Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Black Saint & Soul Note on eMusic.


Stef at Free Jazz blog, brought the news recently that eMusic now have ECM titles available for download, which reminded me that I've forgotten to write that they (i.e. eMusic) have also acquired a large amount of the back catalogues for the Italian labels Black Saint and Soul Note.

I have an ambiguous relationship with ECM, but I love a lot of Black Saint and Soul Note records. A quick history: Black Saint and Soul Note became refuges for some (though not all) of the most adventurous American jazz musicians in the late 70s and throughout the 80s. Most of David Murray's best work (e.g. Ming, Murray's Steps, Home, The Hill, Sweet Lovely) were recorded for Black Saint, though these have been available on eMusic for a while. The new batch includes records by Air, Anthony Braxton, George Lewis, John Carter, Julius Hemphill, Muhal Richard Abrams, Lester Bowie, Don Pullen, Cecil Taylor to name only a few.

Unlike ECM, Black Saint and Soul Note records can be hard to come by in some corners of the world. The fact that eMusic now have them for download is nothing short of fantastic. What's more, eMusic's prices are so good that you can easily afford to by a physical copy of a record you may come to love, that is if you can find it.

I should add that the Jazz Loft carry many titles by Black Saint and Soul Note at reasonable prices (SquidCo also have a few titles). You could also try Black Saint's homepage.

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