Jazz & Improvisation / 60s

Villingen, 27 and 28 June 1968. Barney Wilen, the tenor of Ascenseur pour l'échafaud, with a young Joachim Kühn on organ and piano, Aldo Romano and Wolfgang Paap on two drum kits, Mimi Lorenzini's guitar and Günter Lenz's bass. Ode to Billie Joe, Respect, Lonely Woman and the Supremes, dedicated to Timothy Leary.

1967, SABA. Tony Scott, the clarinettist of Music for Zen Meditation, with Bubi Chen's Indonesian All Stars: Jack Lesmana on guitar, Marjono on saxophone, gamelan gongs under the rhythm section. Jazz standards and Indonesian songs, with Summertime and Djanger Bali. One of the first Jazz Meets records.

Another of Berendt's meetings, SABA 1967. George Gruntz, the Basel pianist who would later run the Berlin Jazz Festival for twenty years, with Sahib Shihab on saxophones and Jean-Luc Ponty on violin, and a group of Tunisian musicians: a bendir and darbuka drum ensemble and Salah El Mahdi on ney flute. The title turns Dizzy Gillespie's tune on its head. UK Vibe, reviewing the Nicola Conte compilation that includes Djerbi, points out that the famous names are not the point: it is the lesser-known …

Villingen, 23 October 1967. Irène Schweizer's trio with Mani Neumeier and Uli Trepte, a year before Guru Guru, meets Dewan Motihar's sitar, tabla and tambura, with Manfred Schoof and Barney Wilen. Three pieces, two of them long, and the seventeen-minute Sun Love. All About Jazz calls it an unqualified success.

December 1966, a month after the premiere at the Berlin Philharmonie: Alexander von Schlippenbach's Globe Unity, fourteen players, Brötzmann, Schoof, Hampel, Mangelsdorff, Dudek, Breuker, Kowald, Niebergall, Liebezeit, Neumeier. Two pieces, Globe Unity and Sun. European free jazz declaring itself.

CD eissue of Don Cherry's classic Eternal Rhythm Group, recorded at the Berlin Jazz Festival, 1968. An amazing line up of: Cherry (cornet, gender and saron [gamelan], flutes), Albert Mangelsdorff (trombone), Eje Thelin (trombone), Bernt Rosengren (tenor sax, oboe, clarinet, flute), Sonny Sharrock (guitar), Karl Berger (vibes, piano, gender), Joachim Kühn (piano, prepared piano), Arild Andersen (bass), & Jacques Thollot (drums, saron, gong, bells, voice). Two "side-long" pieces with gamelan under…

Albert Ayler did it once, and only once. On February 24, 1964, in New York, on the same day as the session that would become Spirits, he recorded a program of spirituals and standards with no screaming, no glossolalia, no demolition of form: "Goin' Home", "Ol' Man River", "Down By The Riverside", "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot", "Deep River", "When The Saints Go Marchin' In", "Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen". Songs of suffering and salvation, played with a devotional restraint that hits harder th…

*Back in print!* First released in 1964 under the expert production of Blackwell for Island Records, this remarkable album captures the essence of Jamaican soulful jazz through the extraordinary talent of Ernest Ranglin. As a pioneering guitarist and composer, Ranglin delivers an impeccable performance that blends the rich traditions of jazz with the vibrant rhythms of Jamaica. Accompanied by a highly swinging rhythm section, featuring Malcolm Cecil on bass and Alan Ganley on drums, the album ex…

Following his striking 1968 debut Ghetto Music, the radical trumpeter and composer Eddie Gale presented an extension of that vision continuing to seek truth and justice through his music on his magnificent 2nd Blue Note album Black Rhythm Happening, recorded in 1969. Joining the Noble Gale Musicians (Gale, saxophonist/flutist Russell Lyle, and bassists Judah Samuel and Henry Pearson) and Noble Gale Singers (including Joann Gale Stevens and Fulumi Prince) are guest musicians including alto saxoph…

“Bloque 6” (1968), by Juan Carlos Calderón, is a landmark recording in the history of modern jazz in Spain, markedly different from the albums Calderón would record just a few years later under the influence of funk, disco music, and even flamenco. Juan Carlos Calderón enjoyed a long and successful career,  composing and arranging some of the most iconic songs by Spanish artists such as Joan Manuel Serrat, Mocedades, and Ana Belén, among many others. However, his musical beginnings were closely …

*Warehouse find* After the convincing performance at the fifth Jazz Festival di Sanremo 1960, Basso and Valdambrini realized for Jolly the third album, adding to the original formation of the quintet that has recorded the album LPM 2079, the promising trombonist Dino Piana. Also included you will find a track of Valdambrini and Basso dedicated to Turin, in perfect California style: the folk song “Ciao Turin”.

