Jazz /
That's Why
*2024 stock* Sublime Christian folk jazz from 1970s Norway. In the '60s and '70s churches throughout Europe had serious competition for the attention of its younger members. The ecclesiastical establishment was shocked to hear teenagers expressing 'Sympathy for the Devil' rather than sympathy for Christ and his teachings. In Norway at this time the same situation was prevalent as was happening across Europe; teenagers were turning their back on the church and embracing the temptations and pleasu…
Reflections (The Romantic Guitar Of Amancio D'Silva)
Universal Music Recordings and Decca Records are making Jazz guitarist Amancio D’Silva’s album ‘Reflections (The Romantic Guitar Of Amancio D’Silva)’ available again for the first time since it was released in 1971, on limited edition clear vinyl. Long sought after by collectors and connoisseurs, original copies now sell for upwards of £350. This new edition was mastered at Abbey Road using high definition 24bit/192kHz audio files, copied directly from the original analogue master tapes. Images …
Tribal Dance
Los Angeles bass titan Henry Franklin is bestknown for the two Skipper LPs issued by Black Jazz in 1972-74; 1977’s Tribal Dance is more obscure and arguably the best of the bunch, the spiritual jazz given an extra propulsive dimension via the excesses of Sonship, banging complex rhythms on his elaborate self-made drums, as heard on the opening title track and the extended ‘Cosmos Dwellers.’ Elsewhere, ‘Eric’s Tune’ has flamenco undercurrents, ‘Spring Song’ is a slow piano meditation, and ‘Prime …
Nio & Pigeon
"New Hard, led by Toshiyuki Miyama, is one of Japan's leading big bands. Since the release of their seminal work Perspective in 1969, they've opened up new horizons in big band jazz with their cutting-edge sound. This work, Niou to Hato, is one such representative work of the new hard movement, which reached its zenith in 1972. Bandleader Kozaburo Yamaki was then in charge of the entire composition and arrangement, and deeply pursued one of his long-standing themes: Japan, the nation in and of i…
Dah Nah
"Okinawa-born tenor sax star Ryusei Tomoyose famously studied under Sadao Watanabe in Tokyo words the final part of the 190s. Once his studies were complete, he went home and decided to focus on teaching and nurturing young musicians, which he did for the rest of his life while also becoming a pioneer in the Okinawa jazz scene. This album which was originally released in 1979 is packed with his playing passion and is a legendary record into which he pours his whole heart and soul. It was recorde…
Coraje Buenos Aire
Killer unreleased 1973 post-bop, avant jazz album from Argentina, with highly political texts. The missing link in Argentina's jazz history finally sees the light. Coraje Buenos Aires was recorded in 1973, conceived as a follow-up to the historic Bronca Buenos Aires (1971). More explicitly than its predecessor, the texts in Coraje denounced the atrocities of the military junta that ruled the country, and the album was inevitably censored before being released. The tapes, thought to have been bur…
Evolution -
Drummer and Composer David Lee Jr.’s stunning and rare album Evolution (1974) blends the deep experimentalism of John Coltrane and Sun Ra with the pulsating second-line and parade rhythms of New Orleans to create a stunning sonic and rhythmical tour de force. In a lineage of incredible New Orleans drummers that includes James Black, Idris Muhammed, Zigaboo Modeliste of The Meters, and stretching back to Earl Palmer and Baby Dodds - David Lee Jr. stands out for his fire, experimentalism and an ou…
Nova
2024 Stock. New edition of this seminal album available as a 1000 copies edition only on new premium red vinyl! As a radical jazz artist, Steve Reid played with an extraordinary group of artists – including Miles Davis, Sun Ra, Fela Kuti, James Brown, Ornette Coleman, Lester Bowie, Freddie Hubbard, Jackie McLean, Dionne Warwick, Archie Shepp, Chief Bey, Olatunji, Arthur Blythe, Dextor Gordon, Gary Bartz, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Sam Rivers, Leon Thomas, Lonnie Smith and Horace Silver!
Reid was born …
Time Capsule
A heretical symbol of Rare Groove, with its alternative and avant-garde ferocity! Irvine Weldon's 1973 masterpiece, which continues to have a wide influence around the world even today! Although it is based on jazz, it is a work released in 1973 that is more soul/funk than the first album, and reflects more experimental and political aspects and ideas. For over 30 years, it has been loved by diggers all over the world and reigns at the top of the rare groove as a most wanted item, and today the …
Concerts By The Sea
Funky groove master Les Demar's legendary live recordings have been sampled by numerous artists and DJs, and have captivated jazz funk listeners and rare groove freaks alike with their raging drum breaks and intense grooves. Recorded at Concerts by the Sea in Redondo Beach, California, in August 1978, the eight-piece big combo's frenetic night is back in its original 1970s release!
