For Immediate Release

FOURTH SERIES OF AWARD-WINNING JAZZ ICONS DVDS TO BE RELEASED!

NEW SERIES OF JAZZ ICONS® DVDS FEATURES VINTAGE UNSEEN CONCERTS FEATURING COLEMAN HAWKINS, JIMMY SMITH, WOODY HERMAN, ART FARMER, ERROLL GARNER, ANITA O’DAY, ART BLAKEY

“Jazz Icons® is doing for jazz what the Criterion Collection has done for classic and important films.” – Jazz Times

“The sound quality is first rate, and the performances are extraordinary.” – Newsweek

“I can't say enough about the presentation of these DVDs. Not only have the producers gotten the best possible picture and sound from the original films and videotapes, but they've packaged them with taste and tender loving care. The accompanying booklets are well worth reading; each one is filled with great photos and eloquent liner notes. – Leonard Maltin

The eagerly anticipated release of the fourth series of Jazz Icons® DVDs has arrived. Reelin' In The Years® Productions and Naxos of America, Inc. are proud to announce the October 27, 2009 release of the next seven titles in the illustrious DVD series featuring performances by Coleman Hawkins, Jimmy Smith, Woody Herman, Art Farmer, Erroll Garner, Anita O’Day, and Art Blakey. Filmed in Europe between 1962 and 1970, this fourth set of Jazz Icons® DVDs features concerts by seven of the most influential jazz artists of the 20th century captured in their prime and accompanied by some of the most legendary sidemen of the day. Previously forgotten or lost in the vaults of TV studios throughout Europe (in some cases for nearly 45 years!), they are now being made available for the first time.

Each of the new Jazz Icons® DVDs features one or more concerts filmed live in television studios and concert halls throughout Europe between 1962 and 1970, one of the most creative periods in jazz history. All seven DVDs feature performances that have never been officially released, and in many cases, the material is newly discovered and was never broadcast. In addition, every performance in the Jazz Icons® DVD series has been transferred and re-mastered from the best-quality original masters yielding excellent sound and video.

Among the wealth of highlights in the fourth series of Jazz Icons® DVDs:

• Two incredible Coleman Hawkins concerts from 1962 and 1964 featuring 140 minutes of music. Both concerts feature stellar European and American side-musicians including Harry “Sweets” Edison on trumpet and drummer Jonathan “Jo” Jones – both Jazz Legends in their own right. The 1962 show is a newly-discovered one-hour concert from the Adolphe Sax Festival in Belgium, which has never been seen. Coleman Hawkins, “The Father of Jazz Saxophone” demonstrates in these two concerts why he is still considered one of the most important innovators in the history of jazz.
• An incredible 90-minute Jimmy Smith concert from 1969 filmed in Paris. Working in a trio format (including longtime guitarist Eddie McFadden), Jimmy shows why he is still the uncontested king of the jazz organ. Highlights include blues jams “Got My Mojo Working” and “Sonnymoon For Two,” the classic ballads “Alfie” and “Satin Doll” as well as a blinding 23-minute version of Jimmy Smith’s showcase number “The Sermon.”
  
• A blistering one hour Woody Herman big band concert from 1964 featuring one of the very hottest line-ups of the “Swingin' Herd” including trumpeter Bill Chase, trombonist Phil Wilson and the amazing saxophonist Sal Nistico on the front line as well as drummer Jake Hanna and pianist-arranger Nat Pierce in the rhythm section. Woody and his band roar throughout the entire show which includes both classic standards such as “Lonesome Old Town’ and “After You’ve Gone” as well as new originals including Horace Silver’s “Sister Sadie” and Charles Mingus’s “Better Git It In Your Soul.”
  
• An amazing one hour Art Farmer concert from 1964 featuring the great flugelhornist in his prime. Farmer’s top-notch band includes legendary guitarist Jim Hall (fresh from Sonny Rollins’ band), drummer Pete LaRoca and Steve Swallow on bass. This legendary ensemble plays both standards and originals with ease and finesse and highlights why Farmer was considered one of the most innovative horn players in all of jazz.
  
• Two Erroll Garner concerts from 1963 and 1964 featuring his classic trio of bassist Eddie Calhoun and drummer Kelly Martin. Erroll Garner was one of jazz’s true original players and this DVD is a parade of his most classic numbers. The trio delivers throughout both shows including favorites “Fly Me To The Moon” and “I Get A Kick Out Of You” as well as originals “Erroll’s Theme,” “Mambo Erroll” and his best-known composition, “Misty.”
  
