New Sony series celebrates the 40th Anniversary of CTI Records

Although CTI was founded by Creed Taylor as a production company in 1967 (as a kind of jazz division of A&M Records), and became an independent label in late 1969, when its first releases hit the U.S. stores, only in 2009 the 40 years of the label were celebrated in Japan with the "CTI RVG Collection," a SHM-CD series of 20 items produced for reissue by Creed's himself and remastered by the legendary engineer Rudy Van Gelder, with liner notes provided by such jazz historians like Ira Gitler and Arnaldo DeSouteiro.

And only now, in late 2010, the 40th anniversary of CTI will be celebrated in the USA thanks to Sony Music, that controls the rights of the heyady of Creed Taylor's catalog between 1970 and 1980.

Twelve classic CTI albums from the 1970s will be reissued, most of them remastered for the first time using original two-track ¼-inch analog master tapes. They will be packaged in softpack sleeves that replicate the original LPs.

Six titles will be issued on October 12, 2010 by Sony Masterworks, all previously released on CD with different mixes (except Hubert Laws' Grammy-nominated "Morning Star") and all featuring Ron Carter:

Freddie Hubbard: "Red Clay" (featuring Joe Henderson, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Lenny White)Stanley Turrentine: "Sugar" (feat. George Benson, Ron Carter, Butch Cornell, Lonnie Liston Smith, Richard "Pablo" Landrum, Freddie Hubbard)Chet Baker: "She Was Too Good To Me" (arranged by Don Sebesky, feat. Paul Desmond, Bob James, Ron Carter, Steve Gadd, Jack DeJohnnette, Hubert Laws et al)Antonio Carlos Jobim: "Stone Flower" (arranged by Eumir Deodato, feat. João Palma, Ron Carter, Urbie Green, Harry Lookofsky, Joe Farrell, Hubert Laws, Airto Moreira, Everaldo Ferreira et al.)Hubert Laws: "Morning Star" (arranged by Bob James, feat. Billy Cobham, Ron Carter, John Tropea, Ralph MacDonald et al.)Kenny Burrell: "God Bless the Child" (arranged by Don Sebesky, feat. Hugh Lawson, Richard Wyands, Freddie Hubbard, Hubert Laws, Ron Carter, Billy Cobham, Airto, Ray Barretto et al.)
Then, on January 25, 2011:
George Benson: "White Rabbit" (arr. by Don Sebesky, feat. Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Billy Cobham, Airto, Hubert Laws, John Frosk, Gloria Agostini)
Deodato: "Prelude" (feat. John Tropea, Jay Berliner, Ron Carter, Stanley Clarke, Ray Barretto, Airto, Hubert Laws, Marvin Stamm, Bill Watrous)
Milt Jackson: "Sunflower" (arr. by Don Sebesky, feat. Freddie Hubbard, Jay Berliner, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Billy Cobham, Ralph MacDonald)
Paul Desmond: "Pure Desmond" (feat. Ed Bickert, Ron Carter, Connie Kay)
Jim Hall: "Concierto" (arr. by Don Sebesky, feat. Roland Hanna, Chet Baker, Paul Desmond, Ron Carter, Steve Gadd)
Ron Carter: "All Blues" (feat. Joe Henderson, Roland Hanna, Richard Tee, Ron Carter, Billy Cobham)

