Jazz & Improvisation / Post Bop

Masabumi Kikuchi's quintet recorded live in the studio in March 1973, just before his move to New York: two saxophones over a piano trio, five original compositions. Japanese reissue by Universal Music on vinyl.

Tenor saxophonist Akira Miyazawa's first album, recorded in May 1962 with Masahiko Sato on piano and Sadao Watanabe on alto: a founding record of Japanese modern jazz. King Records reissue on black vinyl, repressed for February 2027.

Drummer George Otsuka's third album for Three Blind Mice, recorded in February 1976 with Fumio Karashima on electric piano and synthesizer and Shozo Sasaki on saxophones, closing on Coltrane's Naima. Official reissue on 180g vinyl.

Bassist Isao Suzuki and tenor saxophonist Akira Miyazawa together in 1981, with Motohiko Hino on drums: Suzuki's first digitally recorded album, long a hidden gem of Japanese jazz. First vinyl reissue, newly cut from the original master tapes.

Wewantsounds continues its reissue program of Bob Shad's cult jazz label, Mainstream Records, with Hadley Caliman's superb 1972 album, Iapetus. Recorded in LA and featuring a heavyweight lineup of West Coast players including Todd Cochran, Woody “Sonship” Theus, Luis Gasca, and Victor Pantoja, the majority of the album was composed by Todd Cochran (aka Bayeté) soon after he had composed Bobby Hutcherson's Blue Note classic, Head On. A true hidden treasure, it is reissued here on vinyl for the fi…

Studio album by Miles Davis with Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams, with Chick Corea and Dave Holland on the September session, recorded in New York in 1968 and produced by Teo Macero.

Charles Mingus's first Columbia album, recorded on 5 and 12 May 1959 at the 30th Street Studio, New York, with John Handy, Booker Ervin, Shafi Hadi, Jimmy Knepper, Willie Dennis, Horace Parlan and Dannie Richmond; produced by Teo Macero.

The 1976 Epic debut of bassist Jaco Pastorius, produced by Bobby Colomby and recorded in New York, with Herbie Hancock, Don Alias, Lenny White, Wayne Shorter, Hubert Laws, Sam & Dave and strings conducted by Michael Gibbs.

Herbie Hancock's 1971 Warner Bros. album with the Mwandishi sextet (Buster Williams, Billy Hart, Eddie Henderson, Bennie Maupin, Julian Priester), recorded at Wally Heider Studios, San Francisco, and produced by David Rubinson.

Studio album by the Miles Davis quintet with Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams, recorded at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York in June and July 1967 and first issued in 1968.

Freddie Hubbard's first CTI album, recorded at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, on 27-29 January 1970 with Joe Henderson, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Lenny White, produced by Creed Taylor.

McCoy Tyner septet with Andrew White, Ted Dunbar, Buster Williams, Billy Hart, Mtume and vocalist Songai Sandra Smith, recorded on 10 September 1970 for Blue Note and first released in 1974. Tone Poet 180g LP.

Wayne Shorter quartet with Herbie Hancock, Cecil McBee and Joe Chambers, recorded on 14 June 1965 for Blue Note and first released in 1980. Japanese UHQCD, UCCQ-9742 (2024).

Wayne Shorter quartet with Herbie Hancock, Reggie Workman and Joe Chambers, recorded on 3 and 24 February 1966 for Blue Note and first released in 1967. Japanese UHQCD, UCCQ-9645 (2024).

Jackie McLean quintet sessions for Blue Note: five tracks recorded on 11 February 1963 with Donald Byrd, Herbie Hancock, Butch Warren and Tony Williams, one from 2 May 1959. First issued in 1980. Tone Poet 180g LP.

Jackie McLean's One Step Beyond, a quintet session with Grachan Moncur III, Bobby Hutcherson, Eddie Khan and Tony Williams, recorded on April 30, 1963 at Van Gelder Studio and first released by Blue Note in 1964.

Elvin Jones' first Blue Note album as a leader, a piano-less trio with Joe Farrell and Jimmy Garrison recorded on April 8, 1968 at Van Gelder Studio, produced by Duke Pearson and first released in 1968.

Bobby Hutcherson's Medina, recorded on August 11, 1969 at Van Gelder Studio with Harold Land, Stanley Cowell, Reggie Johnson and Joe Chambers, unissued until Blue Note released it in 1980 in the LT series (LT-1086).

Andrew Hill's Judgment!, a quartet session recorded on January 8, 1964 at Van Gelder Studio with Bobby Hutcherson, Richard Davis and Elvin Jones, produced by Alfred Lion and first released by Blue Note in 1964.

Larry Young's last Blue Note session, five originals recorded at Van Gelder Studio on 7 February 1969 with Lee Morgan, Herbert Morgan and Eddie Gladden, first released in 1980 (LT-1038). Tone Poet reissue, 2026.

Japanese UHQCD reissue (UCCQ-9640, 2024) of McCoy Tyner's 1969 Blue Note album, a hornless quartet with Bobby Hutcherson, Herbie Lewis and Freddie Waits recorded at Van Gelder Studio on 17 May 1968.

Tyrone Washington's only Blue Note album as leader, six originals recorded at Van Gelder Studio on 29 December 1967 with Woody Shaw, James Spaulding, Kenny Barron, Reggie Workman and Joe Chambers. Tone Poet reissue, 2026.

