LOST AND FOUND

Fans of maverick musical genius Miles Davis came to expect the unexpected.

But, even by the standards set by the experimental jazz icon, predicting new albums of his performances wou ld be entering the charts 29 years after his death, produced by a father and son team from their home in Scotland, might be pushing the bounds of credulity.

But it’s true and Gary Gillies and son Sean, who run a record label from their house in Neilston, Renfrewshire, are celebrating after two “lost” albums they released by jazz hero Davis entered the US charts.

With a Doris Day album also Gary Gillies, in the back top, and his catalogue of son, Sean Sleepy Night Records, the ambitious duo have expanded their fledgling business to sign new artists – with country legend Glen Campbell’s daughter Ashley the first to join them.

“I’m a trumpet player and have been in the music business for more than 40 years, producing, performing and working as a session musician,” explained Gary, 64. “Sean, who is 31, is a musician, too.

“We came across a couple of music managers with old jazz tapes that had never gone out, and Sean said we should release them as a hobby, so we put together CD booklets with rare pictures and put the music out, and the jazz fans liked it as they could see we cared about the product.

“Things grew bigger and bigger, and we have built an extension on our house for the business to operate from and have two full-time employees working with us, as well as other freelancers we call on.”

Gary says acquiring the recordings come through contacts, uncovering old concer t per for mances, or working with an artist’s estate.

In the case of Miles Davis, it was a series of lost radio broadcasts.

“The first release is from 1969, when he recorded with a quartet, and that reached No. 1 on the Amazon jazz charts,” continued Gary. “Then we released The Lost Septet, from 1971, and that broke into the US jazz charts. That led the American market to pick up the first album, so we had both in the top 20.

“We have a third coming out just before Christmas – it’s his last recording, where he looked back on his life and worked with artists he had previously recorded with.”

The Miles Davis albums have added meaning for Gary, as the iconic trumpet player was a personal hero. Gary met him 30 years ago, just a year before Davis died, at the Glasgow Jazz Festival.

“I found out where he was going to be staying and when he was due to arrive, and I turned up with a piper friend who was resplendent in his kilt.

“When the limo pulled up, my

Bob Dylan

Recorded in a flurry of productivity in late summer of 1967 after Dylan had returned to his Woodstock home to recuperate following a motorbike crash. Although bootlegs of some songs surfaced, it was only in 2014, 47 years later, that they were officially released. It contains 138 tracks, of which 117 had not been previously heard.

Bob Dylan in 1967