Various Artists - Spiritual Jazz 16: Riverside Etc (2024 Jazzman Records 2xLP)

Various Artists - Spiritual Jazz 16: Riverside Etc | 2 x Vinyl LP - 2024 Jazzman Records (JMANLP 139)

• The sixteenth volume in Jazzman’s long-running Spiritual Jazz series, this time drawing exclusively from the Riverside, Jazzland and Milestone catalogues founded by Orrin Keepnews and Bill Grauer. Eleven tracks across two LPs, compiled by Gerald Short.
• Big names and deep cuts side by side: Cannonball Adderley’s “Primitivo”, McCoy Tyner’s “Valley of Life” and a thirteen-minute Joe Henderson track featuring Alice Coltrane sit alongside harder-to-find material from James Clay, Frank Strozier, Sonny Red and the Werner-Rosengren Swedish Jazz Quartet.
• 2024 UK pressing, mastered by Colin Young at See Why Audio, manufactured by Grand Vinyl Ltd. Liner notes by Kevin Le Gendre.

Gerald Short has been compiling the Spiritual Jazz series since 2008, and the approach has stayed consistent: find the tracks that connect hard bop, modal jazz, soul-jazz and free playing through a shared sense of reach and purpose, then sequence them like a DJ set rather than a history lesson. Each volume has a focus. Volume fifteen was a Coltrane tribute. Volume sixteen turns to Riverside and its sister labels, which means the source catalogue runs from the mid-1950s (when Keepnews and Grauer were recording Monk and Bill Evans) through to the 1970s Milestone sessions that produced some of the most exploratory jazz-funk of the era. The compilation opens with James Clay’s “New Delhi”, a six-and-a-half-minute modal piece that sets the tone. The Werner-Rosengren Swedish Jazz Quartet and Sal Nistico follow, both lesser-known names that reward the listener who follows up. Side B brings in bigger currency: Frank Strozier, Cannonball Adderley’s “Primitivo” at over nine minutes, and Blue Mitchell’s “Turquoise”.

The second disc goes deeper. Sonny Red’s “The Mode” takes nearly nine minutes on Side C, alongside Clifford Jordan and a compact Lee Konitz track. Side D saves the heaviest material for last: McCoy Tyner’s “Valley of Life” into Joe Henderson’s “Earth” featuring Alice Coltrane, which runs thirteen minutes and closes the set with exactly the kind of extended spiritual exploration the series title promises. Kevin Le Gendre’s liner notes provide context for each selection. The whole thing is licensed through Concord Music Group, who now hold the Riverside, Jazzland and Milestone catalogues. Mastered by Colin Young at See Why Audio and pressed in the EU by Grand Vinyl.