It was five years ago that Sonar Kollektiv received high praise with the release of the set “Romanian Jazz – Jazz From The Electrecord Archives 1966 - 1978”. And not only by jazz afficinados as a matter of course. Renegotiations of the licensing contracts concluded in having the compilation now finally obtainable in digital format.
As an encore there are four additional tracks available out of the „Seria Jazz“ by the former Communist Romanian national record company Electrecord. The 1932 founded record label is – similar to the GDR imprint Amiga – infamous for its poor quality regarding recordings as well as pressings. That’s why Sonar Kollektiv (with Jürgen von Knoblauch leading the way) put time and effort into remastering all (!) the tracks featured on the compilation. At the “Time Tools Mastering” studio in Hannover the songs were treated in order to shine in a new light and now sound much better than the outmoded communist originals.

Two of the four extra tracks have been pressed on 7” vinyl. On one side there is “Nu Privi Inapoi” by piano whiz Ion Baciu Jr. (off his Electrecord album “Jazz” from 1977). The McCoy Tyner of the East tickles the ivories in such a sophistcated style as if the one and only John Coltrane is accompanying him. The comparison isn’t flawed because next to Dan Dimitriu on bass, Nicolae Farcas on trombone and Mihai Farcas on drums, Dan Mandrila on tenor sax is actually really reminiscent of the legendary late “Trane”. The flip side provides further evidence with “Sonet” off Mandrila’s own album “Alter Ego” from 1980. Backed up by the same line-up as on side A (except for Marian Toroimac on drums and supplementary Radu Goldis on guitar, Costin Petrescu on percussion and Idu Barbu on synthesizer) Dan Mandrila (1938-1992) displays impressively that even without any socialist doctrine he would have been the most important saxophone player of Romania. The fusion piece “Sonet” can easily stand up to any US production of the same age. And now you can enjoy it even more thanks to the audio restoration courtesy of Sonar Kollektiv.

Tracks taken from Various Artists - Romanian Jazz (Jazz From The Electrecord Archives 1966-1978).
Also available on CD / LP and digital download on Sonar Kollektiv.
Tracks have been mastered from original Electrecord vinyl
Compiled by Jazzanova & Stephan Steigleder
Mastered by Enrico Mercaldi at Time Tools Mastering
Layout by Jutojo

(P) & (C) 2012 Sonar Kollektiv. SK244 / jazz club. LC01200. GEMA. Made in the EU. All rights reserved.