Jazz /
Variation and Creation: The Story of PAZ
Five years in the making and representing the twenty-year story of a pioneering British jazz-rock fusion band with strong Latinesque influences… whose alumni over that period included over thirty well-known British jazz musicians… but a band you might not have heard of… or have any of their eight albums… we have finally come up with ‘Variation and Creation: The Story of PAZ’. The album was produced in cooperation with the families of Dick Crouch and Geoff Castle, the heart of the of the band ove…
Glass Bead Games
Glass Bead Games is undoubtedly one of the finest spiritual jazz recordings to come out of the 70s, and is one that you absolutely must not miss!
A Spirit Speaks
The only spiritual jazz album by the family band led by Bill Lee, the bassist known for composing the classic ‘Coltrane’ and father of film director Spike Lee, for Strata-East. A beautifully shining masterpiece that conveys the depth and greatness of 70s spiritual jazz!
Sound of Joy
This is the first Sun Ra 1957 work that Delmark released to the world after it was unreleased on Trungeon. A treasured early recording with a rough but beautiful big band sound!
Sun Song
Sun Ra's debut album, released in 1956, catapulted Sun Ra from the Chicago jazz scene to become a darling of the underground scene. This important album featured star players such as John Gilmour!
Pressing News : British Music As It Happened 1962-1972 (Book)
Hardcover Edition, large format. A treasure trove of rare information and imagery, Pressing News is the latest book by Richard Morton Jack, author of Nick Drake: The Life, Labyrinth, Psychedelia, Galactic Ramble and Endless Trip. A huge number of new records came out in the UK every week in the 1960s and 70s, many of them accompanied by press releases. These offered important and fascinating information but were almost all discarded, meaning that very few have survived. The product of decades of…
Like Someone In Love
One of the greatest line-ups of drummer Art Blakey’s hard bop finishing school The Jazz Messengers locked into place in 1960 when tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter joined trumpeter Lee Morgan, pianist Bobby Timmons, and bassist Jymie Merritt for the recording of The Big Beat, an album that signaled the transformation of the band into a modern jazz juggernaut. In August of that year The Jazz Messengers returned to Van Gelder Studio twice for sessions that would yield the companion albums A Night In…
Luanda-Kinshasa
In celebration of The Infinite Mix, The Vinyl Factory releases the soundtrack to Stan Douglas’s ‘Luanda-Kinshasa’. The video is shot like a documentary film on a set carefully crafted to resemble a legendary New York recording studio.
Stan Douglas’s Luanda-Kinshasa depicts a fictional 1970s jazz-funk band engaged in a seemingly endless real-time jam. The band’s music echoes the then-current confluence of American jazz, funk and Afrobeat – a musical fusion made possible, as the video’s title indi…
Live at Splice Series
*Edition of 300 glass-mastered CDs in wallet with spine* "A trio of younger generation Chicago free improvisers from Gerrit Hatcher on tenor saxophone, Peter Maunu on guitar, violin & mandolin and Julian Kirshner on drums, performing at The Beat Kitchen as part of the Live at Splice Series, in two recordings from contemplative and darkly spacious to kinetically energetic, released in a limited edition CD." - SquidCo.com
Knowledge About the Future
*Edition of 100, comes in flap-sealed clear sleeve with hand-numbered insert* "Chicago-based tenor saxophonist, improviser, and composer Gerrit Hatcher (Devouring the Guilt, duos with Anton Hatwich, duos with Julian Kirshner) in a solo album of seven succinct statements, diverse expressions from scrabbling determination to pensive reflection, all informed by masterful skills that add nuance and intrigue to each track." - SquidCo.com
Prison Planet
*Edition of 100, comes in hand-numbered jacket with bag* "The Chicago collective trio of tenor saxophonist Gerrit Hatcher, Lebanese bassist Eli Namay and drummer/percussionist Bill Harris are captured live at Chicago's The Whistler in the summer of 2019 for two extended and exploratory improvisations, showing both technical mastery and a curiosity for new modes of expression through inspired and intuitive conversation." - SquidCo.com
The Good Instinct of the Morning
