slightly shorter but still almost 37 minutes in length. This set-up, as with Living Space, would make the albums match recording dates more closely and thus helps the listener better grasp Coltrane's evolution during the extraordinary run of sessions in '65. Also, this reorganization would make ‘One Down, One Up’ and ‘After the Crescent’ more easily available: with Dear Old Stockholm (the album) not made part of the reissue series beginning in '95, the two tracks have only been made available as part of the box set, not featured as bonus track on a stand-alone release the way that ‘Dear Old Stockholm’ (the track) was.
As already indicated, The Classic Quartet includes the two studio tracks originally released on Impressions: ‘Up 'gainst the Wall’ and ‘After the Rain’.
The Classic Quartet also includes the two studio tracks originally released on Live at Birdland: ‘Alabama’ and ‘Your Lady’, recorded 1963; plus ‘Vilia’, also recorded in '63, and originally released on The Definitive Jazz Scene, Vol. 3, then added to the 1996 C. D. reissue of Birdland
2-7: ‘Alabama’
2-6: ‘Your Lady’
2-3: ‘Vilia’
A short alternate, or "lost," album of 1962-63 studio recordings could include these tree tracks plus ‘Dear Old Stockholm’, ‘After the Rain’, and ‘Up 'gainst the Wall’. But this would leave Live at Birdland stranded as 27-minute album (the Village Vanguard tracks on Impressions are included with a wealth of other material in the box set The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings, 1997; while additional Birdland material is available unofficially, it does not amount to much).
In recent years, two lost albums, Both Directions at Once and Blue World, have been released. The latter stands apart, recorded in June, 1964, and featuring one new song (‘Blue World’) and versions of songs that Coltrane had recorded at Atlantic or Prestige sessions: ‘Naima’ (two takes); ‘Village Blues’ (three takes); ‘Like Sonny’, and ‘Traneing In’. Both Directions, recorded on March 6th, 1963, while the band was playing its Birdland residency documented on Live at Birdland, features previously-unheard alternate versions of songs recorded during the Impulse years; the '63 version of ‘Vilia’ noted above (originally released on The Definitive Jazz Scene, Vol. 3 and then included as the bonus track on Birdland) is part of the album: a rare instance of a track being repeated, in this case so that Both Directions documents the entirety of what remains of the session. The Definitive Jazz Scene, Vol. 3 came out in '65, and for many decades Coltrane researchers had assumed that the rest of the session had been lost when Impulse disposed of old master tapes in the Seventies. Thankfully, copies of the tapes survived, and the other tracks, previously unreleased, are now available: four takes of ‘Impressions’, three takes of ‘Untitled Original 11386’, an additional take of ‘Vilia’, two takes of ‘One Up, One Down’ (yes, a different composition from ‘One Down, One Up’), and one take each of ‘Nature Boy’, ‘Untitled Original 11383’, and ‘Slow Blues’. The two untitled songs and ‘One Up, One Down’ were all songs previously unheard.
The Classic Quartet box came out before some deluxe and super-deluxe versions of a few of these albums, so that box set no longer includes the "complete" recordings of the famed quartet of Coltrane, pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Elvin Jones.
These later reissues: Coltrane 2002 deluxe edition, which features on its second disc the two bonus tracks from the 1997 C. D.; one outtake, ‘Not Yet’; an alternate version of ‘Miles' Mode’; four alternate takes of ‘Tunji’; two versions of ‘Impressions’, the second originally released on The Very Best of John Coltrane (a 2001 compilation, that is, released after the Classic Quartet box), in addition to the two bonus tracks that had been included on the 1997 reissue [see above]; except for those two tracks and the aforementioned second ‘Impressions’, this material had been previously unreleased (i.e. not inluded in the Classic Quartet box);
Ballads 2002 deluxe edition, which features on its second disc one out-take, ‘They Say It's Wonderful’; an alternate take of ‘All or Nothing at All’; five takes of ‘Greensleeves’, including the original version, released as a 7-inch; and seven alternate takes of ‘It's Easy to Remember’—all of these tracks except the original ‘Greensleeves’ previously unreleased (i. e. not included in the Classic Quartet box); the single version of ‘Greensleeves’, which featured ‘'It's Easy to Remember’ from Ballads as its B side, is track 1-1 of the box set;
A Love Supreme 2002 deluxe edition, which features on its second disc a four-track concert version of the album; an alternate take and breakdown of ‘Resolution’; and two alternate takes of ‘Acknowledgement’—all previously unreleased except the alternate take of ‘Resolution’, which is track 8-4 in The Classic Quartet; and 2015 super deluxe, which again includes the four-track concert version, as its third disc, and on its second disc includes the four bonus studio tracks released on the 2002 deluxe, thus rendering that reissue redundant, in addition to seven other bonus tracks: two vocal overdubs for ‘Acknowledgement’, an "undubbed version" of ‘Psalm’, and two additional alternate takes, plus a breakdown and false start, of ‘Acknowledgement’;
Sun Ship 2013 deluxe edition, which features on its second disc a breakdown, false start, and alternate version of ‘Dearly Beloved’; an alternate version, breakdown, and insert of ‘Attaining’; a breakdown, alternate version, and insert of ‘Sun Ship’; two incomplete versions and three inserts of ‘Ascent’; and one alternate version of ‘Amen’—all previously unreleased (i.e. not included in the Classic Quartet box).
Disc 8 of The Classic Quartet still seems to be unique to that release, except the alternate ‘Resolution’ (8-4 in the box, where its title is inscribed: ‘A Love Supreme, Part II - Resolution (Alternate Take)’); in other words, all of the tracks had been previously unreleased at the time the box set came out (1998), and the re-use of the alternate ‘Resolution’ on the Love Supreme deluxe versions is the only other instance of those those tracks being issued again that I know of. These other tracks on the eight disc: 8-1: ‘Crescent (First Version)’, 8-2: ‘Bessie's Blues (First Version, Incomplete)’, 8-3: ‘Song of Praise (First Version)’, 8-5: ‘Feelin' Good (Alternate Take)’, 8-6: ‘Dear Lord (Breakdowns & Alternate Take)’, and 8-7: ‘Living Space (Breakdown & Alternate Take)’.
Notes on the remainders of albums partially included in The Classic Quartet: the other two tracks on Impressions, ‘India’ and ‘Impressions’, were live recordings from the 1961 Village Vanguard performances, documented with their own box set. Kul Sé Mama's almost-titular track ‘Kulu Sé Mama (Juno Sé Mama)’, which comprises side A, features an nonet and is one of several of Coltrane's experiments in larger groups during the last three years or so of his life. Besides ‘Dusk Dawn’ and its alternate take, the Kul Sé Mama C. D. includes the aforementioned bonus track, ‘Selflessness’, also featuring the nonet; this track had originally been released on Selflessnes: Featuring My Favorite Things, 1969.
--
After these boxed sets have come the Village Vanguard box already noted as well as three box sets collecting all of Coltrane's work, both as a leader and sideman, on Prestige. Given this bounty, what remains un-boxed?
Ascension
recorded June 1965, released Feb. '66
original album included ‘Edition II’; The Major Works of John Coltrane made ‘Edition I’ available in 1992; subsequent 2000 reissue of Ascension includes both versions
Meditations: ‘The Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost’; ‘Compassion’; ‘Love’; ‘Consequences’; ‘Serenity’
recorded Nov. 1965, released Aug. '66
Om: ‘Om, Part 1’; ‘Om, Part 2’
recorded Oct. 1965, released Jan. '68
Note here that Coltrane and his collaborators recorded ten albums' worth of material from February to November, 1965—not including the session extras released as bonus tracks on deluxe editions and other alternate takes.
Expression: ‘Ogunde’; ‘To Be’; ‘Offering’; ‘Expression’
recorded Feb.-Mar. 1967, released Sep. '67
1991 and 1993 reissues: add ‘Number One’ (originally released on The Mastery of John Coltrane Vol. III: Jupiter Variation, 1978)
recent C. D. reissues do not include ‘Number One’; the bonus track, though, has reappeared on streaming versions of the album
Interstellar Space: ‘Mars’; ‘Venus’; ‘Jupiter’; ‘Saturn’
recorded Feb. 1967, released Sep. 1974
all C. D. versions add ‘Leo’ and ‘Jupiter Variation’ (both originally released on The Mastery of John Coltrane Vol. III: Jupiter Variation, 1978); a different version of ‘Leo’ (recorded Feb. 1966) was another track released with additional material added after Coltrane's death on the album Infinity, 1972
Stellar Regions: ‘Seraphic Light’; ‘Sun Star’; ‘Stellar Regions’; ‘Iris’; ‘Offering’ (originally released on Expression); ‘Configuration’; ‘Jimmy's Mode’; ‘Tranesonic’ + alternate takes of 3, 2, and 8
recorded Feb. 1967, released Oct. 1995
The bonus track on some C. D. versions of Expression, ‘Number One’, is longer than ‘Offering’, so if we were to consider the latter exclusively part of Stellar Regions, Expression can still be of album length if ‘Number One’ is "promoted" to non-bonus status
The Mastery of John Coltrane Vol. III: Jupiter Variation, 1978, includes an additional track: ’Peace on Earth’, the fourth of four tracks released with overdubbed percussion and strings on Infinity, 1972; this original version, recorded Feb. 1966, is otherwise unavailable. (On that note, additional material from the Feb. 1966 session that produced this track and the aforementioned version of ‘Leo’ also led to two other Alice Coltrane tracks, ‘Manifestation’ and ‘Reverend King’, released on Cosmic Music, credited to John and Alice and released in 1968. Except for the Jupiter Variation version of ‘Peace on Earth’, the original '66 versions of these tracks have not been officially released.)
Also, an earlier foray into expanded line-ups, Africa/Brass: ‘Africa’; ‘Greensleeves’; ‘Blues Minor’
recorded May, June 1961, released Sep. 1961
The Africa/Brass Sessions Vol. 2 [1974]: ‘Songs of the Underground Railroad’; alternate version of ‘Greensleeves’; alternate version of ‘Africa’
The 1991 (Japan only; entitled Complete Africa/Brass) and 1995 (entitled The Complete Africa/Brass Sessions) reissues include both albums (with the alternate takes now titled as such: ‘Greensleeves (Alternate Take)’ ‘Africa (Alternate Take)’) plus ‘The Damned Don't Cry’ (originally released on The Mastery of John Coltrane Vol. IV: Trane's Modes); ‘Africa (First Version)’ (in other words, a second alternate version, also originally released on Trane's Modes)
These versions of ‘Greensleeves’ are different than the Quartet versions noted above.
And Coltrane's collaborative albums with Duke Ellington and Johnny Hartman; his Blue Note albums Blue Train and Hard Drivin' Jazz/Stereo Drive (a collaboration with Cecil Taylor first issued as a Cecil Taylor Quintet album; titled Coltrane Time when reissued under Coltrane's name); and other concert albums (noteworthy contemporaneous releases being Live at the Village Vanguard Again! and Coltrane's half of the split album with Archie Shepp, New Thing at Newport). For now this post focuses on studio recordings, but I would be remiss not to highly Live in Japan, namely its expanded four-disc version released in 1991 (the extra material having been released in Japan in the Seventies); this extraordinary recording, featuring six tracks ranging in length from 25 minutes to 57 minutes, is primary documentatation of the quintet of Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Alice Coltrane, Garrison, and Ali, and arguably the exemplary document of Coltrane's late-period exhaustive live performances.
--
A discography like this, based on a box-set key, ends up unwieldy. So... another box-set key, the tracks presented in order, with the track's original release and other significant appearances. If only an album title is listed, the track appears on all versions of that album.
1-1: ‘Greensleeves’ [45 version]: Ballads 2002 deluxe edition
1-2: ‘It's Easy to Remember’: Ballads
1-3: ‘The Inch Worm’: Coltrane
1-4: ‘Big Nick’: The Definitive Jazz Scene Volume 1; Coltrane 1997 reissue and 2002 deluxe edition
1-5: ‘Out of This World’: Coltrane
1-6: ‘Soul Eyes’: Coltrane
1-7: ‘Miles' Mode’: Coltrane
1-8: ‘Tunji’: Coltrane
1-9: ‘Nancy (With the Laughing Face)’: Ballads
1-10: ‘What's New’: Ballads
1-11: ‘Up 'gainst the Wall’: Impressions; Coltrane 1997 reissue and 2002 deluxe edition
1-12: ‘Too Young to Go Steady’: Ballads
1-13: ‘All or Nothing at All’: Ballads
1-14: ‘I Wish I Knew’: Ballads
2-1: ‘You Don't Know What Love Is’: Ballads
2-2: ‘Say It (Over and Over Again)’ Ballads
2-3: ‘Vilia’: The Definitive Jazz Scene, Vol. 3; 1996 reissue of Live at Birdland; Both Directions at Once
2-4: ‘After the Rain’: Impressions; Dear Old Stockholm
2-5: ‘Dear Old Stockholm’: The Definitive Jazz Scene Volume 2; Dear Old Stockholm; 2000 reissue of Impressions
2-6: ‘Your Lady’: Live at Birdland
2-7: ‘Alabama’: Live at Birdland
2-8: ‘Lonnie's Lament’: Crescent
2-9: ‘The Drum Thing’: Crescent
2-10: ‘Wise One’: Crescent
3-1: ‘Crescent’: Crescent
3-2: ‘Bessie's Blues’: Crescent
3-3: ‘Acknowledgement’: A Love Supreme
3-4: ‘Resolution’: A Love Supreme
3-5: ‘Pursuance’: A Love Supreme
3-6: ‘Psalm’: A Love Supreme
3-7: ‘Nature Boy (First Version)’: The Mastery of John Coltrane Vol. I: Feelin' Good; 1997 reissue of The John Coltrane Quartet Plays
3-8: ‘Nature Boy’: The John Coltrane Quartet Plays
3-9: ‘Feelin' Good’: The Mastery of John Coltrane Vol. I: Feelin' Good; 1997 reissue of The John Coltrane Quartet Plays
3-10: ‘Chim Chim Cheree’: The John Coltrane Quartet Plays
4-1: ‘Brazilia’ [‘Brasilia’]: The John Coltrane Quartet Plays
4-2: ‘Song of Praise’: The John Coltrane Quartet Plays
4-3: ‘After the Crescent’: The Mastery of John Coltrane Vol. II: To the Beat of a Different Drum; Dear Old Stockholm
4-4: ‘Dear Lord’: Transition; Dear Old Stockholm
4-5: ‘One Down, One Up’: The Mastery of John Coltrane Vol. II: To the Beat of a Different Drum; Dear Old Stockholm
4-6: ‘Welcome’: Kul Sé Mama; 1993 reissue of Transition
4-7: ‘Last Blues’: Living Space
5-1: ‘Untitled Original 90314’: The Mastery of John Coltrane Vol. I: Feelin' Good; Living Space
5-2: ‘Transition’: Transition
5-3: ‘Suite’: Transition
5-4: ‘Living Space’: The Mastery of John Coltrane Vol. I: Feelin' Good; Living Space
5-5: ‘Dusk Dawn’: The Mastery of John Coltrane Vol. I: Feelin' Good; Living Space; 2000 reissue of Kul Sé Mama
6-1: ‘Vigil’: Kul Sé Mama; 1993 reissue of Transition
6-2: ‘Untitled Original 90320’: The Mastery of John Coltrane Vol. I: Feelin' Good; Living Space
6-3: ‘Dearly Beloved’: Sun Ship
6-4: ‘Attaining’: Sun Ship
6-5: ‘Sun Ship’: Sun Ship
6-6: ‘Ascent’: Sun Ship
6-7: ‘Amen’: Sun Ship
7-1: ‘Love’: First Meditations
7-2: ‘Compassion’: First Meditations
7-3: ‘Joy’: First Meditations
7-4: ‘Consequences’: First Meditations
7-5: ‘Serenity’: First Meditations
7-6: ‘Joy (Second Version)’ [‘Joy (Alternate Version)’]: The Mastery of John Coltrane Vol. I: Feelin' Good; First Meditations 1992 reissue
Since all but one of the eight disc's seven tracks were previously unreleased, that disc's tracks are not listed here. See the above paragraph about those tracks.
As for those deprecated Seventies rarities compilations (Feelin' Good; To the Beat of a Different Drum; Jupiter Variation; Trane's Modes) all released under the main title The Mastery of John Coltrane.... the rarity found on Jupiter Variation has already been noted. The other tracks found on these four not noted so far are as follows: a live version of ‘My Favorite Things’ originally released on Feelin' Good is found on the 2000 reissue of New Thing at Newport. Three live tracks recorded at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1963 rounded out To the Beat of a Different Drum; two of these had already been released on Selflessness; all three were than placed alongside a fourth track on the 1992 C. D. Newport '63; however, in another instance of sloppy recombinations of tracks on Impulse reissues, this fourth track disappeared when My Favorite Things: Coltrane at Newport came out in 2007; instead, the three '63 performances (with ‘Impressions’ now unabridged) were placed alongside the Coltrane tracks from New Thing at Newport—only seven years after the aforementioned reissue of New Thing at Newport. Yes, the geniuses working at whatever label owned Impulse at this point decided this was a better idea that merely reissuing Newport '63 with the unabridged ‘Impressions’, leaving consumers having to buy both the 1992 and 2007 C. D.s to get all of the tracks (and still get New Thing at Newport if one wants to hear the Shepp portion of the album). Trane's Modes was mostly comprised of recordings from the Village Vanguard 1961 dates, which as noted above are documented on their own box set.
~
Sorry—I have no answer to the question posed in the title. Not as familiar with Zorn's work as I am with Braxton's or Lacy's, I put this discography together to chart my own explorations; more exactly, to catch up with Zorn's prolific output, which around 2003 reached stratospheric levels and, for those not ranked among his devoted followers, became hard to digest.
The links provided take you to the album's page at the website for Tzadik, Zorn's own label, if the album originally came out on Tzadik—otherwise, at Wikipedia or Discogs. If the recording date is different from the release date, it is noted in brackets—if it is known, that is. With recording dates sadly lacking at the Tzadik site, and often not provided in the liner notes anyway, we must rely on other sources that unfortunately do not fill in many of the gaps.
The two plus symbols next to an album's title indicate that Zorn himseslf performs on the album. In recent years, an increasing number of Zorn's releases feature works closer to the Classical standard of a distinct ensemble performing a composer's work without the composer himself performing. In Zorn's case, he at times conducts, almost always is credited as producer, but in the later cases the extent of his involvement likely varies considerably.
Using the search function of your browser, you can quickly organize Zorn's discography by making note of certain ensembles or projects, namely:
Naked City
PainKiller
"quartet Masada"
"first Masada songbook"
the Bar Kokhba Sextet
the Masada String Trio
Filmworks
Electric Masada
Music Romance series
Hemophiliac
Moonchild
the Book of Angels (i. e. the second Masada songbook)
the Dreamers
Alhambra
Nova Express
Abraxas
the Gnostic Trio
Simulacrum
the duo of Julian Lage and Gyan Riley
the trio of Lage, Riley, and Bill Frisell
Book Beri'ah (i. e. the third Masada songbook)
Insurrection
Bagatalles
Chaos Magick
the New Masada Quartet
the trio of Brian Marsella, Jorge Roeder, and Ches Smith
Incerto
the quartet of Stephen Gosling, Sae Hashimoto, Jorge Roeder, and Ches Smith
Besides the Tzadik website, an unofficial site, Masada World, is an attractive and helpful resource for Zorn's Masada songbooks.
1978
++ School [rec. 1977-1978; split double album with Eugene Chadbourne featuring three performances of Zorn's ‘Lacrosse’ on sides C and D, all three later reissued with bonus material as Lacrosse, a two-C. D. set part of the box set The Parachute Years and released separately; Zorn plays on some of the tracks of the Chadbourne half]
1980
++ Pool [later reissued as a single C. D., part of The Parachute Years and released separately; that C. D. version includes the track, ‘Pool’, presented here across sides A, B, and C of the double L. P. as a single track plus a bonus track, ‘Archery (Test and False Start)’; the performances of ‘Hockey’ found on side D became part of the separate Hockey single C. D., which contained previously-unreleased material as well, and was first released as part of the The Parachute Years, and later made available separately]
1982
++ Archery [rec. 1981; reissued with bonus material as as a three-C. D. set, part of The Parachute Years compilation and later released separately]
1983
++ Locus Solus [reissued on C. D. with additional material in 1990 and 1997]
++ Derek Bailey/ George Lewis/ John Zorn - Yankees [rec. ?]
++ The Classic Guide to Strategy Volume One [reissued 1996 as part of The Classic Guide to Strategy Volumes One & Two]
1984
++ John Zorn/ Eugene Chadbourne - The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms [duo rec. 1977 (concert portion); quartet also featuring Toshinori Kondo and Steve Beresford rec. ? (studio portion)]
1985
++ Michihiro Sato/ John Zorn - Ganryu Island [rec. 1984; reissued 1998]
1986
++ The Classic Guide to Strategy Volume Two [six of seven tracks reissued 1996 as part of The Classic Guide to Strategy Volumes One & Two]
++ The Sonny Clark Memorial Quartet - Voodoo [rec. 1985]
++ The Big Gundown [rec. 1984-1985; reissued 2000 with six additional tracks, unknown recording date]
++ Steve Beresford/ David Toop/ John Zorn/ Tonie Marshall - Deadly Weapons
1987
Cobra [rec. 1985-1986; Zorn conducts]
++ Spillane [rec. 1986-1987; Zorn performs on only one track]
1988
++ John Zorn/ George Lewis/ Bill Frisell - News for Lulu [rec. 1987; tracks 1-17 studio recordings, tracks 18-20 concert recordings; reissued 1993 and 2008, the later edition with one bonus live track]
1989
Cynical Hysterie Hour [reissued 1997 as Filmworks VII: Cynical Hysterie Hour]
++ John Zorn/ Tim Berne/ Mark Dresser/ Michael Vatcher/ Joey Baron - Spy vs Spy [rec. 1988]
1990
++ Naked City [rec. 1989; first album by the sextet Naked City: Zorn, Bill Frisell, Fred Frith, Wayne Horvitz, Joey Baron, Yamatsuka Eye]
++ Filmworks 1986-1990 [rec. 1986-1987, 1990; reissued 1997 as the first volume in the Filmworks series]
1991
++ Pain Killer - Guts of a Virgin [first album by the trio PainKiller: Zorn, Bill Laswell, Mick Harris]
++ Naked City - Torture Garden [rec. 1989-1990; essentially an alternate, or earlier, version of the second Naked City album, featuring nine tracks from the album Naked City and 33 tracks from Grand Guingnol, not released until 1992]
1992
Elegy [rec. 1991]
++ John Zorn/ George Lewis/ Bill Frisell - More News for Lulu [concert recordings, 1989]
++ Naked City - Grand Guignol [rec. 1989-1992; second album by the sextet Naked City; Bob Dorough featured on one of 41 tracks]
++ Naked City - Heretic [rec. 1991; third album by the sextet Naked City]
++ Naked City - Leng Tch'e [fourth album by the sextet Naked City]
++ PainKiller - Buried Secrets [rec. 1991; second album by the trio PainKiller; Justin Broadrick and G. C. Green featured on two of 10 tracks]
1993
Kristallnacht [rec. 1992]
++ Naked City - Radio [rec. 1992; fifth album by the sextet Naked City]
++ Naked City - Absinthe [rec. 1992; sixth album by Naked City, on this release a quintet, without Eye]
++ PainKiller - Rituals: Live in Japan [concert recording, 1991; third album by the trio PainKiller; Keiji Haino featured on five of 17 tracks]
1994
++ John Zorn/ Masada - Alef [One] [first album by the quartet Masada: Zorn, Dave Douglas, Greg Cohen, Joey Baron; performing compositions part of the first Masada songbook]
++ John Zorn/ Masada - Beit [Two] [second album by the quartet Masada; performing compositions part of the first Masada songbook]
++ John Zorn/ Masada - Gimel [Three] [third album by the quartet Masada; performing compositions part of the first Masada songbook]
++ John Zorn/ Fred Frith - The Art of Memory [concert recording, 1993; first album by the duo of Frith and Zorn]
++ PainKiller - Execution Ground [fourth album by the trio PainKiller; Japanese edition included bonus concert album, Live in Osaka, which features Yamatsuka Eye on two of five tracks]
1995
++ John Zorn/ Masada - Dalet [Four] [Extended-play C. D. single—three tracks only—by the quartet Masada; rec. 1994; performing compositions part of the first Masada songbook]
++ John Zorn/ Masada - Hei [Five] [fourth album by the quartet Masada; performing compositions part of the first Masada songbook]
++ John Zorn's Cobra Live at the Knitting Factory [rec. 1992]
John Zorn's Cobra: Tokyo Operations '94 [rec. 1994]
Redbird [Zorn conducts]
++ First Recordings 1973 [rec. 1973-1974]
Filmworks II: Music for an Untitled Film by Walter Hill [rec. 1992]
++ Filmworks III 1990-1995 [rec. ?]
