As you can see, the cover of the reissue features a photo of Coleman Hawkins with his tenor. At the top right, you can just make out a stylized "M" logo that says "Moodsville" underneath. The album was released by Prestige Records as a part of the Prestige/Moodsville series. The catalog number is MV 7, indicating that this was number seven in the series. I had never heard of the Moodsville imprint and did a little digging on the Web to find out more. It turns out that between 1960 and 1963, Prestige released 39 LPs under the Moodsville label. Among the headline artists (in addition to Hawkins and Flanagan) were Red Garland, Gene Ammons, Clark Terry, Kenny Burrell, and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis. (You can see the entire list of titles here on Wikipedia.)
Initially, all the Moodsville jackets had a similar style (though with different colors), promoting the name of the series rather than the artist. Prestige clearly wanted to make it easy for buyers to identify the latest offering, no doubt hoping that fans would want to collect the entire set. Above is the original jacket of the At Ease With Coleman Hawkins release (a couple of other covers are shown below). As near as I can tell, Prestige abandoned the uniform jackets after MV 15. Beginning with MV 16, Interlude by Billy Taylor, (below) the jackets had more traditional cover photos, while moving the distinctive Prestige/Moodsville logo to the top right.
But just what was the point of the Moodsville imprint? In the liner notes on the back of the original releases, Ron Eyre (Vice President of Sales at Prestige in 1961), provided an extensive explanation:
"Some few years ago, along with the popular acceptance of the long playing high fidelity record a new vogue was created in the form of 'mood music.' It was found that there was a definite market for this type of listening and it was not long before there were scores of albums to be seen displayed on record counters with titles beginning with "Music to . . . " Whatever the individual wanted to do, there was an album of music to do it by. So mood music today is part of our lives, we push a button and turn a knob and we are automatically soothed by lush orchestrations of favorite ballads. Somewhere along the way it seems to us the feeling behind the fine original compositions of America's lyricists and composers has become a little obscured. We think the PRESTIGE/MOODSVILLE series will be a welcome departure from "mood" music. This series will feature top jazz artists interpreting choice ballads and standards and original compositions that will fit into the Moodsville series . . . "
"We at Prestige feel that there is room for honest jazz performances of ballads wherein the musical integrity of the artist is maintained and at the same time the original beauty and feeling of the ballad is not lost. Jazz is not only "that loud, frantic music" . . . We have sought to compile and record performances done in the spirit of good, valid jazz . . . These sessions then, will not be tight studio productions. The emphasis will be on relaxed, thoughtful and expressive jazz, after hours music if you will . . . You will notice that these albums are presented as volumes and that is just what they are. Each one will be part of a continued series wherein the artists will select their favorites and play them under informal and relaxed conditions."
In seems apparent that what Prestige hoped to do was cut in on the tremendous success for light jazz albums that dominated record sales in the late 1950s. Some of the best selling LPs at the end of the decade included orchestrated schmaltz by the likes of Mitch Miller, Martin Denny, Les Elgar, Montovani, Jackie Gleason Presents, and Ray Anthony, just to name a few. (You can find these albums by the dozens in just about any thrift shop in America.) Prestige's Moodsville series was an attempt to offer albums of "mood" music that weren't just cheesy ballads with strings, but real jazz played by real jazz artists.
In the end, I don't know how well the Moodsville series sold, although they must have had some success since they managed to stick around long enough to release 39 albums over three years.
Once I had learned more about the Moodsville imprint, I began looking around for other titles to add to my collection. So far, I've picked up MV 6 - The Red Garland Trio; MV 9 - The Tommy Flanagan Trio; MV 16 - Interlude by The Billy Taylor Trio; and MV 19 - Like Cozy by Shirley Scott. They are all excellent, enjoyable recordings, but so far, At Ease by Coleman Hawkins and Like Cozy are the real keepers. Copies of the original releases in even VG+ condition are scarce and quite expensive. However, some of the titles were re-released in mid 1980s with replicas of the original jackets and labels, and can be found at reasonable prices. My copy of At Ease With Coleman Hawkins is a repressing on the Original Jazz Classics (OJC) label from 2015. The dead wax info is:
Side 1: OJC-181 A S-92221
Side 2: OJC-181 B S-92222
That tells us that the OJC release was originally remastered by Adam Boose at Well Made Music in Cleveland, OH. However, since his initials are crossed out on my copy, someone else must have cut this particular lacquer. The pressing by Rainbo Records in Canoga Park, CA is flat, dead quiet, and sounds great. In general, I've had very good luck with Rainbo pressings.
Several of the Moodsville titles have also just been re-issued by Analogue Productions as part of a Prestige Records series containing "25 of the most collectible, rarest, most audiophile-sounding Rudy Van Gelder recordings ever made." All the albums in the series were remastered from the original master tapes by Kevin Gray and are being pressed by Quality Record Pressings in Salinas, KS, so they should sound fantastic. Among the Moodsville titles included are MV 29 - Bluesy Burrell by Kenny Burrell, and MV 18 - Gene Ammons' Nice And Cool. I've already got those in my online shopping basket.
If you like ballads and melodic jazz, you might want to track down some of the Moodsville releases and give them a try. They are perfect for a little late-night listening or just relaxing on a rainy day. Even better with a glass of red wine.
By the way, speaking of the "Music to . . . " albums that Ron Eyre mentions in the liner notes above, the most clever by far is the hilariously titled Music to Listen to Red Norvo By album put out by Norvo in 1957. Cracks me up every time I see it.
Enjoy the music!
