Jazz /
The Willisau Concert
Joe McPhee's first international release, Black Magic Man, was issued on the newly formed Hat Hut imprint in 1975. It was a watershed moment for the 35-year-old musician. Based in Poughkeepsie, New York, he was too far away from Manhattan to have participated extensively in the Loft Jazz happenings of the decade. European exposure, however, would give McPhee an alternative circuit, something of an escape route from the trappings of American cultural myopia.
" In support of the new record for thi…
Black Magic Man
Black Magic Man is arguably the pivotal Joe McPhee release. It bridged the span between the regional and the international, bypassing the national altogether. "Recorded in the same sessions that produced Nation Time, Black Magic Man consists of music not chosen for that LP. Like its much-feted sister, technically it falls under the domain of CjR, Craig Johnson's herculean effort in support of McPhee. An erstwhile painter, Johnson became a self-taught audio engineer, acquiring equipment expressly…
Soweto To Harlem
When the U.S. State Department announced in the mid-1970s that they were sponsoring a South African tour for the Oklahoma-born, Paris-based saxophonist Hal Singer, producer Rashid Vally took note. Even though his nascent record label As-Shams/The Sun (established in 1974) was making waves on the local scene, the idea of commissioning a recording from an international artist was a ballsy idea. With a discography that stretched back to the 1950s, Hal Singer was already somewhat of a legacy artist …
The Death Of Kalypso
After eleven albums with a varying ensemble size, Martin Küchen’s Angles returns with The Death of Kalypso, its most ambitious statement to date: a jazz opera for our times. Joining forces with vocalist Elle-Kari and Angles pianist Alexander Zethson, who wrote the string arrangements and band notations, Küchen adds another volume to the band’s sizeable, yet coherent catalog, which merges infectious free jazz grooves with tumultuous emotional cadences that reflect both human and political concern…
The Night is the Night
Nelly Klayman-Cohen is a singer, pianist, composer, and lyricist performing under the moniker Rotem Geffen. The album The Night is the Night consists of eight newly written songs and follows her critically acclaimed debut album, You Guard the Key (Zeon Light 2021). The lyrics, written in German, English, and Hebrew, delve into memory, love, sorrow, and the poetics of the night. The "I" and the "You" merge as relational organisms, their boundaries continuously shifting, blurring, and being redefi…
Plays Carter, Plays Mitchell, Plays Shepp
Founded by saxophonist and composer Johan Jutterström, the Swedish septet STHLM svaga has emerged as one of the most intriguing and distinctive jazz ensembles of the 2000s. Their expertise lies in crafting jazz with remarkably soft dynamics, resulting in a wholly distinctive and captivating ensemble sound. Plays Carter, Plays Mitchell, Plays Shepp is their new release and features specially composed pieces by three iconic figures in jazz history: Ron Carter, Roscoe Mitchell, and Archie Shepp, pe…
Back To Rhythm
Akira Ishikawa is renowned as a super funky drummer in Japan, earning praise for his ability to freely explore and blend jazz, rock, and African music into a unique musicality. Throughout his career, which spans from jazz rock to rare groove, this particular work stands out for its exceptional song selection and exhilarating musicality. "Let's Start" delivers a tight cover of Fela Kuti's Afro-funk, "Bongo Rock" presents a dynamic song with drum breaks, and "Pick Up The Pieces" offers a jazz-funk…
Solo Bern 1984, First Visit
"In its entirety, the concert is lively and penetrating evidence of Braxton’s remarkable facility, powers of invention, and commitment to his principles at this point in time, with special emphasis on saxophone techniques energizing variables of tone color, texture, and timbre to affect separate phrases, extended lines, and sectional contrasts." – Art Lange
Producer’s note: "I experienced over many years Anthony Braxton different performances. His solo performance 1984 in Bern belongs into the …
The Human Factor
"It is a message, and you will hear it sounding firmly through the various pieces that make up The Human Factor, that tells us much about how we might live together: sharing, giving way, simple giving, lifting up, helping ... above all, listening ..." - Brian Morton
Rock Communication Yagibushi
Wewantsounds is delighted to announce the reissue of Norio Maeda's cult classic "Rock Communication Yagibushi" released in Japan in 1970.
