Jazz & Improvisation / 60s

"In the beginning, the legend goes, it was Miles Davis’ electrifying jazz on In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew – modernizing the ensemble sound as well as reconfiguring compositional flow with repetition and  variation – that begat what was to become known as fusion, exemplified by the subsequent spinoffs Weather Report (Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul), Mahavishnu Orchestra (John McLaughlin), Headhunters (Herbie Hancock), and Return to Forever (Chick Corea), all of which emerged after 1970 and con…

Jazz saxophonist Akira Miyazawa was known for his unparalleled love of fishing, and here he gives a masterful performance that conjures the image of silvery fish scales reflecting light through the cold and clear water of a small mountain stream. “Yamame” (the Japanese name for a kind of freshwater salmon) was recorded in 1962 and was Miyazawa’s first album, but the sharpness and avant-garde modernity of the music creates a completely timeless quality. Miyazawa is one of a group of musicians who…

Tippin' On Through, by tenor saxophonist Curtis Amy, stands as a defining statement from one of West Coast jazz’s most eloquent voices. Recorded and released in 1965, the album pairs Amy’s warm, hard‑bop tenor with soulful grooves, crisp arrangements, and sympathetic ensemble interplay, creating a record that is both accessible and richly musical. Tippin' On Through showcases Amy’s robust tone, lyrical phrasing, and rhythmic agility. Across the program he moves effortlessly between blues‑inflect…

Components documents vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson’s early emergence as a vital voice in modern jazz. Recorded and issued in 1965, the album presents Hutcherson’s distinctive mallet work and original compositions that bridge post‑bop lyricism and mid‑60s harmonic exploration. Components balances melodic clarity with adventurous harmony, moving between contemplative ballads, driving post‑bop pieces, and modal excursions that highlight the vibraphone’s textural range within a small‑combo setting. …

Ascension, released in 1966 on Impulse!, stands as one of John Coltrane’s most radical and influential works. Subtitled “Edition I & II” to reflect the two complete takes recorded at the session - and presented together on LP for the first time - the piece is a nearly 40-minute large-ensemble performance marking Coltrane’s decisive embrace of the avant-garde. Recorded on June 28, 1965, at Rudy Van Gelder’s Englewood Cliffs studio and produced by Bob Thiele, the session assembled an expanded ense…

Get ready to ignite your turntable: Cal Tjader's seminal 1965 Latin jazz masterpiece Soul Sauce is back on vinyl for the first time since 1993. This vibrant reissue celebrates the album's enduring groove, fusing the vibraphonist's shimmering melodies with irresistible Afro-Cuban rhythms like mambo and boogaloo. A cornerstone of Latin jazz, Soul Sauce captivated audiences with its tight, danceable grooves and accessible yet sophisticated arrangements. Tjader, the vibraphone virtuoso who bridged j…

On Three for Shepp, Marion Brown leads a blazing American free‑jazz ensemble with Dave Burrell, Norris “Sirone” Jones and Grachan Moncur III, unleashing high‑energy fire music that shows the Impulse! era at full boil yet still somehow under‑sung.

On Buttercorn Lady, Art Blakey leads a brief but blazing mid‑60s Jazz Messengers lineup at The Lighthouse, launching a young Keith Jarrett and Chuck Mangione in a hard‑bop set that feels both like a proving ground and a joyous passing of the torch.

Using the crème de la crème of sound engineers and the unsurpassed production quality of Quality Record Pressings, the Acoustic Sounds series is mastered from the original tapes, pressed on 180-gram vinyl and packaged in high-quality gatefold covers produced by Stoughton Printing Co., where — as was customary on records of the era — the printed paper sheet is applied to the cardboard (so the cardboard itself is not directly inked). All this is overseen by Chad Kassem, CEO of Acoustic Sounds, the…

Renowned jazz trumpeter Kenny Dorham, one of the most underrated virtuosos in jazz history, invites listeners to revisit his landmark 1961 Blue Note masterpiece Whistle Stop – a bluesy, swinging hard bop session that captures the golden era of modern jazz. Recorded on January 15, 1961, at Rudy Van Gelder's legendary studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Whistle Stop showcases Dorham's original compositions performed by an elite quintet: Hank Mobley on tenor saxophone, Kenny Drew on piano, Paul…

