Jef Gilson - The Archives (2013)

A collection of previously-unreleased recordings, rehearsals, demos and alternate takes from the personal archive of brilliant French pianist, composer and arranger extraordinaire Jef Gilson. Since his passing in 2012, Jazzman Records has surveyed the substantial personal archive of Gilson's acetates, test pressings and reel-to-reel tapes with the kind permission of his widow, Geneviève. The task has not been easy; it's taken numerous trips to France and the generous assistance of a small army of translators, advisors, musicologists, amateur enthusiasts and record collectors, as well as the surviving members of Gilson's musical entourage, for the label to gather together the information required to make this album. Here you'll find early experiments in oriental and ethnic jazz with Lloyd Miller, unissued alternate takes of Gilson's classic repertoire, long-lost live performances from 1960s European jazz festivals, and rehearsals and jam sessions that developed into a lifelong creative obsession, none of which has been officially released before. The music on this release was specially chosen from hundreds of hours of alternate takes, rehearsals, live recordings, unissued sessions and personal recordings made from the '50s to the '70s. Despite the limitations afforded by mastering some of these recordings from anonymous reels of twisted, buckled tape and scratched, dusty old acetate discs, we hope that the music contained herein affords a fascinating and otherwise impenetrable insight into the workings of one of the great unsung creative forces of European jazz. The CD comes with a 24-page color booklet with in-depth liner notes and previously-unpublished photographs. All tracks previously-unreleased, fully-licensed and digitally-restored from their original source.