After the discovery of some long-rumored studio master tapes, Fontana releases a never-before-issued 1969 album by leading British jazz artist Tubby Hayes titled Grits, Beans And Greens The Lost Fontana Studio Sessions 1969. Many jazz fans around the world will be very excited to hear these perfectly-preserved tapes for the first time, discovered in pristine condition and untouched since 1969.

• Audiophile 180 Gram Vinyl LP
• Never before released
• Mastered directly from the original tapes
• Mastered at Gearbox Studios in London
• Pressed at Optimal Media, in Germany

The recordings have been lovingly remastered at Gearbox Records' Studios, London, directly from the original tapes, using a Studer C37 ¼-inch stereo tape machine.

They were then equalised through an all-valve mastering desk built bespoke for Decca studios in the late 1950s, Vintage Lang Pultec EQ, Prism Maselec EQ and Telefunken U73b valve limiters from 1959.

The LP format lacquers were cut on a beautifully restored Haeco Scully Lathe from 1967 with Westrex (Western Electric) head and cutting amps: the same go-to lathe that Rudy Van Gelder used.

Tubby Hayes is undoubtedly one of the most important, influential and ground-breaking UK jazz musicians of all time. During the '50s and early '60s, Hayes had stood apart from many of his UK-based contemporaries, displaying a self-confidence and virtuoso musical delivery that placed him neck-and-neck with many of the leading American jazzmen of the day. He worked with the likes of Quincy Jones, Ella Fitzgerald, Charles Mingus and Duke Ellington and his many fans included Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderley and Sonny Rollins. He had his own primetime TV show and was the face of UK jazz.

Thought to be lost until their recent rediscovery, the sessions are being hailed as among the very best work in the Hayes discography. "Sometimes when tapes than have been lost or rumoured to exist finally surface there is a touch of anti-climax or the need to 'spin' them in a way that makes them more important than they are," explains Hayes' biographer and award-winning British jazz saxophonist Simon Spillett. "These sessions, on the other hand, are absolute classics in every regard. It's an album that can sit equally alongside the best Coltrane, Rollins or Dexter Gordon LPs. It really is a lost masterpiece, make no mistake."

At the time the 'Grits, Beans and Greens' sessions were recorded, Hayes was also working on a more commercial project, 'The Orchestra', which found him aiming for the pop and easy-listening markets by covering The Beatles, Burt Bacharach and Nancy Sinatra. Ironically, sales of 'The Orchestra' were poor by the standards of his previous albums and as Hayes' health began to falter in the early 1970s, no further recordings took place, leaving the 'Grits, Beans and Greens' reels forgotten and unreleased. After his tragic death following open-heart surgery, aged just 38, in 1973, the tapes were simply filed away, eventually becoming mislaid as the label's archives went through a series of corporate buy-outs.

"It’s hard to believe that this music has lain unheard for fifty years, it's so fresh," says Spillett. "There's no doubt in my mind that had they been issued at the time, these recordings would have been seen as Tubby's last great album."

The previously unissued and newly-rediscovered Grits, Beans and Greens: The Lost Fontana Sessions, by the great British jazz saxophonist Tubby Hayes, receives a first time vinyl release! Hailed as a major event in the jazz world, the 1969 recordings were previously assumed to be lost or destroyed and represent some of Hayes' best-ever work. His biographer, the award-winning British jazz saxophonist Simon Spillett says: "Sometimes when tapes than have been lost or rumoured to exist finally surface there is a touch of anti-climax or the need to ‘spin' them in a way that makes them more important than they are. These sessions, on the other hand, are absolute classics in every regard. It's an album that can sit equally alongside the best Coltrane, Rollins or Dexter Gordon LPs. It really is a lost masterpiece, make no mistake."

By the time of the Grits, Beans and Greens sessions, the London-born Edward ‘Tubby' Hayes had been a significant name in jazz for many years. He toured and recorded with his own big band, had his own television series and amassed a vast canon of albums from 1955 onwards. He also worked with such American titans as Quincy Jones, Ella Fitzgerald, Charles Mingus and Duke Ellington, and was admired by Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderley and Sonny Rollins. At the time of the 1969 sessions, Hayes was also working on a more commercial project called The Orchestra, in which he aimed for the pop and easy listening market with covers of The Beatles, Burt Bacharach and Nancy Sinatra. The album fared relatively poorly, and with his health faltering, the saxophonist ceased recording. He died after open heart surgery at just 38, in 1973, and the Grits, Beans and Greens tapes were filed away and later mislaid.

Their rediscovery came about when the late jazz writer and Polygram catalogue manager Richard Cook saw entries in Hayes' diary that detailed a number of recording sessions. Cook trawled through the Polygram archives and, in one of the great "finds" in jazz history, unearthed the 1969 tapes. Cook then left the company and it was only in 2018 that awareness of their existence resurfaced. Decca/Universal then employed the high-end vinyl specialists Gearbox Studios to master the sessions for the first time. A 180-gram vinyl edition was created using an original 1960s-era Studer C37 tape machine and a Scully Lathe, the same model that was used by jazz record engineering luminary Rudy Van Gelder.

Musicians:

Tubby Hayes, tenor sax
Mike Pyne, piano
Ron Mathewson, bass
Spike Wells, drums

Track Listing:

Side A
1. For Members Only (Take 2)
2. Grits, Beans And Greens (Take 4)
3. Rumpus (Take 1)

Side B
1. You Know I Care (Take 2)
2. Where Am I Going (Take 3)

Recorded: Philips Studios, Stanhope Place, London, Tuesday June 24th, 1969 - 10.30am – 1.30pm

Click here to listen to samples on YouTube.com ♫