Prestige ‘Profile Series’ Expanded

By I Nov. 2, 2005

Prestige Records, founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock, was home to such artists as Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins. The music of these artists, along with Red Garland, Coleman Hawkins, Eric Dolphy, Jackie McLean, Kenny Burrell, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, and Lightnin’ Hopkins is showcased on the Concord Music Group’s new “Prestige Profiles” series, released on Oct.25.

The compilations are priced at $11.98 and each one includes a bonus disc featuring about 48 minutes of additional material from the Prestige jazz catalog. The artists on the bonus CDs include Chet Baker, Gil Evans and Thelonious Monk, among others. According to Nick Phillips the compilations and bonus discs will introduce, or reintroduce the casual jazz listener to a lot of timeless jazz.

The albums are approximately 68 minutes in length, and include highlighted material from each artist’s discography, detailed annotation by prominent music writers and retro covers. The ten Profiles CDs were originally released by Fantasy as single “Best Of” discs last year and now they are being offered as a part of a series, which is expected to expand to include more releases, under the newly formed Concord Music Group.