Horo Records, part 2

I don’t know how many of my thousands of readers saw this comment on my post about Horo Records:

I was assistant producer at HORO Records for several years, when I was in my teens. Aldo Sinesio, the producer, is on the verge of reissuing most of the HORO catalogue on CD, and I will produce the reissues. Lonehill Records has just ripped off a Teddy Wilson record from HORO, so, in order to avoid other "fakes" (the guys at Lonehill have just copied an LP), the catalogue wll be reissued almost in its entirety. Within May/June a series of recordings live by Freddie Hubbard, and an unissued recording, by pianist Dave Burrell and legendary drummer Sam Woodyard, will be out. I think you're the first person to get the news...
Cordially yours, Gianni Morelenbaum Gualberto

This is very good news for the jazz world. A lot of people have been waiting for this catalogue to be reissued on CD.

I can’t let the subject of the Horo label go without talking a little more about the three Sun Ra double albums the label released. Unity is a live album by the full band, and is a typical Ra mixture of originals, swing-era standards, and free improvisations. But New Steps and Other Voices, Other Blues are two of the most unusual items in the Ra discography, although Media Dream and Disco 3000 on the Saturn label were recorded around the same time and are somewhat similar. All of these are quartet albums which feature the mighty John Gilmore on tenor, Michael Ray on trumpet, and Luqman Ali on drums. Ra plays piano (with a strong left hand to make up for the lack of bass) on some tracks, but the most interesting music on these albums finds Sonny behind a Crumar Mainman, one of those electronic keyboards that seemed like a good idea at the time. It had a built-in drum box, and apparently had some elementary sequencing capability – Ra uses programmed bass ostinatos on some tunes. The music that he wrests from this cheesy instrument is really remarkable – at times it is hard to believe that no overdubbing is involved, but it apparently wasn’t. The rest of the quartet rises to the occasion with some inspired playing. This is some truly weird and wonderful music.

And when the Horo catalogue is reissued, it will be a lot easier to get me Steve Lacy’s Eronel for Christmas.