Jazz /
The Forest and the Zoo
** 2021 Stock ** "In 1966, the late Steve Lacy visited the new ESP-DISK office at 156 Fifth Avenue with a master tape of his concert in Buenos Aires with his quartet... He offered to sell the master for what I thought was an exorbitant price. I bought it. ... In 1992, the master tape was brought to engineer Ken Robertson at the Sony Studio, who observed that it had been recorded out of phase, and he corrected the phasing." - Bernard Stollman
"Soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy's impressive career wa…
On Tour
** 2021 Stock ** First-ever American CD edition of this lost classic, recorded "live" during ESP's 1966 New York State College Tour. The "piano harp" credit is Burton Greene's way of noting that he plays inside the piano, directly on the strings – the first jazz pianist to do so on record, taking a page from avant-gardist Henry Cowell's book. In his notes to the original LP, included complete in this reissue, Greene writes, "The tour found people largely unexposed to this music. They were often …
Trio
Lowell Davidson recorded this singular session on July 27th, 1965 with Gary Peacock and the ever amazing Milford Graves. Sadly, the only recording ever released by Davidson, it remains fresh and exciting 40 plus years later. On Ornette Coleman’s recommendation, ESP-Disk’ owner Bernard Stollman signed up pianist Lowell Davidson (then majoring in biochemistry at Harvard) for this album without having heard him play. Davidson came to New York and got to work with the elite rhythm section of drummer…
Beauty / Resistance
Not Two Records presents Beauty / Resistance by Joelle Leandre. Recorded live at the Krakow Jazz Autumn Festival 2019, in Club Alchemia, in Krakow, Poland, Fall, 2019, by Rafal Drewniany. Joelle Leandre, bass. Zlatko Kaucic, drums, percussion. Mateusz Rybicki, clarinets. Zbigniew Kozera, bass. Rafa Mazur, acoustic, bass guitar.
Welcomet - Live In Brazil, 1986
At the behest of Elton Dean's widow, Ogun was (in 2017) delighted to release this live recording of the Elton Dean Quintet from their Brazilian tour of 1986. The first track, the epic 43 minute "Welcomet" had originally been put out on LP by Impetus but was long deleted. The CD reissue included a second track "Rio Rules" which comes in at a mere just-shy-of 34 minutes.
Rebel Flames
Founders Pino Minafra and Roberto Ottaviano remain at the core of Canto General but since the 1990s there have been many meetings and collaborations. Here they link up with the great South African drummer Louis Moholo-Moholo, recorded live at Tivoli, Italy (with track 8 from a festival in Perpignan, France) in 2007.
For the Blue Notes
Ogun presents For the Blue Notes, Louis Moholo-Moholo's 8-piece Unit recorded live at the Theatre Manzoni in Milan, Italy, on 4 March 2012.
Keep Your Heart Straight
It was May 2009 when I first heard Alexander Hawkins play at the Vortex Jazz Club, with the Anthony Braxton s cornet-playing protégé Taylor Ho Bynum, bassist Dominic Lash and drummer Harris Eisenstadt in the Convergence Quartet. The music was an idiomatic white-knuckle ride, and all the players were variously fascinating but the then 28 year-old Hawkins was a revelation, for the audacity of his ideas, the depth of his understanding of both thematic and free-form musics, and for his Cecil Taylor-…
Before the Wind Changes
Ogun presents Before the Wind Changes, the quartet of Chris McGregor, Dudu Pukwana, Johnny Dyani and Louis Moholo-Moholo recorded live at Jazzclub De Hoop, Waregem, Belgium on 1st July 1979.
Split
** Limited numbered 7-inch w/plastic bag & picture sleeve in different colours ** The jazz single is a weird bird. The history of the forma lies in commercial functions such as juke boxes and radio promotion tools, the attempts to deliver those few minute emotional bursts between our air waves of attention. So unfitting was the format back in its hay days of the 1960’s that many jazz workouts were deemed to be split in half to those dreaded pt. 1’s and 2’s, fading out the fun just when cooking g…
From Granite to Wind
Ogun presents From Granite to Wind by Keith Tippett Octet. A 2011 CD release (currently out of print) on the Ogun label, recorded by the Octet at the Real World Studios on 30/31 January of that year. "Keith Tippett has been one of the UK's most inventive solo improvisers and composers since the 1970s, and this continuous-performance suite is a fine representation of those skills. It's a framework for the impressionistic poetry of his vocalist wife Julie Tippett, and the sax-playing of four fine …
Spiritual Knowledge and Grace
Ogun presents Spiritual Knowledge and Grace. Transport hassles threatened to spoil the opening night of the Blue Notes 1979 Dutch tour, as Chris McGregor was delayed in reaching Eindhoven. Frank Wright was in town however and accepted Louis's invited to join him, Dudu and Johnny for a blow. And, blessed be, the gig was taped... Louis Moholo-Moholo - drums, voice. Dudu Pukwana - alto sax, piano, whistle, voice. Johnny Dyani - bass, piano, voice. Rev. Frank Wright - tenor sax, bass, voice.
