NIGHT OF THE MARK VII Reissued on Vinyl by Time Traveler
The legendary saxophonist's celebratory 1975 performance marks the first vinyl pressing of the out-of-print jazz recording.
A superb, but long out-of-print document by tenor saxophone giant Clifford Jordan will greet a new generation of jazz fans with Time Traveler Recordings' October 23 reissue of Night of the Mark VII, Jordan's celebrated 1975 album recorded live in Paris. The album, originally released on Muse Records, features Cedar Walton, Sam Jones and Billy Higgins, and has been long out-of-print until now being reissued on vinyl for the very first time. It is available for pre-order.
The LP package is the latest installment in TTR's Muse Master Edition Series, unearthing the long-lost masterworks from the catalog of the historic Muse Records. The series is a collaboration with Virgin Music Group spearheaded by TTR founder, producer and 'Jazz Detective' Zev Feldman.
Remastered AAA directly from the original analog tapes by Matthew Lutthans at the Mastering Lab in Salina, Kansas, Night of the Mark VII is pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Furnace. It will be issued in a hand-numbered, high-gloss tip-on sleeve jackets by Stoughton Press, featuring a new liner essay by journalist and NEA Jazz Master Willard Jenkins (along with the original 1975 notes by writer/musician Hank Diamond Smith), a rare period photograph of Williams by Raymond Ross, and statements by Barney Fields and Feldman.
Already an accomplished and in-demand player both as leader and sideman, Chicago native Clifford Laconia Jordan, Jr. (1931–1993), was in 1975 in the midst of a new surge in activity. He'd arrived in New York in 1957 and immediately made a name for himself, recording three times as a leader and joining Max Roach's band before the year was out, then spent the '60s touring and recording with Roach, Lee Morgan, and Cedar Walton in addition to touring Europe with Charles Mingus and Africa with Randy Weston. In 1972-73, Jordan had produced a series of albums for Strata-East Records, including two of his own (In the World and Glass Bead Games), kickstarting the new career peak he was riding when he stepped onto a Paris bandstand on March 26, 1975.
Night of the Mark VII is—save for Bill Lee's opening spiritual jazz meditation 'John Coltrane'—a supremely confident set of straight-ahead hard bop. The quartet comprises pianist Cedar Walton (another 1960s collaborator of Jordan's) and the rhythm section of his then-ensemble, Easter Rebellion: bassist Sam Jones and Billy Higgins. Although Walton had established Eastern Rebellion as a vehicle for his own compositions, they set with great relish upon this pair of Jordan originals and Lee's tune, along with one by Jones and a gleeful cover of Thelonious Monk's 'Blue Monk.'
Jordan made the gig 'clearly in a celebratory mode,' Jenkins notes in his new essay, adding that while the title Night of the Mark VII 'may conjure up visions of some slick new luxury automobile, Jordan was actually happily celebrating the arrival of his new Selmer Mark VII tenor saxophone, which awaited him on his arrival in Paris.' This would certainly account for the unvarnished good cheer we hear in his horn on 'Midnight Waltz' (Jones's composition, and a feature for him), his zealous abandon on his own blues 'Midnight Waltz,' and even a kind of high spirit that permeates the darker, oddly shaped (but hard swinging) 'Highest Mountain.'
'Being a new horn, it could have produced a few difficulties,' writes Smith in the original liner notes. 'However, none occurred and just the opposite effect was reached. (more freedom … more sound[.])'
In addition to the October 23 vinyl release of Night of the Mark VII, autumn 2026 sees the limited-edition CD releases of five albums in the Muse Master Edition Series that TTR has previously issued on vinyl. Roy Brooks' The Free Slave, Kenny Barron's From Sunset to Dawn, and Carlos Garnett's Cosmos Nucleus become available October 9 with Woody Shaw's Love Dance and Joe Chambers' Double Exposure following on November 6.
These six Muse albums are remarkable documents, serving as glowing beacons of Feldman's mission for these reissues. 'Muse Records is really one of the great untapped record labels,' says Feldman. 'Its catalog captured where the music was going in the 1970s. I'm incredibly excited about these releases.'
Moreover, each arrives with superlative sound and production quality that represents the state of the art in the 21st century, along with deluxe packaging that includes new inserts, new liner notes and new photographs. Each CD release will be a one-time limited pressing.
Photo Credit: Raymond Ross
Photo Credit: Raymond Ross
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