Search Result for Genre JAZZ
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SDBANU 040CD
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$15.50
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RELEASE DATE: 1/31/2025
With their new album, Black Flower delves into the transformative power of rhythm and motion. Each groove, rhythm and pulse channels raw energy, acting as a disruptor that drives transformation. When the mind feels stuck -- cemented in patterns, rigid in its views, overwhelmed by obstacles -- Kinetic serves as a reminder that the body's motion can be the force to shatter those confines. To move is to adapt, evolve, and transform. The album embodies a philosophy of flowing with change rather than resisting it, offering a bold, dynamic statement on breaking free from life's limitations. Kinetic is a call to dance through life's chaos and to harness the power of movement as a tool for liberation. The album showcases Black Flower's signature blend of Ethio-jazz, oriental influences, dub, and afrobeat. The jazz combo, hailed by tastemakers such as Gilles Peterson, The Gaslamp Killer, and Lefto Early Bird, has performed live sessions on BBC Radio 3 and Worldwide FM. Their previous albums earned widespread acclaim, with glowing reviews from prestigious publications such as MOJO, Stereogum, Q Magazine, and Uncut Magazine. The band has toured extensively across Europe, building a strong fanbase. Featuring Meskerem Mees.
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SDBANU 040LP
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$28.00
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RELEASE DATE: 1/31/2025
LP version. With their new album, Black Flower delves into the transformative power of rhythm and motion. Each groove, rhythm and pulse channels raw energy, acting as a disruptor that drives transformation. When the mind feels stuck -- cemented in patterns, rigid in its views, overwhelmed by obstacles -- Kinetic serves as a reminder that the body's motion can be the force to shatter those confines. To move is to adapt, evolve, and transform. The album embodies a philosophy of flowing with change rather than resisting it, offering a bold, dynamic statement on breaking free from life's limitations. Kinetic is a call to dance through life's chaos and to harness the power of movement as a tool for liberation. The album showcases Black Flower's signature blend of Ethio-jazz, oriental influences, dub, and afrobeat. The jazz combo, hailed by tastemakers such as Gilles Peterson, The Gaslamp Killer, and Lefto Early Bird, has performed live sessions on BBC Radio 3 and Worldwide FM. Their previous albums earned widespread acclaim, with glowing reviews from prestigious publications such as MOJO, Stereogum, Q Magazine, and Uncut Magazine. The band has toured extensively across Europe, building a strong fanbase. Featuring Meskerem Mees.
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WJCD 079CD
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$16.00
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RELEASE DATE: 1/24/2025
Unionen is a new quartet of four star-level Norwegian and Swedish jazz musicians. The group takes its name from the United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway under a common monarch 1814-1905 and brings together Ståle Størlokken (Supersilent), Per "Texas" Johansson, Petter Eldh (Koma Saxo), and Gard Nilssen (Supersonic Orchestra). It's not hip to say "supergroup" but this sure is one super of a group, with each member contributing to the band sound that is unique in all the best possible ways. From misty introspection to proper rock-out-hardjazz, Unionen is set out to blaze their own trail. Tracks such as opener "Ståhlbad" draw you in with their subtle intensity, while the "rock cut" on the album, "6983" brings forth energy that sounds very much "live". Whatever Unionen do, you can feel they've been around the block a time or too, and are not just opting for easy licks to wow the listener. This is deep music that is set to stand the test of time in its originality. Early live shows of Unionen have been triumphant, with UK's Jazzwise calling them a "highlight scoop" at the Cologne Jazzweek. The album consists of eight originals, each of which defies clear classification. The compositions, including writing credits by all four members in a true fashion of the "unionen", display a genuine musical storytelling desire, matched by the ability to build a narrative that holds the listener close. On the instrumentation side of things, you hear classics like grand piano, fender Rhodes, double bass and drums, but also jazz rarities like Cor Anglais, contrabass clarinet and MPC. It's all part of a coherent sound image so you'll likely not think of how stuff was made but how it makes you feel. Unionen's music is highly emotive, more autumn than summer, more misty than sunny, more evening than midday, and first and foremost more unified than separated. No need for a monarch here, this is true democracy in the form of a jazz quartet. RIYL: Supersilent, Fire!, Scandinavian jazz, the darker side of vintage ECM.
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WJLP 079LP
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$28.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 1/24/2025
LP version. Unionen is a new quartet of four star-level Norwegian and Swedish jazz musicians. The group takes its name from the United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway under a common monarch 1814-1905 and brings together Ståle Størlokken (Supersilent), Per "Texas" Johansson, Petter Eldh (Koma Saxo), and Gard Nilssen (Supersonic Orchestra). It's not hip to say "supergroup" but this sure is one super of a group, with each member contributing to the band sound that is unique in all the best possible ways. From misty introspection to proper rock-out-hardjazz, Unionen is set out to blaze their own trail. Tracks such as opener "Ståhlbad" draw you in with their subtle intensity, while the "rock cut" on the album, "6983" brings forth energy that sounds very much "live". Whatever Unionen do, you can feel they've been around the block a time or too, and are not just opting for easy licks to wow the listener. This is deep music that is set to stand the test of time in its originality. Early live shows of Unionen have been triumphant, with UK's Jazzwise calling them a "highlight scoop" at the Cologne Jazzweek. The album consists of eight originals, each of which defies clear classification. The compositions, including writing credits by all four members in a true fashion of the "unionen", display a genuine musical storytelling desire, matched by the ability to build a narrative that holds the listener close. On the instrumentation side of things, you hear classics like grand piano, fender Rhodes, double bass and drums, but also jazz rarities like Cor Anglais, contrabass clarinet and MPC. It's all part of a coherent sound image so you'll likely not think of how stuff was made but how it makes you feel. Unionen's music is highly emotive, more autumn than summer, more misty than sunny, more evening than midday, and first and foremost more unified than separated. No need for a monarch here, this is true democracy in the form of a jazz quartet. RIYL: Supersilent, Fire!, Scandinavian jazz, the darker side of vintage ECM.
