Record Store Day 2023: Jazz rarities and reissues to add to your vinyl collection
By Adam Feibel2023/02/17
The 16th edition of Record Store Day will take place April 22, 2023, featuring more than 300 special releases.
Taking place annually since 2008, Record Store Day encourages collectors to head over to their local independent record shop to browse a lineup of special vinyl releases, including rarities, reissues and box sets.
Here’s a list of some of the special releases that jazz enthusiasts and collectors can find in the 2023 edition of Record Store Day. Your local shop can tell you if they have the one you want.
This “holy grail” set of never-before-released recordings of legendary jazz pianist Bill Evans was taped with excellent sound quality either live or in Danish TV and radio studios in the mid- to late-1960s. The triple-LP package includes previously unpublished photos, liner notes and interviews. Copies: 4,000
This collection of previously unreleased recordings gets an encore pressing with new cover artwork by Chuck Stewart and vinyl mastering by Kevin ray at Cohearent Audio. The triple-LP set contains the full Conversations and Iron Man albums plus nearly 85 minutes of bonus material and a 20-page insert with previously unpublished photos, memorabilia, essays and interviews. The studio sessions feature jazz greats Clifford Jordan, Sonny Simmons, Woody Shaw, Richard Davis and Bobby Hutcherson. Copies: 2,000
This mono edition of Chet Baker’s album Chet on Riverside is the first North American vinyl reissue since its original release in 1959. The album features the talents of legends Bill Evans, Pepper Adams, Herbie Mann, Kenny Burrell, Paul Chambers, Connie Kay and Philly Joe Jones. The re-releases comes with all-analog mastering from the original mono tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio. Copies: 6,525
Available for the first time as an official release in partnership with the Art Blakey estate, this is the only known recording with this Jazz Messengers lineup of pianist Andy Bey, tenor saxophonist Ramon Morris, soprano saxophonist Junior Cook and double bassist Isao Suzuki. A must-have for hardcore Blakey enthusiasts, the package also comes with a QR code offering access to almost five hours of additional content. Copies: 1,800
These are Sonny Stitt’s final live recordings on Nov. 11, 1981, from Bubba’s Jazz Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The saxophonist performs here alongside fellow tenor Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis and trumpeter Harry “Sweets” Edison, backed by drummer Duffy Jackson and bassist Donn Mast. It’s the first reissue of this concert recording since 1983. Copies: 1,200
Miles Davis’s On the Corner, recently turned 50 and with each decade, its space-age funk has only become more influential to generations of jazz, electronic, post-punk and hip-hop fans and artists. This new vinyl release cherry-picks four cuts from the celebrated expanded project The Complete On the Corner Sessions, released in 2007 as a collection of key recordings captured before and after the original album’s release. These tracks feature what was his then-new band, including bassist Michael Henderson, drummer Al Foster and percussionist James Mtume, plus rotating appearances by Herbie Hancock, Dave Liebman and Bennie Maupin. Copies: 5,700
This 1974 classic from “the godfather of fusion” was the first studio album by Larry Coryell’s group the Eleventh House. Out of print on vinyl until now, the album is known as Coryell’s “finest achievement.” The one-time collector’s edition issue includes deluxe packaging with the original album artwork and labels, specialty colour vinyl and more. Copies: 1,500
Organ great Shirley Scott is captured with a powerhouse trio of tenor saxophonist George Coleman and drummer Bobb Durham — plus special guest vocalist Ernie Andrews — in this official, never-before-released concert recording captured at the Famous Ballroom in Baltimore on Aug. 20, 1972. Transferred to vinyl from the original tape reels, it features 100 minutes of music and is packaged in a gatefold sleeve with an extensive booklet with liner notes by acclaimed music writer A. Scott Galloway, rare photos by Don Schlitten and Raymond Ross, and memorabilia from the Left Bank archives plus interviews with organist Joey DeFrancesco, saxophonist Tim Warfield and pianist Monty Alexander. The set is co-produced by Vancouver-based musician and label owner Cory Weeds and renowned archival recording producer Zev Feldman. Copies: 2,000
The 18 selections on this double-LP vinyl set were captured in the late ‘40s and early ’50s at such storied venues as Carnegie Hall and Birdland in New York, the Jubilee in Los Angeles, and the Portland Civic Auditorium. Focused on experiments in Afro-Cuban fusion, Parker is joined by a dazzling array of legends including Dizzy Gillespie, Milt Jackson, Art Blakey, Woody Herman, Stan Kenton and Red Rodney. The package includes an essay by keyboardist Keith Emerson. Copies: 2,500