++ Mystic Fugu Orchestra - Zohar [first album by the duo of John Zorn and Yamantaka Eye, the latter having changed his name from Yamatsuka Eye]
++ John Zorn & Yamantaka Eye - Nani Nani [second album by the duo of Zorn and Eye; obi names the artists like so, whereas inner sleeve credits Zorn as Dekoboko Hajime]
++ Derek Bailey/ John Zorn/ William Parker - Harras [concert recordings, ?]
1996
++ John Zorn/ Masada - Vav [Six] [rec. 1995; fifth album by the quartet Masada; performing compositions part of the first Masada songbook]
++ John Zorn/ Masada - Zayvin [Seven] [sixth album by the quartet Masada; performing compositions part of the first Masada songbook]
John Zorn/ Masada Chamber Ensembles - Bar Kokhba [rec. 1994-1996; varied ensembles performing compositions part of the first Masada songbook, including the Masada String Trio on eight of the 25 tracks]
++ Filmworks IV: S & M + More [rec. ?; one of five tracks is a concert recording]
++ Filmworks V: Tears of Ecstasy [rec. 1995]
++ John Zorn/ Eugene Chadbourne - In Memory of Nikki Arane [rec. 1980; studio recordings?]
1997
++ John Zorn/ Masada - Het [Eight] [rec. 1996; seventh album by the quartet Masada; performing compositions part of the first Masada songbook]
++ The Parachute Years [rec. 1977-1978, 1980-1981; as noted above, includes the entirety of the albums Archery and Pool and all of Zorn's half of the album School; the individual C. D. sets comprising this box set (Lacrosse, Hockey, Pool, and Archery] later released separately]
Duras: Duchamp [Zorn conducts]
New Traditions in East Asian Bar Bands [rec. 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1996]
++ Bobby Previte/ John Zorn - Euclid's Nightmare
1998
++ John Zorn/ Masada - Tet [Nine] [rec. 1997; eighth album by the quartet Masada; performing compositions part of the first Masada songbook]
++ John Zorn/ Masada - Yod [Ten] [rec. 1997; ninth album by the quartet Masada; performing compositions part of the first Masada songbook]
The Circle Maker [rec. 1997; first disc credited to the Masada String Trio, which had previously been one of several small ensembles featured on the album, Bar Kokhba; the second to the Bar Kokhba Sextet, the first album by that group; both performing compositions part of the first Masada songbook]
Filmworks VIII 1997 [rec. ?]
The Bribe: Variations and Extensions on Spillane [rec. 1986; Zorn conducts]
++ Music for Children [first volume of the Music Romance series]
++ Masada - Live in Taipei 1995 [concert recording, 1995; tenth album by the quartet Masada; performing compositions part of the first Masada songbook]
++ Eugene Chadbourne/ John Zorn - 1977-1981 [concert and radio recordings, 1977-1981; one track previously released on School; one track previously released on the first Great Duo Live album]
++ Weird Little Boy - Weird Little Boy [rec. 1995]
++ John Zorn/ Wayne Horvitz/ Elliott Sharp/ Bobby Previte - Downtown Lullaby [rec. 1998]
1999
++ Masada - Live in Jerusalem 1994 [concert recording, 1994; eleventh album by the quartet Masada]
++ Taboo & Exile [second volume of the Music Romance series]
++ Masada - Live in Middleheim 1999 [concert recording; twelfth album by the quartet Masada; performing compositions part of the first Masada songbook]
2000
Xu Feng: John Zorn's Game Pieces Volume 1
++ Masada - Live in Sevilla 2000 [concert recording; thirteenth album by the quartet Masada; performing compositions part of the first Masada songbook]
++ Filmworks IX: Trembling before G-d [rec. ?]
++ Fred Frith/ John Zorn/ Onnyk/ Toyozumi Yoshisaburo - Ars Longa Dens Brevis [concert recordings, 1985, 1987]
2001
Songs from the Hermetic Theatre
The Gift [rec. ?; third volume of the Music Romance series]
++ Filmworks X: The Mirror of Maya Deren [rec. ?]
++ Masada - Live at Tonic 2001 [concert recording; fourteenth album by the quartet Masada; performing compositions part of the first Masada songbook]
2002
Cobra: John Zorn's Game Pieces Volume 2 [rec. ?]
++ Naked City - Live Vol. 1: Live at the Knitting Factory 1989 [concert recordings, 1989; seventh album by Naked City, on this album a quintet, without Eye]
++ Masada - First Live 1993 [concert recording, 1993; fifteenth album by the quartet Masada; performing compositions part of the first Masada songbook]
IAO: Music in Sacred Light [rec. ?]
Filmworks XI: 2002 Volume One: Secret Lives [rec. ?; fourth album by the Masada String Trio]
++ Filmworks XII: 2002 Volume Two: Three Documentaries [rec. ?]
Fimworks XIII: 2002 Volume Three: Invitation to a Suicide [Zorn conducts]
++ PainKiller - Talisman: Live in Nagoya [rec. 1994; fifth album by the trio PainKiller]
++ Mike Patton/ Ikue Mori/ John Zorn - Hemophiliac [rec. ?; first album by the trio Hemophiliac]
2003
Chimeras [2003; revised version, 2010]
Masada Guitars [rec. ?; performing compositions part of the first Masada songbook]
Voices in the Wilderness [rec. 2000-2003; performing compositions part of the first Masada songbook]
The Unknown Masada [performing compositions part of the first Masada songbook]
Filmworks XIV: Hiding and Seeking
Buck Jam Tonic - Buck Jam Tonic [rec. ?]
2004
Masada Recital [performing compositions part of the first Masada songbook]
Magick [2004]
Masada String Trio - 50th Birthday Celebration Vol. 1 [concert recording, 2003; Zorn conducts; second full album by the Masada String Trio, the first being the first of two discs comprising The Circle Maker; performing compositions part of the first Masada songbook]
++ Milford Graves/ John Zorn - 50th Birthday Celebration Vol. 2 [concert recording, 2003]
++ Locus Solus - 50th Birthday Celebration Vol. 3 [concert recording, 2003]
++ Electric Masada - 50th Birthday Celebration Vol. 4 [concert recording, 2003; first album by the octet Electric Masada: Zorn, Marc Ribot, Jamie Saft, Ikue Mori, Trevor Dunn, Joey Baron, Kenny Wollesen, Cyro Baptista; performing compositions part of the first Masada songbook]
++ Fred Frith/ John Zorn - 50th Birthday Celebration Vol. 5 [concert recording, 2003; second album by the duo of Frith and Zorn]
++ Hemophiliac - 50th Birthday Celebration Vol 6 [concert recording, 2003; second album by the trio Hemophiliac]
++ Masada - 50th Birthday Celebration Vol. 7 [concert recording, 2003; sixteenth album by the quartet Masada; performing compositions part of the first Masada songbook]
++ Wadada Leo Smith/ Susie Ibarra/ John Zorn - 50th Birthday Celebration Vol. 8 [concert recording, 2003]
++ The Classic Guide to Strategy Volume Three: 50th Birthday Celebration Vol. 9 [concert recording, 2003]
++ Yamataka Eye & John Zorn - Naninani II [rec. 2003; third album by the duo of Zorn and Eye, the latter having changed his name from Yamantaka Eye]
2005
++ Yamataka Eye/ John Zorn - 50th Birthday Celebration Vol. 10 [concert recording, 2003; fourth album by the duo of Zorn and Eye]
Bar Kokhba Sextet - 50th Birthday Celebration Vol. 11 [concert recording, 2003; Zorn conducts; second album by the Bar Kokhba Sextet; performing compositions part of the first Masada songbook]
++ PainKiller - 50th Birthday Celebration Vol. 12 [concert recording, 2003; sixth album by PainKiller, on this a quartet featuring Mike Patton; Hamid Drake replacing Mick Harris]
++ Filmworks XV: Protocols of Zion [rec. ?]
++ Masada - Sanhedrin: 1994-1997 Unreleased Studio Recordings [rec. 1994-1997; seventeenth album by the quartet Masada; performing compositions part of the first Masada songbook]
++ Filmworks XVI: Workingman's Death
Jamie Saft Trio Plays Masada Book Two - Astaroth: Book of Angels Volume 1
Masada String Trio Plays Masada Book Two - Azazel: Book of Angels Volume 2 [third album by the Masada String Trio]
++ Electric Masada - At the Mountains of Madness [concert recordings, 2004; second album by the octet Electric Masada; performing compositions part of the first Masada songbook]
Rituals [rec. ?]
Masada Rock [the Rashanim trio of Jon Madof, Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz, and Mathias Kunzli performing compositions part of the first Masada songbook]
2006
++ Filmworks XVII: Notes on Marie Menken; Ray Bandar: A Life with Skulls [rec. 2005]
Mark Feldman and Sylvie Courvoisier Play Masada Book Two - Malphas: Book of Angels Volume 3 [rec. 2005]
Filmworks XVIII: The Treatment [rec. 2005; Zorn conducts]
Koby Israelite Plays Masada Book Two - Orobas: Book of Angels Volume 4 [rec. 2005]
Moonchild: Songs without Words [rec. ?; Zorn conducts; first album by the trio Moonchild: Mike Patton, Trevor Dunn, Joey Baron]
The Cracow Klezmer Band Plays Masada Book Two - Balan: Book of Angels Volume 5
Astronome [rec. ?; second album by the trio Moonchild]
Uri Caine Plays Masada Book Two - Moloch: Book of Angels Volume 6
++ John Zorn/ Dave Douglas/ Mike Patton/ Rob Burger/ Bill Laswell/ Ben Perowsky - The Stone: Issue One [rec. ?]
2007
++ Six Litanies for Heliogabalus [rec. ?; third album by Moonchild, on this album a nonet featuring Zorn, Martha Culver, Abby Fischer, Ikue Mori, Jamie Saft, Kristen Sollek in addition to Patton, Dunn, and Baron]
Marc Ribot Plays Masada Book Two - Asmodeus: Book of Angels Volume 7
Erik Friedlander Plays Masada Book Two - Volac: Book of Angels Volume 8 rec. ?]
From Silence to Sorcery [rec. 2005, 2007]
2008
Secret Chiefs 3 Plays Masada Book Two - Xaphan: Book of Angels Volume 9 [rec. ?]
Filmworks XIX: The Rain Horse [rec. 2007]
++ The Dreamers [rec. 2007; first album by the Dreamers, on this album a septet: Zorn, Marc Ribot, Jamie Saft, Kenny Wollesen, Trevor Dunn, Joey Baron, Cyro Baptista]
Bar Kokhba Plays Masada Book Two - Lucifer: Book of Angels Volume 10 [rec. 2007; third album by the Bar Kokhba Sextet]
Medeski Martin & Wood - Zaebos: Book of Angels Volume 11
Filmworks XX: Sholem Aleichem [featuring the members of the Masada String Trio plus Rob Burger and Carol Emanuel]
++ Filmworks XXI: Belle du Nature; The New Rijksmuseum [Zorn conducts]
The Last Supper: Filmworks XXII [rec. ?]
++ The Crucible [fourth album by Moonchild, on this album a quintet featuring Zorn and Marc Ribot in addition to Patton, Dunn, and Baron]
++ Fred Frith/ John Zorn - The Art of Memory II [concert recordings, 1983, 1985; third album by the duo of Frith and Zorn]
++ Lou Reed/ Laurie Anderson/ John Zorn - The Stone: Issue Three [rec. ?]
2009
Alhambra Love Songs [rec. 2008; first album by the trio Alhambra: Rob Burger, Greg Cohen, Ben Perowsky]
Masada Quintet Featuring Joe Lovano Plays Masada Book Two - Stolas: Book of Angels Volume 12
++ O'o [second album by the Dreamers, on this album a sextet, sans Ribot]
Filmworks XXIII: El General [rec. 2008; Zorn conducts]
Femina [rec. 2008; Zorn conducts]
2010
Mycale Sings Masada Book Two - Mycale: Book of Angels Volume 13 [rec. 2009]
In Search of the Miraculous [rec. 2009; Zorn conducts; second album by Alhambra, on this album a quintet featuring Kenny Wollesen and Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz in addition to Burger, Cohen, and Perowsky]
The Dreamers Play Masada Book Two - Ipos: Book of Angels Volume 14 [rec. 2009; third album by the Dreamers, on this album again a sextet]
Ben Goldberg Quartet Plays Masada Book Two - Baal: Book of Angels Volume 15 [rec. 2009]
++ Dictée/Liber Novus [rec. 2009]
The Goddess: Music for the Ancient of Days [rec. 2009; Zorn conducts; third album by Alhambra, on this release a sextet featuring Marc Ribot and Carol Emanuel in addition to Burger, Dunn, Perowsky, and Wollesen]
Masada String Trio Plays Masada Book Two - Haborym: Book of Angels Volume 16 [fifth album by the Masada String Trio]
Filmworks XXIV: The Nobel Prizewinner [Zorn conducts]
++ Ipsissimus [fifth album by Moonchild, on this album the same quintet as featured on the fourth album, The Crucible]
Banquet of the Spirits Plays Masada Book Two - Caym: Book of Angels Volume 17 [rec. ?]
++ John Zorn / Fred Frith - Late Works [rec. 2009; fourth album by the duo of Frith and Zorn]
What Thou Wilt [rec. 2009 (first concert portion) and 2010 (remainder)]
2011
++ A Dreamers Christmas [fourth album by the Dreamers, on this album a septet with Mike Patton added]
Nova Express [rec. 2010; Zorn conducts; first album by the quartet Nova Express: John Medeski, Kenny Wollesen, Trevor Dunn, Joey Baron]
The Satyr's Play/Cerebus [rec. 2010]
Enigmata [rec. 2010]
At the Gates of Paradise [Zorn conducts; second album by the quartet Nova Express]
++ The ROVA Saxophone Quartet/ John Zorn - The Receiving Surfaces [concert recording, 2010]
2012
Mount Analogue [rec. 2011; Zorn conducts]
The Gnostic Preludes [rec. 2011; first album by the Gnostic Trio: Carol Emanuel; Bill Frisell; Kenny Wolleson]
David Krakauer Plays Masada Book Two - Pruflas: Book of Angels Volume 18 [rec. ?]
++ Nosferatu [rec. 2011]
Templars: In Sacred Blood [rec. 2011-2012; Zorn conducts; sixth album by Moonchild, on this album a quartet featuring John Medeski in addition to Patton, Dunn, and Baron]
++ The Hermetic Organ - St. Paul's Chapel, NYC [concert recording, 2011]
Music and Its Double [rec. 2011 (concert portion) and 2012 (studio portion)]
++ Rimbaud [rec. 2011 (concert portion) and 2012 (studio portion)]
Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz Plays Masada Book Two - Abraxas: Book of Angels Volume 19 [first album by the quartet Abraxas: Blumenkranz, Aram Bajakian, Eyal Maoz, Kenny Grohowski]
A Vision in Blakelight [rec. 2011; Zorn conducts; third album by Nova Express, on this album a septet featuring Carol Emanuel, Cyro Baptista (on four of ten tracks), and Jack Huston (on one of ten tracks) in addition to Medeski, Wollesen, Dunn, and Baron]
The Concealed [Zorn conducts]
2013
Lemma [rec. 2012]
++ Filmworks XV: City of Slaughter; Schmatta; Beyond the Infinite [rec. 2009, 2012]
The Mysteries [rec. 2012; second album by the Gnostic Trio]
Pat Metheny Plays Masada Book Two - Tap: Book of Angels Volume 20
Dreamachines [Zorn conducts; fourth album by the quartet Nova Express]
In Lambeth: Visions from the Walled Garden of William Blake [Zorn conducts; third album by the Gnostic Trio; Ikue Mori featured on one of eight tracks]
Shir Hashirim [rec. 2010]
++ PainKiller - The Prophecy: Live in Europe [concert recordings, 2004-2005; seventh album by the trio PainKiller; Yoshida Tatsuya replaces Hamid Drake]
On the Torment of Saints, the Casting of Spells and the Evocation of Spirits [one track is a concert recording]
++ John Zorn/ Thurston Moore - @ [rec. ?]
++ Eugene Chadbourne/ John Zorn - The Great Duo Live [concert recordings, 1978-1979, 1983; apparently originally released as a cassette, 1984]
2014
++ The Hermetic Organ - St. Paul's Chapel, NYC [concert recording, 2013]
Psychomagia [rec. 2013; second album by the quartet Abraxas]
The Alchemist [rec. 2013]
Fragmentations, Prayers and Interjections [rec. 2013]
Eyvind Kang Plays Masada Book Two - Alastor: Book of Angels Volume 21 [rec. ?]
Myth and Mythopoeia [rec. 2013 (concert portion) and 2013-2014 (studio portion)]
Zion 80 Plays Masada Book Two - Adramelech: Book of Angels Volume 22
On Leaves of Grass [Zorn conducts; fifth album by the quartet Nova Express]
The Testament Of Solomon: Music from the Sefer Shirim Shel Shir Hashirim [Zorn conducts; fourth album by the Gnostic Trio]
Roberto Rodriguez Plays Masada Book Two - Aguares: Book of Angels Volume 23 [rec. ?]
Valentine's Day [rec. ?]
Transmigration of the Magus [Zorn conducts; fifth album by the Gnostic Trio]
The Last Judgment [rec. ?; seventh album by Moonchild, on this album the same quartet as featured on the sixth album, Tempalrs: In Sacred Blood]
++ Wadada Leo Smith/ George Lewis/ John Zorn - Sonic Rivers
++ David Smith/ Bill Laswell/ John Zorn - The Dream Membrance
++ Eugene Chadbourne/ John Zorn - The Great Duo Live [concert recordings, 1977-1980]
2015
++ The Hermetic Organ - St. Paul's Hall, Huddersfield [concert recording, 2013]
Dither Plays Zorn: John Zorn's Olympiad Volume 1 [rec. ?]
Klezmerson Plays Masada Book Two - Amon: Book of Angels Volume 24 [rec. ?]
Hen to Pan [rec. 2014]
Simulacrum [rec. 2014; Zorn conducts; first album by the trio Simulacrum: John Medeski, Matt Hollenberg, and Kenny Grohowski]
The Song Project Live at Poisson Rouge [rec. ?; Zorn conducts]
Mycale Sings Masada Book Two - Gomory: Book of Angels Volume 25
Forro in the Dark Plays Zorn - Forro Zinho [rec. ?]
The True Discoveries of Witches and Demons [rec. ?; Zorn conducts; second album by the trio Simulacrum]
Inferno [Zorn conducts; third album by the trio Simulacrum]
James Moore Plays the Book of Heads [rec. ?]
The Spike Orchestra Plays Masada Book Two - Cerberus: Book of Angels Volume 26
Yoko Ono & John Zorn - Live on Spinning on Air, WNYC 11/14/12 [rec. 2012]
2016
Madrigals [rec. 2014-2015]
++ The Hermetic Organ - St. Bart's, NYC [concert recording, 2015]
Flaga Plays Masada Book Two - Flaga: Book of Angels Volume 27 [rec. 2015]
The Painted Bird [rec. ?; Zorn conducts; fourth album by Simulacrum, on this album a quintet featuring Kenny Wollesen and Ches Smith in addition to Hollenberg, Medeski, and Grohowski]
Nova Express Quintet Plays Masda Book Two - Andras: Book of Angels Volume 28 [rec. 2015; sixth album by Nova Express, on this album a quintet featuring Cyro Baptista in addition to Medeski, Wollesen, Dunn, and Baron]
The Mockingbird [rec. 2015; Zorn conducts; sixth album by the Gnostic Trio]
Sacred Visions" [rec. 2015]
AutorYno Plays Masada Book Two - Flauros: Book of Angels Volume 29
Commedia dell'arte [rec. 2015]
49 Acts of Unspeakable Depravity in the Abominable Life and Times of Gilles de Rais [Zorn conducts; fifth album by the trio Simulacrum]
++ The Classic Guide to Strategy Vol. 4 [rec. 2012]
2017
Garth Knox and the Saltarello Trio Play Masada Book Two - Leonard: Book of Angels Volume 30 [rec. 2016]
The Garden of Earthly Delights [rec. 2016; Zorn conducts; sixth album by the trio Simulacrum]
There Is No More Firmament [rec. ?]
Brian Marsella Trio Plays Masada Book Two - Buer: Book of Angels Volume 31
Midsummer Moons [rec. ?; first album by the duo of Julian Lage and Gyan Riley]
Mary Halvorson Quartet Plays Masada Book Two - Paimon: Book of Angels Volume 32
++ The Hermetic Organ - Philharmonie de Paris [concert recording]
2018
The Book Beri'ah [11-C. D. box set containing all of the Beri'ah albums released separately in 2019; see below]
++ The Urmuz Epigrams [rec. 2017]
Insurrection [rec. 2017; first album by the quartet Insurrection: Matt Hollenberg, Julian Lage, Trevor Dunn, Kenny Grohowski]
++ In a Convex Mirror [rec. 2017-2018]
Salem 1692 [second album by the quartet Insurrection]
2019
Sofia Rei and JC Maillard - John Zorn's Book Beri'ah 1: Keter [rec. ?]
Cleric - John Zorn's Book Beri'ah 2: Chokhma [rec. ?]
Spike Orchestra - John Zorn's Book Beri'ah 3: Binah [rec. ?]
Julian Lage/ Gyan Riley - John Zorn's Book Beri'ah 4: Chesed [rec. ?; second album by the duo of Lage and Riley]
Abraxas - John Zorn's Book Beri'ah 5: Gevurah [rec. 2016; third album by the quartet Abraxas]
Klezmerson - John Zorn's Book Beri'ah 6: Tiferet [rec. ?]
Gnostic Trio - John Zorn's Book Beri'ah 7: Netzach [rec. ?; seventh album by the Gnostic Trio]
Zion 80 - John Zorn's Book Beri'ah 8: Hod [rec. ?]
Banquet of the Spirits - John Zorn's Book Beri'ah 9: Yesod [rec. ?]
Secret Chiefs 3 - John Zorn's Book Beri'ah 10: Malkhut [rec. 2015-2017]
Craig Taborn and Vadim Neselovskyi - John Zorn's Book Beri'ah 11: Da'at [rec. 2017]
++ Pellucidar: A Dreamers Fantabula [fifth album by the Dreamers, on this album a sextet]
++ The Hermetic Organ: For Edgar Allan Poe [concert recording, ?]
The Hierophant [performed by the Brian Marsella Trio]
Nove Cantici per Francesco d’Assisi [first album by the trio of Bill Frisell, Gyan Riley, and Julian Lage]
++ Tractatus Musico-Philosophicus [rec. ?]
Encomia [Stephen Gosling solo with Chris Otto on one track]
++ The Hermetic Organ - St. John the Divine [concert recording, 2013]
++ The Hermetic Organ - For Antonin Artaud [concert recording, 2019]
2020
Beyond Good and Evil [concert recording, 2019; seventh album by the trio Simulacrum]
Virtue [rec. 2019; Zorn conducts; second album by the trio of Frisell, Riley, and Lage]
Calculus [performed by the Brian Marsella Trio]
Baphomet [Zorn conducts; eighth album by the trio Simulacrum]
++ Les Maudits [rec. 2015 (concert portion) and 2020 (studio portion)]
John Zorn/ Jesse Harris - Songs for Petra: Petra Hade Sings the Zorn/Harris Songbook [rec. ?]
