Jazz /
Touching Your Feelings (LP)
We are thrilled to announce the reissue of the most precious hidden gems of Soul Jazz / Spoken Word albums from a key era. Originally released in 1974 as a private pressing of fewer that 100 copies, Touching Your Feelings by Jim Marks is a crucial missing piece of the proto-rap era lying firmly between Gil Scott Heron and Amiri Baraka, with whom he made a strong friendship. Jym Marks' mix of deep, expressive poetry and solid jazz sits on the edge of works by The Last Poets and fellow west coast …
Sketches Of Spain
On Sketches of Spain, Miles Davis floats through Gil Evans’s lush, flamenco‑tinged orchestrations like a solitary witness, turning Spanish folk and classical themes into slow‑burning tone‑poems where jazz improvisation melts into modal ritual.
Ready For Freddie
** Special Time-Limited Offer ** The Indianapolis-born trumpeter Freddie Hubbard introduced his prodigious talent on Blue Note Records with a run of remarkable albums recorded thru the early 1960s. At first rooted firmly in hard bop, Hubbard began to broaden his approach on his masterwork Ready for Freddie, recorded in August 1961. “The way in which I’m most interested in going is Coltrane-like,” Hubbard told liner note writer Nat Hentoff. Hubbard had recorded with Coltrane earlier in the year o…
Breaking Point
** Special Time-Limited Offer ** Despite having performed on several of the most revolutionary avant-garde jazz records of the 1960s, including Ornette Coleman’s Free Jazz and John Coltrane’s Ascension, Freddie Hubbard’s own albums tended to hew closer to the mainstream. Perhaps no other single album captures the trumpeter’s awe-inspiring breadth of ability and versatility than Breaking Point!, which was recorded in May 1964 shortly after Hubbard had departed Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in orde…
Spring
** Special Time-Limited Offer ** Tony Williams Spring represents the drummer-composer at a crucial moment in his artistic trajectory. By 1965, Williams had already participated in landmark Blue Note sessions - Herbie Hancock's Empyrean Isles, Eric Dolphy's Out To Lunch, Andrew Hill's Point Of Departure, Jackie McLean's One Step Beyond. Despite barely being in his twenties, he had already established himself as a musician capable of listening at the highest level, responding to ensemble dynamics …
The Storyteller - A Musical Tribute to Yusef Lateef
With 20 years passing since his first foray into recorded jazz, Nat Birchall now ranks as one of the premier saxophonists of his generation. With several highly acclaimed albums in the locker, he now returns with his most ambitious project yet: a tribute to the legend that is Yusef Lateef titled, The Storyteller - A Musical Tribute to Yusef Lateef.
Nat Birchall on the project: "When Jazzman Gerald first mentioned to me the idea of doing an album as a tribute to the jazz giant Dr Yusef A. Lateef,…
Projection: The Complete Inspiration and Power Live at Shinjuku Art Theater
A miraculous discovery! The complete live performance at "Inspiration & Power 14" at Shinjuku Art Theater in 1973. Uncut live performance of Masayuki Takayanagi's New Direction For The Arts Discography at "Inspiration & Power 14" held at the Shinjuku Art Theater in 1973. This CD contains all the performances of the day, although only the last part of the concert was included in the album of the same title.
Recently, a cassette tape was discovered among the belongings of Masayuki Takayanagi, an…
Unity
** Special Time-Limited Offer ** Unity is one of the great organ records precisely because it refuses to behave like one. Larry Youngbrings the Hammond into a post‑bop, modal context alongside Woody Shaw on trumpet, Joe Henderson on tenor saxophone, and Elvin Jones on drums. The tunes – including originals by Young and his bandmates – are harmonically rich and structurally intriguing, offering the soloists wide latitude. Young’s playing is astonishing: he voices chords in unexpected clusters, sp…
Life Time
** Special Time-Limited Offer ** On Life Time, Tony Williams upends expectations of a drummer’s debut, convening shifting ensembles that include Sam Rivers, Bobby Hutcherson, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Gary Peacock. Rather than a showcase of drum solos, the album is a series of explorations in texture, space, and form. Williams’ playing ranges from explosive to whisper‑soft, but always with an acute sense of placement: each cymbal stroke, roll, or accent is structural, not ornamental. The o…
Further Explorations
** Special Time-Limited Offer ** Further Explorations pairs Horace Silver’s piano with Art Farmer on trumpet and Clifford Jordan on tenor sax, plus Teddy Kotick on bass and Louis Hayes on drums. Silver’s blend of blues, gospel, and hard‑bop sophistication is very much in evidence, but the writing nudges things into slightly more intricate territory. Catchy themes, smart modulations, and rhythmic hooks abound, yet everything feels natural and unforced. Farmer and Jordan bring contrasting horn col…
Juju
