My latest thrift-store score, an ancient slab of vinyl titled Charlie Parker, Historical Recordings, Vol. 1, reminds me how lucky listeners are today.

Issued in 1959 under the rubric "Le Jazz Cool," the LP lists no personnel apart from Parker, no dates, and no venues. The cover is solid red square with a strip of text across the top. Despite claiming the blessing of Parker's estate, contact information for the label is conspicuously absent. It's a bootleg and, typical for its era, a crappy one.

Today, we live in reissue heaven: Music that was ignored, overlooked, or deemed redundant by major labels decades ago now has a chance to be heard outside the exclusive circle of collectors.

Charles Mingus Sextet with Eric Dolphy—Cornell 1964 (Blue Note) resurrects a previously unknown concert. Unlike last year's At UCLA 1965 in which Mingus and his band scrap, fight, and occasionally fumble through complex charts, the double-disc Cornell 1964 is a sunny, scampering romp. Long, carefree solos and general merriment hold sway, especially when a cool-groove rendition of "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" initially elicits laughter from the audience. My favorite moment is Jaki Byard's stride piano solo on "Take the 'A' Train." Byard's tongue-in-cheek interlude could happen only in a band happily aware of vintage jazz without worrying about "authentic" interpretation. Don't mind the mono sound and occasional blips; the vivid Cornell 1964 is essential Mingus.

I'm also a fan of the British label Testament, which licenses classical recordings from the BBC, private collectors, and assorted archives. I adore Wilhelm Fürtwangler Conducts Strauss and Wagner, not only for Kirsten Flagstad's take on Strauss's autumnal Four Last Songs but for Fürtwangler's time-stopping performance of Wagner's Tristan Prelude. Here Fürtwangler and the Philharmonia make the music float almost imperceptibly like woolly clouds suspended in the sky. Testament has also devoted a series to Otto Klemperer, one of the great Beethoven conductors of the 20th century. Recorded live in 1957, Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 2 & 7 showcases the conductor's masterful ability to conjure Beethoven as an elemental force, violent and imperious.

Reissues can also save you from spending too much money on eBay. Don't bid on the LP Morton Feldman: The Early Years, which can go for $30 or more. Get the marvelous John Cage/Morton Feldman (New World) instead; the double-disc set contains the Feldman LP along with a slew of superb early Cage recordings, including the tribal Bacchanale for prepared piano, composed at Cornish in 1940. A few of the Feldman recordings such as the haunting Extensions 4 for Three Pianos appear on an Edition RZ release; however the New World discs have less hiss.

Finally, fans of the avant should investigate the Unseen Worlds label. Back in April, cofounder Neil Fauerso told me why he and Tommy McCutchon reissued "Blue" Gene Tyranny's Out of the Blue and the unjustly obscure minimalist masterpiece KMH by Lubomyr Melnyk: "...we simply have a long list of records we love and would love to reissue...." Amen.

THURS 8/16

HAYNES & LANZILLOTTA

Former Anomalous Records honcho Eric Lanzillotta brings his droning, room-rattling analog synth to the lush acoustics of the Good Shepherd Center's Chapel. He shares the evening with San Francisco—based sound-and-visual artist Jim Haynes, who gently aggregates shortwave-radio swoops and undulating electromagnetic currents into delicate sonic surfaces. Fourth-floor Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, 4649 Sunnyside Ave N, 8 pm, $5—$15 sliding scale donation.

HARSH

"Brutal sound effects" heads my entry profiling Rubber 0 Cement at the first Wooden Octopus Skull PFestival. Rubber 0 spewed so much bass that a CD vibrated off a nearby table and onto the floor, as if by telekinesis. Also on the bill: Syphilis Sauna, breakcore DJ NAHA, and Son of None. Bring earplugs. Re-bar, 1114 E Howell St, 233-9873, 9 pm, $5.

FRI 8/17

MATTHEW ANDERSON

Until a few years ago, I had no idea that St. James had an official cathedral guitarist. It's preferable to those "heepies," as my mother calls them, strumming guitars to "Our Father" and committing other musical sins in the shadow of Vatican II. Anyway, Anderson performs works by Debussy,

Albéniz, Thelonious Monk, Gismonti, and othersin the cathedral chapel. St. James Cathedral, 804 Ninth Ave, 382-4874, 7:45 pm, $15, students and seniors pay as able.

SAT 8/8

NO WEST FESTIVAL

Last year's event, a gathering of improvisers from Seattle and Portland, resulted in one of the best shows of 2006. This time, an ever bigger cast—including Gust Burns, Noggin's Eric Ostrowski, Bob Gallup, Seth Nehil, Arrington De Dionysio, Jamie Potter, Cristin Miller, and New York—based saxophonist Gregory Reynolds—assembles for a night of improvised sonic exploration. Fourth-floor Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, 4649 Sunnyside Ave N, 7 pm, $5—$15 sliding scale donation.