Azoth [quartet of Jay Campbell, Michael Nicholas, Jorge Roeder, and Ches Smith]
The Turner Etudes [Stephen Gosling solo]
2021
John Zorn's Bagatelles [first-fourth volumes (4 C. D.s) in a box set: Vol. 1: Mary Halvorson Quartet; Vol. 2: Erik Friedlander and Michael Nicolas; Vol. 3: Trigger; Vol. 4: Ikue Mori]
John Zorn's Bagatelles [fifth-eighth volumes (4 C. D.s) in a box set: Vol. 5: Kris Davis Quartet; Vol. 6: Brian Marsella Trio; Vol. 7: Brian Marsella; Vol. 8: John Medeski Trio]
Heaven and Earth Magick [rec. 2020; Zorn conducts; first album by the quartet of Stephen Gosling, Sae Hashimoto, Jorge Roeder, and Ches Smith]
Teresa de Avila [rec. 2020; Zorn conducts; third album by the trio of Frisell, Riley, and Lage]
Chaos Magick [rec. 2020; Zorn conducts; first album by the quartet Chaos Magick: the trio Simulacrum plus Brian Marsella]
Parables [rec. 2020; Zorn conducts; fourth album by the trio of Frisell, Riley, and Lage]
Nostradamus: The Death of Satan [Zorn conducts; ninth album by the trio Simulacrum]
Meditations on the Tarot [performed by the Brian Marsella Trio]
++ New Masada Quartet [first album by the New Masada Quartet: John Zorn, Julian Lage, Jorge Roeder, and Kenny Wollesen]
The Ninth Circle: Orpheus in the Underworld [Zorn conducts; second album by the quartet Chaos Magick]
The Garden of Forking Paths [rec. ?; fifth album by the trio of Frisell, Riley, and Lage]
++ Soup with John Zorn - Shinjuku Pit Inn [rec. 2004]
2022
John Zorn's Bagatelles [ninth-twelfth volumes (4 C. D.s) in a box set: Vol. 9: Asmodeus; Vol. 10: Julian Lage and Gyan Riley; Vol. 11: Jim Black Quartet; Vol. 12: Cleric; third album by the duo of Lage and Riley]
Perchance to Dream... [rec. ?; quartet of Bill Frisell, Brian Marsella, John Medeski, and Kenny Wollesen]
Spinoza [rec. 2021; Zorn conducts; tenth album by the trio Simulacrum]
Suite for Piano [first album by the trio of Brian Marsella, Jorge Roeder, and Ches Smith]
++ Fencing 1978: John Zorn's Olympiad Volume 2 [concert recordings, 1978]
Incerto: Existentialism, Psychoanalysis, and the Uncertainty Principle [first album by the quartet Incerto: Brian Marsella, Julian Lage, Jorge Roeder, and Ches Smith]
Multiplicities: A Repository Of Non-Existent Objects [rec. ?; Zorn conducts; third album by the quartet Chaos Magick]
++ John Zorn/ Bill Laswell - The Cleansing [rec. 2021]
Song of Songs [rec. 2020; performed by the Daughters of Jerusalem: Abigail Fischer, Kathryn Mulvehill, Kirsten Sollek, Lisa Bielawa, Martha Cluver]
++ The Hermetic Organ - Liber VII
++ The Hermetic Organ - Bozar, Brussels [rec. 2019; Barbara Hannigan on one track]
John Zorn's Olympiad Volume 3: Pops Plays Pops [Eugene Chadbourne solo]
2023
++ John Zorn/ Bill Laswell - Memoria
++ New Masada Quartet Vol. 2 [rec. ?; second album by the New Masada Quartet: John Zorn, Julian Lage, Jorge Roeder, and Kenny Wollesen]
Nothing Is as Real as Nothing [sixth album by the trio of Bill Frisell, Gyan Riley, and Julian Lage]
The Fourth Way [rec. 2022; second album by the trio of Brian Marsella, Jorge Roeder, and Ches Smith]
444 [rec. 2022; Zorn conducts; fourth album by the quartet Chaos Magick]
Parrhesiastes [Zorn conducts; fifth album by the quartet Chaos Magick]
Multiplicities II: A Repository Of Non-Existent Objects [Zorn conducts; second album by the quartet Incerto: Brian Marsella, Julian Lage, Jorge Roeder, and Ches Smith]
Full Fathom Five [third album by the quartet Incerto: Brian Marsella, Julian Lage, Jorge Roeder, and Ches Smith]
Homenaje a Remedios Varo [fourth album by the quartet Incerto: Brian Marsella, Julian Lage, Jorge Roeder, and Ches Smith]
Quatrain [fourth album by the duo of Lage and Riley]
2024
++ New Masada Quartet Vol. 3 [third album by the New Masada Quartet: John Zorn, Julian Lage, Jorge Roeder, and Kenny Wollesen]
++ The Hermetic Organ - For Terry Riley [rec. 2023]
++ The Hermetic Organ - The Bosch Requiem [rec. 2023; John Medeski on one track]
++ The Hermetic Organ - Biennale Musica Venezia [rec. 2023]
John Zorn/ Jesse Harris - Love Songs Live [rec. 2023; quartet of Petra Haden, Brian Marsella, Jorge Roeder, and Ches Smith]
Lamentations [seventh album by the trio of Bill Frisell, Gyan Riley, and Julian Lage]
Her Melodious Lay [fifth album by the duo of Julian Lage and Gyan Riley]
Ballades [third album by the trio of Brian Marsella, Jorge Roeder, and Ches Smith]
++ Samsara [eighth album by the trio PainKiller: original line-up of Zorn, Laswell, and Harris]
++ The Equinox [ninth album by the trio PainKiller: original line-up of Zorn, Laswell, and Harris]
Ou Phrontis [fourth album by the trio of Brian Marsella, Jorge Roeder, and Ches Smith]
Hannigan Sings Zorn Volume One: Live in Concert [rec. 2023; duo of Barbara Hannigan and Stephen Gosling]
Hannigan Sings Zorn Volume Two: Live at Miller Theatre [rec. ?; duo of Barbara Hannigan and Stephen Gosling]
2025
++ John Zorn/ Dave Lombardo - Memories, Dreams and Reflections [rec. ?]
++ PainKiller - The Great God Pan [rec. 2024; tenth album by the trio PainKiller: original line-up of Zorn, Laswell, and Harris]
Through the Looking Glass [rec. 2024; sixth album by the quartet Chaos Magick]
Impromptus [rec. ?; fifth album by the trio of Brian Marsella, Jorge Roeder, and Ches Smith]
Fantasma [Zorn conducts; second album by the quartet of Stephen Gosling, Sae Hashimoto, Jorge Roeder, and Ches Smith; guest Ikue Mori]
John Zorn/ JACK Quartet - The Complete String Quartets [rec. ?; performed by the JACK Quartet: Austin Wulliman, Christopher Otto, John Pickford Richards, and Jay Campbell]
plus...
Zorn plays on side B of the Jim Staley album, OTB, and side A of Jojo Takayanagi's Experimental Performance. Both albums put Zorn's name on the marquee, so to speak, but I doubt many consider these to be "John Zorn" albums. We could say the same thing about Square Dance, an album credited to the Intergalactic Maiden Ballet Featuring John Zorn.
The album, Attention Span, by Bob Osterag, features samples of Zorn's playing on one half, Fred Frith's on the other.
A performance of Zorn's ‘Carny’, by Steffen Schleiermacher, is included on the album, Enfrants Terribles. A performance of ‘Forbidden Fruit’ is included on the Kronos Quartet album Winter Was Hard.
Zorn plays on 10 of 23 tracks of Prelapse's self-titled album, which features the band's renditions, with and without Zorn, of several pieces originally performed by Naked City.
Zorn plays on the Andrea Centazzo album Environment for Sextet and one track on the Centazzo album, USA Concerts East. These albums are credited to all of the musicians involved, but as with the Staley, Takayanagi, and Intergalactic Maiden Ballet albums noted above, we would not consider these "John Zorn" albums. We would say the same thing for the three Company albums from 1991; Company albums either get classed on their own or under Derek Bailey. Company 91 Volume 1; Company 91 Volume 2; Company 91 Volume 3.
Zorn is a "sideman" of sorts on an album that, as Discogs notes, is generally thought of as a Material album, but for legal reasons was not released under the band's name: Improvised Music New York 1981. Zorn also serves as a sideman on Lowe and Behold by the Frank Lowe Orchestra; Berlin Djungle by the Peter Brötzmann Clarinet Project; The Technology of Tears by Fred Frith; NekonoTopia NekonoMania and one of the twenty discs that comprise Saidera Paradiso by Seigen Ono; Blue Planet Man and Minor Swing by John Patton; Sacrifist by Praxis; Signals for Tea by Steve Beresford; Hsi Yu Chi by David Shea; Pranzo Oltranzista by Mike Patton; and Lake Biwa by Wadada Leo Smith. These are only a few noteworthy examples. Many more albums feature Zorn on only a few tracks. One can get a handy list of them at the "Featured" section of Wikipedia's Zorn discography.
~
Sonny Rollins: Lauded Early Years, Long Haul
One may be surprised to see a guide to Sonny Rollins' discography, relatively a simple one, placed alongside the labyrinthine likes of Anthony Braxton and John Zorn, but a couple factors led me to put this together. One, the extraordinary length of Rollins' career, he and his erstwhile bandmate Max Roach, as well as Dave Brubeck, being major innovators in Jazz during the Fifties, when it attained a level of critical respect unmatched since, who continued working until the Twenty-Teens--roughly seventy years. Second, the unique problem with appreciating Rollins' music: the universal acclaim of his early albums, especially those made through 1958; and the accompanying lack of any critical consensus about his music made since then, and especially after 1966. The release date of each album is provided in brackets. Wikipedia links are provided, if applicable--otherwise, Discogs links.
studio albums
First of all... the confusing (discographically speaking) era of the 10-inch Long Play (L. P.) gramophone record. Confusing: in the Jazz world at least, because these records were split apart and recombined in all sorts of seemingly-random ways when reissued in the 12-inch format. One record that we may mistakenly think of as a "Sonny Rollins" album from this era is Sonny Rollins and Thelonious Monk, recorded 1954 and released as a 10-inch L. P. the same year; the 12-inch L. P. Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins, released in 1956, includes the first and second of three tracks (side A) of this 10-inch L. P. while the third track, which comprised all of side B, was made of part of the L. P. Moving Out, which is a "Sonny Rollins" album; the rest of the Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins 12-inch L. P. includes tracks from two Thelonious Monk 10-inch L. P.s, Thelonious Monk Quintet Blows for L. P. and Thelonious Monk Plays.
The rest of Moving Out consists of the four tracks that had been released as Sonny Rollins Quintet Featuring Kenny Dorham in 1954.
Sonny Rollins Quartet, recorded and released as a 10-inch L. P. in 1952 became the 12-inch L. P., Sonny Rollins with the Modern Jazz Quartet. The latter includes the eight tracks that comprised the 10-inch as well as the four tracks released on an E. P., Sonny Rollins with Modern Jazz Quartet (yes, the Prestige label initially seemed to have quite a distaste for definite articles) and another track that had been first released on a compilation, Mambo Jazz.
--
Having established himself as a sideman for Monk and Miles Davis and briefly playing with the Clifford Brown-Max Roach Quintet before Brown's untimely death, Rollins followed with the four years of prolific studio and concert work. Few artists have recorded so much with such impact so quickly as Rollins did in these years, especially 1956 and 1957.
Work Time recorded 1955 [1956]
Sonny Rollins Plus 4 recorded 1956 [1956; this album essentially being a Clifford Brown-Max Roach Quintet album, but credited to Rollins due to conditions of a deal between Rollins' label, Prestige, and EmArcy, the label that had signed Brown-Roach's group]
Tenor Madness recorded 1956 [1956]
Saxophone Colossus recorded 1956 [1956]
Tour de Force recorded 1956 [1958]; alternate version of this album, entitled Sonny Boy, omits one track, 'Two Different Worlds', adds another, the track 'Sonny Boy'; C. D. versions of Sonny Boy kept this tracking but C. D. versions of Tour de Force include both 'Worlds' and 'Boy'
Rollins Plays for Bird recorded 1956 [1961]
Sonny Rollins recorded 1956 [1957]; later issues add Volume One to the title, in accord with the other Blue Note album, Vol. 2
Way Out West recorded 1957 [1957]
Sonny Rollins Vol. 2 recorded 1957 [1957]
The Sound of Sonny recorded 1957 [1957]
Newk's Time recorded 1957 [1959]
Freedom Suite recorded 1958 [1958]--at times reissued under the title, Shadow Waltz
Sonny Rollins and the Big Brass recorded 1958 [1958]--often reissued under the title, Brass/ Trio
Sonny Rollins and the Contemporary Leaders recorded 1958 [1959]
--
After three years with no new albums recorded, Rollins returned for a short run, his recorded work more of a mishmash of new line-ups and experimentation.
The Bridge recorded 1962 [1962]
What's New recorded 1962 [1962]
Sonny Meets Hawk! recorded 1963 [1963]
Now's the Time recorded 1964 [1964]
The Standard Sonny Rollins recorded 1964 [1964]
Sonny Rollins on Impulse! recorded 1965 [1965]
Alfie: Original Music from the Score recorded 1966 [1966]
East Broadway Run Down recorded 1966 [1967]
--
A long period of regular work, sometimes criticized or merely ignored, began in 1972, much of it released on Milestone Records, one of the few U. S. labels to continue relatively unscathed by the declining popularity of both acoustic and avant-garde Jazz in the Seventies and Eighties (many albums by American artists like Steve Lacy, Anthony Braxton, the World Saxophone Quartet, Joe McPhee, Cecil Taylor, David Murray, Muhal Richard Abrams, and the Art Ensemble of Chicago being released in these years by European labels like Black Saint/ Soul Note, E. C. M., and Hat Hut).
Sonny Rollins' Next Album recorded 1972 [1972]
Horn Culture recorded 1973 [1973]
Nucleus recorded 1975 [1975]
The Way I Feel recorded 1976 [1976]
Easy Living recorded 1977 [1977]
Don't Ask recorded 1979 [1979]
Love at First Sight recorded 1980 [1981]
No Problem recorded 1981 [1981]
Reel Life recorded 1982 [1982]
Sunny Days, Starry Nights recorded 1984 [1984]
Dancing in the Dark recorded 1987 [1987]
Falling in Love with Jazz recorded 1989 [1989]
Here's to the People recorded 1991 [1991]
Old Flames recorded 1993 [1993]
Sonny Rollins + 3 recorded 1995 [1995]
--
At this point, Rollins is definitely more known for his live performances, as eventually documented in the Road Shows series [see below].
Global Warming recorded 1998 [1998]
This Is What I Do recorded 2000 [2000]
Sonny, Please recorded 2005-2006 [2006]
--
Some discographical curios:
Sonny Rollins Plays, despite its title, is a split album, featuring the Sonny Rollins Quintet on side A and Thad Jones and His Ensemble on Side B; recorded 1957, released 1958.
Sonny Rollins at Music Inn/ Teddy Edwards at Falcon's Lair with Joe Castro, recorded and released 1958, is a split album featuring a Rollins-led quartet on four tracks and an Edwards-led quartet on two tracks.
Three studio tracks featuring Rollins with Don Cherry, Henry Grimes, and Billy Higgins (billed as Sonny Rollins & Co.) and recorded in 1963 were released on the compilation 3 in Jazz alongside selections by the Gary Burton Quartet and the Clark Terry Quintet. Reissues of Our Man in Jazz [see below] include these three tracks.
--
Excluding these three split albums, but including Sonny Rollins Quintet Featuring Kenny Dorham (i.e. Moving Out), we have a total of 41 studio albums.
concert albums
A Night at the "Village Vanguard" recorded 1956 [1957]
More from the Vanguard recorded 1956 [1976; later combined with A Night at the "Village Vanguard" to form a double C. D. release]
Our Man in Jazz recorded 1962 [1962]
There Will Never Be Another You recorded 1965 [1978]
Sonny Rollins in Japan recorded 1973 [1973]
The Cutting Edge recorded 1974 [1974]
Island Lady recorded 1977 [1977]
Don't Stop the Carnival recorded 1978 [1978]
Ron Carter/ Sonny Rollins/ McCoy Tyner - Milestones Jazzstars in Concert recorded 1978 [1979]
The Solo Album recorded 1985 [1985]
Sonny Rollins Plays G-Man and Other Music for the Soundtrack of the Robert Mugge Film "Saxophone Colossus" recorded 1986 [1987]
Without a Song: The 9/11 Concert recorded 2001 [2005]
Road Shows Vol. 1 recorded 1980, 1986, 2000, 2006-2007 [2008]
Road Shows Vol. 2 recorded 2010 [2011]
Road Shows Volume 3 recorded 2001, 2006-2007, 2009, 2012 [2014]
Holding the Stage: Road Shows Vol. 4 recorded 1979, 1996, 2001, 2006-2007, 2012 [2016]
Counting the Vanguard recordings as a single album, we have 15 concert albums.
selected compilations and archival albums
Contemporary Alternate Takes [mostly tracks later included as bonus tracks on C. D. reissues]
The Alternative Rollins, later retitled After the Bridge, made available previously-unreleased studio tracks recorded in 1964
Reevaluation: The Impulse Years
Silvery City: A Celebration of 25 Years on Milestone
not "Sonny Rollins" albums but featuring Rollins as a sideman or guest artist and which may count towards any given total number of "Sonny Rollins" albums
The Modern Jazz Quartet at Music Inn Volume 2: Guest Artist: Sonny Rollins recorded 1958 [1959]--Rollins plays on two of six tracks
Sonny Side Up, generally cataloged as a Dizzy Gillespie album, features the trumpeter with Rollins and saxophonist Sonny Stitt (thus the album title). It could be listed as a Gillespie, Rollins, or Stitt album.
Dizzy Gillespie Duets with Sonny Rollins and Sonny Stitt, as its tiles suggests features Gillespie playing with (not dueting) the two Sonnys, these tracks recorded during the same sessions that produced Sonny Side Up. Two tracks with Rollins, Ray Bryant, Thomas Bryan, and Charles Persip are on side A, two with Stitt and the same rhythm section on side B. This album is hardly likely to be classed as a Rollins or Stitt album, definitely adding to the argument for Sonny Side Up decidedly being a Gillespie album.
Abbey Lincoln with the Riverside Jazz Stars - That's Him! features Rollins on a few tracks.
Having played on the last studio album by the Brown-Roach Quintet, Clifford Brown and Max Road at Basin Street, Rollins played on Max Roach's Jazz in 3/4 Time and Max Roach + 4, these two albums picking up from where that Quintet left off, with Kenny Dorham replacing Brown and either Ray Bryant or Bill Wallace replacing Richie Powell.
Rollins also plays on Thelonious Monk's Brilliant Corners and on four of six tracks of Kenny Dorham's Jazz Contrasts.
Rollins played on some Miles Davis sessions in that confusing 10-inch era; these tracks ended up on the albums Dig, Bags' Groove, and Collectors' Items. He can also be found on sessions that ended up on the J. J. Johnson album J. J. Johnson's Jazz Quintets (plus Johnson's portion of the split album Trombone by Three), the Bud Powell album The Amazing Bud Powell Volume 1, and the Art Farmer album Early Art.
Despite Davis's Dig often being credited to Miles Davis Featuring Sonny Rollins, no-one ever categorizes it as a Rollins album. I would not categorize the Brown-Roach Quintet albums as "Rollins" albums either; Sonny Rollins Plus 4 was both presented as a Rollins album and featured Rollins' own compositions. In the end, only Sonny Side Up and Milestones Jazzstars in Concert warrant consideration as a joint-leader album—that is, the latter is a Rollins album, counting towards his total number of albums, but also a Ron Carter and a McCoy Tyner. For the reasons noted above, I place Sonny Side Up solely in the Gillespie category. Counting the Milestones album would give Rollins a total of 41 studio albums, plus 15 concert albums; with the addition of The Alternative Rollins [After the Bridge], his total is 57 albums. As with many Jazz artists, a large number of bootleg releases, almost always of live performances, fill out any attempt at a complete picture of Rollins' work. Consult the Jazz Discography Project's Rollins page for more information about many of these boots.
~
10s and 12s (and 78s and 45s), Blue Note and Prestige
Apropos the portions of the Sonny Rollins and Dave Brubeck discographies at this site that deal with 10-inch albums and how they were annoyingly chopped up and combined in confusing ways for re-release in the 12-inch format, even as those 10-inch albums were already in many cases the result of 78s and 45s cobbled together, below we have track listings and personnnel for the 10-inch albums, and their accompanying 12-inch reissues, by Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk/ Milt Jackson, with more to come re: the Modern Jazz Quartet, J. J. Johnson, Clifford Brown, and Bud Powell.
Miles Davis
A session on January 17th, 1951, produced the following:
Miles Davis and His Band - ‘Morpheus’ b/w ’Blue Room’, 1951 78 and 45 (This ‘Blue Room’ is an alternate version, with a Rollins solo spliced in).
Miles Davis and His Band - ‘Whispering’ b/w ‘Down’, 1951 78 and 45
Miles Davis Sextet, 1951 45 E. P.
‘Morpheus’
‘Down’
‘Blue Room’
‘Whispering’
‘Morpheus’, ‘Whispering’, and ‘Down’ also included on Modern Jazz Trumpets 10-inch L. P. various-artists compilation, 1951
--
The session of October 5th, 1951:
The New Sounds, 1951 10-inch L. P.
‘Conception’
‘Dig?’
‘My Old Flame’
‘It's Only a Paper Moon’
Miles Davis All Stars - The first and second parts of ‘Bluing’ on a 45 called In a Blue Mood, 1951
Miles Davis All Stars - ‘Out of the Blue’ b/w ‘Denial’, 1954 45
Blue Period, 1953 10-inch L. P.
‘Bluing’;
‘Blue Room’ [from the above session]
‘Out of the Blue’
Miles Davis & Band - ‘It's Only a Paper Moon (Part 1)’ b/w ‘It's Only a Paper Moon (Part 2)’ 78 and 45, both 1953
Miles Davis & His Band - ‘Conception’ b/w ‘Bluing (Part 3)’, 1953 78
Miles Davis and His Cool Wailers - ‘Out of the Blue (Pt. 1)’ b/w ‘Out of the Blue (Pt. 2)’, 1954 78
Miles Davis with Sonny Rollins - ‘Dig’ b/w ‘My Old Flame’, 1954 45
--
Dig, 1956: the initial five-track L. P. version includes two (‘Dig’, ‘It's Only a Paper Moon’) of the four tracks that comprised New Sounds in addition to two (‘Bluing’, ‘Out of the Blue’) of the three tracks that comprised Blue Period, and the B-side track, ‘Denial’; the seven-track C. D. version includes these five tracks plus the two others from New Sounds (‘Conception’ and ‘My Old Flame’, which in the L. P. era had been included on the various-artists compilation, Conception).
--
The Blue Note sessions of May 9th, 1952 and April 20th, 1953:
Miles Davis Sextet/Miles Davis - ‘Chance It’ b/w ‘Yesterdays’, 1952 78
Miles Davis Sextet - ‘Dear Old Stockholm’ b/w ‘Would'n You’ (‘Woody 'n' You’), 1952 78
Miles Davis - ‘Kelo’ b/w ‘C.T.A.’, 1953 78
Miles Davis Sextet/Miles Davis - ‘Ray's Idea’ b/w ‘I Waited for You’, 1954 78
Miles Davis Sextet - ‘Enima’ b/w ‘Tempus Fugit’, 1954 78
Young Man with a Horn, 1952 10-inch L. P.
‘Dear Old Stockholm’
‘Woody 'n' You’
‘Yesterdays’
‘Chance It’
‘Donna’
‘How Deep Is the Ocean?’
Miles Davis - Young Man with a Horn, 1956 45 E. P.
‘Dearl Old Stockholm’
‘Would'n You’
‘Yesterdays’
i. e. a cheaper, halved version of the 10-inch
Miles Davis Vol. 2, 1953 10-inch L. P.
‘Tempus Fugit’
‘Enigma’
‘Ray's Idea’
‘Kelo’
‘I Waited for You’
‘C.T.A.’
Miles Davis Vol. 3, 1954 10-inch L. P.
‘Take Off’
‘It Never Entered My Mind’
‘Well You Needn't’
‘Lazy Susan’
‘Weirdo’
‘The Leap’
Miles Davis - ‘Tempus Fugit’ b/w ‘Lazy Susan’, 1956 45
Miles Davis - ‘The Leap’ b/w ‘Weirdo’, 1956 45
Miles Davis - ‘Well You Needn't’ b/w ‘Donna’, 1957 45
The current C. D.s derived from the Blue Note 10-inch albums (visit the Wikipedia pages for handy track listings of the other 12-inch and C. D. versions) were released in 2001.
Miles Davis Volume 1, 2001: This reissue features the entirety (tracks 1-6) of the 10-inch L. P., Young Man With a Horn [1952] and the entirety (tracks 10-15) of the 10-inch L. P., Miles Davis Volume 3, as well as alternate takes of three of the Young Man With a Horn compositions.
Miles Davis Volume 2, 2001: This reissue features the entirety (tracks 1-6) of the 10-inch L. P., Miles Davis Volume 2 [1953], as well as alternate takes of five of those six compositions.
In 2014, a Record Store Day 10-inch L. P. called Enigma included four previously-unreleased alternate takes, one each of ‘Enigma’ and ‘Kelo’, two of ‘Chance It’.