Wewantsounds is delighted to announce the release of BAG's first album since 1973, "For Peace and Liberty", recorded in Paris in Dec. 1972 when the musicians had recently arrived from St Louis. BAG only released one album during their existence. This long-lost performance, recorded at Maison de l'ORTF in optimal conditions just a few months previously, was thought lost until recently unearthed from the vaults of INA (Institut National de l'Audiovisuel). Here the group unleashes an incandescent 3…

2025 stock If you went looking for a poster-child for Chicago's multidirectional, cross- pollinating, interstylistic music scene, you couldn't find a better one than Jeff Parker. Parker: jazz guitarist with pro credentials, widely travelled and prized by top soul-jazzers and hard-boppers. Parker: inveterate rocker who revitalized Tortoise with his ferocious improvising and tasty licks. Parker: experimentalist willing to try new dub, hip- hop, electronic, collage, free, chamber - anything worthwh…

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…

Six-CD box of Paul Motian's first six ECM albums as leader, recorded 1972-1984 in New York and Ludwigsburg, with Keith Jarrett, Charlie Haden, Charles Brackeen, Bill Frisell, Joe Lovano and others. Old & New Masters series, 2013, notes by Ethan Iverson.

On Daguri, Kosuke Mine Quintet channel early‑70s Coltrane fire into a distinctly Japanese voice, fusing spiritual intensity, modal lyricism and subtle exotic color into a taut, forward‑rushing statement that stands among Mine’s finest recordings.

Go On with the George Otsuka 5 was recorded in 1972 in Japan for the Three Blind Mice label. The album features a quintet led by drummer George Otsuka, a major figure in Japanese jazz in the 1960s and 1970s. The repertoire includes original compositions as well as contemporary hard bop standards.

Moon Ray was recorded on 21 and 22 April 1977 in Japan for the Three Blind Mice label. The album features the quartet led by alto saxophonist Yoshio Otomo, accompanied by Tsuyoshi Yamamoto (piano), Tamiko Kawabata (double bass) and Arihide Kurata (drums). The programme consists of standards from the American jazz repertoire as well as an original composition by Otomo. The production is part of the TBM label's series of acoustic recordings.

Absolute killer session recorded at Vanguard Studios, New York, September 24 and 28 in 1984, with an intense line-up of some of our all-time-fav players of free music, including of tenor-saxophonist Frank Lowe, trumpeter Don Cherry, trombonnist Grachan Moncur III, pianist Geri Allen, bassist Charnette Moffett, and drummer Charles Moffett, ensures that this music is worth going for. Phrasing is super articulated and the whole vibe is just contagious. Outstanding interaction. The tandem communicat…

Recorded and released in 1969, Herbie Hancock’s last Blue Note album The Prisoner is a powerful but overlooked masterpiece. A moving tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, this nonet session features some of the most exceptional instrumentalists in jazz including Joe Henderson, Johnny Coles, Hubert Laws, Garnett Brown, Buster Williams, and Albert “Tootie” Heath. Hancock said of The Prisoner: “I've been able to get closer to the real me with this album than on any other previous one.” Blue Note Tone …

September 1961. Eric Dolphy - already a legend in the making, having revolutionized the alto saxophone, bass clarinet, and flute with his radical approach to tone, interval, and phrasing - arrives in Sweden for his first tour as leader. What happened in Uppsala that night became one of those whispered-about concerts that collectors chased for decades, a performance that existed more as rumor than documentation. Until now. The Uppsala Concert captures Dolphy at a crucial moment - post-Charles Min…

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…

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…

Limited edition CD & download album produced from a previously vinyl-only release, so available digitally here for the first time, with added live recordings from the same band. The album marks the first collaboration between Jazz In Britain and ReSteamed Records and is dedicated to Stan Tracey to mark the 100th anniversary of his birth. Thelonius Monk died on 17 February 1982. In early April, Stan Tracey recorded a tribute album to Monk, with a group he called Spectrum. This idea was dreamt up …

**Limited Clear Vinyl edition, 300 copies** Recorded live in Bremen - Germany, on 27th September 1966, and originally broadcasted on Nordwestradio, this fine recording captures the young genius of Paul Bley at the head of his trio featuring bassist Mark Levinson and drummer Barry Altschul. A highly interactive piano trio whose peculiar instrumental interplay became a model for generations to come. The music played by Paul Bley with this line up stands as one of the most advanced statements among…

Experience a remarkable session led by the legendary pianist and composer Tadd Dameron, recorded in 1956 and featuring the young lion John Coltrane, fresh from his tenure with Miles Davis. Mating Call is a solid and often overlooked gem showcasing six powerful and beautiful Dameron compositions. Performed by an impeccably tight quartet, the album features John Simmons on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums, complementing Dameron’s distinctive bass-heavy piano style. This foundation offers a rich …

Under the driving force of drummer extraordinaire Beaver Harris, the 360-Degree Music Experience was one of the great ensembles of the late 70's / early 80's. A stellar collective playing music deep in the African-American Jazz tradition. A bunch of heavyweights like Grachan Moncur III on trombone, Ken McIntyre on alto sax and bassoon, Rahn Burton on piano, and Cameron Brown on bass.  First released in 1979 and reissued here for the first time on vinyl, "Beautiful Africa" stands as a fierce stat…

Charlie Mingus’s 1956 Jazz Composers Workshop showcases his visionary blend of hard bop, classical, gospel, and avant-garde. The album captures Mingus’s restless innovation—by turns explosive, tender, and genre-defying.

*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…