Michael Fremer

(Press release): Charles Lloyd & The Marvels have released “Ramblin’,” a rollicking version of Ornette Coleman’s tune which is the first single from the legendary saxophonist and NEA Jazz Master Charles Lloyd’s forthcoming album Tone Poem out March 12 on Blue Note Records. The vinyl edition of the album will be the first new release to be featured as part of the acclaimed Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Series with the vinyl supervised by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray, pressed at Record Technology, Inc. (RTI), and packaged in a deluxe Stoughton Printing gatefold tip-on jacket. Fittingly, it was Lloyd who first dubbed Harley the “Tone Poet.” Tone Poem is available for pre-order now on vinyl, CD, and digital download.

“Do we really need yet another version of Patricia Barber’s café blue? was my reaction upon hearing about IMPEX Records’ new $125 “One-Step” edition of this more than a quarter century old (1994) Premonition release.

This limited to 1000 copies lavishly packaged "one-step" edition of John Coltrane's Lush Life sold out shortly after it was announced. Did you miss anything? If it's a favorite, probably. I hesitated to review it, much like I don't review The Electric Recording Company's limited editions that almost immediately sell out upon release announcement, but given Craft's uneven release history (unlike that of ERC), a review seems appropriate.

My two best Christmas presents. One was the record weight pictured above. Chris Stinchfeld of 1441 Engraving in Brunswick, Georgia wrote “Michael, I love your videos and would like to send you a gift.” How thoughtful and generous was that? He took the time to duplicate the AnalogPlanet logo and put it on a well-machined, attractive record weight. But I think even Chris would agree that the correspondences below from Sava Dimitrov, a young man in Bulgaria is as good a gift as one could get.