--
Collectors' Items, 1956 12-inch L. P. (session details, 1953 and 1956): ‘The Serpent's Tooth I’; ‘The Serpent's Tooth II’; ‘'Round about Midnight’; ‘Compulsion’; ‘No Line’; ‘Vierd Blues’; ‘In Your Own Sweet Way’
Miles Davis Plays the Compositions of Al Cohn, 1953 10-inch L. P. (session details); ‘Tasty Pudding’ apparently also released on its own as a 78, but information about that release is not readily available; see this page at 78 Discography.
‘Tasty Pudding’
‘Floppy’
‘Willie the Wailer’
‘For Adults Only’
--
Miles Davis and Horns, 1956: includes all four of the tracks that comprised Miles Davis Plays the Compositions of Al Cohn; and all four of the tracks that comprised the Miles Davis Sextet E. P.; the C. D. version in turn added an alternate take of ‘Blue Room’. (Again, as noted above, and seen at the Losin's page for the session in question, the alternate version of the first take of ‘Blue Room’ has only been released on a 78.)
--
The sessions of May 19th, 1953 and March 15th, 1954
Miles Davis Quartet, 1953 45 E. P.
‘Blue Haze’
‘Four’
‘That Ole's Devil Moon’
Miles Davis Quartet - When Lights Are Low, 1953 45 E. P.
‘When Lights Are Low’
‘Tune Up’
‘Miles Ahead’
‘Smooch’
Miles Davis Quartet, 1954 10-inch L. P.
‘When Lights Are Low’
‘Tune Up’
‘Miles Ahead’
‘Smooch’
‘Four’
‘Old Devil Moon’
‘Blue Haze’
--
Miles Davis All-Star Sextet, 1954 10-inch L. P. (session details)
‘Blue 'n' Boogie’
‘Walkin'’
Miles Davis Quintet, 1954 10-inch L. P. (session details)
‘Solar’
‘You Don't Know What Love Is’
‘I'll Remember April’
‘That Old Devil Moon’ b/w ‘You Don't Know What Love Is’, 1964 45
Miles Davis with Sonny Rollins, 1954 10-inch L. P. (session details)
‘Airegin’
‘Oleo’
‘But Not for Me’
‘Doxy’
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Blue Haze, 1956; includes all seven tracks that comprised Miles Davis Quartet, plus ‘I'll Remember April’, one of the three tracks that comprised Miles Davis Quintet.
Walkin', 1957: includes two of the three tracks (‘Solar’ and ‘You Don't Know What Love Is’) that comprised Miles Davis Quintet, in addition to another track, ‘Love Me or Leave Me’, previously unreleased, from the same session; and both of the tracks that comprised Miles Davis All-Star Sextet.
--
The session of December 24th, 1954
Miles Davis All-Stars Vol. 1, 1955 10-inch L. P.
‘Bags' Groove’
‘Swing Spring’
Miles Davis All-Stars Vol. 2, 1955 10-inch L. P.
‘Bemsha Swing’
‘The Man I Love’
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Bags' Groove, 1957: includes one (‘Bags' Groove’) of the two tracks that comprised Miles Davis All Stars Vol. 1, 1955. The remainder of this album features all four of the tracks (‘Airegin’, ‘Oleo’, ‘But Not for Me’, and ‘Doxy’) that comprised Miles Davis with Sonny Rollins; plus alternate takes of ‘Bags' Groove’ and ‘But Not for Me’.
Miles Davis and Modern Jazz Giants, 1959; includes one (‘Swing Spring’) of two tracks that comprised the 10-inch L. P., Miles Davis All-Stars Vol. 1; both of the tracks (‘Bemsha Swing’ and ‘The Man I Love’) that comprised Miles Davis All-Stars Vol. 2; plus an alternate take of ‘The Man I Love’ and a previously-unreleased track, ‘Round Midnight’. The alternate ‘Man I Love’ was originally released on a 1957 variant of this album, a curio in that it ran at 16-2/3 R. P. M. and contains all of the contents of this 1959 variant—minus the aforementioned ‘Round Midnight’—as well as the Bags' Groove 12-inch released that same year
--
Moving out of the 10-inch era.... the remainder of Davis's Prestige albums were originally released as 12-inch albums:
The Musings of Miles, 1955 (session details): ‘Will You Stil Be Mine?’; ‘I See Your Face Before Me’; ‘I Didn't’; ‘A Gal in Calico’; ‘A Night in Tunisia; ‘Green Haze’. Both ‘Green Haze’ and ‘A Night in Tunisia’ released as 45s, both split into parts 1 and 2
Blue Moods, 1955 (session details): ‘Nature Boy’; ‘Alone Together’; ‘There's No You’; ‘Easy Living’
Miles Davis and Milt Jackson Quintet/Sextet, 1956 (session details): ‘Dr. Jackie’; ‘Bitty Ditty’; ‘Minor March’; ‘Changes’
Miles: The New Miles Davis Quintet, 1956 (session details): ‘Just Squeeze Me’; ‘There Is No Greater Love’; ‘How Am I to Know?’; ‘S'posin’; ‘The Theme’; ‘Stablemates’; this album produced a 45: ‘'Sposin’ b/w ‘Just Squeeze Me’
Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet, 1957 (session details): ‘My Funny Valentgine’; ‘Blues by Five’; ‘Airegin’; ‘Tune Up/When Lights Are Low’
Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet 1958 (session details: May and October 1956): ‘If I Were a Bell’; ‘You're My Everything’; ‘I Could Write a Book’; ‘Oleo’; ‘It Could Happen to You’
Steamin' with the Miles Davis Quintet, 1959 (session details: May and October 1956): ‘Surrey with the Fringe on Top’; ‘Salt Peanuts’; ‘Something I Dreamed Last Night’; ‘Diane’; ‘Well You Needn't’; ‘When I Fell in Love’
Workin' with the Miles Davis Quintet, 1961 (session details): ‘It Never Entered My Mind’; ‘Four’; ‘In Your Own Sweet Way’; ‘The Theme (Take 1)’; ‘Trane's Blues’; ‘Ahmad's Blues’; ‘Half Nelson’; ‘The Theme (Take 2)’
Some of these tracks were released as 45s: ‘If I Were a Bell - Part One’ b/w ‘If I Were a Bell - Part Two’, 1958; ‘It Never Entered My Mind (Part 1)’ b/w ‘It Never Entered a Mind (Part 2)’, 1959; ‘When I Fall in Love’ b/w I ‘Could Write a Book’, 1961; ‘Surry with the Fringe on Top’ b/w ‘Diane’; ‘My Funny Valentine’ b/w ‘Smooch’, 1965; ‘Airegin’ b/w ‘'Round Midnight’, 1965; ‘Oleo’ b/w ‘Tune Up’.
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Thelonious Monk (and Milt Jackson)
For now, only the 10-inch albums that Monk released on Prestige, and their resulting 12-inch and C. D. albums—not 78s and 45s...
The Thelonious Monk Trio - Thelonious, 1953: ‘Little Rootie Tootie’; ‘Sweet and Lovely’; ‘Bye-Ya’; ‘Monk's Dream’; ‘Trinkle Tinkle’; ‘These Foolish Things’; ‘Bemsha Swing’; ‘Reflections’
The Modern Jazz Quartet, 1953: ‘All the Things You Are; ‘La Ronde’; ‘Vendome’; ‘Rose of the Rio Grande’; ‘The Queen's Fancy’; ‘Delaunay's Dilemma’; ‘Autumn in New York’; ‘But Not for Me’
Milt Jackson Quintet, 1954: ‘Opus Defunk’; ‘I've Lost Your Love’; ‘Buhaina’; ‘Soma’
Thelonious Monk Quintet Featuring Sonny Rollins – Blows for LP, 1954: ‘Friday the Thirteenth’; ‘Let's Call This’; ‘Think of One’.
Thelonious Monk Quintet, 1954: ‘We See’; ‘Smoke Gets in Your Eyes’; ‘Locomotive’; ‘Hackensack’
Thelonious Monk Plays, 1954: ‘Work’; ‘Nutty’; ‘Blue Monk’; ‘Just a Gigolo’
Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins Quartet, 1955: ‘The Way You Look Tonight’; ‘I Want to Be Happy’; ‘More than You Know’
12-inch albums derived from these Prestige 10-inch albums:
Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins, 1954: includes one (‘Friday the 13th’) of the tree tracks that comprised Thelonious Monk Quintet Featuring Sonny Rollins - Blows for LP; two (‘Work’, ‘Nutty’) of the four tracks that comprised Thelonious Monk Plays; and two (‘The Way You Look Tonight’, ‘I Want to Be Happy’) of the three tracks that comprised Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins Quartet.
Thelonious Monk with Sonny Rollins and Frank Foster (alternately known as Monk, Thelonious Monk, or The Golden Monk), 1954: includes two (‘Let's Call This’, ‘Think of One’) of the three tracks that comprised Thelonious Monk Quintet Featuring Sonny Rollins – Blows for LP; all four tracks that comprised Thelonious Monk Quintet; and an alternate take of ‘Think of One’.
Thelonious Monk Trio, 1956: includes two (‘Blue Monk’, ‘Just a Gigolo’) of the four tracks that comprised Thelonious Monk Plays; and all eight tracks that comprised the Thelonious Monk Trio's Thelonious.
M J Q [a. k. a. Modern Jazz Quartet/Milt Jackson Quintet], 1956: includes four of the eight tracks that comprised The Modern Jazz Quartet; and all four of the tracks that comprised Milt Jackson Quintet.
The remaining four tracks from The Modern Jazz Quartet included on the album, Django [1956] alongside the four tracks from the 10-inch album, The Modern Jazz Quartet, 1955, on which Monk does not appear.
The track, ‘More Than You Know’, from Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins Quartet, included on Sonny Rollins – Moving Out [1956] alongside the four tracks from the 10-inch album, Sonny Rollins Quartet Featuring Kenny Dorham, on which Monk does not appear.
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Thelonious Monk's small body of work at Blue Note is especially messy discographically. Start with the 78s:
‘Thelonious’ b/w ‘Suburban Eyes’, Blue Note 542
‘'Round about Midnight’ b/w ‘Well You Needn't’, Blue Note 543
‘Evonce’ b/w ‘Off Minor’, Blue Note 547
‘In Walked Bud’ b/w ‘Epistrophy’, Blue Note 548
‘Ruby My Dear’ b/w ‘Evidence’, Blue Note 549
‘Humph’ b/w ‘Misterioso’, Blue Note 560
‘All the Things You Are‘ b/w ‘I Should Care’, Blue Note 1201
‘I Mean You’ b/w [Tadd Dameron] ‘Symphonette’, Blue Note 1564
‘Monk's Mood’ b/w ‘Who Knows’, Blue Note 1565
‘Nice Work if You Can Get It’ b/w ‘April in Paris’, Blue Note 1575
‘Four in One’ b/w ‘Straight No Chaser’, Blue Note 1589
‘Criss-Cross’ b/w ‘Eronel’, Blue Note 1590
‘Ask Me Now’ b/w ‘Willow Weep for Me’ [credited to either Art Blakey or Milt Jackson], Blue Note 1591
‘Skippy’ b/w ‘Let's Cool One’, Blue Note 1602
‘Hornin' In’ b/w ‘Carolina Moon’, Blue Note 1603
All of these tracks except the Tadd Dameron track (on which Monk does not play) are featured in order on 'Round about Midnight: The Complete Blue Note Singles (1947-1952), a 2014 compilation that is charming in its way but redundant for those who already own C. D. copies of the albums that originally compiled these singles, as described below. This compilation also includes 14 other tracks, mostly alternate takes, that also had already been released on various L. P.s and C. D.s over the years; again, as described below.
The 10-inch albums on Blue Note that collected of some of these tracks run as follows:
Genius of Modern Music, 1951: ‘'Round Midnight’; ‘Off Minor’; ‘Ruby My Dear’; ‘I Mean You’; ‘Thelonious’; ‘Epistrophy’; ‘Well You Needn't’; ‘Misterioso’
Genius of Modern Music Vol. 2, 1952: ‘Four in One’; ‘Who Knows?’; ‘Nice Work If You Can Get It’; ‘In Walked Bud’; ‘Humph’; ‘Straight, No Chaser’; ‘Suburban Eyes’; ‘Ask Me Now’
Three more of these tracks were included among eight tracks total on the 10-inch album, Milt Jackson – Wizard of the Vibes, 1952: ‘Tahiti’; ‘Lillie’; ‘Criss-Cross’; ‘Willow Weep for Me’; ‘What's New?’; ‘Bags' Groove’; ‘On the Scene’; ‘Eronel’
12-inch Blue Note albums derived from these recordings:
Milt Jackson and the Thelonious Monk Quintet, 1955 (the 2001 CD returns to the 10-inch title, Wizard of the Vibes): included all eight tracks which conmprised the 10-inch, plus ‘Evidence’ and alternate takes of ‘Lillie’, ‘Misterioso’, and ‘Four in One’. The 1989 and 2001 C. D. versions differ in track order but both include 17 tracks, adding three (‘Epistrophy’, ‘I Mean You’, ‘Misterioso’) of the eight tracks which comprise Genius of Modern Music; and ‘All the Things You Are’, ‘I Should Care’, ‘Don't Get Around Much Anymore’, and alternate takes of ‘What's New’, ‘Don't Get Around Much Anymore’, and ‘I Should Care’; but removing the alternate take of ‘Four in One’, which instead is included on the C. D. version of Genius of Modern Music Volume Two; and ‘Criss-Cross’, ‘Willow Weep for Me’; and ‘Eronel’, which instead are included on Genius of Modern Music Volume Two.
Genius of Modern Music Volume One, 1956: includes all eight tracks which constitute Genius of Modern Music; two (‘In Walked Bud’, ‘Humph’) of the eight tracks which constitute Genius of Modern Music Vol. 2; and ‘April in Paris’ and ‘Introspection’. The 1989 and 2011 C. D. versions differ in track order but both add ‘Who Knows?’, ‘Suburban Eyes’, and ‘Nice Work If You Can Get It’ from the 10-inch and 12-inch versions of the second Genius of Modern Music, ‘Evonce’, ‘Monk's Mood’, and alternate takes of ‘Who Knows’, ‘Nice Work If You Can Get It’, ‘Suburban Eyes’, ‘Evonce’, ‘Ruby My Dear’, ‘Well You Needn't’, and ‘April in Paris’; but remove ‘I Mean You’, ‘Epistrophy’, and ‘Misterioso’, which are instead included on the C. D. noted above: Milt Jackson and the Thelonious Monk Quiet [1989]/ Wizard of the Vibes [2001]
Genius of Modern Music Volume Two, 1956: includes six (‘Four in One’, ‘Who Knows’, ‘Nice Work (If You Can Get It)’, ‘Straight, No Chaser’, ‘Suburban Eyes’, ‘Ask Me Now’) of the eight tracks which comprise Genius of Modern Music Vol. 2; and ‘Carolina Moon’, ‘Hornin' In’, ‘Skippy’, ‘Let's Cool One’, ‘Evonce’, ‘Monk's Mood’. As noted above, C. D. versions include three (‘Criss Cross’, ‘Willow Weep for Me’, and ‘Eronel’) of the eight tracks originally included on the 10-inch and 12-inch L. P. versions of Wizard of the Vibes; and an alternate take of ‘Four in One’ originally included on the L. P. version of Wizard of the Vibes; while the 1989 and 2001 C. D. versions differ in track order, they both add ‘I'll Follow You’, ‘Sixteen’, and alternate takes of ‘Criss Cross’, ‘Ask Me Now’, ‘Hornin' In’, ‘Skippy’, and ‘Sixteen’; but remove ‘Who Knows’, ‘Nice Work If You Can Get It’, ‘Suburban Eyes’, ‘Evonce’, and ‘Monk's Mood’.
Why did the 1989 C. D. versions go with a different track order than the earlier 12-inch albums and later C. D.s? Because on the '89 versions the tracks were arranged in the order in which they were recorded. The later C. D.s went back to the 12-inch albums' track orders; Blue Note also did vinyl reissues of the three 10-inch albums in 2014 to accompany the two-disc set noted above.
A simpler comparison of tracks for the 10-inch, 12-inch, and C. D. versions of these three albums:
Genius of Modern Music [1952 10-inch L. P.]
'Round About Midnight
Off Minor
Ruby My Dear
I Mean You
Thelonious
Epistrophy
Well You Needn't
Misterioso
Genius of Modern Music [1956 12-inch L. P.]
'Round About Midnight
Off Minor
Ruby My Dear
I Mean You
April in Paris
In Walked Bud
Thelonious
Epistrophy
Well You Needn't
Misterioso
Introspection
Humph
[1989 C. D.]
Humph
Evonce (Alternate Take)
Evonce
Suburban Eyes
Suburban Eyes (Alternate Take)
Thelonious
Nice Work If You Can Get It (Alternate Take)
Nice Work If You Can Get It
Ruby My Dear (Alternate Take)
Ruby My Dear
Well You Needn't
Well You Needn't (Alternate Take)
April in Paris (Alternate Take)
April in Paris
Off Minor
Introspection
In Walked Bud
Monk's Mood
Who Knows?
'Round Midnight
Who Knows? (Alternate Take)
[2001 C. D.]
Humph
Evonce
Suburban Eyes
Thelonious
Evonce (Alternate Take)
Suburban Eyes (Alternate Take)
Nice Work If You Can Get It
Ruby My Dear
Well You Needn't
April In Paris
Off Minor
Introspection
Nice Work If You Can Get It (Alternate Take)
Ruby My Dear (alternate Take)
Well You Needn't (Alternate Take)
April In Paris (Alternate Take)
In Walked Bud
Monk's Mood
Who Knows?
'Round Midnight
Who Knows? (Alternate Take)
Genius of Modern Music Vol. 2 [1952 10-inch L. P.]
Four in One
Who Knows
Nice Work
In Walked Bud
Humph
Straight No Chaser
Suburban Eyes
Ask Me Now
[1956 12-inch L. P.]
Carolina Moon
Hornin' In
Skippy
Let's Cool One
Suburban Eyes
Evonce
Straight No Chaser
Four in One
Nice Work
Monk's Mood
Who Knows
Ask Me Now
[1989 C. D.]
Four in One
Four in One (Alternate Take)
Criss Cross
Criss Cross (Alternate Take)
Eronel
Straight No Chaser
Ask Me Now (Alternate Take)
Ask Me Now
Willow Weep for Me
Skippy
Skippy (Alternate Take)
Hornin' In (Alternate Take)
Hornin' In
Sixteen (First Take)
Sixteen (Second Take)
Carolina Moon
Let's Cool One
I'll Follow You
[2001 C. D.]
Four in One
Criss Cross
Eronel
Straight No Chaser
Ask Me Now
Willow Weep for Me
Four in One (Alternate Take)
Criss Cross (Alternate Take)
Ask Me Now (Alternate Take)
Skippy
Hornin' In
Sixteen
Carolina Moon
Let's Cool One
I'll Follow You
Skippy (Alternate Take)
Hornin' In (Alternate Take)
Sixteen (First Take)
Milt Jackson, Wizard of the Vibes [1952 10-inch L. P.]
Tahiti
Lillie
Criss Cross
Willow Weep for Me
What's New
Bags' Groove
On the Scene
Eronel
Milt Jackson and the Thelonious Monk Quintet [1956 12-inch L. P.]
Lillie
Tahiti
What's New?
Bags' Groove
On the Scene
Willow, Weep for Me
Criss Cross
Eronel
Misterioso (Alternate Take)
Evidence
Lillie (Alternate Take)
Four in One (Alternate Take)
Milt Jackson and the Thelonious Monk Quintet [1989 C. D.]
Tahiti
Lillie
Lillie (Alternate Take)
Bags' Groove
What's New
What's New (Alternate Take)
Don't Get Around Much Anymore
Don't Get Around Much Anymore (Alternate Take)
On the Scene
Evidence
Misterioso
Misterioso (Alternate Take)
Epistrophy
I Mean You
All the Things You Are
I Should Care
I Should Care (Alternate Take)
Wizard of the Vibes [2001 C. D.]
Tahiti
Lillie
Bags' Groove
What's New
Don't Get Around Much Anymore
On the Scene
Lillie (Alternate Take)
What's New (Alternate Take)
Don't Get Around Much Anymore (Alternate Take)
Evidence
Misterioso
Epistrophy
I Mean You
Misterioso (Alternate Take)
All the Things You Are
I Should Care
I Should Care (Alternate Take)
~
Tonal Views of the Atonal: Fourteen Hybrid and—or Variable Sun Ra Albums
Instead of a single Sun Ra discography, multiple explorations of Ra's work are offered here and at Rockissue. This is the first. The second: simple list of albums, arranged chronologically by recording date and illustrated by hype stickers, obis, and, in the case of the Evidence reissues of the early Nineties, very-psychedelic-like C. D. surfaces. Both of these discographies, like most of the posts here at the World's Wide Web, are works in progress.
1. Pictures of Infinity:
1971 L. P.:
‘Somewhere There’
‘Outer Spaceways Incorporated’
‘Saturn’
‘Song of the Sparer’
‘Spontaneous Simplicity’
1991 C. D., retitled Sun Ra and His Arkestra:
original L. P. + ‘The Izard of Was’; ‘Moon in the Seventh High’ (these tracks, as documented by Sun Ra discographer Chris Trent, are actually ‘The Cosmos’ and ‘Of Heavenly Things’, respectively, from The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra Vol. 1; the alternate titles used for unknown reasons).
1993 C. D., retitled Outer Spaceways Incorporated:
original L. P. + ‘Intergalactic Motion’
2017 reissue, returning to the original title, Pictures of Infinity:
‘Ankhnaton’ (‘Intergalactic Motion’)
‘Saturn’
‘Song of the Sparer’
‘Spontaneous Simplicity’
‘The Wind Speaks’ (‘Somebody Else’s World’)
‘Velvet’
‘The Satellites Are Spinning’
‘State Street’
‘Nothing Is’
‘Outer Spaceways Incorporated’/ ‘We Travel the Spaceways’
- Tracks 1-4 seem to correspond to the tracks on previous versions. Slight changes in timings and the different recording date given for the 2017 reissue complicate this matter.
- ‘The Wind Speaks’ and ‘Outer Spaceways Incorporated’/ ‘We Travel the Spaceways’ originally released on The Outerspaceways Inc. (A Tonal View of Times Tomorrow, Vol. 3) [see Spaceways (1a) below]
- ‘Velvet’ here is the same track as the ‘Velvet’ included on Janus [see The Invisible Shield (2) below].
1a. Spaceways:
1998 C. D., included as the second disc of the boxed set, Calling Planet Earth; supposedly corresponds to the 1974 L. P., The Outerspaceways Inc. (A Tonal View of Times Tomorrow, Vol. 3), despite variations in titles:
‘Prelude and Shadow-Light World’ [‘Chromatic Shadows’ on the L. P.]
‘The Wind Speaks’
‘We Sing This Song’ [correctly entitled ‘The Satellites Are Spinning’ on the L. P.]
‘Outer Space[ways] Incorporated’
‘We Travel the Spaceways’ [these two tracks combined as ‘Outerspaceways Inc.’ on the L. P.; note that they are combined on the 2017 Pictures of Infinity as well]
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2. The Invisible Shield (A Tonal View of Times Tomorrow, Vol. 2):
1974 L. P.:
‘State Street’
‘Sometimes I’m Happy’
‘Time after Time’
‘Time after Time’ [alternate]
‘Easy to Love’
‘Sunny Side Up’
‘Island in the Sun’
‘The Invisible Shield’
‘Janus’
2014 download reissue removes the alternate version of ‘Time after Time’ [a brief track—is it actually a false start? Could it be included on some variants/ ephemera compilation?] but includes the track, ‘But Not for Me’, and does not shorten ‘Island in the Sun’ like the Janus C. D.
2a. Janus:
1999 C. D.:
three tracks from The Invisible Shield: ‘Island in the Sun’ [abridged]; ‘The Invisible Shield’; ‘Janus’;
+ ‘Velvet’; ‘Joy’, according to the liner notes, both live tracks recorded ca. 1968
2b. Standards:
2001 C. D.:
four tracks from The Invisible Shield: ‘Sometimes I’m Happy’; ‘Time After Time’; ‘Easy to Love’; ‘Keep Your Sunny Side Up’;
+ ‘But Not for Me’, later included in the 2014 reissue of Shield [see above]; and ‘Can This Be Love?’, from Deep Purple [see below]
So what happens to ‘Chromatic Shadows’/ ’Shadow-Light World’ and ‘The Satellites Are Spinning’/ ’We Sing This Song’ (the latter clearly a different recording than ‘The Satellites Are Spanning’ from the 2017 Infinity) from Spaceways; Joy from Janus; and the alternate version of ‘Time after Time’ from the original Shield? Why are ‘Somewhere There’ and the version of ‘Outer Spaceways’ on the original Infinity excluded from the 2017 Infinity? Do these tracks constitute a third final/ official album, after Shield and Infinity, developed out of the varying trackings of these Black Lion-related releases?