Blue Note Records proudly unveils a stunning all-analog reissue of Donald Byrd's seminal 1961 hard bop masterpiece, The Cat Walk, as part of its acclaimed Classic Vinyl Series. Scheduled for release on May 15th, 2026, this limited-edition pressing on 180-gram vinyl has been meticulously mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes at Optimal Media studios, delivering unparalleled warmth, depth, and clarity for audiophiles and jazz enthusiasts alike.  Originally recorded on May 2, 1961, …

4LP set. Gatefold sleeve with photographs, concert poster, and new liner notes. Centenary edition. Limited to 2,500 copies worldwide. June 28, 1965: John Coltrane records Ascension at Van Gelder Studio - forty minutes of collective free improvisation that detonates every remaining convention in jazz. July 2: New Thing at Newport. July 6-18: a two-week residency at the Village Gate, doubling with Thelonious Monk. July 26: Coltrane walks onto the stage of the International Jazz Festival at Juan-le…

On Jazz Flamenco, Pedro Iturralde forges a taut, singing dialogue between Andalusian cante and modal jazz, letting saxophone and flamenco guitar trade roles as soloist and accompanist in a music that sounds both inevitable and newly invented.

In 1961 John Coltrane joined the newly founded Impulse! label. The great saxophonist was coming off several impactful albums (Giant Steps) and a very notable — even commercial — success: that My Favorite Things which had made his soprano sax one of the “new sounds” that marked a turning year for jazz, the fateful 1959. Some people — despite obvious clues to the contrary — speculated a turn, if not toward commerciality, at least toward more palatable music: a Coltrane in some ways comparable to P…

Deluxe edition, housed in a reverse board printed sleeve with printed inner sleeve. Three LPs came out on Jihad, the label Amiri Baraka ran out of his own house in Newark. Two of them - Sonny's Time Now and A Black Mass - entered the canon of the New Thing decades ago. The third stayed a rumour: a title traded between collectors, a track a radio DJ might drop once a year, a record far more people had heard about than heard. Original copies surface rarely and sell for three figures. Black and Bea…

Karma is Pharoah Sanders' third recording as a leader, and is among a number of spiritually themed albums the Impulse! Record label released in the late 1960s/early 1970s. Although it is followed by the brief "Colors", the album's main piece is the 32-minute-long "The Creator Has a Master Plan", co-composed by Sanders with vocalist Leon Thomas. Some see this piece as a kind of sequel to Sanders' mentor John Coltrane's legendary 1964 recording A Love Supreme (whose opening it echoes in a muscular…

"The shock and awe that Bitches Brew produced within and without the jazz world on its release in March 1970 was largely unexpected, the result of the music’s uncompromising power and what many felt to be its perplexing, eccentric sound and structure. In retrospect, we know how Miles’ unconventional studio methodology and Teo Macero’s subsequent compositional editing of the voluminous taped material innovated the remarkable finished product. But what has only marginally been discussed is the ext…

The album "Spirits," released by a debut label based in Copenhagen, marked the first opportunity for Ayler to record his "free music" in February 1964 in New York. The musicians selected by him included notable figures such as Cecil Taylor (with drummer Sunny Murray), members from Sonny Rollins' band (bassist Henry Grimes), and musicians from his Cleveland period (trumpeter Norman Howard, bassist Earl Henderson). This work also represents his first focus on his own compositions, which includes H…

Originally released in 1962 on Candid Records, The Straight Horn of Steve Lacy finds a young Steve Lacy stepping forward with quiet confidence and a sound unlike anyone else at the time. Stripped of excess and focused on tone, space, and intent, these sessions reveal a musician already thinking beyond convention. The soprano sax cuts clean and direct, moving between sharp angles and lyrical calm, with a small group that listens as closely as it plays. Nothing here feels rushed or ornamental, jus…

"We’re listening to Blue Train, which to me is one of the most beautiful pieces on one of the most beautiful records that Coltrane recorded in the fifties. It’s his first real mature statement and he wrote all but one of the tunes on this album which was very rare in the fifties and each one is a gem, particularly the title tune Blue Train. And while it’s kind of easy to play the blues, this has a suspended and haunting kind of quality to it." - Michael Cuscuna