Jazz /
Kwanza
These 1969 recordings (released 5 years later) combine Archie Shepp’s free jazz bonafides and a blend of blues and funk through an African lens, all in a big band setting. The all-star brass section, featuring James Spaulding and Charles Davis on sax along with trombonist Graham Moncur III lead the way on stand outs including “New Africa” and “Spoo Pee Doo.” This Verve By Request LP features transfers from analog tapes and remastered on 180-gram vinyl, pressed at Third Man in Detroit.
Time & Condition
** The first cassette edition of this album to exist in the universe, ltd to 100 copies in white **Malik King was an important part of the St Louis jazz scene of the 70's & 80's. He studied under Albert Ayler in NY in the early 70s before returning to the Midwest. He was a member of the Shirley Le Flore's ensemble "Free N' Concert". He also served as musical director of The Creative Arts & Expression Lab, The African Peoples Continuum, & The Black Arts Alliance, The worrier poets, The Human Arts…
Conspiracy
** 100 copies limited edition cassette with j-card (with ltd edition poster by Shabaka Hutchins) ** Jeanne Lee (1939-2000) was an African-American vocalist, poet, composer, improvisor, activist and educator. In her 40 year career she performed with Archie Shep, Marion Brown, Gunter Hampel, Frank Lowe, William Parker, Andrew Cyrille, Anthony Braxton, Ran Blake, Billy Bang, Cecil Taylor, John Cage, Rashsaan Roland Kirk, Pauline Oliveros, Reggie Workman, and many others.
"Jazz is a music that comb…
Handscapes (2LP)
This album is definitely a one-of a kind unique release on Strata East - out of print for nearly 50 years and unbelievably hard to find. Do not miss out if you want one as Strata East always sell out! Big Double 180gm vinyl plus gatefold sleeve - quality package!
Blues Para Un Cosmonauta
Fans of Coltrane will certainly dig this historical 1970s spiritual jazz album from Argentina which left an everlasting imprint in the local jazz scene. From the eerie “Blues para un cosmonauta” —which could easily fit in the Twin Peaks soundtrack—, to the majestic “Líneas Torcidas” or the mid-tempo groove of “Mi amigo Tarzán”, new landscapes in jazz are explored without hiding, at moments, the musicians’ bebop pedigree. Venturing into uncharted dimensions, the album breaks with traditionalism a…
Tribute To Obabi (Ogun) / E Pluribus Unum
Edited exclusively for Dynamite Cuts, this 1972 African rhythm takes you to a time of human percussion, and energy, of another time. The entrancing, hypnotic saxophone and extraordinary vocals fill your ears like liquid gold. Sensational.
The Last Poets are a group of poets and musicians, rising from the late 1960s African American civil rights movement. Jalaludin M. Nuriddin, an Army paratrooper who chose to go to jail instead of fight in the Vietnam War, founded the group in prison after conve…
Mr. Clean
Back in the 80s I became a big funky jazzy and soulful vinyl collector. Which opened the world of the late great Mr. Weldon Johnathan Irvine music, I managed to collect all of his LPs and singles back in the day. All have a place in my heart, back in the 90s I was also lucky enough to meet him. Licensing & Compiling for a small label called Hubbub records. Mr. Irvine was such a calm and gently person who just oozed music. He sadly passed away in 2002, which was a shock. But now years later It is…
The Gow-Dow Experience
"Following my recent phone call with Prof. Benson, I left him to continue his 92nd birthday celebrations with his family. We’d talked about his life, his music, his achievements. Throughout our conversation it struck me what a kind, humble and pleasant man he was. I felt that I was in the presence of greatness – not the egotistical greatness that emanates so often from high achievers, but that of someone who had simply won at life.“I was a music teacher. I wasn’t trying to make a record to compe…
Jewels of Thought
The compositional minimalism of Jewels of Thought is a major thread through Sanders albums of this period, setting up a sparse canvas for colorful tenor saxophone meditations. In one instance Sanders' playing may be soft, beckoning and glad, while elsewhere his saxophone becomes a crazed, outraged beast unleashing its fury on the world. Regardless of which way these compositions lead, listeners are made to feel more like sonic travelers than mere consumers.