*Hand-numbered edition of 300. Digipak in resealable poly-bag* The Gerrit Hatcher Group—featuring Gerrit Hatcher (tenor sax), Katie Ernst (bass), Ben Lamar Gay (cornet), Keefe Jackson (tenor sax), and Julian Kirshner (drums)—delivers an electrifying blend of free improvisation and avant-garde jazz. Their latest release, The Good Instinct of the Morning, showcases their bold, spontaneous creativity and masterful technique. Hatcher and Jackson drive the melody with expressive, ever-shifting saxoph…
Burnt Pan Rolling Boil
*Hand-numbered edition of 300. Digipak in resealable poly-bag* "Tenor saxophonist Gerrit Hatcher's latest solo recording – I believe it's his third solo document - is also the first title available from his new label, Kettle Hole. While he oversees a fairly prolific output, he's not into overkill. The CD's total time is under 30 minutes & it is limited to 300 numbered copies. Time is tight; copies are limited. Nothing is wasted. Economical and sharp." - The Free Jazz Collective
Mirage
The only 'group' on the Black Jazz roster, The Awakening today should be heralded as one of the great bands in early '70s jazz. That they're not is the result of the Black Jazz label's distribution woes; witness the fact that original copies of both of their records for the imprint command prices in the hundreds of dollars if you can find them at all. Mirage is their second (1973) album, the last one they made together; it boasts the same Chicago-based, AACM-centric line-up as the first, with th…
Red Clay
This is the sequential classic of Freddie Hubbard‘s catalog. Bandmates on this musical journey are Herbie Hancock on Fender Rhodes, Ron Carter on electric & acoustic bass, Lenny White on drums & Joe Henderson on tenor sax & alto flute. ‘Red Clay’ is accessible, grooving and one of the first fusions of R&B & Funk with Post-Bop. “Red Clay” sprung from his memories of his childhood in Indianapolis, noting that many of the neighborhood’s residents had come from the deep South, and he wanted the tune…
The Blue Yusef Lateef
On “The Blue Yusef Lateef” (1968), listeners get an amazing chapter from the late ’60s, an amazing period when everything in the world of Jazz was changing. Yusef Lateef was big on concept recordings. This album examines all the different ranges of emotion contained within the blues genre. With a band that included Detroit Jazz gods Roy Brooks on drums and Kenny Burrell on guitar, Blue Mitchell on trumpet, Hugh Lawson on piano, Sonny Red on alto, Bob Cranshaw on electric bass, and a very young C…
Slavic Spirits
After the very well received, both by the audience and critics, debut album Repetitions (Letters to Krzysztof Komeda), focusing on the lesser-known works of the legendary Polish composer, the Wrocław-based EABS decided to further expand this lead and released two more vinyl records, "live" and "on tape", which crowned the "Komeda triptych". The astounding reception of the band's debut whet listeners' appetite for completely new recordings. It took 2 years for the new album to materialise, this t…
Open Me, A Higher Consciousness of Sound and Spirit
*CD Version* Celebrating 50 Years of The Ethnic Heritage Ensemble’s Legacy and Unwavering Contribution to Great Black Music. This is the new offering from Kahil El’Zabar and his Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, in conjunction with the legendary group’s 50th anniversary, Open Me, A Higher Consciousness of Sound and Spirit. Open Me is a joyous honoring of portent new directions of the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble; it’s a visionary journey into deep roots and future routes, channeling traditions old and new. …
Moon Child
Recorded in France in 1989, Sanders plays here with an all-star line-up consisting of Stafford James on bass, William Henderson on piano and Eddie Moore on drums. Great percussion work from Cheikh Tidiane Fall, particularly on “Moon Rays”, and as always Sanders’ sax work is rich, full and throaty. On this album, the legendary saxophonist clearly reinvented himself as a more traditional improviser, capable of thoughtful and pensive deliberations. Catchy mystical New Age vocals and astrological re…
Africa
On this 1987 album Pharoah Sanders is accompanied by the great Idris Muhammad on drums, John Hicks on piano and Curtis Lundy on bass. Five of the eight compositions are by Sanders, one track by pianist Hicks, Coltrane’s “Naima” is a tribute to Trane and “Speak Low” is a beautiful standard from Kurt Weill and Ogden Nash. A real smoky slower number “Heart To Heart” shows Sanders can be subdued and romantic and John Hicks plays some beautiful jazz piano. The whole album exudes energy and joy. On “D…