That album would at least consist of: ‘Somewhere There’; ‘Outer Spaceways Incorporated’ [1971]; ‘Chromatic Shadows’; ‘The Satellites Are Spinning’ [1974]; ‘Joy’; more than 40 minutes—let’s call it Chromatics.
A third album, though, also emerged with the third disc of the Calling Planet Earth boxed set entitled Calling Planet Earth, consisting of nine tracks apparently recorded in concert, 1971, and otherwise unavailable [until a recent L. P. reissue, which is split into 11 tracks; from seeing only the titles, it would appear that the first track of the C. D. was split into 3, but given its brevity that sounds like an odd approach].
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3. Deep Purple:
1973 L. P.:
‘Deep Purple’
‘Piano Interlude’
‘Can This Be Love?’
‘Dreams Come True’
‘Don’t Blame Me’
‘’S Wonderful’
‘Lover Come Back to Me’
‘The World of the Invisible’
‘The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters The Land of the Day Star’
Tracks 1-7 (Side A) included on 1991 C. D. reissue of Sound Sun Pleasure!!; ‘Can This Be Love?’ added to 2001 C. D. Standards [see above]
Tracks 8-10 (Side B) recorded 1973, later part of Cymbals, included in both The Great Lost Sun Ra Albums (Cymbals and Crystal Spears), 2000; and The Cymbals/ Symbols Sessions: New York City 1973, 2018
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4. Space Probe
1974 L. P.:
‘Primitive’
‘The Conversion of J. P.’
‘Space Probe’
Alternate pressing, entitled A Tonal View of Times Tomorrow [in case you were wondering what happened to volume one of Tonal View, given that, above, volumes two and three have been noted], lists track 1 as ‘The Primevil Age’ and track 2 as ‘The Conversion’ and flips their place in the tracking order
2011 C. D.:
‘Space Probe’
‘Earth Primitive Earth’
‘Circe’
‘Solar Symbols II’
‘Dance of the Wind’
‘Recollections of There’
‘Destiny’
‘The Conversation of J. P.’
2017 C. D. reissue of My Brother the Wind includes ‘Space Probe’
Without ‘Space Probe’, the 2011 C. D. would still be around 34 minutes in length, long enough to justify reclaiming its status as a major album that it seemingly lost when ‘Space Probe’ was added to the 2017 Brother, especially since several of the tracks apparently come from the same session August 1969 session. Alas, it would need a new title. I vote for Recollections of There. Meanwhile, the 2014 download-only reissue of When Sun Comes Out includes the unabridged version of ‘Primitive’ (that is, ‘Earth Primitive Earth’), retitled ‘Dimensions of Time’, as it comes from the When Sun Comes Out session; if the remaining tracks of what is left of Space Probe similarly find a new home, this album could lose its status as a major album. Note that that the liner notes for the Space Probe claim that ‘Earth Primitive Earth’ was recorded April 29th, 1962, not November, 1962, as noted at the Bandcamp page for the reissue of When Sun Comes Out. Presumably, the April date is correct.
--
5. Cosmo-Earth Fantasy
1974 L. P., apparently made available under varied titles (Temple U, Sub Underground, and Cosmo Earth Fantasy) but repressed in 1977 under its original title:
‘Cosmo-Earth Fantasy’
‘Love Is for Always’
‘The Song of Drums’
‘The World of Africa’
5a. What’s New
1975 L. P.:
‘What’s New?’
‘Wanderlust’
‘Jukin’’
‘Autumn in New York’
‘We Roam the Cosmos’
Other versions of this album included side A of the original Invisible Shield as side B instead of ‘We Roam the Cosmos’.
2012 C. D. reissue, entitled Cosmo Earth Fantasy (Sub Underground Series Vol. 1 and 2) combining both albums:
‘Cosmo-Earth Fantasy’
‘Love Is for Always’
‘The Song of Drums’
‘The World of Africa’
‘What’s New’
‘Wanderlust’
‘Jukin’’
‘Autumn in New York’
‘Space Is the Place/ We Roam the Cosmos’
2014 download reissue of Cosmo, entitled Sub-Underground #1, returns to the single four-track album; new liner notes confirm that the tracks ‘Love Is for Always’ and ‘The Song of Drums’, though dating from 1974 at Temple University, appear to have been recorded at the university's radio station; and that, despite ‘Cosmo-Earth Fantasy’ and ‘The World of Africa’ initially listed as being recorded in 1974, in fact both date from the late Sixties.
This begs the question: will there be a Sub-Underground #2 featuring ‘What’s New’; ‘Wanderlust’; ‘Jukin’’; ‘Autumn in New York’; and [‘Space Is the Place/ ]We Roam the Cosmos’?
--
6. The Sun Myth (African Chant)
2016 download:
‘The Sun Myth (African Chant)’
‘Dawn (Greetings from Others)’
‘The Other Beings’
‘Interplanetary Travelers (Other Worlds)’
Track 1: alternate mix of ‘The Sun Myth’ found on first pressings of The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra Volume 2, 1966; another alternate mix, not as significantly different from the final version, was made for second pressings of the album—this mix remains unreissued apparently
Tracks 2-3 previously unreleased
Track 4 originally released on Out There a Minute [see below]; included in Heliocentric Worlds Vol. 3 (The Lost Tapes), 2005; also included on 2017 reissue of The Magic City
--
7. Sun Ra Visits Planet Earth (and—though less of a hybrid album, or not one at all—Sound of Joy)
1966 L. P.:
‘Planet Earth’
‘Eve’
‘Overtones of China’
‘Reflections in Blue’
‘Two Tones’
‘El Viktor’
‘Saturn’
1992 C. D. reissue (coupled on the same disk with Interstellar Low Ways):
‘Reflections in Blue’
‘Two Tones’
‘El Viktor’
‘Saturn’
‘Planet Earth’
‘Eve’
‘Overtones of China’
2015 download reissue returns to the 1966 tracking, provides additional information clarifying similarities and differences with Sound of Joy (1968, Delmark Records):
Tracks 1 and 3: alternate takes from those on Sound
Tracks 4-6: same takes as those on Sound
Track 2 (‘Eve’) only available on this album
Track 7 (‘Saturn’): different mix (sort of) because of tape-transfer error on Delmark master (as noted at the official page for this reissue)
Since Planet Earth was released prior to the Delmark album, one could consider the former to be more of a major album in Sun Ra’s discography; however, the Delmark was available to a greater extent (indeed, much greater) until the 1992 Evidence C. D. release.
Moreover, of Sound’s nine tracks, five are distinct recordings as compared to Earth’s three; though ‘Ankh’ (one of Sound’s tracks not included on Earth) appears on several other albums, the Sound version was recorded first, as was its version of ‘Saturn’. Its version of ‘El Is the Sound of Joy’ was recorded roughly at the same time (same session?) as the version found on Super-Sonic Jazz but arguably is a fuller, superior rendition of that piece. Besides, an album featuring alternate versions does not necessarily count against its status as a major album in an artist’s discography. In short, most versions of Planet Earth feature three tracks—that term used to distinguish a particular recording from the broader term, composition—unique to it (‘Planet Earth’, ‘Overtones of China’, and ‘Eve’), four if you count the restored version of ‘Saturn’ featured on the 2014 reissue, while Sound features five, because, again, from 2014 on, we count ‘Saturn’ toward Planet Earth's total.
A single album covering all of this material would start with Sound of Joy as it is, except with the pitch-corrected ‘Saturn’: even with two bonus tracks added to the 1994 reissue, it amounts to less than 45 minutes; and one of those bonus tracks, ‘Dreams Come True’, was included on Deep Purple [see above]. ‘Eve’ could become part of the album. And the alternate takes of ‘Planet Earth’ and ‘Overtones of China’ could serve as bonus tracks.
--
8. Out There a Minute
1989 C. D.:
‘Love in Outer Space’
‘Somewhere in Space’
‘Dark Clouds with Silver Linings’
‘Jazz and Romantic Sounds’
‘When Angels Speak of Love’
‘Cosmo Enticement’
‘Song of Tree and Forest’
‘Other Worlds’
‘Journey Outward’
‘Lights of a Satellite’
‘Starships and Solar Boats’
‘Out There a Minute’
‘Next Stop Mars’
Track 1: alternate version of composition featured on The Night of the Purple Moon, apparently also from the sessions for that album
Track 2: alternate version of composition featured on Interstellar Low Ways, apparently from the Secrets of the Sun session
Tracks 3 and 9 otherwise unavailable
Track 4: released as ‘The Universe Is Calling’ on The Cymbals/Symbols Sessions: New York City 1973
Track 12 almost entirely the same as ‘Hell #1’ included in Singles (The Definitive 45’s Collection 1952-1991); besides being a different re-master, the Out There version contains a few extra seconds of incidental matter at the beginning of the track
Track 8 later included in Heliocentric Worlds Vol. 3; The Sun Myth (African Chant); and the 2017 reissue of The Magic City [see above]
Tracks 5 and 13 originally released on When Angels Speak of Love
Tracks 6-7 originally released on Continuation
Tracks 10-11 originally released on Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow
--
9. Nuclear War
1984 L. P.:
[Y Records version]
‘Nuclear War’
‘Retrospect’
‘Drop Me Off in Harlem’
‘Sometimes I’m Happy’
‘Celestial Love’
‘Blue Intensity’
‘Nameless One #2’
‘Smile’
[Saturn Records version]
‘Nuclear War’
‘Retrospect’
‘Makeup’
‘Celestial Love’
‘Sometimes I’m Happy’
‘Interstellarism’
‘Blue Intensity’
‘Nuclear War’; ‘Retrospect’; ‘Makeup’ originally released as side A of A Fireside Chat with Lucifer (‘A Fireside Chat with Lucifer’ takes up all of side B)
‘Celestial Love’; ‘Sometimes I'm Happy’; ‘Interstellarism’; ‘Blue Intensity’; ‘Nameless One #2’; ‘Smile’ originally released on Celestial Love (along with ‘Sophisticated Lady and ‘Nameless One #3)
‘Drop Me Off in Harlem’ originally released on on the Y version of Nuclear War, but thankfully included in 2015 download reissue of Celestial Love (released on C. D. in 2020); thus making Nuclear War, the album, finally completely redundant.
--
10. Just Friends
1983 L. P.:
‘Dreams Come True’
‘Back in Your Own Backyard’
‘Otherness Blue’
‘Pleasant Twilight’
‘Walking on the Moon’
‘Just Friends’
‘Under the Spell of Love’
‘Dancing Shadows’
Track 1 originally released on Deep Purple; included on C. D. reissue of Sound Sun Pleasure!!
Track 2 originally released on Sound Sun Pleasure!!
Tracks 3-5 originally released on My Brother the Wind Vol. II
Tracks 6-7 otherwise unavailable
Track 8 originally released on Nothing Is...
--
11. When Spaceships Appear (Cosmo-Party Blues) (Children of the Sun)
1985 L. P.:
‘When Spaceships Appear (Ra to the Rescue Chapter 1)’
‘Fragile Emotions Blues (Back Alley Blues)’
‘Drummerlistics’
‘Children of the Sun’
‘Cosmo-Party Blues’
‘Space Shuttle (Ra to the Rescue Chapter 2)’
‘Fate in a Pleasant Mood’
‘They Plan to Leave’
The 1983 L. P., Ra to the Rescue, included Tracks 1-2 and 6-8, clearly making Spaceships the hybrid/ minor album, especially as Ra to the Rescue apparently consists of recordings from a single gig at the Squat Theater, New York city, 1982; that said, since the Spaceship Cosmo Party (the differing versions of this album, by the way, having different ordering of tracks) includes nearly all of Ra to the Rescue, any reissue of these albums could take the form of a single album with the tracks unique to Spaceships appended after the Rescue tracks; at that point, one could stick to Ra to the Rescue as a title; or choose another: since all of the title variants are also names of compositions featured on the two albums, one would strain to argue that any one of the variants warrants precedence over the others. Either way, in 2022, Modern Harmonic thankfully reissued Ra to the Rescue with the appropriate bonus tracks—moreover, with two extra bonus tracks; however, it does not use the original Ra to the Rescue's track order.
--
12. originally a split album—but, with the C. D. bonus track, long enough to be a full album: The Sun Ra Arkestra Meets Salah Ragab in Egypt Plus the Cairo Jazz Band:
1983 L. P.:
‘Egypt Strut’ [The Sun Ra Arkestra]
‘Dawn’ [The Sun Ra Arkestra]
‘Ramadan’ [The Cairo Jazz Band]
‘Oriental Mood’ [Salah Ragab]
‘A Farewell Theme’ [The Cairo Jazz Band]
1999 C. D. reissue, retitled The Sun Ra Arkestra Meets Salah Ragab Plus the Cairo Jazz Band and the Cairo Free Jazz Ensemble:
+ ‘Watusa’ [The Sun Ra Arkestra]; ‘Music for Angela Davis’ [The Cairo Free Jazz Ensemble]
‘Watusa’ is of sufficient length to constitute an L. P. side. Combined with the original two Arkestra tracks, it makes for a full Sun Ra album (roughly 38 minutes) combined with a short-ish album (roughly 33 minutes) by Ragab and co. However, the original L. P. was reissued recently, with no mention of the extra material on the 1999 release, followed by a C. D. version as well.
--
13. Sign of the Myth
2014 L. P.
‘Sign of the Myth’
‘The Eye of Horus’
‘Hidden Cosmic Treasures’
‘The Truth of Maat’
This archival vinyl-only release on the Roaratorio label (one of four that they released) has been made partially redundant with the 2018 release, The Cymbals/Symbols Sessions. The second disc, Symbols, includes two of Sign's tracks, retitled: ‘The Eye of Horus’ becomes ‘Space Landing’ and ‘The Truth of Maat’ becomes ‘Myth Evidential’. That said, given that ‘Sign of the Myth’ and ‘Hidden Cosmic Treasures’ together amount to nearly 27 minutes, this release could still serve as a short album. As noted above, ‘Jazz and Romantic Sounds’ from Out There a Minute is part of Symbols as well, renamed ‘The Universe Is Calling’. Will the other Roaratorio releases be similarly shortened or made redundant?
--
14. Of Mythic Worlds
1980 L. P.
‘Mayan Temples’
‘Over the Rainbow’
‘Inside the Blues’
‘Intrinsic Energies’
‘Of Mythic Worlds’
The first-third tracks (side A) are live recordings most likely recorded in 1978. The fourth and fifth tracks (side B) were not included in a 2018 download-only reissue (Of Mythic Worlds) because archival research has shown they are studio tracks left over from the 1972 Pathways to Unknown Worlds sessions; read about this discovery at the linked-to Bandcamp page. Those two tracks have been added to the C. D. and download reissues of Pathways. The download version of Mythic, then, has two bonus tracks, both medleys, from a concert at the Moers festival, 1979. In other words, the original Mythic was a hybrid album, but it is no longer, since the side-B studio tracks have found a new home, albeit only as bonus tracks on a reissue. And the new Mythic is short, but still of L. P. length, and is now more of a consistent listen.
--
A compendium of homeless tracks:
from Sun Myth (African Chant):
‘Dawn (Greetings from Others)’
‘The Other Beings’
If not for E. S. P. difficulties, these obviously would work best as bonus tracks on Heliocentric Worlds reissues.
from Out There a Minute:
‘Dark Clouds with Silver Linings’
‘Journey Outward’
from Just Friends:
‘Just Friends’
‘Under the Spell of Love’
plus the four tracks unique to Sun Ra Visits Planet Earth; the seven Deep Purple tracks (or only six if ‘Dreams Come True’ is considered part of Sound of Joy); the alternate take of ‘Time after Time’; and, if you demote Sign of the Myth to status as a partial/ hybrid album, ‘Sign of the Myth’ and ‘Hidden Cosmic Treasures’.
~
The O. J. C.
Saul Zaentz made money as the head of Fantasy Records, because what had been a Jazz label signed a Rock act, Creedence Clearwater Revival, that was very popular. Then, with all that money, Zaentz became a successful movie producer. Legal and financial controversies regarding his dealings with Creedence's John Fogerty and the recent Hobbit film series dogged him until his death in 2014. For fans of Jazz music, though, the music empire that Zaentz made out of the old Fantasy Records label—when it was renamed merely, Fantasy, and held under its wings numerous other Jazz labels, including Riverside, Prestige, Milestone, and Contemporary—is the big story. Part of that story is the Original Jazz Classics reissue series of the Eighties and Nineties. Initially L. P.s, the series lives on largely in the form of used C. D.s that you will find at any store that sells them. The distinctive black-and-white spines pop out, immediately attracting the attention of avid listeners looking for great music at cheap prices. Perhaps hundreds of great Jazz albums are most readily available via this series. Indeed, for many of these titles, often reissued several times in Japan (because Japan is amazing), in the North American and European markets the only C. D. version is still—all these decades later—the O. J. C.
Thankfully the Fantasy operation published a catalog for the O.J.C. series in 1995. At least one additional catalog, published via Tower Records, came in 2000. These books are not terribly hard to find. Much of the 1995 volume is comprised of blurbs and track listings, plus personnel and technical information, for selected O. J. C. titles. In the back, though, is a complete O. J. C. catalog:
Simple math tells us that at the time of this 1995 book's publication, a whopping total of nine-hundred-thirty five O. J. C. reissues had come out. This total does not include the compilations: i.e. the 6000 series or the Prestige sampler. Notice there is no entry for no. 100 (even though there are for 300, 400, 600, 700, and 800), and the five-hundreds are skipped over. That's still a lot of C.D.s. By the mid-Nineties, we were reaching peak-C.D. times, but even when taking that into account, this series was a big deal.
By the time of the 2000 volume (a magazine), the series was closer to completion. Moreover, even as O. J. C. releases were still coming out, for another series of reissues the O. J. C. name and logo had been dropped (in the States, that is; as European markets apparently were still presented with O. J. C. versions), these new editions being remastered using "K2 Super Coding" as the covers noted—as if any random listener would know what that means. This series, in total number, never came close to O. J. C. However, more of the "K2" reissues came out in Japan (of course!), in a variety of series. While the Japanese versions, like many Japanese C. D.s that collectors have come to love, came in mini-L. P. packaging, the U. S. versions came in color-coded o-cards (red for Riverside, purple for Prestige, blue for Fantasy, light yellow for Pablo, dark yellow for Contemporary... I'm not sure how far they took this concept; I don't know of any Milestone titles that got the "K2" treatment). An example to point to is Eric Dolphy's Five Spot Volume 1, the grey o-card corresponding to the New Jazz label.
The later O. J. C. items that came out after the 1995 catalog but early enough to be listed in the 2000 are provided below. There are additional titles in the regular series, the Limited Edition series, and the 6000 series. The Tower book also lists the Original Blues Classics titles. The O. B. C. series included albums originally released on Prestige, Bluesville, and a few other labels. It does not compare to the O.J.C. in breadth or quality, but there are nonetheless several important albums available via these labels, including essential releases from John Lee Hooker, Gary Davis, and Lightnin' Hopkins.
As noted above, the Tower booklet/ magazine came only as the series was nearing completion. More titles were still coming, at least in the regular and Limited Edition series. As the Tower book ends with O. J. C. number 1055 (and Limited Edition number 1942), here are Discogs links to later reissues in the series:
1056: https://www.discogs.com/George-Gershwin-George-Cables-By-George-George-Cables-Plays-The-Music-Of-George-Gershwin/release/8970713
1057: https://www.discogs.com/Flora-Purim-Thats-What-She-Said/release/10302438
1058: https://www.discogs.com/Roy-Eldridge-Little-Jazz-And-The-Jimmy-Ryan-All-Stars/release/12688121
1059: https://www.discogs.com/The-Milt-Jackson-Quartet-Soul-Route/release/11629192
1060: https://www.discogs.com/Frank-Morgan-Quartet-Yardbird-Suite/release/4084846
1061: https://www.discogs.com/Etta-Jones-Hollar/release/11661494
1062: https://www.discogs.com/Barry-Harris-Quintet-Newer-Than-New/release/11876469
1063: https://www.discogs.com/Charlie-Byrd-Blues-Sonata/release/9839660
1064: https://www.discogs.com/Red-Garland-Quintet-Reds-Good-Groove/release/5926912
1065: https://www.discogs.com/Herbie-Manns-Californians-Great-Ideas-Of-Western-Mann/release/10868541
1066: https://www.discogs.com/Barney-Kessel-Barney-Kessels-Swingin-Party-At-Contemporary/release/12963136
1067: https://www.discogs.com/Hampton-Hawes-The-Sermon/release/8852127
1068: https://www.discogs.com/Woody-Herman-And-The-Thundering-Herd-King-Cobra/release/12020710
1069: https://www.discogs.com/Bill-Evans-From-The-70s/release/3378463
1070: https://www.discogs.com/Ron-Carter-Hank-Jones-Sadao-Watanabe-Tony-Williams-Carnaval/release/6965860
1071: https://www.discogs.com/McCoy-Tyner-Sama-Layuca/release/1781411
1072: https://www.discogs.com/Ella-Fitzgerald-Cole-Porter-Dream-Dancing/release/17466322
1073 not included on Discogs except being referenced here: https://www.discogs.com/The-Modern-Jazz-Quartet-The-Complete-Modern-Jazz-Quartet-Prestige-Pablo-Recordings/release/4110224; see instead: https://www.jazzdisco.org/fantasy-records/catalog-ojc-1000-series/#ojccd-1073-2
1074: https://www.discogs.com/Arnett-Cobb-Movin-Right-Along/release/9471768
1075: https://www.discogs.com/James-Clay-David-Fathead-Newman-The-Sound-Of-The-Wide-Open-Spaces/release/7767755
1076: https://www.discogs.com/Dave-Brubeck-Quartet-Jazz-At-The-College-Of-The-Pacific-Volume-2/release/5881968
1077: https://www.discogs.com/Joe-Turner-The-Midnight-Special/release/13300487
1078: https://www.discogs.com/Charlie-Earland-Black-Drops/release/16595751
1079: https://www.discogs.com/Roy-Haynes-Cymbalism/release/8341179
1080: https://www.discogs.com/McCoy-Tyner-The-Greeting/release/12687901
1081: https://www.discogs.com/Gene-Ammons-Goodbye/release/12800940
1082: https://www.discogs.com/The-Barry-Harris-Sextet-Bulls-Eye/release/7719654
1083: https://www.discogs.com/Shelly-Manne-His-Men-Shelly-Manne-His-Men-Play-Checkmate/release/12440479
1084: https://www.discogs.com/Herbie-Mann-And-Bobby-Jaspar-Flute-Flight/release/11337454
1085: https://www.discogs.com/Eddie-Lockjaw-Davis-Johnny-Griffin-Battle-Stations/release/691382
1086: https://www.discogs.com/Charlie-Byrd-Trio-And-Woodwinds-Byrd-In-The-Wind/release/3899655
1087: https://www.discogs.com/Shelly-Manne-His-Friends-Modern-Jazz-Performances-Of-Songs-From-Lil-Abner/release/6101196
1088: https://www.discogs.com/Nat-Adderley-Quartets-Naturally/release/9347108
1089: https://www.discogs.com/McCoy-Tyner-13th-House/release/3243778
1090: https://www.discogs.com/Eddie-Lockjaw-Davis-Shirley-Scott-Bacalao/release/14034646
1091: https://www.discogs.com/Ammons-Moody-Chicago-Concert/release/12799026
1092: https://www.discogs.com/Charlie-Byrd-With-Voices-Byrd-Song/release/13310981
1093: https://www.discogs.com/Charlie-Byrd-Solo-Flight/release/15918354
1094: https://www.discogs.com/The-Johnny-Griffin-And-Eddie-Lockjaw-Davis-Quintet-Tough-Tenors/release/2619200
1095: https://www.discogs.com/Tom-Harrell-Joe-Lovano-David-Liebman-Cheryl-Pyle-John-Abercrombie-James-Williams-2-Ray-Drummond-Adam/release/7783522
1096: https://www.discogs.com/The-Louie-Bellson-Drum-Explosion-Matterhorn/release/13089192
1097: https://www.discogs.com/Chuck-Wayne-Morning-Mist/release/12204674
1098: https://www.discogs.com/Monty-Alexander-In-Tokyo/release/9369373
1099: https://www.discogs.com/James-Moody-Moody-And-The-Brass-Figures/release/10911552
1100: https://www.discogs.com/Phil-Upchurch-Feeling-Blue/release/5891437
1101: https://www.discogs.com/Lee-Konitz-Quintet-Peacemeal/release/3407667
1103: https://www.discogs.com/The-Frank-Wess-Quartet-The-Frank-Wess-Quartet/release/15067991
1104: https://www.discogs.com/Johnny-Griffin-Eddie-Lockjaw-Davis-Pisces/release/10669241
1105: https://www.discogs.com/Shelly-Manne-His-Men-Play-More-Music-From-Peter-Gunn-Son-Of-Gunn/release/1041677
1106: https://www.discogs.com/Cal-Tjader-Mary-Stallings-Cal-Tjader-Plays-Mary-Stallings-Sings/release/4513626
1107: https://www.discogs.com/McCoy-Tyner-Passion-Dance/release/17975080
1108: https://www.discogs.com/Mary-Lou-Williams-My-Mama-Pinned-A-Rose-On-Me/release/6435519
1109: https://www.discogs.com/Mose-Allison-Ramblin-With-Mose/release/3232202
Limited Edition Series:
1943: https://www.discogs.com/Lucy-Reed-This-Is-Lucy-Reed/release/4223865
1944: https://www.discogs.com/Lennie-Niehaus-Vol-5-The-Sextet/release/2552628
1945: https://www.discogs.com/Prince-Lasha-Quintet-Featuring-Sonny-Simmons-The-Cry/release/4474436
1946: https://www.discogs.com/Jaki-Byard-Trio-Sunshine-Of-My-Soul/release/2990537
1947: https://www.discogs.com/Charles-McPherson-McPhersons-Mood/release/5977552
1948: https://www.discogs.com/Charles-McPherson-McPhersons-Mood/release/5977552
1949: https://www.discogs.com/Don-Sleet-With-Jimmy-Heath-Wynton-Kelly-Jimmy-Cobb-Ron-Carter-All-Members/release/4392608
1950: https://www.discogs.com/Don-Wilkerson-The-Texas-Twister/release/7788077
1951: https://www.discogs.com/Dave-Pike-Its-Time-For-Dave-Pike/release/11707705
1952: https://www.discogs.com/Johnny-Griffin-Quartet-The-Kerry-Dancers/release/7719614
1953: https://www.discogs.com/Tete-Montoliu-Lunch-In-LA/release/7713672
1954: https://www.discogs.com/Jimmy-Woods-Sextet-Featuring-Elvin-Jones-Conflict/release/2954213
1955: https://www.discogs.com/The-Rod-Levitt-Orchestra-The-Dynamic-Sound-Patterns-Of-The-Rod-Levitt-Orchestra/release/7569647
1956: https://www.discogs.com/The-Bill-Smith-Quartet-Folk-Jazz/release/6291309
1957: https://www.discogs.com/Mundell-Lowe-Guitar-Moods/release/3308574
The Tower Records catalog also includes twenty-nine box sets, most of which are compilations of the individual releases—but not all: for example, the Bill Evans sets The Secret Sessions and The Last Waltz. A list of those boxes:
Count Basie, The Golden Years (4PACD-4419-2)
Miles Davis, Chronicle: The Complete Prestige Recordings (8PRCD-012-2)
Eric Dolphy, The Complete Prestige Recordings (9PRCD-4418-2)
Bill Evans, The Complete Riverside Recordings (12RCD-018-2)
Bill Evans, The Complete Fantasy Recordings (9FCD-1012-2)
Bill Evans, Secret Sessions (8MCD-4421-2)
The Bill Evans Trio, The Last Waltz (8MCD-4430-2)
Ella Fitzgerald, The Concert Years (4PACD-4414-2)
Joe Henderson, The Milestone Years (8MCD-4413-2)
Charles Mingus, The Complete Debut Recordings (12DCD-4402-2)
Thelonious Monk, The Complete Riverside Recordings (15RCD-022-2)
Thelonious Monk, The Complete Prestige Recordings (3PRCD-4428-2)
Wes Montgomery, The Complete Riverside Recordings (12RCD-4408-2)
Joe Pass, Guitar Virtuoso (4PACD-4423-2)
Art Pepper, The Complete Galaxy Recordings (16GCD-1016-2)
Art Pepper, The Complete Village Vanguard Sessions (9CCD-4417-2)
Sonny Rollins, The Complete Prestige Recordings (7PRCD-4407-2)
Sonny Rollins, The Freelance Years (The Complete Riverside and Contemporary Recordings) (5RCD-4427-2)
Art Tatum, The Complete Pablo Group Masterpieces (6PACD-4401-2)
Art Tatum, The Complete Pablo Solo Masterpieces (7PACD-4404-2)
Lu Watters, Lu Watters' Yerba Buena Jazz Band (4GTJCD-4409-2)
The Debut Records Story (4DEBCD-4420-2)
The Good Time Jazz Story (4GTJCD-4416-2)
The Prestige Records Story (4PRCD-4426-2)
The Riverside History of Classic Jazz (3RCD-0005-2)
The Riverside Records Story (4RCD-4422-2)
The West Coast Jazz Box (4CCD-4425-2)
There's also a Lightnin' Hopkins box, but we are not listing the Original Blues Classics titles here.