On BBC Jazz Club Session April 1965, Don Rendell and Ian Carr capture a historic broadcast moment where British modern jazz finds its new voice. The debut of pianist Michael Garrick within the quintet injects modal colour and compositional bite into a set that pushes club‑band swing toward something more questing and contemporary.

Two sessions from the white heat of mid-sixties New York, drawn from the ESP-Disk archive and returned to full clarity in the new Reference series from AlAy, the Basel imprint curated by Werner X. Uehlinger. The Call brings together the only recording ever made under the direction of the painter, engineer and multi-instrumentalist Marzette Watts and the sole date led by the great bassist Henry Grimes, the connecting thread between the two, in a single volume with sonic restoration and mastering …

The second volume in the Reference series from AlAy, the Basel imprint curated by Werner X. Uehlinger, gathers twenty two sides that document one of the great partnerships of modern jazz: trumpeter Fats Navarro and composer, arranger and pianist Tadd Dameron, captured across seven New York studio sessions between January 1947 and January 1949, with sonic restoration and mastering by Michael Brändli and new liner notes by Art Lange. Navarro, gone at twenty six, made perhaps the deepest impression…

Endless Happiness reissues the 1968 British jazz classic Phase III by The Don Rendell/Ian Carr Quintet, showcasing their creative peak and innovative spirit.

Freddie Hubbard’s Goin’ Up brings listeners into motion from the very first notes—an electrifying statement of swing, power, and musical imagination. Brimming with bold improvisations and masterful ensemble interplay, the album captures the spirit of jazz at full throttle, showcasing Hubbard’s unmistakable brilliance and the kind of creative urgency that turns every track into a journey. From its confident opening to its most uplifting moments, Goin’ Up is a celebration of sound and swing: preci…

Celebrated as a standout in the jazz canon, Lee Morgan’s “Lee-Way” returns with fresh momentum, reaffirming its power to thrill with its melodic immediacy, rhythmic drive, and unmistakable personality. The album showcases Morgan at the peak of his craft: a trumpet voice that cuts through with clarity, confidence, and emotion, guiding every performance with purpose.   On “Lee-Way,” the ensemble moves with precision and swing, balancing tight musical interplay with a sense of spontaneity that keep…

*2026 repress* Joao Gilberto's self titled third album, is the fruit of the collaboration between Gilberto and the great composer and arranger Antonio Carlos Jobim and Walter Wanderley and his ensemble. This is one of the greatest pieces of work in the field of Brazilian music. Gilberto's delicate singing moves on top of extremely subtle, elegant orchestral arrangements of various songs from the classic repertoire, "Samba da Minha Terra" and "Saudade da Bahia" (Dorival Caymmi), "O Barquinho" (Ro…

In 1963 and 1965 Oscar Peterson performed at the Kulttuuritalo in Helsinki. He was the leader of what was then considered one of the most closely-knit bands in the history of jazz, made up of Oscar himself and two other fabulous jazzmen, Ray Brown on bass and Ed Thigpen on drums. For the 1965 concert, trumpeter Clark Terry was invited to join the legendary trio.The Helsinki concerts were both part of whirlwind European tours that included performances all over the continent, from France and Germ…

Norio Maeda ignites this trio date with raw, thrilling momentum — one of his most electrifying records. Stripped-down and urgent, the music bursts with kinetic energy: tight, swinging interplay that sparks like vintage 60s bossa bands yet barrels in its own direction. Maeda’s piano cuts through with bold, adventurous lines; Tatsuro Takimoto’s bass is muscular and melodic; Takeshi Inomata’s drumming is sharp, driving, relentless. Standout tracks include "Alpha Ray," "Fifth Column," "Slobber," "St…