LATEST ADDITIONS

Perhaps had the dulcet-toned baritone Johnny Hartman lived beyond sixty (he passed away from lung cancer in 1983) he might have experienced a resurgence similar to Tony Bennett’s&#151not that Hartman was ever as popular as Bennett.

Fifty four year old Thelonious Monk was considered “washed up” by many when this European session was recorded in 1971. He’d ended his association with Columbia Records and while he made some good records for the most commerical label with which he’d be associated, he’d not written much new material during that period.

Back in “the day,” budget labels like Seraphim (Angel), Cardinal (Vanguard) Victrola (RCA) and Odyssey (Columbia) usually released old recordings at low prices. Many of these were great performances from either mono recordings (sometimes foolishly "reprocessed for stereo") or transferred from 78rpm parts.

You gotta thank Sundazed for digging out and reissuing raw, vital stuff like this and not charging audiophile prices. For one thing, they wouldn’t be able to sell it for $30.00 and it wouldn’t be worth lavishing such care on it anyway. But that doesn’t mean stuff like this is any less worthy.