Special Edition: Ornette Coleman - Change of the Century

This release is part of the Ermitage Yellow Coloured LP Records Series. Ermitage Distribution is made using as a source exclusively Production Master Tape Archives. Launched in the mid-1980s, Ermitage is an Italy-based independent classical music label and a distributor and re-issue of music.

Ermitage’s catalogue includes titles from luminaries such as the aforementioned Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Charles Mingus, plus Bill Evans, Dave Brubeck, Chet Baker, Ornette Colman, Sonny Rollins, Billie Holiday, etc.

The label’s first classical music releases were several vinyl records by the legendary Italian pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, which were then followed by many and varied releases on CD with a focus on opera, symphonic and chamber music. But the part that interests us here is Ermitage, which is the company’s music distribution and re-issue department.

This release is part of the Ermitage Yellow Coloured LP Records Series. Ermitage Distribution is made using as a source exclusively Production Master Tape Archives. Launched in the mid-1980s, Ermitage is an Italy-based independent classical music label and is also a distributor and re-issue music.

Ermitage’s catalogue includes titles from luminaries such as the aforementioned Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Charles Mingus, plus Bill Evans, Dave Brubeck, Chet Baker, Ornette Colman, Sonny Rollins, Billie Holiday, etc.

The label’s first classical music releases were several vinyl records by the legendary Italian pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, which were then followed by many and varied releases on LP Records with a focus on opera, symphonic and chamber music. But the part that interests us here is Ermitage/Opera Leader Ltd, which is the company’s music distribution and re-issue department. Somehow or other (I’ve yet to find out exactly how – watch this space!), Ermitage’s owner, Gianni Salvioni, managed to negotiate with the relevant labels to acquire the rights to re-release, on 180g vinyl, a raft of seminal jazz albums. This process began in the late 1990s /early 2000s and resulted in Salvioni amassing an enviable archive of production copies and production masters. Most of these tapes are ‘flat’, in other words, unequalised and uncompressed production copies. From there, he produced Ermitage’s various vinyl releases that are already on the market. The tapes were then subsequently placed in his very well-maintained tape archive.