Burnin' In Bordeaux: Live in France 1969
First complete, authorized release of alto sax giant’s Bordeaux performance transferred from the original tape reels recorded by the ORTF and housed in the INA (the Institut national de l'audiovisuel). Released by Elemental Music in cooperation with the Cannonball Adderley Estate and INA France. Cannonball is featured with a stellar band including his brother Nat Adderley on cornet, pianist Joe Zawinul, bassist Victor Gaskin and drummer Roy McCurdy. "It’s my hope that this music will live on thr…
Atlantis Lullaby - The Concert From Avignon
A truly sensational find, Atlantis Lullaby presents a never-before-heard performance recorded in Avignon, France. Featuring Yusef Lateef in a quartet set with fellow stars Kenny Barron, Bob Cunningham and Albert “Tootie” Heath. Among the highlights are a fantastic flute/piano duet by Lateef and Barron playing the pianist’s beautiful ballad, “A Flower,” as well as extended readings of the classic, “I’m Getting Sentimental Over You,” Lateef’s “Yusef’s Mood,” and Barron’s “The Untitled.” This proje…
At The Showcase Live In Chicago 1976-1977
All music previously unissued!
Transferred from the original tape reels restored by Michael D. Anderson with audio remastering by Joe Lizzi and lacquers cut by Matthew Lutthans at Cohearent Audio.
Includes extensive booklet with previously unpublished photos from the actual performances by Hal Rammel; liner notes by acclaimed author John Corbett; and testimonials from Marshall Allen, David Murray, Dave Burrell, Matthew Shipp, Thurston Moore, Amina Claudine Myers, Jack DeJohnette, Michael Weiss &…
Inside The Light World: Sun Ra Meets The OVC
Introducing a musical treasure from the enigmatic Sun Ra's expansive discography, Strut Records proudly presents "Inside The Light World: Sun Ra Meets The OVC”. This extraordinary album unveils previously unreleased recordings from the year 1986 for the very first time, showcasing a unique chapter in the Sun Ra catalogue, officially released for Record Store Day 2024.
Introducing the inaugural release of "lost" sessions from 1986, where Sun Ra encountered the OVC. These remarkable recordings wer…
Harvest Time / Love Will Find A Way
Unreleased Japanese radio edit of two ethereal masterpieces from .
Record Store Day 2024 "RSD First" release. Limited to 2500 copies. The RSD website refers to the vinyl colour as "Black Power Black" Runouts are laser-etched. ©/℗ 2024 Luaka Bop Inc.
De Las Colonias Del Río De La Plata
Altercat proudly presents the definitive reissue of one of the crown jewels of South American jazz. Essentially the brainchild of Argentinian jazz’s leading figure Jorge López Ruiz, the project Viejas Raíces marked Lopez Ruiz’s departure from the traditional forms of jazz.
Webo
** Deluxe 3LP set, housed in heavy tip-on box with pigment ink foil stamping, mounted film laminated cover painting by Jeff Schlanger, three printed inner sleeves with original notes by William Parker and Alan Licht, original concert flyer re-print and a five photograph portfolio in black envelope ** A legendary concert by one of the great unrecorded bands in free jazz history is here at last. WEBO, the third installment in the Black Editions Archive series of previously unreleased recordings fr…
Viagem
Light and breezy, pure and easy, that’s how I spent most of last week, and this album was a great soundtrack for it. Osmar Milito is an interesting figure in Brazilian jazz, having a hand in the famous Canecão club in Rio and playing with the likes of Sylvia Telles, Leny Andrade, and Flora Purim early in his career, and later on doing lots of soundtrack work for those venerable Brazilian exports, telenovelas. His post-bossa nova records are collectible for a reason: they’re damn good listening…
Ikoyi Blindness
Fela used the cover of Ikoyi Blindness to announce his change of middle name from Ransome, which he now considered a slave name, to Anikulapo, which means “he who carries death in his pouch.” The front cover shows Ransome crossed out and Anikulapo added above it. Fela also used the album cover to announce the Africanisation of Africa 70’s name, changing it to Afrika 70. In the title track, Fela draws attention to the economic chasm separating the haves and have-nots of Nigerian society, contrast…
O.D.O.O. (Overtake Don Overtake Overtake)
Overtake Don Overtake Overtake was the penultimate album of newly recorded studio material released by Fela before he passed in 1997. Like its immediate predecessor, Beasts Of No Nation (also 1989), and its followup, Underground System (1992), the album finds Fela continuing to campaign for human rights and social change despite the relentless beatings, jailings and general harassment he had received from successive military regimes since the start of the 1970s.