New Anthologies Series Offers Cuts Hand-Picked by Artists

Ask most jazz artists what they think of the various reissues and “best of” recordings associated with their names, and you’ll usually get muted enthusiasm, at best. The complaints can be both predictable and understandable: This or that important session was omitted; the popular stuff took precedence over more creative efforts; alternate takes--originally omitted because they weren’t good enough--should have been left out. And so on.

Last year, RCA/Bluebird made the singular decision to take a different approach by releasing a five-CD boxed set--”Artie Shaw: Self Portrait”--with tracks chosen by the veteran clarinetist, band leader and author himself, who offers fascinating commentary about each. The result was an insightful view of an important American musical career.

ECM is now expanding that concept with a new series labeled the rarum anthology project. More than 30 musicians who have been associated with the European label were asked to participate. The first eight volumes are being released this week; a second group follows in the fall, with more scheduled for 2003.

The initial group includes albums by Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, Gary Burton, Bill Frisell, Jan Garbarek, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Terje Rypdal and Bobo Stenson. Many of the choices are fascinating.

Jarrett, at first reluctant to do the project, writes in his program notes that he proceeded once he “suddenly” began to remember possible selections, quickly achieving a “vivid idea of what had to be included to direct the listener’s attention to recordings that either have been, in my opinion, heard less than I feel is their due, or have escaped recent awareness.”

He assembled a double-CD album including material from his standards trio, his European Quartet (with Garbarek and others), and a wide selection from his solo piano improvisations (including a segment from a 1981 Munich program that is released on CD for the first time). Less expected are selections in which he plays organ (“Hymn of Remembrance” in its first CD appearance), clavichord, soprano saxophone, flute and other instruments (mostly from his 1985 “Spirits” tapes).

Corea’s collection emphasizes his work with Return to Forever, his duets with Burton, and the superb collaborations with Miroslav Vitous and Roy Haynes--the latter via spontaneous improvisations and what he describes as the “pure fun” of Thelonious Monk songs. “This collection could be a study in Spiritual Chemistry,” Corea notes. “The music rings with my favorite associations: compatriots and friends in Making Music.”

Burton elected to focus on his working bands from the ‘70s through the ‘80s--in the process providing illuminating views of the early development of guitarist Pat Metheny and pianist Makoto Ozone. Frisell’s colorful group of selections encompasses performances with the bands of Garbarek, Paul Motian, Paul Bley and Kenny Wheeler.

Garbarek’s double CD album includes one disc devoted to collaborations (with Jarrett’s Quartet, Ralph Towner’s Solstice, etc.) and a second disc of his recordings as a leader.

The Art Ensemble recordings--from the late ‘70s and early ‘80s--feature selections from the recordings “Nice Guys,” “Full Force,” “Urban Bushmen” and “The Third Decade,” as well as selections from outings by Lester Bowie and Roscoe Mitchell. The Rypdal and Stenson collections offer compelling glimpses into the too little acknowledged (in this country) sophistication of European jazz, and the intriguing results that have flowed from its interface with American players such as Don Cherry, Charles Lloyd and Billy Hart.

New Carmen: Well, not exactly new, but either never before heard on a commercial recording or never before available on CD. I’m referring to a sudden, unexpected cornucopia of material from Carmen McRae: “Carmen McRae at Ratsos,” which comes in two volumes (on Hitchcock Media), and “Bittersweet” (Koch Jazz).

The former, which consists of two separately sold CDs, includes material recorded live in 1976 at a tiny Chicago club. The program is extraordinarily diverse, embracing songs such as Bill Withers’ “Paint Your Pretty Picture With a Song,” James Taylor’s “Music” and Stevie Wonder’s “You and I,” as well as an Ellington medley, standards such as “My Old Flame” and offbeat items such as Jimmy Rowles’ “Ballad of Thelonious Monk” and Blossom Dearie’s “Hey, John.” McRae’s unerring musicality is in every selection, adapting stylistically to the differing demands in phrasing, superbly articulating each line, telling the stories while remaining firmly in touch with her essential jazz roots.

“Bittersweet,” recorded in 1964, displays a bit less artistically mature McRae working on a stunning collection of ballads familiar (“If You Could See Me Now,” “Here’s That Rainy Day”) as well as less well known (Norman Simmons’ “If You Could Love Me,” Otis Rene Jr.’s “I’m Lost”). Although the readings don’t quite reach inside the songs in the fashion of the Ratsos performances, there’s no denying the appeal of McRae’s luminous alto and her irresistible sense of swing.

Fair warning: Tickets for the 45th annual Monterey Jazz Festival, Sept. 20-22, are selling at a record pace. That’s not surprising, given that this year’s event features Michael Brecker and Brad Mehldau with the Charlie Haden Special Project; Christian McBride dueting with Dave Brubeck; Byron Stripling, Roy Hargrove and Lizz Wright in a staged performance of “The Real Ambassadors”; new ensembles led by Hargrove and Joshua Redman; and dozens of others--Nancy Wilson and Ramsey Lewis, the Mingus Big Band, the Heath Brothers, the Randy Weston Sextet, etc.--on the festival’s five stages of continual entertainment.

The good news is that tickets are still available for the Arena Stage, which is where all the major acts appear, as well as “grounds” passes that allow entry into all the other performing areas.

Information: (925) 275-9255 or on the Web at www.montereyjazz festival.org.

Woodstock on the Central Coast: The area around the arts-oriented community of Cambria is beginning to resemble--at least in spirit--the music-enriched environs of New York’s Hudson Valley towns around Woodstock. In Cambria, as well as Woodstock, jazz plays a surprisingly important role in the creative life of the region. Tonight through Sunday is a display of how rapidly that role is expanding: Cambria Jazz 2002, the Central Coast’s first jazz festival.

Vibist Charlie Shoemake and his singer-wife, Sandi--who have played a major role in bringing music to the community via their Famous Artists Jazz Series--will perform Sunday. Other participants include Frankie Capp and the Juggernaut Big Band, singer Spanky Wilson, saxophonist Red Holloway, and about 20 other bands, mostly from Cambria, the Central Coast, Bakersfield and Santa Barbara.

“Lucky us,” festival producer Rebecca Buckley says. “We have world class [musicians] right here in our own backyard, many of whom have fled the cities to escape the congestion and the fast pace.”

Cambria Jazz 2002 programs take place in nearly a dozen venues, with events scheduled today from 5 p.m. to midnight and Saturday and Sunday from noon to midnight. Three-day, all-venue tickets are $50; tickets today and Sunday only are $30; Saturday-only tickets are $35.

Information: (805) 927-0119 or on the Web at www.seecambria .com/jazzfest.