Sunnyside Reissues Owl LPs

Thanks to the efforts of the Sunnyside label, a series of reissues from the defunct Owl Records catalog will begin July 29 with the release of four titles. Paul Bley and Gary Peaock’s 1989 duet LP, Partners (pictured), and Fly Away Little Bird, a 1992 trio date by Jimmy Giuffre, Paul Bley and Steve Swallow will come to CD for the first time. The other two reissues-Jeanne Lee and Mal Waldron’s After Hours and the Lee Konitz/Michel Petrucciani collaboration Toot Sweet-have been available on CD as imports since March 2001, but we don’t like paying import prices and are happy we waited for these new discs to come our way.

Each of these albums was produced by the French duo of Jean-Jacques Pussiau and Francois Lemaire, save for Toot Sweet, which Pussiau produced by himself. They were each remastered at Universal Music Studio in France but, unlike most reissues, none of them contain bonus cuts.

Sunnyside’s Web site doesn’t offer any further info on these releases at the moment. And we haven’t been informed about subsequent Owl reissues on Sunnyside, but here’s to hoping pianist Ran Blake’s Vertigo and his own Jeanne Lee collaboration, You Stepped Out of Cloud make it to CD soon. We’ll keep you informed.

Originally Published July 9, 2003