A break of a few years or more in the late Aughts separates the O. J. C./ "K2 Super Coding" reissues and the recent set of reissue series, such as the Orrin Keepnews Collection, released after the Fantasy labels came under the umbrella of the Concord Music Group.
A different approach to the O. J. C. discography is available at the Jazz Discography Project, somewhat confusingly all listed under Fantasy Records.
One of the Ways One Producer Became One Big Deal
A good number of the O. J. C. titles, especially those originally released on Prestige, were recorded by Rudy Van Gelder at this now-legendary New Jersey studio. Van Gelder mostly produced records for Blue Note, however, and that label toward the end of the Nineties began a massive reissue campaign, offering Rudy Van Gelder Editions of hundreds of their titles, remastered by their namesake.
When the R. V. G. Edition series launched, Blue Note amazingly put out a massive boxed set (a pioneer of sorts in the trend toward such sets, often more than one hundred disks, that has become prevalent in the Classical world) called apparently The Rudy Van Gelder Editions: The Complete Collection. "Apparently" because there seems to be little documentation of this gargantuan release: it has no entry at Discogs. There is still an Amazon page for it: https://www.amazon.com/Rudy-Gelder-Editions-Complete-Collection/dp/B000F8MI02/. We know that there were additional releases in the R. V. G. series after this set, which thus became Incomplete; indeed, given the large number of albums that Van Gelder recorded, we cannot seriously believe that Blue Note (or Capitol, which by this point owned Blue Note) ever intended to limit the number of R. V. G. Editions to those found in the Complete box. Note that on that page there is a link to take you to a "complete list" of the titles in the set. That link no longer works. But it used to work, and my crazy self copied and pasted the list into a document years ago. Here it is: (Those artists with more than three titles have the total number indicated next to their name; this is the only edit I made; the list is otherwise presented as it was at the Amazon page, thus the occasional typographical inconsistency.)
- Somethin' Else, Cannonball Adderley
- A Night at Bridland - Vol. 1, Art Blakey (13)
- A Night at Bridland - Vol. 2, Art Blakey
- Meet You at the Jazz Corner of the World, Art Blakey
- Mosaic, Art Blakey
- Indestructable, Art Blakey
- Moanin', Art Blakey
- Big Beat, Art Blakey with the Jazz Messengers
- Like Someone In Love, Art Blakey with the Jazz Messengers
- A Night in Tunisia, Art Blakey with the Jazz Messengers
- At Bohemia - Volume 1, Art Blakey with the Jazz Messengers
- At Bohemia - Volume 2, Art Blakey with the Jazz Messenger
- Buhaina's Light, Art Blakey with the Jazz Messengers
- Free For All, Art Blakey with the Jazz Messengers
- True Blue, Tina Brooks
- Memorial Album, Clifford Brown
- Jazz Immortal, Clifford Brown
- Midnight Blue, Kenny Burrell
- Slow Drag, Donald Byrd (6)
- Byrd in Hand, Donald Byrd
- Fuego, Donald Byrd
- Free Form, Donald Byrd
- At the Half Note Café, Donald Byrd
- A New Perspective, Donald Byrd
- Symphony for Improvisers, Don Cherry
- Sonny Clark Trio, Sonny Clark
- Dial S For Sonny, Sonny Clark
- Cool Struttin', Sonny Clark
- At the Golden Circle - Volume 1, Ornette Coleman
- At the Golden Circle - Volume 2, Ornette Coleman
- Little Johnny C, Johnny Coles
- Blue Train, John Coltrane
- Birth of the Cool, Miles Davis
- Miles Davis Vol. 1
- Miles Davis Vol. 2
- Out to Lunch, Eric Dolphy
- Natural Soul, Lou Donaldson
- Una Mas, Kenny Dorham
- Whistle Stop, Kenny Dorham
- Round Midnight at the Café (2CD's), Kenny Dorham;
- A Swingin' Affair, Dexter Gordon (7)
- Gettin' Around, Dexter Gordon
- Our Man In Paris, Dexter Gordon
- Dexter Calling, Dexter Gordon
- Doin' Alright, Dexter Gordon
- One Flight Up, Dexter Gordon
- Go, Dexter Gordon
- Am I Blue, Grant Green (7)
- Green Street, Grant Green
- Sunday Morning, Grant Green
- Feelin' the Spirit, Grant Green
- Grantstand, Grant Green
- Goin' West, Grant Green
- Idle Moments, Grant Green
- A Blowin' Session, Johnny Griffin
- My Point of View, Herbie Hancock (6)
- Prisoner, Herbie Hancock
- Inventions and Dimensions, Herbie Hancock
- Speak Like A Child, Herbie Hancock
- Maiden Voyage, Herbie Hancock
- Empyrean Isles, Herbie Hancock
- Our Thing, Joe Henderson (5)
- Mode for Joe, Joe Henderson
- Inner Urge, Joe Henderson
- In 'N Out, Joe Henderson
- Page One, Joe Henderson
- Smoke Stack, Andrew Hill (4)
- Judgment, Andrew Hill
- Black Fire, Andrew Hill
- Point of Departure, Andrew Hill
- Hub Cap, Freddie Hubbard (8)
- Ready for Freddie, Freddie Hubbard
- Breaking Point, Freddie Hubbard
- Blue Spirits, Freddie Hubbard
- Night of the Cookers - Volumes 1 and 2 (2CD's), Freddie Hubbard
- Open Sesame, Freddie Hubbard
- Hub-Tones, Freddie Hubbard
- Dialogue, Bobby Hutcherson
- Oblique, Bobby Hutcherson
- Wizard of the Vibes, Milt Jackson
- The Eminent - Volume 1, J.J. Johnson
- The Eminent - Volume 2, J.J. Johnson
- Blowing in From Chicago, Clifford Jordan and John Gilmore
- A Fickle Sonance, Jackie McLean (7)
- Capuchin Swing, Jackie McLean
- Jackie's Bag, Jackie McLean
- Let Freedom Ring, Jackie McLean
- Right Now, Jackie McLean
- Destination... Out, Jackie McLean
- Action, Jackie McLean
- Down With It!, Blue Mitchell
- Boss Horn, Blue Mitchell
- Thing To Do, Blue Mitchell
- Reach Out, Hank Mobley (8)
- No Room for Squares, Hank Mobley
- Turnaround, Hank Mobley
- Workout, Hank Mobley
- Dippin', Hank Mobley
- Roll Call, Hank Mobley
- Hi Voltage, Hank Mobley
- Soul Station, Hank Mobley
- Genius of Modern Music - Volume 1, Thelonious Monk
- Genius of Modern Music - Volume 2, Thelonious Monk
- Rumproller, Lee Morgan (7)
- Gigolo, Lee Morgan
- Tom Cat, Lee Morgan
- Leeway, Lee Morgan
- Search for the New Land, Lee Morgan
- Sixth Sense, Lee Morgan
- Sidewinder, Lee Morgan
- Let Me Tell You 'Bout It, Leo Parker
- Sweet Honey Bee, Duke Pearson
- Time Waits, Bud Powell (5)
- Amazing Bud Powell - Volume 1, Bud Powell
- Amazing Bud Powell - Volume 2, Bud Powell
- Amazing Bud Powell - Volume 3, Bud Powell
- Scene Changes, Bud Powell
- Heavy Soul, Ike Quebec
- Music from the Connection, Freddie Redd
- Sonny Rollins Volume 1 (4)
- Sonny Rollins Volume 2
- Newk's Time, Sonny Rollins
- A Night at the Village Vanguard (2CD's), Sonny Rollins
- All Seeing Eye, Wayne Shorter (5)
- Night Dreamer, Wayne Shorter
- Adam's Apple, Wayne Shorter
- Speak No Evil, Wayne Shorter
- Juju, Wayne Shorter
- Six Pieces of Silver, Horace Silver (12)
- In Pursuit of the 27th Man, Horace Silver
- Silver's Serenade, Horace Silver
- Horace-Scope, Horace Silver
- Stylings of Silver, Horace Silver
- With the Jazz Messengers, Horace Silver
- Horace Silver Trio, Horace Silver
- Cape Verdean Blues, Horace Silver
- Serenade to a Soul Sister, Horace Silver
- Blowin' the Blues Away, Horace Silver
- Song For My Father, Horace Silver
- Finger Poppin', Horace Silver Quintet
- Sounds of Jimmy Smith, Jimmy Smith (10)
- Sermon, Jimmy Smith
- House Party, Jimmy Smith
- Cool Blues, Jimmy Smith
- Softly as a Summer Breeze, Jimmy Smith
- At the Organ Vol. 3, Jimmy Smith
- Rockin' the Boat, Jimmy Smith
- Prayer Meetin', Jimmy Smith
- Home Cookin', Jimmy Smith
- Groovin' at Small's, Jimmy Smith
- Turning Point, Lonnie Smith
- Think!, Lonnie Smith
- Conquistador!, Cecil Taylor
- That's Where It's At, Stanley Turrentine (5)
- Joyride, Stanley Turrentine
- Hustlin', Stanley Turrentine
- Never Let Me go, Stanley Turrentine
- Blue Hour, Stanley Turrentine/Three Sounds
- Time for Tyner, McCoy Tyner
- Tender Moments, McCoy Tyner
- The Real McCoy, McCoy Tyner
- Life Time, Tony Williams
- Unity, Larry Young
This makes for a total of 163 albums. The Amazon page claims 171 discs. Even when accounting for the double-disc sets (besides those noted in the original list: Dorham, Hubbard, Rollins, the following are also double disks: Groovin' at Small's Paradise, Meet You at the Jazz Corner of the World, At the Half Note Café; no one's ever given Amazon an "A" for presentation—or anything, except crappy bootlegs) that count as single albums in our list, our total does not match that, instead we get a total of 169. But before we delve too far into Blue Note...
Are You Packing?
For nutty archivist-collectors such as myself, a pressing concern for both of these series is: how they appeared when first made available in stores. By which I mean, what about the hype stickers? Or the obis and other outer packaging features like o-cards, longboxes, and slipcases? The O. J. C. reissues, at least those that came out early on, did come in longboxes, of at least two varieties, one for the regular releases, one for the Limited Edition Series. Of those that I have seen, all feature promotional blurbs on a white sticker affixed directly to the box. These blurbs, post-longbox, were usually transferred over to C. D. releases in the form of a white-background portion of the back cover. An example of a regular O.J.C. longbox follows:
The images at the Discogs entry for the later, non-longbox pressing show the white-background blurb box being made part of the back cover instead. Later O. J. C. reissues that never came in a longbox simply included the back-cover version of the blurb (as far as I know). However, there seem to be titles for which the white-background blurb box is not transferred, or only appears on either the European or North American edition. Of course, many buyers never know if they have found a copy that was originally released in a longbox. When you come across an O. J. C. disc that does not have the white-background blurb on the back cover, while it could be an older pressing that originally came in a longbox, it also could be a title that never got a hype/ promo blurb. Or, again, it could that there are versions that have the blurb, and versions that don't. The 1995 catalog noted above includes these blurbs for some O. J. C. titles. So if you come across a disc that does not have the white-background blurb box (perhaps we should call that the W-B. B. B. for short, but we wouldn't want anyone to think we're talking about the old W. B. television network and be disappointed), you could check the 1995 book to see if the reissues in question was featured there. Nice work if you can get it?
As far as I have discovered, there no other hype stickers on O. J. C.s (or the "K2 Super Coding" titles), though unsurprisingly as some of them have been reissued again in recent years by the Concord Music Group, hype stickers have appeared, even on those that replicate the O. J. C. design. (Did I not mention that, having been rejected in favor of the "K2 Super Coding" branding, that in the Concord era some of the O. J. C. titles are once again remastered and reissued under their old branding, with the astounding addition of the subtle use of the color orange? It gets complicated (surprise!) as there is what I call a series sticker for some of these new O. J. C.s, unique stickers for other ones, and, as noted above, other titles became part of the Keepnews Collection or Concord's own series of R. V. G. reissues, each of which have their own series sticker. Examples of these Concord-era hype stickers can be found at Rockissue.)
The Blue Note R. V. G. Editions sometimes came with a series hype sticker—to clarify, the same sticker is used on any given release in a series, not having any information on it that pertains to specific releases (this sticker too is scanned and posted at the Rockissue link above). Some of the R. V. G.s also had unique o-cards. An example of what these looked like can be seen at the Discogs entry for Eric Dolphy's Out to Lunch. I would like to think that the titles included in the aforementioned giant boxed set and the titles that, when released separately, came in these o-card sleeves, are one and the same. Turns out, though, that perhaps only the titles that were released separately in 1999 had the o-cards. The following titles are those that I own that have their accompanying o-cards, in addition to other titles that I do not own but which I know came in o-cards, because of visual evidence online, either stock photos used by online shops or individual shots posted by sellers at E-Bay and elsewhere. All of these were part of the Complete box, suggesting a direct link. However, as you can see from the release date of each reissue, all of these came out in 1999.
Cannonball Adderley, Somethin' Else, 1999
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Moanin', 1999
Kenny Burrell, Midnight Blue, 1999
Donald Byrd, A New Perspective, 1999
Sonny Clark, Struttin', 1999
Eric Dolphy, Out to Lunch, 1999
Kenny Dorham, Una Mas, 1999
Dexter Gordon, Go, 1999
Grant Green, Idle Moments, 1999
Johnny Griffin, A Blowin' Session, 1999
Herbie Hancock, Empyrean Isles, 1999
Herbie Hancock, Maiden Voyage, 1999
Herbie Hancock, My Point of View, 1999
Joe Henderson, Page One, 1999
Andrew Hill, Point of Departure, 1999
Freddie Hubbard, Hub-Tones, 1999
Hank Mobley, Soul Station, 1999
Lee Morgan, The Rumproller, 1999
Lee Morgan, The Sidewinder, 1999
Bud Powell, Time Waits, 1999
Sonny Rollins, A Night at the Village Vanguard, 1999
Sonny Rollins, Volume 2, 1999
Wayne Shorter, Juju, 1999
Wayne Shorter, Speak No Evil, 1999
Horace Silver, Blowin' the Blues Away, 1999
Horace Silver, Song for My Father, 1999
Jimmy Smith, Groovin' at Small's Paradise, 1999
McCoy Tyner, The Real McCoy, 1999
Tony Williams, Lifetime, 1999
Larry Young, Unity, 1999
The Jazz Discography Project only covers Blue Note L. P.s and other vinyl formats, but there are plenty of resources for Blue Note Records, including at least one thorough discography and an excellent resource published just this year: R. V. G. Legacy. The most useful for our purposes here, though, was a copy of a personal list someone posted to a Jazz discussion forum. That list included these '99 releases, plus 10 released in 2000, and 16 released in 2001, all of which are among the 163 in the large "complete" boxed set. Unsurprisingly, some titles were made available in the big box before they were released separately, but a few years down the line—by 2006—the R. V. G. series had moved on to titles that had not been in the box. Looking for evidence online, I cannot find any indication that the individual reissues that came out from 2000 onward came in the o-cards. Another matter to note: some of the reissues are dated 1999 on their packaging, but apparently come out later.
By the way, the series hype sticker was to be found on the shrinkwrap regardless of whether it was one of the 30 that came in o-cards or one of the later releases. However, we can safely assume that at some point the hype sticker disappeared. That tends to happen with all hype stickers; i. e. there are often later pressings without the sticker.
To determine the total number of R. V. G.-related reissues, one would have to do a lot of digging. You have the Concord Music Group's R. V. G. series, for which there should be ample information online. But there are also apparently remasters that Van Gelder did only available on Japanese releases. A total number of the Blue Note R. V. G. reissues, going by the aforementioned list found online, plus Discogs entries, is not too difficult to figure. There are overlapping totals to consider first: the 163 in the box set (assuming that list from Amazon is accurate... and still not accounting for the 171 discs claimed by Amazon), the first batch of individual releases (30 released in 1999, packaged in o-cards)—all of which were among the 163, then the 133 in the box but not among the first 30, then those not in the box, of which scattered information online suggests the total is 74, which added to the 163 gives us 237. The 74 total includes Pete La Roca's Basra, apparently not released on C. D. in the States.
The Blue Note R. V. G.s as they were released, as noted above compiled from several lists floating around online, the "+" tags that come after the original Blue Note catalog numbers indicating that the reissue has bonus tracks and the Blue Note catalog number, if applicable, provided in brackets.
