Midweek picks: 10 favorite reissues and vault releases of 2023

A 90s Scandi jazz classic, a lot of 70s Minugs, an 80s Loft Jazz gem, and more

In advance of an upcoming list of my 50 favorite new albums from 2023, which should be up on Friday, here are 10 of the best re-issues and vault releases of the past 12 months,. Topped by a welcome double LP re-reissue of Swedish reedist Per “Texas” Johansson’s classic 1998 album Alla Mina Kompisar, an album that blended cool with heft, the melodic and the boisterous to wonderful effect. As a general rule, I don’t tend to take into consideration releases that have been widely available in any physical format fairly recently, but I have made two exceptions this year for Sam Rivers terrific trio album The Quest, which was re-issued by Pausa Records in 2020, albeit on LP only, and Pharoah Sanders’ Pharoah, similarly an LP only release in 2020, whereas the new re-issues have arrived on both LP and CD.

• Per «Texas» Johansson: Alla Mina Kompisar (Moserobie Music Production)

• Sam Rivers: The Quest (Red Record)

• The Jazz Doctors (Billy Bang, Frank Lowe, Rafael Garrett & Dennis Charles): Intensive Care (Cadillac Records)

• Charles Mingus: Changes: The Complete 1970s Atlantic Studio Recordings (Rhino)

• Pharoah Sanders: Pharoah (Luaka Bop)

• Roy Campbell, William Parker, Takeshi Zen Matsuura: Visitation Of Spirits (The Pyramid Trio Live, 1985) (NoBusiness Records)

• Matthew Shipp: Circular Temple (ESP-Disk)

• Ju Ju: A Message From Mosambique (Strut)

• Steve Swell's Fire Into Music: For Jemeel: Fire From the Road (RogueArt)

• Geri Allen & Kurt Rosenwinkel: A Lovesome Thing (Motema)