Sony will also be releasing, on Oct 12, the 4-CD box set "CTI Records: The Cool Revolution - A 40th Anniversary Collection," with each track remastered using the original two-track LP masters, containing 39 tracks on 4 themed CDs ("Staright Up," "Deep Grooves/Big Hits," "The Brazilian Connection," "Cool and Classic") and lavishly illustrated 20-page LP-sized booklet with rare photos and new liner notes.Featuring the label’s legendary roster of jazz stars, the four discs offer an overview of the golden decade (1970-80) in which CTI’s signature sound and style were born, with each disc highlighting an aspect of CTI’s personality.Then, the most eagerly awaited item, scheduled for release on October 26:
"The California Concert,” the legendary Hollywood Palladium concert of 1971 – a CTI All-Stars live event featuring most of the amazing CTI roster – returns in a newly remixed and remastered two-disc edition that includes 90 minutes of music rarely heard and never-before released.October 26 also brings 180-gram vinyl LP reissues of 4 classic CTI albums using the original gatefold sleeve designs accompanied with digital download cards: Red Clay by Freddie Hubbard, Stanley Turrentine’s Sugar, White Rabbit by George Benson and Prelude by Deodato.
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Press Release:
CTI RECORDS 40th ANNIVERSARY
CELEBRATED BY MASTERWORKS JAZZ WITH MULTIPLE RELEASES

CTI Records: The Cool Revolution deluxe 4-CD box set available October 12;
New 2-CD version of 1971’s The California Concert arrives October 26
Albums from CTI greats George Benson, Ron Carter, Deodato, Freddie Hubbard, Hubert Laws, Stanley Turrentine and more

Masterworks Jazz celebrates the 40th anniversary of CTI Records, the beloved jazz label founded in 1970 by producer Creed Taylor, beginning October 12 with the release of CTI Records: The Cool Revolution, a deluxe 4-CD multi-artist box set retrospective. Two weeks later on October 26, the double-CD restoration of The California Concert (1971) will be released with 90 minutes of music rarely heard and never before available. The 40th anniversary commemoration will also include reissues of 12 classic CTI albums, plus several collectible vinyl LPs in the coming months.

CTI Records: The Cool Revolution will contain four hour-long-plus discs, each presenting a thematic overview of a particular aspect of CTI: Straight Up Jazz, Deep Grooves/Big Hits, The Brazilian Connection, Cool and Classic. The 39 tracks in the box set – as well as all CTI anniversary edition titles – are remastered (by engineer Dave Darlington) for the first time from the original analogue ¼-inch tapes.

The 2010 edition of The California Concert is the most complete version of the historic Hollywood Palladium all-star concert recorded July 18, 1971. It doubles the content of the original five-song LP release with five additional tracks - three of them previously unreleased - and restores the original concert sequence for the first time. Creed Taylor hand-picked a dream team of CTI artists for the occasion: Freddie Hubbard, Hubert Laws, Hank Crawford, Stanley Turrentine, Johnny Hammond, Ron Carter, Billy Cobham and Airto Moreira.

There will also be a full slate of classic CTI album reissues packaged in eco-friendly softpack sleeves that replicate the original gatefold LP design and their iconic covers with some photos by Pete Turner. Six titles will arrive on October 12: She Was Too Good To Me by Chet Baker, God Bless the Child by Kenny Burrell, Red Clay by Freddie Hubbard, Stoneflower by Antonio Carlos Jobim, Morning Star by Hubert Laws, and Stanley Turrentine’s Sugar. Upcoming January 2011 CD releases include White Rabbit by George Benson, All Blues by Ron Carter, Prelude by Deodato, Pure Desmond by Paul Desmond, Concierto by Jim Hall, and Milt Jackson’s Sunflower.

In the 1970s, CTI, its music, its style and its discriminating quality transformed contemporary jazz. The roster worked almost like a repertory company, in which great musicians took turns in the spotlight and accompanying each other. The albums they and their colleagues created set new standards in their look as well as their sound. “[Creed Taylor’s] plan was ingeniously simple, yet famously maverick: record top-tier musicians, keeping their artistic integrity intact while also making their art palatable to the people. CTI thus achieved that rare balance of jazz and commercialism,” writes Dan Ouellette in the liner notes. CTI surpassed the majors and fellow indies to be named the #1 Jazz Label of 1974 by Billboard. The immediate success of CTI’s recordings has echoed across the decades in a profound influence on jazz, pop, R&B and hip-hop.