As-Shams Archive Vol. 1 - South Africa Jazz, Funk & Soul 1975-1982
As-Shams Archive Vol. 1 introduces the core catalogue of As-Shams/The Sun, the independent record label that documented some of the most exciting developments in jazz, funk and soul from South Africa in the 1970s. With 10 tracks from 10 iconic albums featuring 10 different artists and 10 original compositions, this compilation delivers 85 minutes of South African music history.Including essential tracks by the likes of Dick Khoza, Black Disco and Harari, remastered from the original analog tap…
Early-Mart
Gideon Nxumalo was a key figure during the formative years of South African jazz in the 1950s and 60s, helping shape a modern African jazz sound as a composer, arranger and pianist and contributing to the scene as a music teacher and radio presenter. His recorded output as solo artist/bandleader is comprised of a trilogy of iconic albums from Jazz Fantasia (1962) to Gideon Plays (1968) to Early-Mart (1970).Early-Mart was Gideon Nxumalo's tribute to friend and musical compatriot, drummer Early Ma…
Requiem for Jazz
Composer, clarinetist, singer and educator Angel Bat Dawid announces the release of a new work, Requiem For Jazz. A 12-movement suite composed, arranged, and inspired in part by dialogue from Edward O. Bland’s 1959 film The Cry of Jazz, the album is a wide-ranging treatise on the African American story from one of its most astute narrators.
Itself an incisive critique of racial politics in the USA, The Cry of Jazz draws formal comparisons between the structure of jazz music and the African Ameri…
Maulawi
Considered to be one of two Holy Grails on Strata Records, Maulawi Nururdin, 180 Proof presents a stellar reissue featuring a previously unheard instrumental version of ‘Street Rap’. This 180 Gram vinyl album has been remastered from the original reel to reel master tapes and is presented with an alternate cover artwork done by Ge-ology and Mr. Krum
Carvings
The William Penn Jazz Ensemble was formed by American composer and flutist Leslie Burrs. Throughout the 1970s, Leslie performed with several major jazz and funk artists, including Grover Washington Jr., Kool & The Gang, and most notably, with Del Jones for the now cult album Positive Vibes.
Carvings, recorded in 1982, holds a special place in Leslie's career. This album showcases Leslie's musical versatility and features clear influences of both jazz and classical music. The Ensemble's uncommon …
Yeahno Yowouw Land
Sing a song fighter is proud to release this amazing debut album hand in hand with our Italian label friends Black Sweat Records: Spiritual Jazz paths always open up unexplored dimensions, this is the clear impression revealed by this superb and ambitious first double album by Lina Langendorf and her new band. The Swedish saxophonist (OK Star Orchestra, James Yorkston, Nina Persson & The Second Hand Orchestra) seems to be blowing in the lesson of the great sacred monsters of the instrument such …
Live...
Tip! "This album features Pharoah Sanders playing some no-nonsense tenor in a quartet with pianist John Hicks, bassist Walter Booker, and drummer Idris Muhammad. Sanders performs "It's Easy to Remember" (in a style very reminiscent of early-'60s John Coltrane), an original blues, and two of his compositions, including the passionate "You've Got to Have Freedom." The musicianship is at a high level and, although Sanders does not shriek as much as one might hope (the Trane-ish influence was partic…
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…
Pupa o Crisalide
First time Officially reissue. Sourced from the original master tapes and housed in a deluxe gatefold cover. A body of evocative recordings included in Pupa O Crisalide with three different line-ups for this fantastic album by Enrico Rava which, thanks to Dialogo Records, finally sees the light for jazz lovers. Enrico Rava was the first Italian jazz artist to represent the country internationally, born in Trieste in 1939. A border city with a long history as part of Austria, an important port on…
I Know About The Life
*Great spiritual jazz album. Blue Vinyl* Much-needed reissue on vinyl for this classic Jazz album originally recorded in September 1975 at A & R Recording Studios in New York and released in 1977 on Baystate Japan. Charles Greenlee worked extensively throughout his career with Archie Shepp who also participated in the sessions for John Coltrane's A Love Supreme in late 1964. Late in the 1940s he converted to Islam, changing his name to Harneefan Majeed; he continued to use Charles Greenlee for p…
Lalibela
Tip! The debut album by The Pyramids was inspired by the group's visit to the Lalibela monastery in Egypt, and was recorded in Yellow Springs Ohio in early 1973. Drawing on the teachings of Cecil Taylor and the influence of John Coltrane, combined with a barrage of intense percussion, the album evolves over several long-form pieces.