V/A - The Boston Creative Jazz Scene 2xLP + Book Box Set

In the 1970s Boston was a fertile ground for a very creative jazz scene. Small, independent venues ranging from lofts to churches to clubs opened up to support this thriving backdrop while jazz musicians set up their own labels. One man was there through it all, playing music and documenting the musical landscape. His name was Mark Harvey and here is his story....

Mark Harvey and Deano Sounds pulled together the most comprehensive package of Boston Jazz released to date. The album has been assembled as a deluxe package that includes, in addition to the music, an 80-page book documenting the rich history of this music scene with in-depth analyses and photos of the jazz musicians involved.

The music on this album is culled from rare private press Jazz LPs that were pressed in small quantities of a few hundred for members of the band and the local jazz community at the time. The music here runs the gamut of funky jazz from Arnie Cheatham's "Thing" to the deep free jazz of the Phill Musra Group or the spoken word brilliance of Worlds, to the complex metric structures of Stanton Davis' "Play Sleep." This is a collection of very rare eccentric jazz pieces for your enjoyment!

This deluxe overview of the Boston Creative Jazz Scene is packaged in an 8 ½ x 5 ½, 80 page book documenting the rich history of the music with in-depth analyses and photos. 

"The music on the “Creative Jazz” set showcases a wide variety of styles, from the Mark Harvey Group’s near-silences and tumultuous eruptions to the transcendent explorations of the Phill Musra Group, which worked in the sacred space carved out by late Coltrane, Albert Ayler, and other masters of questing free jazz."

From the Boston Globe

"Harvey's text is a close-grained and well-written history of the creative and free jazz history in the city, presented from an insider's perspective, though objective enough to be much more than a memoir."

From the Wire Magazine in the UK