Producer Zev Feldman talks new imprint Time Traveler Recordings

Zev Feldman doesn’t need more work to do. By the end of this year, the celebrated record producer and co-founder of Elemental Records will have helped foster the release of at least 15 different archival albums, including a wonderful collection of rare recordings by country legend Patsy Cline and live performances by Charles Mingus captured during a run of 1977 dates in Argentina—both issued for Record Store Day. And he’s already deep in the weeds with other projects for next April. 

Even with all the juggling Feldman seems to be doing, the 50-year-old has decided to throw another ball into his routine. This week sees the formal introduction of his new imprint Time Traveler Recordings. As the name, and his pedigree, suggest, the label will focus on reissues, beginning with a trio of jazz recordings from the ’70s initially released on Joe Fields’ Muse Records.

“It’s one of the most important labels that hasn’t, until now, had a reissue series,” Feldman says, speaking from his home in Washington D.C. “It really epitomizes a lot of the scene, the vibe, everything that was going on in the 1970s. There are just incredible recordings that were made for this label, and I think a lot of people would enjoy having an opportunity to rediscover, or discover [them] for the first time.”

Feldman couldn't have chosen a better trio of Muse titles to help kick off this new venture. Towering over them all is The Free Slave, a storming set led by drummer Roy Brooks that was recorded live at Baltimore’s Left Bank Jazz Society in 1970. The sound of a hopped-up crowd in the background urges the ensemble—which included bassist Cecil McBee and trumpeter Woody Shaw—to hit the funked-up grooves of the title track and loopy Latin pulsations of “Five for Max” with even greater intensity. 

“That's a recording that was engineered by Orville O’Brien,” says Feldman. “He had a service he would provide to musicians where he would come out and record them and give them the tape. The fact that he engineers it and the fact that this comes from the famous ballroom are other reasons that I'm especially proud of this.”

The other two Muse reissues dropping this week via Time Traveler are equally compelling. 1973’s Sunset to Dawn marks a significant creative leap forward for Kenny Barron, a pianist who came up supporting tenor saxophonists Bill Barron and James Moody. Leading an ensemble that prominently features drummer Freddy Waits and bassist Bob Cranshaw, Barron boisterously moves from the head-spinning bop of “Al-Kifha” to the liquid grooves of “Dawn” (a track on which he switches to electric piano) without breaking a sweat. Meanwhile, Cosmos Nucleus, the 1976 album led by saxophonist Carlos Garnett, applies the big-band form to swinging affairs (“Bed-Stuy Blues”), Curtis Mayfield-esque soul (“Mystery of Ages”), and divine yearning (the epic title track). 

“People are going to be really hungry for this one,” Feldman says of Cosmos Nucleus. “It’s spiritual jazz, it’s fusion, it’s got some world angle to it. It’s a very unique record.” 

Besides simply getting these three records back in circulation at non-collector prices, the joy of the Muse reissues is how great they all sound. That should come as no surprise to anyone who has purchased a Feldman release in recent years, but it is gratifying to know that the producer’s devotion to the best audio possible for these archival releases remains as strong as ever. For each of these three Muse LPs, Feldman handed the master tapes over to Matt Lutthans at the Mastering Lab in Salina, Kansas, who both mastered the audio and cut the lacquers for each one. I’ve spun these discs multiple times since they’ve arrived at The Vinyl Cut HQ, and they continue to amaze me with their presence and richness of sound. Cosmos, especially, floods the stereo field while leaving enough space for each of the many instruments to shine through every track. 

“I’ve been working with Matt for a number of years now,” says Feldman. “It started off when we did the Nat King Cole Hittin’ the Ramp box set for Resonance. This is a gentleman who works for both Chad Kassem at the Mastering Lab and Kevin Gray at Cohearant. I think that speaks volumes. It was a coup for us to be able to have him join us. He’s the very best at what he does.” 

The quality of these first Time Traveler offerings has only added to our excitement for their next batch of releases, all of which drop next month on Record Store Day Black Friday. We’ve already talked about one of them in our first preview post for the annual vinyl record holiday: Broadcasting the Blues: Live from Germany and Sweden, a two-LP set of live recordings of blues giant B.B. King taken from the archives of European television. But also on the way is Live at the Bayou, previously unreleased live recordings of the blazing punk band Bad Brains captured at the titular venue in Washington, DC, in 1980 and 1981. Those are both in addition to the four other RSD Black Friday releases Feldman had a hand in producing for the Resonance and Elemental labels. 

Feldman shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. He’s currently in the process of putting together a coffee-table book of photos taken by Don Schlitten, a music producer who once worked at Muse and helped start the Xanadu label in the mid-’70s. (The collection will be published next year by Fantagraphics.) And there are many other projects that he’s shepherding to completion, but which he wouldn’t reveal when we spoke on the phone. While he agrees that it does sound like a lot, Feldman is quick to remind me that he’s not alone in this work and, thanks to the support of folks at Resonance and Elemental, he is more than happy to keep adding more to his to-do list. 

“It’s about having a team,” Feldman says. “I have three project managers that I work with for the various projects and labels that I work with. I’m very fortunate for that. Because of that, it enables me to run across what I think are valuable recordings that are deserving of being released.”