Acclaimed producer Zev Feldman, widely known as The Jazz Detective, has unveiled a new Time Traveler reissue series drawing directly from the archives of Muse Records. The releases are produced in collaboration with Craft Recordings, with distribution handled by Virgin Music Group.
Founded in 1972 by veteran record executive Joe Fields, Muse Records was created to carry forward the independent jazz-label tradition established in the 1950s and 1960s by labels such as Prestige Records and Milestone Records.
According to official press materials, the initial Time Traveler vinyl sets will be released in limited quantities and offered exclusively on vinyl. Each title will be pressed on 180-gram LPs at Optimal Media in Germany and all-analog mastered directly from the original tapes by acclaimed engineer Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab in Salina, Kansas.
Packaging will feature high-gloss tip-on jackets produced by Stoughton Printing, along with newly commissioned liner essays. The presentation is designed as a faithful facsimile of the original releases, enhanced with carefully considered production upgrades.
Indeed, each album feels notably more deluxe than the original Muse pressings I’ve encountered over the years. The covers are fully laminated—very much in the vein of the Blue Note Tone Poet Series—and each LP is housed in an audiophile-grade, plastic-lined inner sleeve. Pressing quality has been excellent across the board, with dead-quiet surfaces and consistently well-centered records.
Distribution for these Time Traveler releases matters, because part of Muse’s original problem appears to have been simple visibility—I don’t recall seeing many of these titles in stores back in the day. Even now, a quick look at Discogs shows just how scarce original pressings are, with prices routinely climbing into the hundreds of dollars once a clean copy surfaces. A high-quality, reasonably priced reissue program was clearly overdue. Purchase links are available via Amazon, embedded directly in the album titles below.
I’ve been enjoying these Time Traveler series releases which include Roy Brooks’ The Free Slave, recorded live in Baltimore in 1970 and Kenny Barron’s beautiful Sunset to Dawn (his second recording as a leader). I’ll also be exploring the Time Traveler reissue of Cosmo Nucleus by Carlos Garnett in a separate review here on eCoustics.
Roy Brooks, The Free Slave
The Free Slave finds drummer Roy Brooks buoyed by trumpeter Woody Shaw, bassist Cecil McBee, and tenor saxophonist George Coleman in a sizzling, acoustic soul-jazz–leaning live setting that’s also very well recorded. It’s refreshing to hear the natural snap and body of Brooks’ snare and tom-toms captured so convincingly in a small-club environment. Even though Brooks is clearly the focal point, the recording maintains a strong sense of balance, giving the rest of the ensemble room to breathe and assert their presence. The result is a simple but well-made concert document, sounding especially strong on Brooks’ expansive, funky title track and McBee’s propulsive “Will Pan’s Walk.”
Where to buy: $39.99 at Amazon
Kenny Barron, Sunset to Dawn
Amazingly, for an artist who worked with no less than Yusef Lateef and Dizzy Gillespie, this 1973 release was only pianist Kenny Barron’s second album as a leader. Sunset to Dawn fits the mood of its cover art perfectly—searching, introspective, melodic, and at times quietly spiritual.
I’m especially drawn to Barron’s pulsating opening track, “Sunset,” played on what is likely a Fender Rhodes electric piano, paired with unconventionally blown pan pipes that ease the music into a lush, modern soul-jazz groove. “Swamp Demon” brings a cool, acoustic fusion feel—very much this side of 1960s Miles Davis, Chick Corea, and Airto Moreira. And I can’t help but smile at the reflective beauty of “Delores St. S.F.,” which perfectly captures the feeling of walking that gorgeous boulevard—one I happen to live not all that far from myself.
Where to buy: $39.99 at Amazon
Mark Smotroff is a deep music enthusiast / collector who has also worked in entertainment oriented marketing communications for decades supporting the likes of DTS, Sega and many others. He reviews vinyl for Analog Planet and has written for Audiophile Review, Sound+Vision, Mix, EQ, etc. You can learn more about him at LinkedIn.
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