72434-95324-27 Moanin' / Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers [4003 + 1]
72434-95326-25 Blue Train / John Coltrane [1577 + 2]
72434-95327-24 Cool Struttin' / Sonny Clark [1588 + 2]
72434-95329-22 Somethin' Else / Cannonball Adderley [1595 + 1]
72434-95331-27 Maiden Voyage / Herbie Hancock [4195]
72434-95332-26 The Sidewinder / Lee Morgan [4157 + 1]
72434-95335-23 Midnight Blue / Kenny Burrell [4123 + 2]
72434-95341-24 Open Sesame / Freddie Hubbard [4040 + 2]
72434-95342-23 Blowin' the Blues Away / Horace Silver [4017 + 1]
72434-95343-22 Soul Station / Hank Mobley [4031]
72434-97807-29 The Real McCoy / McCoy Tyner [4264]
72434-97808-28 Unity / Larry Young [4221]
72434-97809-27 Sonny Rollins, Vol. 2 / Sonny Rollins [1558]
72434-98793-24 Out to Lunch / Eric Dolphy [4163]
72434-98794-23 Go / Dexter Gordon [4112]
72434-98795-22 Page One / Joe Henderson [4140]
72434-98796-21 Empyrean Isles / Herbie Hancock [4175 + 2]
72434-99001-27 Speak No Evil / Wayne Shorter [4194]
72434-99002-26 Song for My Father / Horace Silver [4185 + 4]
72434-99003-25 Idle Moments / Grant Green [4154 + 2]
72434-99004-24 Life Time / Tony Williams [4180]
72434-99005-23 Juju / Wayne Shorter [4182 + 2]
72434-99006-22 A New Perspective / Donald Byrd [4124]
72434-99007-21 Point of Departure / Andrew Hill [4167 + 2]
72434-99008-20 Hub-Tones / Freddie Hubbard [4115 + 3]
72434-99009-29 A Blowin' Session / Johnny Griffin [1559 + 1]
72434-99777-23 Groovin' at Smalls Paradise / Jimmy Smith [1585/1586 + 4]
72434-99795-29 A Night at the Village Vanguard / Sonny Rollins [1581/BNLA475-H2]
72435-21226-22 My Point of View / Herbie Hancock [4126 + 1]
72435-21227-21 Time Waits - The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 4 / Bud Powell [1598 + 1]
72435-21228-20 Una Mas / Kenny Dorham [4127 + 1]
72435-21229-29 The Rumproller / Lee Morgan [4199 + 1]
72435-24539-24 No Room for Squares / Hank Mobley [4149 + 2]
72435-24540-20 The Turnaround / Hank Mobley [4186]
72435-24541-29 The Sermon! / Jimmy Smith [4011]
72435-24542-28 House Party / Jimmy Smith [4002 + 1]
72435-24543-27 All Seeing Eye / Wayne Shorter [4219]
72435-24544-26 A Fickle Sonance / Jackie McLean [4089]
72435-25646-20 Whistle Stop / Kenny Dorham [4063]
72435-25647-29 Our Thing / Joe Henderson [4152 + 1]
72435-25648-28 Six Pieces of Silver / Horace Silver [1539 + 3]
72435-25649-27 The Prisoner / Herbie Hancock [4321 + 2]
72435-30117-27 Birth of the Cool / Miles Davis [originally Capital]
72435-32136-26 The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 1 / Bud Powell [1503/1504]
72435-32137-25 The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 2 / Bud Powell [1503/1504]
72435-32138-24 Genius of Modern Music, Vol. 1 / Thelonious Monk [1510/1511]
72435-32139-23 Genius of Modern Music, Vol. 2 / Thelonious Monk [1510/1511]
72435-32140-29 Wizard of the Vibes / Milt Jackson [1509 (also 5011)]
72435-32141-28 Clifford Brown Memorial Album / Clifford Brown [1526 + 8]
72435-32142-27 Jazz Immortal / Clifford Brown [originally Pacific Jazz]
72435-32143-26 The Eminent J.J.Johnson Vol. 1 / J.J.Johnson [1505/1506]
72435-32144-25 The Eminent J.J.Johnson Vol. 2 / J.J.Johnson [1505/1506]
72435-32146-23 A Night at Birdland, Vol. 1 / Art Blakey [1521/BNJ 61002]
72435-32147-22 A Night at Birdland, Vol. 2 / Art Blakey [1522/BNJ J61002]
72435-32148-21 At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 1 / Art Blakey, The Jazz Messengers [1507/BNJ 61007]
72435-32149-20 At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 2 / Art Blakey, The Jazz Messengers [1508/BNJ 61007]
72435-32610-23 Miles Davis, Vol. 1 / Miles Davis [1501/1502]
72435-32611-22 Miles Davis, Vol. 2 / Miles Davis [1501/1502]
72435-33774-27 Sonny Clark Trio / Sonny Clark [1579 + 3]
72435-33775-26 'Round About Midnight At The Cafe Bohemia / Kenny Dorham [1524/BNJ61003/BNJ 61004]
72435-35518-27 At The Golden Circle, Vol. 1 / Ornette Coleman [4224 + 3]
72435-35519-26 At The Golden Circle, Vol. 2 / Ornette Coleman [4225 + 3]
72435-35560-20 Slow Drag / Donald Byrd [4292]
72435-35564-26 Am I Blue / Grant Green [4139]
72435-35565-25 Meet You at the Jazz Corner of the World / Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers [4054/4055]
72435-35585-29 Bud! - The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 3 / Bud Powell [1571 + 1]
72435-35586-28 Dialogue / Bobby Hutcherson [4198 + 1]
72435-35587-27 Cool Blues / Jimmy Smith [LT-1054 + 3]
72435-35758-23 In Pursuit of the 27th Man / Horace Silver [BN-LA054-F]
72435-40030-28 Roll Call / Hank Mobley [4058 + 3]
72435-40031-27 Leeway / Lee Morgan [4034]
72435-40032-26 Green Street / Grant Green [4071]
72435-40033-2x Capuchin Swing / Jackie McLean [4038]
72435-40034-24 The Stylings Of Silver / Horace Silver [1562]
72435-40036-22 Hustlin' / Stanley Turrentine [4162]
72435-42302-26 Hub Cap / Freddie Hubbard [4073 + 1]
72435-42303-25 Jackie's Bag / Jackie McLean [4051 + 3]
72435-42304-2x Finger Poppin' / Horace Silver [4008]
72435-42305-23 Byrd in Hand / Donald Byrd [4019]
72435-42306-22 Blowing In From Chicago / Cliff Jordan, John Gilmore [1549 + 1]
72435-42307-21 The Natural Soul / Lou Donaldson [4108]
72435-63798-24 Inventions and Dimensions / Herbie Hancock [4147 + 1]
72435-63800-28 The Big Beat / Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers [4029 + 1]
72435-63802-26 Fuego / Donald Byrd [4026]
72435-63815-20 Sunday Mornin' / Grant Green [4099 + 1]
72435-63823-29 Symphony for Improvisers / Don Cherry [4247]
72435-63833-26 Oblique / Bobby Hutcherson [BN(GXF-3061)]
72435-63836-23 Music from the Connection / Freddie Redd [4027]
72435-63839-20 Time For Tyner / McCoy Tyner [4307]
72435-63841-25 Judgment / Andrew Hill [4159 + 1]
72435-63843-23 Think! / Lonnie Smith [4290]
72435-80906-28 Horace Silver Trio [1520 + 4]
72435-80907-27 The Scene Changes - The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 5 / Bud Powell [4009 + 1]
72435-80908-26 Let Freedom Ring / Jackie McLean [4106]
72435-80909-25 Mode for Joe / Joe Henderson [4227 + 1]
72435-80910-21 Search for The New Land / Lee Morgan [4169]
72435-80911-20 Sonny Rollins Volume 1 / Sonny Rollins [1542]
72435-80912-29 Adam's Apple / Wayne Shorter [4232 + 1]
72435-80913-28 Grantstand / Grant Green [4086 + 1]
72435-80914-27 Our Man in Paris / Dexter Gordon [4146 + 2]
72435-80915-26 Indestructible / Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers [4193 + 1]
72435-90833-22 Newk's Time / Sonny Rollins [4001]
72435-90834-21 Sweet Honey Bee / Duke Pearson [4252]
72435-90837-28 Ready For Freddie / Freddie Hubbard [4085 + 1]
72435-90838-27 Never Let Me Go / Stanley Turrentine [4129 + 1]
72435-90839-26 The Cape Verdean Blues / Horace Silver [4220]
72435-90840-22 Conquistador / Cecil Taylor [4260 + 1]
72435-90841-21 Rockin' The Boat / Jimmy Smith [4141]
72435-90842-20 Free Form / Donald Byrd [4118 + 1]
72435-90843-29 Goin' West / Grant Green [4310]
72435-90844-28 Right Now! / Jackie McLean [4215 + 1]
72435-90845-27 Breaking Point / Freddie Hubbard [4172 + 2]
72435-90846-26 Prayer Meetin' / Jimmy Smith [4164]
72435-90881-29 At the Half Note Cafe / Donald Byrd [4060 + 2/4061 + 2]
72435-92420-26 Dexter Calling / Dexter Gordon [4083 + 1]
72435-92421-25 Home Cookin' / Jimmy Smith [4050 + 5]
72435-92422-24 Inner Urge / Joe Henderson [4189]
72435-92423-23 The Sixth Sense / Lee Morgan [4335 + 3]
72435-92424-22 Destination Out! / Jackie McLean [4165]
72435-92425-21 Buhaina's Delight / Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers [4104 + 4]
72435-92426-20 Free for All / Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers [4170]
72435-94317-27 Blue Spirits / Freddie Hubbard [4196 + 2]
72435-94319-25 The Thing to Do / Blue Mitchell [4178]
72435-94321-20 Serenade to a Soul Sister / Horace Silver [4277]
72435-94323-28 The Night of the Cookers / Freddie Hubbard [4207/4208]
72435-96499-24 Action / Jackie McLean [4218]
72435-96501-28 Black Fire / Andrew Hill [4151 + 2]
72435-96503-26 Doin' Allright / Dexter Gordon [4077 + 2]
72435-96505-24 One Flight Up / Dexter Gordon [4176 + 1]
72435-96507-22 In 'n Out / Joe Henderson [4166 + 1]
72435-96509-20 Tender Moments / McCoy Tyner [BST 84275]
72438-64467-25 Night Dreamer / Wayne Shorter [4173 + 1]
72438-64468-24 Speak like a Child / Herbie Hancock [4279 + 3]
72438-64471-28 Feelin' The Spirit / Grant Green [4132 + 1]
72438-64473-26 True Blue / Tina Brooks [4041 + 2]
72438-64474-25 A Night in Tunisia / Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers [4049 + 2]
72438-64475-24 Little Johnny C / Johnny Cole [4144]
72438-64478-21 Horace Silver and The Jazz Messengers [1518]
72438-75259-24 Basra / Pete La Roca [4205] --No U. S. release?--
72438-75262-28 Hi Voltage / Hank Mobley [4273]
72438-75263-27 Heavy Soul / Ike Quebec [4093 + 1]
09463-11426-28 The Sound Of Jimmy Smith / Jimmy Smith [1556 + 3]
09463-11490-23 Let Me Tell You 'bout It / Leo Parker [4087 + 2]
09463-11492-21 Down with It / Blue Mitchell [4214]
09463-11423-21 Turning Point / Lonnie Smith [4313]
09463-11494-29 That's Where It's At / Stanley Turrentine [4096 + 1]
09463-11497-26 Reach Out! / Hank Mobley [4288]
09463-37745-20 Silver's Serenade / Horace Silver [4131]
09463-37754-28 A Swingin' Affair / Dexter Gordon [4133]
09463-37757-25 Gettin' Around / Dexter Gordon [4204 + 2]
09463-37762-27 The Gigolo / Lee Morgan [4212 + 1]
09463-37766-23 Joyride / Stanley Turrentine [4201 + 2]
09463-37769-20 Mosaic / Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers [4090]
09463-37771-25 Workout / Hank Mobley [4080 + 1]
09463-37775-21 Horace-Scope / Horace Silver [4042]
09463-37777-29 Smokestack / Andrew Hill [4160 + 3]
09463-37779-27 Softly as a Summer Breeze / Jimmy Smith [4200 + 4]
09463-62632-29 Royal Flush / Donald Byrd [4101]
09463-62635-26 Trompeta Toccata / Kenny Dorham [4181]
09463-62640-28 The Congregation / Johnny Griffin [1580 + 1]
09463-62643-25 The Cooker / Lee Morgan [1578 + 1]
09463-62646-22 Another Workout / Hank Mobley [4431]
09463-62652-23 It Might as Well Be Spring / Ike Quebec [4105]
09463-62658-27 Off to the Races / Donald Byrd [4007]
09463-62661-21 Here to Stay / Freddie Hubbard [BNLA496-H2]
09463-62667-25 Happenings / Bobby Hutcherson [4231]
09463-62670-29 Demon's Dance / Jackie McLean [4345]
09463-62676-23 City Lights / Lee Morgan [1575]
09463-62682-24 Doin' the Thing / Horace Silver [4076 + 2]
09463-37764-25 Tom Cat / Lee Morgan [LT-1058]
09463-37771-25 Workout / Hank Mobley [4080 + 1]
09463-37773-23 Dippin' / Hank Mobley [4209]
09463-63811-24 At The Organ, Volume 3 / Jimmy Smith [1525 + 4]
09463-63813-22 Boss Horn / Blue Mitchell [4257]
09463-64469-23 Dial S for Sonny / Sonny Clark [1570 + 1]
09463-64470-29 Like Someone in Love / Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers [4245 + 1]
09463-74214-20 Lush Life / Lou Donaldson [BST 84254; released in Japan as Sweet Slumber (GXF3068)]
09463-74216-28 Undercurrent / Kenny Drew [4059]
09463-74218-26 Introducing Johnny Griffin / Johnny Griffin [1533 + 2]
09463-74220-21 The Right Touch / Duke Pearson [4267 + 1]
09463-74222-29 You Gotta Take A Little Love / Horace Silver [4309]
09463-74224-27 The Spoiler / Stanley Turrentine [4256 + 1]
09463-74226-25 The Cat Walk / Donald Byrd [4075]
09463-74228-23 Clubhouse / Dextor Gordon [LT-989]
09463-74230-28 Compulsion / Andrew Hill [4217]
09463-74232-26 Detroit-New York Junction / Thad Jones [1513]
09463-74234-2x New and Old Gospel / Jackie McLean [4262]
09643-74237-21 A. T.'s Delight / Art Taylor [4047]
09463-92744-20 Afro-Cuban / Kenny Dorham [1535 + 2]
09463-92746-28 Lee Morgan Vol.3 / Lee Morgan [1557 + 1]
09463-92757-24 Takin' Off / Herbie Hancock [4109 + 3]
09463-92759-22 Flight To Jordan / Duke Jordan [4046 + 2]
09463-92766-22 Davis Cup / Walter Davis Jr. [4018]
09463-92768-20 The Magnificent Thad Jones / Thad Jones [1527 + 2]
09463-92770-25 Delightfulee / Lee Morgan [4243 + 4]
09463-92773-22 Gravy Train / Lou Donaldson [4079 + 2]
09463-92775-20 Midnight Special / Jimmy Smith [4078]
09463-92777-28 Back at the Chicken Shack / Jimmy Smith [4117 + 1]
09463-92779-26 Lee Morgan Vol.2 / Lee Morgan [1541]
09463-92781-21 Lee Morgan Indeed! / Lee Morgan [1538 + 1]
09463-92783-29 Bossa Nova Soul Samba / Ike Quebec [4114 + 3]
09463-92785-27 The Incredible Jimmy Smith at Club Baby Grand Vol.1 / Jimmy Smith [1528]
09463-92787-25 The Incredible Jimmy Smith at Club Baby Grand Vol.2 / Jimmy Smith [1529]
09463-93174-24 The Latin Bit / Grant Green [4111 + 3]
09463-93176-22 Candy / Lee Morgan [1590 + 1]
09463-93178-20 Jutta Hipp With Zoot Sims / Jutta Hipp [1530 + 2]
09463-93180-25 Face to Face / "Baby Face" Willette [4068 + 2]
09463-93182-23 Bass On Top / Paul Chambers [1569 + 1]
09463-93184-21 Blue And sentimental / Ike Quebec [4098 + 2]
509995-14371-21 Here 'Tis / Lou Donaldson [4066]
509995-14373-29 The Soothsayer / Wayne Shorter [LT-988 + 1]
509995-14375-27 Shades of Redd / Freddie Redd [4045 + 2]
509995-14377-25 Look Out! / Stanley Turrentine [4039 + 3]
509995-14379-23 Further Explorations / Horace Silver [1589]
509995-14381-28 Here Comes Louis Smith / Louis Smith [1584]
509992-15363-28 Dearly Beloved / Stanley Turrentine [4081]
509992-15364-27 Dimensions and Extensions / Sam Rivers [BST 84261/BNLA453-H2]
509992-15365-26 Evolution / Grachan Moncur III [4153]
509992-15366-25 Leapin' & Lopin / Sonny Clark [4091 + 2]
509992-15367-24 Peckin' Time / Hank Mobley [1574 + 3]
509992-15369-22 Plays Fats Waller / Jimmy Smith [4100]
509992-15370-28 The Opener / Curtis Fuller [1567]
509992-15371-27 Lou Takes Off / Lou Donaldson [1591]
509992-15387-28 J.R. Monterose / J.R. Monterose [1536 + 1]
509992-15388-27 Hank Mobley Quintet / Hank Mobley [1550 + 2]
509992-65137-20 Up & Down / Horace Parlan [4082 +1]
509992-65138-29 Spring / Tony Williams [4126]
509992-65139-28 One Step Beyond / Jackie McLean [4137 + 1]
509992-65140-24 Rollin' with Leo / Loe Parker [4095]
509992-65141-23 A Chip Off the Old Block / Stanley Turrentine [4150 + 2]
509992-65142-22 Street of Dreams / Grant Green [4253]
509992-65143-21 Stop and Listen / Baby Face Willette [4084+ 1]
509992-65144-20 Paul Chambers Quintet / Paul Chambers [1564 + 1]
509992-65145-29 Bluesnik / Jackie McLean [4067 + 2]
509992-65146-28 Tokyo Blues / Horace Silver [4110]
509992-65151-20 Grant's First Stand / Grant Green [4064]
509992-65152-29 Some Other Stuff / Grachan Moncur III [4177]
~
Uniform Titling of Anthony Braxton's Albums
Anthony Braxton's discography is one of the most complex of all modern music, even compared to similar, and similarly-prolific, musicians like Steve Lacy and John Zorn. Some of that complexity derives from his quasi-formalized approach to naming albums. Over the years, a tendency to name albums via the following format: ensemble defined by the number of musicians - (city where the recording took place) - year of recording, has become fairly prevalent, but certainly not officially designated. For those who want a broad overview of his output, applying this formula to all of his albums could be helpful. Here, split into groups by the size of the ensemble, is a list of Braxton's albums with the proposed standardized title listed under the actual title.
Another way of organizing Braxton's albums would be to split the albums comprised of collaborative/ improvised compositions, compositions by the other musicians (usually just one other musician, especially on the duo albums) or standards (more accurately in this case any composition by an artist who is not a performer on the album in question) into one category, separate from those comprised of Braxton's original compositions. However, some albums feature a mix. Here, for now, we use tags to indicate the album's position in this schema. The four options: Originals, Standards, Others, or Collaborations. For the sake of the simplicity of presentation, we will assume an album consists entirely of Braxton originals, so that only those albums which consist entirely of collaborations, standards, or others' compositions, or those with a mix of any of the four options, receive the appropriate tags.
This list-making project would not be possible without the discography featured at the web site, Restructures, now offline but available at the Internet Archive. Other sources of information are Braxton's official Tricentric Foundation website as well as user-generated sites like Discogs, Wikipedia, and Rate Your Music.
Releases under the official Braxton Bootleg label are not included; the Tricentric website includes information about those releases. Or see the Discogs page for the label. Nor are a few quasi-official titles: Circle's Live in New York City; News from the 70s; If My Memory Serves Me Right; Jazz Festival - Ljublujana 2000.
If applicable, a link to an album's official page at Braxton's or the record label's Bandcamp site is provided.
[album title
proposed title]
first, albums with multiple-sized ensembles (19 albums total, four of them combined into one title in this titling schema):
3 Compositions of New Jazz
Trio-Quartet (Chicago) 1968 *Originals* *Others*
The Complete Braxton [later a single-L. P. abridgement of this double album was released, entitled Steps Out; a different single-L. P. abridgement was released as part of the I Grandi del Jazz series, also released as part of a various-artist box set, Just Jazz Vol. 1, and again on another Just Jazz compilation]
Duo-Quartet-Quintet (London) 1971
Town Hall 1972
Trio-Quintet (New York) 1972 *Originals* *Standards*
Trio and Duet
Duo-Trio (Toronto) 1974 *Originals* *Standards*
New York, Fall 1974
Duo-Quartet-Quintet (New York) 1974
Anthony Braxton with Robert Schumann String Quartet Bandcamp
Solo-Quartet-Quintet (Cologne) 1979
Small Ensemble Music (Wesleyan) 1994
Duo-Trio-Sextet (Middletown) 1994 *Originals* *Collaborations*
GTM (Knitting Factory) 1997
Quintet-Octet (New York) 1997
Nine Compositions (Hill) 2000
Quintet-Sextet (Rossie) 2000 *Standards*
Anthony Braxton/ Sonny Simmons/ Brandon Evans/ Andre Vida/ Shanir Blumenkranz/ Mike Pride
Quintet-Sextet (Middletown) 2003
GTM (Outpost) 2003
Duo-Trio (Albuquerque) 2003
GTM (Iridium) 2007, Vol. 1
GTM (Iridium) 2007, Vol. 2
GTM (Iridium) 2007, Vol. 3
GTM (Iridium) 2007, Vol. 4
Septet-Octet-Nonet (New York) 2007
Two Compositions (FONT) 2007
Quintet-Septet (New York) 2007
Quartet/Quintet (NYC) 2011 Bandcamp
Quartet-Quintet (New York) 2011
12 Compositions (ZIM) 2017
Sextet-Septet-Nonet (Winston-Salem, New Haven, Montreal, London) 2017-2018
10 Comp (Lorraine) 2022 Bandcamp
Trio-Quartet (Riga, Prague, Ulm, Liston, Puerto Real, Luxembourg City) 2021-2022
solo (26 albums, four of them combined into two different titles)
For Alto
Solo (Chicago) 1969
[see Restructures entry for current consensus about the recording date of this album]
Recital Paris 1971
Solo (Paris) 1971 *Originals* *Standards*
Saxophone Improvisations Series F
Solo (Paris) 1972
Solo (Carnegie Hall) 1972 Bandcamp
Solo (New York) 1972 *Originals* *Standards*
Solo: Live at Moers Festival
Solo (Moers) 1974
Solo (Köln) 1978
Solo (Cologne) 1978 *Originals* *Standards*
Solo (Milano) 1979 Vol. 1
Solo (Milano) 1979 Vol. 2
Solo (Milan) 1979 *Originals* *Standards*
Alto Saxophone Improvisations 1979
Solo (New York) 1978-1979 *Originals* *Standards*
Great American Music Hall (San Francisco, CA)
Solo (San Francisco) 1980
Solo (Pisa) 1982
Solo (Pisa) 1982 *Originals* *Standards*
Composition 113 Bandcamp
Solo (Stuttgart) 1983
Solo Bern 1984, First Visit Bandcamp
Solo (Bern) 1984 *Originals* *Standards*
19 (Solo) Compositions
Solo (Cambridge and San Francisco) 1988 *Originals* *Standards*
Solo (London) 1988
Solo (London) 1988 *Originals* *Standards*
Solo (Allentown) 1991 - Set 1 Bandcamp
Solo (Allentown) 1991 - Set 2
Solo (Allentown) 1991 *Originals* only?; track listing of this release is incomplete
Wesleyan (12 Alto Solos) 1992
Solo (Middletown) 1992 *Originals* *Standards*
Solo (Skopje) 1995 Bandcamp
Solo (Skopje) 1995 *Originals* *Standards*
Solo Piano (Standards) 1995
Solo (New York) 1995 *Standards*
Solo (NYC) 2002 Bandcamp
Solo (New York) 2002 *Originals* *Standards*
Willisau Solo
Solo (Willisau) 2003 *Originals* *Standards*
Solo Live at Gasthof Heidelberg Loppem 2005
Solo (Loppem) 2005 *Originals* *Standards*
Solo (Wesleyan) 2005 Bandcamp
Solo (Middletown) 2005 *Originals* *Standards* [?; track listing of this release is incomplete]
Solo (Victoriaville) 2017
Solo (Victoriaville) 2017 *Originals* *Standards*
Solo in Pietz
Solo (Pietz) 2018 *Originals* *Standards*
duo (58 albums, eight of them combined into four different titles)
Together Alone [Joseph Jarman]
Duo (Paris) 1971 *Originals* *Others*
First Duo Concert [Derek Bailey]
Royal Volume 1 [Derek Bailey]
Duo (London) 1974 *Collaborations* [two different concerts, but combined here so as not to repeat titles]
Elements of Surprise [George Lewis]
Duo (Moers) 1976 *Originals* *Others* *Standards*
Time Zones [Richard Teitelbaum]
Duo (Mount Temper and Woodstock) 1976 *Others*
Duets 1976 with Muhal Richard Abrams
Duo (Woodstock) 1976 *Originals* *Standards*
Donaueschingen (Duo) 1976 [George Lewis]
Duo (Donaueschingen) 1976 *Originals* *Others* *Standards*
Duets with Anthony Braxton [Roscoe Mitchell]
Duo (Toronto) 1976 *Originals* *Others*
Birth and Rebirth [Max Roach]
Duo (Milan) 1978 *Collaborations*
One in Two - Two in One [Max Roach]
Duo (Willisau) 1979 *Collaborations*
Four Pieces [Giorgio Gaslini]
Duo (1981) Milan *Originals* *Others*
Open Aspects (Duo) 1982 [Richard Teitelbaum]
Duo (Ludwigsburg) 1982 *Collaborations*
Six Duets (1982) [John Lindberg]]
Duo (Florence) 1982 *Originals* *Standards*
Szabraxtondos [György Szabados]
Duo (Budapest) 1984 *Others*
Moment Precieux [Derek Bailey]
Duo (Victoriaville) 1986 *Collaborations*
Duets 1987 [Gino Robair]
Duo (Hayward) 1987 *Originals* *Others* *Collaborations*
A Memory of Vienna [Ran Blake]
Duo (Vienna) 1988 *Standards*
Kol Nidre [Andrew Voigt] Bandcamp
Duo (San Francisco) 1988 *Originals* *Others*
2 by 2 [Buell Neidlinger]
Duo (Santa Monica) 1989 *Collaborations* *Standards*
Duets Vancouver 1989 [Marilyn Crispell]
Duo (Vancouver) 1989
Duets Hamburg 1991 [Peter Niklas Wilson]
Duo (Hamburg) 1991
Duo (Amsterdam) 1991 [Georg Gräwe]\
Duo (Amsterdam) 1991 *Collaborations*
Two Lines David Rosenboom]
Duo (Santa Clarita) 1992 *Others* *Collaborations*
Duets (1993) [Mario Pavone]
Duo (New York) 1993 *Originals* *Others* *Standards*
Duo (London) 1993 [Evan Parker]
Duo (London) 1993 *Collaborations*
Duo (Leipzig) 1993 [Ted Reichman]
Duo (Leipzig) 1993
Duo (Wesleyan) 1994 [Abraham Adzenyah]
Duo (Middletown) 1994 *Collaborations*
Duet: Live at Merkin Hall [Richard Teitelbaum]
Duo (New York) 1994 *Collaborations*
11 Compositions (Duo) 1995 [Brett Larner]
Duo (Middletown) 1995
10 Compositions (Duet) 1995 [Joe Fonda]
Duo (Middletown) 1995 *Originals* *Standards*
14 Compositions (Traditional) 1996 [Stewart Gillmor]
Duo (Middletown) 1996 *Standards*
Composition 192 [Lauren Newton]
Duo (London) 1996
Composition No. 249 [Brandon Evans]
Elliptical Atlas 15 [Brandon Evans]
Duo (Middletown) 2000 *Originals* *Others*
Compositions/ Improvisations 2000 [Scott Rosenberg]
Duo (Middletown) 2000 *Originals* *Others* *Collaborations*
Four Compositions (Duets) 2000 [Alex Horwitz]
Duo (Rossie) 2000
Duets (Wesleyan) 2002 [Taylor Ho Bynum]
Duo (Middletown) 2002 *Originals* *Others* *Collaborations*
Duo Palindrome 2002 vol. 1 [Andrew Cyrille]
Duo Palindrome 2002 vol. 2
Duo (Middletown) 2002 *Originals* *Others* *Collaborations*
Organic Resonance [Wadada Leo Smith]
Saturn, Conjunct the Grand Canyon in a Sweet Embrace
Duo (New York) 2003 *Originals* *Others* *Collaborations*
ABCD [Chris Dahlgren]
Duo (Middletown) 2003 *Originals* *Others*
Shadow Company (2004) [Milo Fine]
Duo (Middletown) 2004 *Collaborations*
4 Improvisations (Duets) 2004 [Walter Frank]
Duo (Middletown) 2004 *Collaborations*
Duo (Victoriaville) 2005 [Fred Frith]
Duo (Victoriaville) 2005 *Collaborations*
6 Duos (Wesleyan) 2006 [John McDonough]
Duo (Middletown) 2006 *Originals* *Standards* *Others* *Collaborations*
Duo (Heidelberg Loppem) 2007 [Joëlle Léandre]
Duo (Loppem) 2007 *Collaborations*
GTM (Syntax) 2003 [Anne Rhodes]
Duo (Middletown) 2007
Four Improvisations (Duo) 2007 [Joe Morris]
Duo (Middletown) 2007 *Collaborations*
Old Dogs (2007) [Gerry Hemingway]
Duo (Middletown) 2007 *Collaborations*
Toronto (Duets) 2007 [Kyle Brenders]
Duo (Toronto) 2007
Duets (Pittsburg) 2008 [Ben Opie]
Duo (Pittsburg) 2008
Improvisations (Duo) 2008 [Maral Yakshieva]
Duo (Middletown) 2008
Duo (Amherst) 2010 Bandcamp [Taylor Ho Bynum]
Duo (Amherst) 2010
12 Duets (DCWM) 2012 Bandcamp [Kyoko Kitamura; Erica Dicker; Katherine Young]
Duo (Middletown) 2012
Duo (Improv) 2017 Bandcamp [Eugene Chadbourne]
Duo (New Haven) 2017 *Collaborations*
Duo (Bologna) 2018 [Jacqueline Kerrod]
Duo (Bologna) 2018 *Collaborations*
Duet (Other Minds) 2021 Bandcammp [James Fei]
Duo (San Francisco) 2021
trio (18 albums)
Silence
Trio (Chicago) 1969 *Others*
For Trio
Trio (Chicago) 1977
Composition No. 94 for Three Instrumentalists
Trio (Bologna) 1980
Trio (Pisa) 1982
Trio (Pisa) 1982
Seven Compositions (Trio) 1989
Trio (Amiens) 1989 *Originals* *Standards*
Trio (London) 1993
Trio (London) 1993 *Collaborations*
Eight by Three
Trio (Trumbull) 1996 *Collaborations*
Two Compositions (Trio) 1998
Trio (Middletown) 1998
Composition N. 247
Trio (Middletown) 2000
Triotone
Trio (Cnesa) 2003 *Others* *Collaborations*
Trio (Glasgow) 2005
Trio (Glasgow) 2005
Trio (Wesleyan) 2005
Trio (Wesleyan) 2005
Trio (Victoriaville) 2007
Trio (Victoriaville) 2007
Beyond Quantum
Trio (West Orange) 2008 *Collaborations*
Trio (NYC) 2011 Bandcamp
Trio (New York) 2011
Trio (New Haven) 2013 Bandcamp
Trio (New Haven) 2013
Four Compositions (Wesleyan) 2013 Bandcamp
Trio (Middletown) 2013
Eight Improvisations (Trio) 2014
Trio (New Haven) 2014 *Collaborations*
quartet (52 albums, 13 of them combined into five different titles)
Anthony Braxton [sometimes this album's title is presented as the title of one of the album's featured compositions; that composition's title being a work of visual art, like all of Braxton's titles, some being simple diagrams, others incorporating photographs, with a host of variations in between; as such, this unfortunate de facto album title actually derives from an incomplete rendering of the title of the work in question (Composition No. 6G, as it should be inscribed as text), and a simple eponymous album title is preferable—ignoring for now the fact that this particular ensemble was collectivist in nature, later using the name, the Creative Construction Company, for a 1970 performance documented on two L. P.s released under that name, and that the other two tracks on the album, 'The Light on the Delta' and 'Simple Like' are compositions by Leo Smith and Leroy Jenkins, respectively]
Quartet (Paris) 1969 *Originals* *Others*
This Time...