This collection features two recordings of trumpet/vocal icon Chet Baker captured in stereo at the legendary VARA Studio 2 in Hilversum, the Netherlands. The first session featured pianist Phil Markowitz, bassist Jean-Louis Rassinfosse and drummer Charles Rice, while the second session featured pianist Frans Elsen, bassist Victor Kaihatu and drummer Eric Ineke. The double-LP includes an elaborate booklet with photos, liner notes, essays and interviews. Copies: 3,000
This previously unissued recording of saxophone master Sonny Stitt was captured live at the famous ballroom in Baltimore on Nov. 11, 1973, for the Left Bank Jazz Society. The set features an all-star rhythm section of pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Sam Jones and drummer Louis Hayes. The deluxe, limited-edition double-LP set was mastered by legendary engineer Bernie Grundman and includes an extensive booklet with rare photos, liner notes and interviews. Copies: 1,800
This recording of Sun Ra performing a solo set at Haverford College in Pennsylvania has been kicking around the internet and in the digital libraries of Ra collectors for years, but this is the first time it has been properly mastered and commercially issued. This unique set is a break from Sun Ra’s normal style: While he is notorious for his aggressive keyboard attack and spastic stylings, Ra’s restrained performance here on the Rhodes piano is unusually relaxed, contemplative and soothing. Copies: 1,400
This boxed set consists of live performances from free-jazz visionary Albert Ayler capturing some of the most magnificent moments on his 1966 tour of Europe. The release includes performances from Berlin, Lörrach, Stockholm and Paris, all of which occurred within a two-week span. Ayler’s masterful band on this tour included his brother Donald on trumpet, Michel Samson on violin, William Folwell on double bass and Beaver Harris on drums. These recordings were remastered for vinyl by Dave Gardner at Infrasonic Mastering, and the quadruple-LP package includes a fold-out insert featuring liner notes from John Litweller and photos from the tour. Copies: 1,900
This 1976 recording of two bebop pioneers — drummer Max Roach and tenor saxophonist Archie Shepp — is being made available as a one-time, French-imported collector’s item for Record Store Day. The double-LP rarity has deluxe packaging that includes an OBI strip, gatefold album jacket with two pockets, printed inner sleeves, original record labels and coloured vinyl. Copies: 1,200
The trio of John Medeski, Billy Martin and Chris Wood celebrate the 30th anniversary of their classic second album It’s a Jungle in Here by making its available on vinyl for the very first time. The record includes covers of tracks by John Coltrane and King Sunny Ade plus a mashup of Bob Marley with Thelonious Monk along with original material, all of which set them apart for their fresh approach to jazz. Copies: 2,500
This is a previously unissued set of recordings by one of the unsung heroes of bepop jazz piano, Walter Bishop Jr. The double-LP set consists of two shows recorded in Baltimore, the first at the Madison Club on Aug. 28, 1966, and the second at the Famous Ballroom on Feb. 26, 1967. The swinging trio features saxophonist Harold Vick, bassist Lou McIntosh and drummer Dick Berk playing an eight-track set that includes two Miles Davis compositions along with standards such as “Willow Weep for Me,” Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “Quiet Nights” and Henry Mancini’s “The Days of Wine and Roses.” The collection boasts 100 minutes of music, an extensive booklet with essays by Ted Panken and Bret Primack; rare photos by Don Schlitten, Raymod Ross and Jan Persson; and poetry pieces written by Bishop. The set is produced by Vancouver-based musician and label owner Cory Weeds and producer Zev Feldman. Copies: 2,000
Another French import, this one is a rare live recording of Archie Shepp performing at Massy in Paris in 1975. The double-LP set comes with deluxe packaging in pink and white vinyl colour variants. Copies: 1,000
This recording was captured live at Grammy-winning vocalist Arooj Aftab’s sold-out headline show at London’s Barbican Centre on June 17, 2022. The set also features Anoushka Shankar on sitar, Darian Donovan Thomas on violin, Maeve Gilchrist on harp and Petros Klampanis on bass. Copies: 2,500
The groove connoisseurs of Jazz Dispensary take you back to the summer of 1978 at an imaginary hotel deep in the heart of the French Riviera for a day of love, abandonment and a whole lot of psychedelia, soundtracked by the sweet themes of Dizzy Gillespie, the Blackbyrds, Dorothy Ashby and many more. Copies: 4,500
In 1980, a coalition of musicians led by led by bassist Charles Mingus and drummer Max Roach staged a protest of the Newport Jazz Festival’s booking policy. The resulting recording has now been remastered by Bernie Grundman and reissued as a Record Store Day-first release. Copies: 2,000
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