• Two wonderful Anita O’Day concerts from 1963 and 1970 that present the “jazz singer supreme” in fine form and show unequivocally why she is ranked in the top tier of vocalists along with Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Billie Holiday. O’Day’s horn-based approach to singing is in full effect throughout both shows including stand-out renditions in each show of audience favorites “Tea For Two” and “Sweet Georgia Brown” (both reprised from her triumphant appearance at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival.) In the wake of O’Day’s recent passing, this DVD is a fitting testimony to one of jazz music’s true originals.
  
• An exceptional one hour concert by Art Blakey from Paris in 1965. This performance showcases one of the few undocumented Blakey bands, the New Jazzmen, and features the incomparable Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, as well as Jaki Byard on piano, Reggie Workman on bass, Nathan Davis on sax and, of course, Art Blakey on drums – truly a powerhouse quintet! Freddie Hubbard's recent death underscores the timeliness of this release as it features his incendiary playing on "Blue Moon" and his own "Crisis," and serves as a cogent reminder that Freddie was one of the best in jazz history. This show cooks from start to finish. Art Blakey is Jazz Icons’ first repeat artist as he was featured in our first series back in 2006 and remains one of the best-selling titles in the entire series.
  

Each DVD also includes a 20+ page booklet with insightful and informative essays by noted jazz historians as well as previously unseen photos and memorabilia.

All seven Jazz Icons® titles will be sold separately and as a deluxe boxed set with a bonus eighth disc featuring additional rare, never-before-seen, performances from Coleman Hawkins in 1966, Erroll Garner in 1962 and Jimmy Smith in 1968.

The release of the seven new releases in the fourth series brings the total number of DVDs in the Jazz Icons® series to 30 different titles. Including the three bonus discs in the boxed sets, the Jazz Icons® DVD series now features over 40 hours of classic performances.

The first series of Jazz Icons® DVDs featuring classic vintage concerts by Thelonious Monk, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Quincy Jones, Count Basie, Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, Buddy Rich, and Chet Baker, was released in September 2006 to universal critical acclaim, including feature stories in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times, as well as reviews in The New York Times and USA Today (including their holiday gift guide.)

The second series of Jazz Icons® DVDs was released in September 2007 and featured classic vintage concerts by John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Dave Brubeck, Sarah Vaughan, Wes Montgomery, Duke Ellington and Dexter Gordon as well as a bonus disc included with the boxset. As with the first series, each title again received universal critical acclaim including reviews in Newsweek, The New York Times and NPR Morning Edition. CBS Sunday Morning named the Jazz Icons® Series Two boxed set as the archival DVD release of the year describing the DVDs as “astonishing” and “an incredible gift.”

The third series of Jazz Icons® DVDs was released in September, 2008 and featured classic vintage concerts by Sonny Rollins, Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Lionel Hampton, Oscar Peterson and Nina Simone as well as a bonus disc included with the boxed set. As with both the first and second series, each title again received universal critical acclaim.

Reelin' In The Years Productions LLC is the world’s largest music footage library. In addition to the first twenty-three titles in the Jazz Icons® series, Reelin' In The Years has produced over 50 DVDs including the four volume The American Folk Blues Festival 1962-1969 DVD series, the three volume Definitive Motown series (Marvin Gaye, Temptations, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles) and the four volume British Invasion series (Small Faces, Dusty Springfield, Herman’s Hermits, Gerry & The Pacemakers.) For further information, please visit www.reelinintheyears.com.

Since 1987, Naxos of America, Inc. the world’s leading Classical Musical label has redefined how classical music is presented and marketed. The innovative strategy of recording exciting new Grammy nominated and Grammy winning repertoire with exceptional talent has enabled the label to develop one of the largest and fastest growing catalogues of unduplicated repertoire available anywhere-currently 5,500 active titles-with state-of-the-art sound and the consumer-friendly prices. Naxos of America, Inc. is owned by the North American Classical Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Naxos Global Distribution. For more information: www.naxos.com.

For press information/materials, product requests, and interviews contact: Amanda Sweet at BuckleSweet Media • 202.636.3507 / amanda@bucklesweetmedia.com