Jazz /
An Evening With The Devil
2023 repress. "The Tribe co-founder's debut, remixed from the original mutli-track master tapes under the direction of its creator and lacquered by Bernie Grundman. Now-Again presents the defi¬nitive Tribe Records reissues. Deep, spiritual jazz of the highest order. The Tribe label, one of the brightest lights of America's 1970s jazz underground, receives the Now-Again reissue treatment. This is your chance to indulge in the music and story of one of the most meaningful, local movements of the 2…
A Spirit Speaks
** Limited edition LP with an iconic Japanese obi strip attached ** One of the most unique albums on the Strata East label – and that's saying a heck of a lot, given the creative energies flowing through that legendary jazz outlet! Descendents Of Mike & Phoebe is a righteous little project put together by Spike Lee's father, Bill Lee, and his brothers and sisters (Cliff Lee, Grace Lee Mims, and Consuela Lee Moorhead) – working here in a group named after their slave ancestors, who are paid tribu…
Earth Passage - Density
Super Tip! An outstanding yet obscure 1981 release by two Art Ensemble of Chicago members, multi reeds player Joseph Jarman and drummer Don Moye along with legendary bassist Rafael Garret (mostly remembered for his presence on John Coltrane's masterpiece "Kulu se Mama") and young lion Craig Harris on trombone. Four great individuals digging deep between ancient African rituals and modern urban multidimensional grooves. A tribal ecstatic sound based on a multitude of instruments: reeds, bamboo fl…
Full Force
The previous Art Ensemble of Chicago ECM album Nice Guys vaulted them to the top of improvised music groups in the U.S. and worldwide, paving the way for similar bands to be more accepted into the mainstream of modern music. Where "Full Force" generally lives up to the title, there's also a palpable diverse approach, producing more than enough potent music brimming from the sinews of these brilliant musicians to uphold their burgeoning cache. The crown jewel of this effort is "Charlie M," a blue…
Shadowgraph, 5 (Sextet)
This album, originally released in 1978, was re-mastered and repackaged in Digifile cardboard format. It includes the original full-color booklet. "Shadowgraph and the duos with Douglas Ewart are characteristic of the free abstract jazz that emerged out of AACM's explorations in the '60s and early '70s. Listening to them, one is aware how little this music has been assimilated into the mainstream of either jazz or improvisation."
Jila - Save ! Mon. - The Imaginary Suite
**CD Edition** A post-free masterwork, recorded in Milan in 1978. This is an extraordinary encounter between George Lewis's electronically modified trombone and the flute, alto sax and bass clarinet played by Douglas Ewart, a giant of impro jazz, often at Lewis's side. Both George Lewis and Douglas Ewart create arresting, complex music here, in ways that powerfully contrast and powerfully pull together. The two are prodigious musicians, their understanding is perfect and you can only admire the …
Conversations
** 2021 Repress ** If Conversations celebrates the memory, the artistic and spiritual heritage of bassist Fred Hopkins -- a historical member of the revolutionary Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians of Chicago -- who died in January 1999, it also marks the amazing collaboration between the Ritual Trio of Kahil El'Zabar (with Ari Brown and Malachi Favors) and the intrepid veteran Archie Shepp, the great voice of the '70s Afro-free-jazz. Being a tribute that invites to an intimat…
Nothing but the Music
The sounds of late '70s and '80s east coast avant-garde jazz, soul, and punk rock are well documented, but in Nothing but the Music Thulani Davis gives us something beyond, delivering a collection of synesthetic, transportive documentary poems that breathe anecdotal and impressionistic life into a sonic-social history about which most can only speculate. Davis' verse takes free flight with its muses, scatting and leaping off the page and the shoulders of the musicians, nightclubs, and choreograp…
Hommage To Africa
*2019 repress. 2022 stock* Third volume in the BYG Actuel series; gatefold sleeve, 180 gram vinyl. "After three years as a member of Albert Ayler's band (1964-1967), avant-garde jazz drummer Sunny Murray traveled to France where he recorded for Affinity and BYG. The amazing Homage to Africa was recorded on August 15, 1969 for BYG and features Archie Shepp, Alan Silva, Grachan Moncur III, Lester Bowie, Clifford Thornton, Roscoe Mitchell, Kenneth Terroade and Jeanne Lee.
"One of the more spiritual…
Peace and Blessings
** Original 1979 vinyl edition of the album. Few copies available. Sealed copies ** A fantastic album recorded in Italy, but with all the soulful roots of Kalaparusha's earlier years with the AACM – an incredible balance of tone and timing, handled by a quartet - this obscure set features passionate blowing by Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre (heard on tenor, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet and percussion) along with the little-known Longineu Parson on trumpet, flugelhorn, flute, sopranino and record…
The Sea Of Modicum
Killer! This is an excellent free jazz album featuring Andrew Lamb (a.k.a The Black Lamb) on tenor saxophone, Warren Smith and Arkadijus Gotesmanas on percussion, and the album was recorded live in of October 2016 at the Vilnius Jazz Festival. The rhythmic foundations that the percussionists develop make for a fascinating foundation for Lamb's strong and strident saxophone tone. Lamb studied with the AACM before moving to New York City, and embarking on a successful career in the music and arts …