MPS Records Reissues Albums On Vinyl & CD

Record collectors continue to rejoice as Germany’s first jazz label, MPS Records, reissues albums on vinyl and CD by many of the biggest artists in the genre. On Friday, albums by Oscar Peterson and his trio, The Count Basie Orchestra, and Rolf Kühn resurface via Edel Germany in partnership with Bob Frank Entertainment.

Reissued on standard black vinyl and CD earlier this month, Peterson’s “Motions & Emotions” was released Friday as a limited edition numbered blue vinyl LP. Always a swinger who exhibited extraordinary speed and dexterity, the Canadian jazz pianist interpreted a popular songbook on this 1969 release, interpreting material by John Lennon & Paul McCartney, Burt Bacharach & Hal David, Henry Mancini, Antonio Carlos Jobim, and Jimmy Webb, among others. The ten-track album captures Peterson with his astute quartet lavishly illumined by an orchestra.          

Peterson tipped off MPS about the vocal group from Chicago called The Singers Unlimited, a studio foursome led by Gene Puerling known for crafting elaborate layers of vocal tracks in their recordings. The pianist’s trio – Peterson, George Mraz on bass, and Louis Hayes on drums - teamed with The Singers Unlimited for 1971’s “In Tune,” the first release spawned during a decade-long recording relationship between the sophisticated singers and MPS. Arriving Friday on vinyl and CD, the collection showcases Peterson’s nimble piano and the group’s vocal harmonies venturing through a varied setlist that boasts a swinging strut down “Sesame Street,” a couple of Brazilian numbers (Jobim’s “Children’s Game” and Luiz Bonfá’s “The Gentle Rain), and classics culled from the Great American Songbook, including “It Never Entered My Mind,” “The Shadow of Your Smile” and “Once Upon A Summertime.”  

Count Basie’s 17-piece orchestra fills 1970’s “High Voltage” with swinging, big band renditions of standards the outfit had never recorded previously in its 30-year history. Recruiting Cuban composer/arranger Chico O’Farrill to arrange, The Count Basie Orchestra rifles through a dozen popular selections such as “The Lady Is A Tramp,” “Bewitched,” “Get Me To The Church On Time,” “On The Sunny Side of the Street” and “I Didn’t Know What Time It Was.”     

In honor of Kühn’s 90th birthday two years ago, the clarinetist is the subject of a nine-LP boxset entitled “The Best Is Yet To Come,” which is comprised of seven newly remastered vinyl albums from his catalog along with a pair of live recordings of the Rolf + Joachim Kühn Quartet from 1966’s Berlin Jazz Days and 1967’s Newport Jazz Festival that had never before been released. A rare-bred German who managed to find success living and playing jazz in America, Kühn was an exceptional artist with a unique sound and distinctive style, a quintessential jazz man who evolved throughout his career from big band swing to more adventurous and improvisational jazz.