The fusion-like 'Quetzal' (A1), which starts with an opening MC and cheers, quickly raises the tension, followed by…
Black Survival
Digitally remastered edition of this 1974 album, a true holy-grail for Deep and Spiritual Jazz collectors around the world. This album was originally independently released to raise funds to combat the ongoing drought in the Sahel region of Africa (an area covering parts of Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Chad, Darfur, Sudan and Ethiopia). During his lifetime Roy Brooks released precious few solo albums. Black Survival, the Sahel Concert at the Town Hall was originally released on the smal…
Thembi
Pharoah Sanders recorded the songs that comprise Thembi in the winter of ’70/’71, in between sessions with Alice Coltrane that would eventually become her masterpiece Journey In Satchidananda LP. The same compelling spirituality that embued Coltrane’s masterpiece with a mood of stately calm and grace pervades Thembi. ‘On Thembi, that was the first time that I ever touched a Fender Rhodes electric piano. We got to the studio in California — Cecil McBee had to unpack his bass, the drummer had to …
Terremoto
Tip! To abandon animals for music – and avant-garde jazz at that –, could seeming shocking to some people. However, it is exactly what Manuel Villarroel did, as he was a vet for three years before leaving his native Chili for Europe and a career in music. And though the animals may have suffered, the world of music can be grateful. Born in 1944, Manuel Villarroel lent an ear to the best pianists from North America: Oscar Peterson and Erroll Garner then Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner and Cecil Taylo…
Quetzalcoatl
Tip! Before coming to Europe, in 1970, pianist Manuel Villarroel was a vet in his native Chili. A few years later, as leader of the Machi Oul Big Band, he returned to the animal kingdom. A very specific kind of animal, for sure, the Quetzalcoatl, also known as the Feathered Serpent. What is behind this title (also the name of one of the three original compositions on this album released on the Palm label in 1976), is first and foremost a sort of homecoming…
After discovering the jazz of Herbie H…
Gnu High
A vinyl reissue, in Ecm new audiophile Luminessence series, for Kenny Wheeler’s sensational ECM leader debut. Recorded in New York in 1975, and produced by Manfred Eicher, Gnu High brought Canadian trumpeter Wheeler to a new level of international acclaim, for both his impassioned playing and his profoundly lyrical writing. Here Kenny is fronting an extraordinary quartet, with Keith Jarrett, Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette, all masterful improvisers who had shaped their intuitive collective und…
The New Quartet
As well as being the great vibraphone innovator of the era, Gary Burton is known for his unparalleled intuition as a talent scout. In 1973, The New Quartet introduced Abraham Laboriel: this was the first recording of the bassist who would soon become one of the most in-demand session players across all genres. “It must be emphasised that Laboriel sounds like a major artist in the making with his astonishing bass work,” wrote Melody Maker. Guitarist Mick Goodrick also emerged as a player to watc…
Saudades
Brazilian percussionist Naná Vasconcelos’s Saudades album, recorded in March 1979, was the culmination of a dream for a musician who had long yearned to hear the berimbau in an orchestral context. This ‘concerto’ for an innovative player of a traditional instrument was made possible with the creative input of Egberto Gismonti, here the arranger of the material for strings, as well as co-composer and supporting soloist. The Radio Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart was conducted by Mladen Gutesha (who h…
Old And New Dreams
Hot on the heels of Old Friends, New Friends comes Old And New Dreams, an operation meant as a new flagship for Ornette Coleman, whose lack of enthusiasm for the project left a gap duly filled by Dewey Redman. The result is this delightful excursion into post-bop outlands that sounds as alive as ever. Two Coleman pieces comprise nearly half of its duration—which is saying much, for like many of ECM’s joints of the 70s, this one breezes by in under 50 minutes. The first Coleman piece, “Lonely Wom…
Day By Day
Wicked, soul-jazz album from the mid 70s with touches of 60s pop / psychedelia! First ever reissue of this privately-pressed obscurity.
Nasty Gal
* Metallic Gold Wax * In the 1970s, Betty Davis defied genre and gender by pushing her voice to extremes and embracing the erotic. She articulated a kind of pre–punk, funk–blues fusion that had yet to be normalized in mainstream music — a style that few musicians have come close to replicating. As one of the first Black women to write, arrange, and produce her own albums, Betty was a visionary who disregarded industry boundaries and constraints. Raw, unapologetic, and in full control, Betty pave…