Quartet (Paris) 1970 *Originals* *Collaborations*
Dona Lee
Quartet (Paris) 1972 *Originals* *Standards*
Four Compositions (1973)
Quartet (Tokyo) 1973]
Live at the Moers Festival
Quartet (Moers) 1974
In the Tradition, Volume 1
In the Tradition, Volume 2
Quartet (Copenhagen) 1974 *Standards*
Five Pieces 1975
Quartet (New York) 1975 *Originals* *Standards*
Dortmund (Quartet) 1976
Quartet (Dortmund) 1976
Peformance 9/1/79 [Performance (Quartet) 1979]
Quartet (Willisau) 1979
Seven Compositions 1978
Quartet (Paris) 1979
Composition 98
Quartet (Ludwigsberg and Bern) 1981
Six Compositions: Quartet
Quartet (New York) 1981
Four Compositions (Quartet) 1983
Quartet (Milan) 1983
Six Compositions (Quartet) 1984
Quartet (New York) 1984
Prag 1984 Quartet Performance
Quartet (Prague) 1984
Seven Standards 1985, Volume 1
Seven Standards 1985, Volume 2
Quartet (New York) 1985 *Standards*
Quartet (London) 1985
Quartet (London) 1985
Quartet (Birmingham) 1985
Quartet (Birmingham) 1985
Quartet (Coventry) 1985
Quartet (Coventry) 1985
Five Compositions (Quartet) 1986
Quartet (Milan) 1986
Six Monk's Compositions (1987)
Quartet (Milan) 1987 *Standards*
Willisau (Quartet) 1991
Quartet (Willisau) 1991
Quartet (Victoriasville) 1992
Quartet (Victoriaville) 1992
9 Standards (Quartet) 1993
Quartet (Middletown) 1993 *Standards*
Twelve Compositions: Live at Yoshi's, July 1993
Quartet (Oakland) 1993
Quartet (Santa Cruz) 1993
Quartet (Santa Cruz) 1993
Piano Quartet - Yoshi's 1994
Quartet (Oakland) 1994
Knitting Factory (Piano/ Quartet) 1994, Vol. 1
Knitting Factory (Piano/ Quartet) 1994, Vol. 2
Quartet (New York) 1994
Four Compositions (Quartet) 1995 Bandcamp
Quartet (Middletown) 1995
Four Compositions (GTM) 2000
Quartet (Middletown) 2000
Ten Compositions (Quartet) 2000
Quartet (Rossie) 2000
8 Standards (Wesleyan) 2001
Quartet (Middletown) 2001
23 Standards (Quartet) 2003
20 Standards (Quartet) 2003
19 Standards (Quartet) 2003
Quartet (Antwerp, Bergamo, Brussels, Seville, Paris, Nevers, Ghent, Amsterdam, Verona, Rome, Lisbon, and Guimaraes) 2003 *Standards*
2 + 2 Compositions
Quartet (Middletown) 2003 *Originals* *Others*
Quartet (GTM) 2006
Quartet (Middletown) 2005
Standards (Brussels) 2006
Quartet (Brussels) 2006 *Standards*
Quartet (FRM) 2007 Vol. 1 Bandcamp
Quartet (FRM) 2007 Vol. 2
Quartet (FRM) 2007 Vol. 3
Quartet (FRM) 2007 Vol. 4
Quartet (Middletown) 2007
Quartet (Moscow) 2008
Quartet (Moscow) 2008
Quartet (Mestre) 2008
Quartet (Mestre) 2008
Quartet (Mannheim) 2010 Bandcamp
Quartet (Mannheim) 2010
Quartet (Warsaw) 2012
Quartet (Warsaw) 2012
Quartet (New Haven) 2014
Quartet (New Haven) 2014
Ao Vivo Jazz Na Fábrica
Quartet (São Paulo) 2014
Quartet (Standards) 2020 Bandcamp
Quartet (London, Warsaw, and Wels) 2020
quintet (11 albums)
Carnegie Hall (New York, NY) June 27, 1976
Quintet (New York) 1976
Quintet (Basel) 1977
Quintet (Basel) 1977
Eight (+3) Tristano Compositions 1989 for Warne Marsh
Quintet (Los Angeles) 1989 *Standards*
Seven Standards 1995
Quintet (New York) 1995 *Standards*
Six Standards (Quintet) 1996
Quintet (New York) 1996 *Standards*
Quintet (Tristano) 1997
Quintet (Middletown) 1997 *Standards*
Sax Quintet (New York) 1998 Bandcamp
Quintet (New York) 1998
Sax Quintet (Middletown) 1998
Quintet (Middletown) 1998
Eight Compositions (Quintet) 2001
Quintet (Rossie) 2001
Quintet (London) 2004: Live at the Royal Festival Hall
Quintet (London) 2004
Quintet (Tristano) 2014 Bandcamp
Quintet (New York) 2014 *Standards* *Collaborations*
sextet (12 albums, six of them combined into three different albums)
Creative Construction Company
Creative Construction Company Vol. II
Sextet (New York) 1970 *Others*
Sextet (Parker) 1993 Bandcamp
Sextet (Zurich, Cologne, Amsterdam, and Antwerp) 1993 *Standards*
Sextet (Istanbul) 1996
Sextet (Istanbul) 1996
Sextet (Victoriaville) 2005
Sextet (Victoriaville) 2005
Sextet (Molde) 2005
Sextet (Molde) 2005
Sextet (Philadelphia) 2005
Sextet (Philadelphia) 2005
Sextet (Boston) 2005
Sextet (Boston) 2005
Sextet (Piacenza) 2007
Sextet (Piacenza) 2007
Sextet (FRM) 2007 Vol. 1 Bandcamp
Sextet (FRM) 2007 Vol. 2
Sextet (Victoriaville) 2007 [*Originals* only? Track listing is incomplete]
septet (four albums)
Ensemble (Victoriaville) 1988
Septet (Victoriaville) 1988
Septet (Pittsburgh) 2008
Septet (Pittsburgh) 2008
Echo Echo Mirror House
Septet (Victoriaville) 2011
3 Compositions (EEMHM) 2011
Septet (New Haven) 2011
octet (two albums)
2 Compositions (Järvenpää) 1988
Octet (Järvenpää) 1988
Octet (New York) 1995
Octet (New York) 1995
nonet (four albums combined into one title)
Ninetet (Yoshi's) 1997 vol. 1
Ninetet (Yoshi's) 1997 vol. 2
Ninetet (Yoshi's) 1997 vol. 3
Ninetet (Yoshi's) 1997 vol. 4
Nonet (Oakland) 1997
--
Larger ensembles (10 or more musicians) of course fit in awkwardly with this set-up, as do albums recorded across multiple years. Since Braxton's albums have at times used the word, ensemble, a possible uniform approach to these titles would be to use either Large Ensemble or Orchestra. 39 albums.
Creative Music Orchestra, recorded 1972 in Chatellerault
The Montreux-Berlin Concerts, recorded 1975 in Montreux, 1976 in Berlin [essentially a quartet album; one track features the Berlin New Music Group]
Creative Orchestra Music 1976, recorded in New York
Creative Orchestra (Köln) 1978, recorded in Cologne *Originals* *Collaborations*
For Four Orchestras, recorded 1978 in Oberlin
Composition N. 96, recorded 1981 in Seattle
Four Compositions (Solo, Duo and Trio) 1982/1988 [Compositions 99, 101, 107 & 139], recorded in Ludwigsburg and Vienna [partially originally released on the Marianne Schroeder album Braxton & Stockhausen; one of the two solo tracks features Schroeder instead of Braxton]
Eugene (1989)
2 Compositions (Ensemble) 1989/1991, recorded in Frankfurt and Hamburg [one track does not include Braxton]
Composition No. 165 (For 18 Instrumentalists), recorded 1992 in Urbana
4 (Ensemble) Compositions - 1992, recorded 1992-1993 in New York
Comp. No. 175 / Comp. No. 126: Trillium Dialogues M, recorded 1994 in New York
Composition No. 173, recorded 1994 in New York
Ensemble (New York) 1995
Composition No. 102 for Orchestra & Puppet Theatre, recorded 1996 in Middletown
Tentet (New York) 1996
Trillium R: Shala Fears for the Poor: Composition No. 162 for 9 Singers, 9 Instrumentalists and Orchestra, recorded 1996 in New York
Three Orchestras (GTM) 1998, recorded in Middletown
Four Compositions (Washington, D.C.) 1998 [one track does not include Braxton]
Tentet (Wesleyan) 1999, recorded in Middletown
Composition No. 169 + (186 + 206 + 214), recorded 2002 in Ljubljana
Tentet (Wesleyan) 2000, recorded in Middletown
Tentet (Antwerp) 2000
Six Compositions (GTM) 2001, recorded in Middletown
Tentet (Paris) 2001 Bandcamp
Nine Compositions (DVD) 2003, recorded in Berkeley and San Francisco
4 Compositions (Ulrichsberg) 2005 - Phonomanie VIII [one track does not include Braxton]
Alumni Orchestra (Wesleyan) 2005, recorded in Middletown Bandcamp
9 Compositions (Iridium) 2006, recorded in New York
Composition No. 19 (For 100 Tubas), recorded 2006 in New York
12+1tet (Victoriaville) 2007
Creative Orchestra (Bolzano) 2007
Creative Orchestra (Guelph) 2007 *Originals* *Collaborations*
Ensemble (Pittsburgh) 2008
Trillium E: Wallingford's Polarity Gambit - Composition No. 237, recorded 2010 in New York Bandcamp
Creative Music Orchestra (NYC) 2011 Bandcamp
Echo Echo Mirror House (NYC) 2011 Bandcamp
Composition No. 46 (+168 and Language Music), recorded 2014 in New York Bandcamp
Trillium J: The Non-Unconfessionables - Composition No. 380, recorded 2014 in New York Bandcamp
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The five albums released by the quartet Circle (Chick Corea, Braxton, Dave Holland, Barry Altschul), either released under that name or Corea's, are listed separately here to maintain their commonly-designated unique position in Braxton's and Corea's discographies.
Chick Corea - Circulus, recorded 1970 in New York *Collaborations*
Chick Corea - Circling In, recorded 1970 in New York *Originals* *Others* *Collaborations* *Standards*
Circle - Live in Germany Concert, recorded 1970 in Iserlohn *Others* *Standards*
Circle - Paris-Concert, recorded 1971 *Originals* *Others* *Standards* [the "Duet" credited to Braxton and Corea is apparently Composition 6L]
Circle - Gathering, recorded 1971 in New York *Others*
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The following albums feature Braxton compositions performed entirely by other musicians, but released under Braxton's name, a practice common in the Classical world. Even if Braxton was served as a conductor on an album, the album is included in the above lists, not here. Recordings of Braxton originals not released under Braxton's name, even of multiple pieces or entire albums devoted to them, are not listed here. 15 albums.
For Two Pianos, duo [Ursula Oppens/ Frederic Rzewski] recorded 1980 in Milan
Composition No. 174, recorded 1994 in Tempe
Piano Music (Notated) 1968-1988, solo [Hildegard Kleeb] recorded 1995-1996 in New York
Compositions 10 & 16 (+101), quintet [Guillermo Gregorio, Gene Coleman, Jim O'Rourke, Michael Cameron, and Carrie Biolo] recorded 1997 in Chicago
10 [Solo Bagpipe] Compositions 2000 - Performed by Matthew Welch, solo recorded 2000 in Middletown
Two Compositions (Orchestra) 2005, recorded in Middletown Bandcamp
Piano Music (1968-2000), solo [Geneviève Foccroulle] recorded 2004-2005 and 2007 in New York
Composition 30, solo [Cory Smythe] recorded 2011 in New York
Syntactical GTM Choir (NYC) 2011 Bandcamp
Ensemble Montaigne (Bau 4) 2013, recorded in Altbüron
Composition No. 146 (Moogie and Stetson), recorded 2014 in New York Bandcamp
Anthony Braxton's Language Music, solos [Matthew Welch; Aaron Siegel; Chris McIntyre; Anne Rhodes; Ingrid Laubrock; Katherine Young; Adam Matlock; Joe Morris; Tomeka Reid; Jason Kao Hwang; Carl Testa; James Fei; Kyoko Kitamura] recorded 2016 in New York
GTM (Syntax) 2017, recorded 2017 in New York Bandcamp
Ghost Trance Solos, solo [Kobe Van Cauwenberghe] recorded 2020 in Albi
Trillium X, recorded 2023 in Prague (concert recording) and Darmstadt (studio recording) Bandcamp
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At this point, we have a total of 265 albums that could be categorized as Braxton albums, though many could subtract the five Circle albums. Many of the duo albums could be categorized under either Braxton's or his collaborator's name.
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The album, Concept of Freedom, features one performance of a Duke Ellington piece and one of a Braxton by a quartet [Roland Dahinden, Hildegard Kleeb, Dimitris Polisoidis, and Robert Höldrich] recorded 2003 in Graz.
The following albums feature performances of Braxton compositions that neither feature Braxton as a musician nor were released under his name. This list should not be considered complete:
Frederic Rzewski - No Place to Go but Around, recorded 1975 in New York
The Cygnus Ensemble - Broken Consort, recorded 1999 in Purchase
Payton MacDonald - Explorations 16, recorded 2021 Bandcamp
The Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner - The Music of Anthony Braxton, recorded 2023 in Los Angeles Bandcamp
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The following albums feature Braxton fitting more of the "sideman" role, in some cases only playing on selected tracks. Unlike the lists above, these albums include compositions by other composers except as indicated. The recording dates and locations may only refer to the portions of an album that include Braxton.
Richard Abrams - Levels and Degrees of Light, recorded 1967 in Chicago; reissued under the artist name, Muhal Richard Abrams
Gunter Hampel - The 8th of July 1969, recorded in Nederhost den Berg
Instant Composers Pool, recorded 1969 in Nederhost den Berg
Jacques Coursil - Black Suite, recorded 1969 in Paris
Alan Silva and His Celestrial Communications Orchestra - Luna Surface, recorded 1969 in Paris
Archie Shepp & Philly Joe Jones, recorded 1969 in Paris
Marion Brown - Afternoon of a Georgia Faun, recorded 1970 in New York
The Celestrial Communications Orchestra - My Country, recorded 1971 in Royan
Gunter Hampel/ Jeanne Lee/ Anthony Braxton - Familie, recorded 1972 in Paris
Dave Holland - Conference of the Birds, recorded 1972 in New York
Dave Brubeck - All the Things We Are, recorded 1974 in New York
Leroy Jenkins/ The Jazz Composer's Orchestra - For Players Only, recorded 1975 in New York
Gunter Hampel - Enfrant Terrible, recorded 1975 in Woodstock
The Globe Unity Orchestra and Guests - Pearls, recorded 1975 in Baden-Baden
The Globe Unity Orchestra and Guests - Baden-Baden '75 [includes one Braxton original]
The New York Section of Composers of the 70s - New American Music, Volume 3, recorded 1975 in New York
Evan Parker/ Anthony Braxton/ Derek Bailey - Company 2, recorded 1976 in London
Roscoe Mitchell - Nonaah, recorded 1977 in Chicago
Woody Shaw with Anthony Braxton - Iron Men, recorded 1977 in New York
Company 5, recorded 1977 in London
Company 6, recorded 1977 in London
Company 7, recorded 1977 in London
Dave Holland - Emerald Tears, recorded 1977 in Oslo [includes one Braxton original]
Muhal Richard Abrams - 1-OQA+19, recorded 1977 in New York
Ran Blake - Rapport, recorded 1978 in New York
Roscoe Mitchell - L-R-G/ The Maze/ SII Examples, recorded 1978 in Chicago
The Reform Art Unit - Impressions, recorded 1978 in Krems [includes two collaborative works; also confusingly quasi-officially released under the artist name Three Motions]
The Roscoe Mitchell Creative Orchestra - Sketches from Bamboo, recorded 1979 in Paris
The Leo Smith Creative Orchestra - Budding of a Rose, recorded 1979 in Paris
Neighbors with Anthony Braxton, recorded 1980 in Innsbruck
Walter Thompson - Four Compositions, recorded 1980 in Willow
Roscoe Mitchell and the Sound Ensemble - Snurdy McGurdy and Her Dancin' Shoes, recorded 1980 in Chicago
The Creative Music Studio - Woodstock Jazz Festival 2 [expanded version entitled The Song Is You], recorded 1981 in Woodstock
Charlie Mariano Meets Anthony Braxton - Elegy for a Goose, recorded 1981 in Paris [apparently includes one Braxton original; the title of the piece ('Goose Suite') does not indicate its position in Braxton's oeuvre]
The Vienna Art Orchestra - From No Time to Rag Time, recorded 1982 in Rubigen [includes one Braxton original]
The Paul Smoker Trio - Q.B., recorded 1984 in Iowa City
György Szabados - Szabraxtondos, recorded 1984 in Budapest
John Lindberg - Trilogy of Works for Eleven Instruments, recorded 1984 in New York
Richard Teitelbaum - Concerto Grosso, recorded 1985 in Cologne
Anthony Braxton/ The ROVA Saxophone Quartet - The Aggregate, recorded 1986 in San Francisco, 1988 in Oakland [includes one Braxton original] Bandcamp
The London Jazz Composers Orchestra - Zurich Concerts, recorded 1988 in Zurich [includes four Braxton originals]
Douglas Ewart and Inventions Clarinet Choir - Angles of Entrance, recorded 1990 in Atlanta
Frederick Longberg-Holm - Theory of Motion, recorded 1990 in Oakland
Jon Rapson - Dances & Orations, recorded 1994 in Middletown and Van Nuys
Roland Dahinden Trios - Naima, recorded 1995 in Paramus
Joe Fonda - From the Source, recorded 1996 in New York
Seth Misterka - Middletown Experiments 1996-1999, recorded 1996 in Middletown [includes one collaborative work]
Brett Larner - Itadakimasu: Improvised Duets 1994-2000, recorded 1996 in Middletown [includes one collaborative work]
The Kevin Norton Ensemble and Anthony Braxton - For Guy Debord (In Nine Events), recorded 1998 in New York
James Fei - Alto Quartets, recorded 1998 in New York
Andre Vida - Child Real Eyes, recorded 2002 in New York
John Shiurba - 5x5 1.2=A, recorded 2003 in Oakland
Wolf Eyes and Anthony Braxton - Black Vomit, recorded 2005 in Victoriaville [two collaborative works]
Misha Mengelberg - Afijn, recorded 2005 in Amsterdam
Andre Vida - BRUD: Volumes I-III, recorded 2008 in Berlin
Wolf Eyes & Anthony Braxton - Live at Pioneer Works, 26 October 2023, recorded 2023 in New York Bandcamp
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Finally, some compilation appearances:
Wildflowers: The New York Loft Jazz Sessions, Vol. 2, septet recorded 1976 in New York [one Braxton original]
Creative Music Studio — Archive Selections Volume 2[one collaborative work]
Jazzgalerie Nickelsdorf: The 20th Anniversary [one Braxton original]
Music from Mills: In Celebration of the Centennial of the Chartering of Mills College 1885-1995, duo recorded 1986 in Oakland [one Braxton original]
Bidi, Bidi, Bidi, trio recorded 1986 in Oakland [one collaborative work]
October Meeting 1987, large ensembled recorded 1987 in Amsterdam [one Gerry Hemingway original]
The Virtuoso in the Computer Age - I [one Braxton original, one David Rosenboom original]
October Meeting 1991, quartet recorded 1991 in Amsterdam [four standards]
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And there are a few compilations that only reissue old recordings, most notably The Complete Arista Recordings of Anthony Braxton and The Complete Remastered Recordings on Black Saint & Soul Note. Also in this category are Freedom Years and Die Braxton Box.
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