Live at the Purcell Room
Ogun presents Live at the Purcell Room by Keith Tippett & Julie Tippett. Released on CD in 2010 but currently out of print, this album sees the Couple in Spirit caught live in concert at the Purcell Room in London's South Bank Centre on 14th November 2008, as part of the London Jazz Festival. The recording was originally broadcast on BBC Radio 3's 'Jazz on 3' programme. Released on CD in 2010 but currently out of print, this album sees the Couple in Spirit caught live in concert at the Purcell R…
An Open Letter to my Wife Mpumi
Ogun presents An Open Letter to my Wife Mpumi by Louis Moholo-Moholo Unit. Louis Moholo-Moholo - drums and vocals. Jason Yarde - soprano, alto & baritone saxophones. Ntshuks Bonga - alto & tenor saxophones. Pule Pheto - piano. Orphy Robinson - vibraphone. John Edwards - bass. Francine Luce - vocals. Recorded in London, Nov 2008. "It's a ragged and jam-like studio set with a raucous live feel - but it confirms Moholo-Moholo's presence on the scene as a blast of fresh air." - The Guardian
Viva la Black - Live at Ruvo
For its appearance at the 2004 edition of the Ruvo Festival, Canto General founder and festival director Pino Minafra invited Keith Tippett, Tippetts and Louis Moholo-Moholo to guest with the orchestra and the Faraualla singers. With a repertoire drawn from Mongezi Feza, Dudu Pukwana, Harry Miller and some Keith Tippett originals, the musicians paid tribute to those who had sought to bring forth light and sound through jazz from beneath the desperate dark shadow of apartheid.
Khumbula (Remember)
A duo recording from October 2004, produced by Evan Parker, which marked the first time that Louis Moholo-Moholo and Stan Tracey had worked together for thirty years and the first time ever as a duo. The pair entered Gateway Studios in Kingston, London with no prior discussion on what form the music should take, choosing instead to let the music take them. This glorious album is the result.
Mpumi
An album of piano / drums duets that Louis named for his beloved, and now tragically departed, wife Mpumi. The recordings took place in London in September, 1995, though the album was not actually released until 2002.
"Louis Moholo-Moholo, Son of the soil, has embarked on this musical journey with two of South Afrika's treasures - pianists Mervyn Africa and Pule Pheto. The third Pianist being his old favourite and friend, Keith Tippett. Louis's vibrant, warm and marvellous sounds celebrate the m…
Bò Kay La Vi-a
Ogun presents Bò Kay La Vi-a by Francine Luce. One of the lesser-known gems in the Ogun catalogue - check the the list of participating musicians to start with! Francine, originally from Martinique but a long-time resident of the UK, has contributed her unique vocals to Louis Moholo-Moholo's Unit and Septet, and to the Dedication Orchestra, but this her debut album from 1999 remains her only recorded output under her name on Ogun.
Bush Fire
Ogun presents Bush Fire by Louis Moholo, Evan Parker, Pule Pheto, Gibo Pheto, Barry Guy Quintet. Recorded at Gateway Studio, London in July, 1995 and released in 1997. "Musicians who refuse to follow passing fashions represent a vital rejuvenating force on any music scene, and perhaps especially today in a jazz world dominated by nostalgia and revisits to the past. The influence of South African musicians on the British jazz scene has been a crucial inspiration to that kind of independence. Loui…
Different Times Vol 2
A second volume of valuable documents from the Ogun archives by label co-founder Harry Miller. the tracks come from three sessions spanning 1977-1982. All feature Harry on bass with Louis Moholo-Moholo behind the drum kit and Trevor Watts on sax, other musicians included are Alan Wakeman (sax), Bernie Holland (guitar), Keith Tippett (piano), Alan Tomlinson (trombone), Dave Holdsworth (trumpet). This joyful music, at times rough around the edges but full of life and spirit, conviction and enthusi…