** Special Time-Limited Offer ** Juju finds Wayne Shorter working with McCoy Tyner on piano, Reggie Workman on bass, and Elvin Jones on drums – essentially the John Coltrane Quartet’s engine repurposed. The tunes, many with subtly African‑inflected rhythmic ideas, open broad spaces for exploration while maintaining clear thematic profiles. Shorter’s improvisations wind through these spaces with a storyteller’s sense of pacing, lingering on simple motifs before leaping into unexpected intervals. …
Search For The New Land
** Special Time-Limited Offer ** Search for the New Land shows Lee Morgan in a more reflective, exploratory mood, joined by Wayne Shorter on tenor, Herbie Hancock on piano, Grant Green on guitar, Reggie Workman on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums. The compositions stretch out over modal frameworks and evocative themes that suggest journeys as much inward as outward. The band plays spaciously yet intently, building tension through dynamics and texture more than sheer speed. Morgan’s tone is full …
Evolution
** Special Time-Limited Offer ** Evolution documents Grachan Moncur III stepping out as a composer‑leader with Lee Morgan on trumpet, Jackie McLean on alto, Bobby Hutcherson on vibes, Bob Cranshaw on bass, and Tony Williams on drums. The pieces blend post‑bop structures with freer approaches to metre and harmony, resulting in music that feels constantly tilted yet never topples. Moncur’s trombone leads themes that are by turns mournful, eerie, and boldly declamatory; the band responds with solos…
Let Freedom Ring
** Special Time-Limited Offer ** On Let Freedom Ring, Jackie McLean fronts a quartet with Walter Davis Jr. on piano, Herbie Lewison bass, and Billy Higgins on drums, and turns the LP format into a manifesto. Stark, ringing themes and open, modal frameworks give the music a declamatory character, while McLean’s alto pushes into the upper register with cries and shouts that go beyond tidy bebop language. Higgins and Lewis oscillate between march‑like insistence and freer undercurrents, and Davis’ …
Destination Out
** Special Time-Limited Offer ** Destination... Out! sees Jackie McLean stepping decisively into less charted territory, flanked by Grachan Moncur III on trombone, Bobby Hutcherson on vibes, Larry Ridley on bass, and Roy Haynes on drums. Moncur’s compositions stretch form and harmony to the point where the music hovers at the edge of abstraction while still clinging to memorable themes. McLean responds with heightened intensity; his alto lines slice through the ensemble’s cool, translucent textu…
Bluesnik
** Special Time-Limited Offer ** On Bluesnik, Jackie McLean teams with Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Kenny Drew on piano, Doug Watkins on bass, and Pete La Roca on drums to prove there is still plenty to say within the twelve‑bar form. The band leans heavily on the blues but treats it as a living language, shifting tempos from strolling to urgent and varying the feel from tough swagger to reflective drag. McLean’s solos are full of sharp edges and vocal inflections, while Hubbard brings a more ext…
Demon's Dance
** Special Time-Limited Offer ** Demon’s Dance (often mis‑typed in catalogues) captures Jackie McLean with a younger, firebreathing band: Woody Shaw on trumpet, LaMont Johnson at the piano, Scott Holt on bass, and Jack DeJohnette on drums. The tunes are packed with rhythmic snaps and melodic hooks, yet the improvisations regularly veer into more angular, exploratory territory. McLean’s alto tone is piercing and urgent, cutting through the ensemble with authority, while Shaw’s harmonically advanc…
Point Of Departure
** Special Time-Limited Offer ** On Point of Departure, Andrew Hill convenes a dream ensemble: Eric Dolphy on alto, bass clarinet, and flute, Joe Henderson on tenor sax, Kenny Dorham on trumpet, Richard Davis on bass, and Tony Williams on drums. Hill’s compositions bend conventional form with asymmetrical phrases, overlapping lines, and harmonies that hover between centres, creating a sense of forward motion as much psychological as rhythmic. Each soloist finds personal routes through these land…
Page One
** Special Time-Limited Offer ** On Page One, Joe Henderson introduces his tenor alongside Kenny Dorham on trumpet, McCoy Tyner on piano, Butch Warren on bass, and Pete La Roca on drums. Together they bring to life a set of tunes – including future standards – that balance memorable themes with ample improvisational room. Henderson’s tone is earthy yet flexible, his lines combining logical development with sudden, surprising detours. Dorham’s lyrical, slightly tart trumpet provides a perfect foi…
Speak Like A Child
** Special Time-Limited Offer ** On Speak Like a Child, Herbie Hancock opts for subtler shades with an unusual front line of Thad Jones on flugelhorn, Peter Phillips (or Jerry Dodgion) on alto flute, and Jackie McLean on alto sax, supported by Ron Carter on bass and Mickey Roker on drums. Carefully voiced harmonies create a soft‑focus glow around lullaby‑like themes that harbour unexpected harmonic turns. Hancock’s piano is restrained and lyrical, often leaving wide spaces around simple phrases,…