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CPT 646LP
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$24.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 1/17/2025
Captivating, hypnotic, and highly energetic! Prepared -- a free-spirited Munich-based trio in a chamber music line-up that instinctively awakens dance impulses and guides the listener into a trance-like sound space. A pianist who hammers, taps and plucks incessantly on the grand piano. A clarinetist who plays more bass than clarinet in the depths of his bass clarinet. And a drummer who, like a good record, goes on and on, constantly spinning the grooves in circles. Three Munich jazz musicians, united in their contrasts. Where one plays Argentinian tango with Quadro Nuevo, the other plays "folklore-free folk music" with Dreiviertelblut and the third plays German hip-hop with Moop Mama, in their new project Prepared they merge cyclical motifs and cleverly layered patterns in minimalist yet highly virtuoso compositions creating a mesmerizing Gesamtkunstwerk. It's as if Steve Reich, Jonny Greenwood, Nik Bärtsch, and Dawn of Midi had been thrown into a pot. For a "state-of-the-art" immersive music production, the music was tracked "live" in one room without any overdubs. This album has been recorded using high-class 3D recording and miking techniques for Dolby Atmos and was mixed and mastered by highly acclaimed sound engineers. Recorded by Kseniya Kawko at Kyberg Studio, Munich, mixed by Kseniya Kawko at MSM Studio, Munich and mastered by Christoph Stickel at csmastering, Vienna.
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SOW 055LP
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$23.50
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 1/17/2025
Recorded in 1959 and released on Blue Note the following year, Peckin' Time is the result of one of those fine studio sessions featuring a bunch of jazz heavyweights. Here is the perfect tandem of Hank Mobley on tenor sax and Lee Morgan on trumpet. Two great stylists in full shape, greatly backed by the ultra-elastic rhythm section of Winton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Charlie Persip on drums. All true masters of the Bop vocabulary including all the possible variants from Blues to Latin.
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LTJC 018LP
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$33.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 1/17/2025
The reissue of 1972's Italian jazz funk classic, directed by Il Maestro Piero Umiliani. Trumpetist Francesco "Cicci" Santucci and saxophonist Enzo Scoppa cut their teeth in the late '50s, playing with the Italian group Modern Jazz Gang, along with other Italian jazz greats such as Sandro Brugnolini and Amadeo Tommasi. In June 1971, "il maestro" Piero Umiliani made his Sound Workshop recording studio in the heart of Rome available to them, so that they could create an album under his supervision. The result was Olimpiade, a jazz-funk album featuring Franco d'Andrea on electric piano (who would go on to play with the group Perigeo a year later), and Belgian musician Joel Vendrokenbrak on organ. It should be noted that this session was also released on Dire, under the name On the Underground Road, but is here reissued for the first time with its magnificent original cover. A poster of the artwork and a printed insert featuring the Sound Workshop studio are also included with this reissue.
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MOV 3861LP
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$36.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 1/10/2025
"Art Blakey, whose career spanned nearly 50 years of Black music history, exemplifies the timeless role of the drums in jazz. This Album of the Year LP, originally released in 1981, features the Jazz Messengers: trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, saxophonists Robert Watson, and Bill Pierce, pianist James Williams, and bassist Charles Fambrough, alongside drummer and bandleader Art Blakey. The album was recorded in Paris, and tracks include 'Cheryl' (written by Charlie Parker), 'Soulful Mister Timmons,' and 'Little Man,' among others. The accompanying liner notes were written by Ted Panken."
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ACRSLP 1673LP
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$26.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 1/10/2025
"Duke Ellington was one of the most important and influential figures in the entire history of jazz, as pianist, bandleader, composer and innovator, his career spanned the evolution from the early days of electric recording. However, while critics and commentators focus on his over-arching significance as a giant of the medium, it's easy to forget that he was a genius at composing tune and songs for the medium of the three-minute, 78rpm single, and during the first three decades of his career before rock 'n' roll changed the pop landscape irrevocably, he had more than 70 records that were credited as chart hits. The Duke himself preferred not to have his work referred to as 'jazz' but liked people to see it as he himself saw it, as being 'beyond category,' simply 'American music.' In a career lasting six decades, he attracted the very best musicians to his orchestras, and gifted to the world many of the jazz standards we know and love today This LP brings together some of his most iconic compositions, including timeless classics such as the Billboard R&B No.1 'Don't Get Around Much Anymore,' alongside stalwarts of the jazz canon 'Mood Indigo,' 'Sophisticated Lady,' 'Solitude,' 'Caravan,' 'Take The 'A' Train,' and 'It Don't Mean A Thing (If You Ain't Got That Swing).' It's a fantastic insight into his most successful output during a primary era of his career, and a great showcase for the artistry which made the Duke such a revered and iconic personality."
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SOW 054LP
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$23.50
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 1/10/2025
Recorded in 1957 when Lee Morgan was only 19, and released on Blue Note in 1958, Candy sees the young trumpet genius as leader of a marvelous quartet featuring the infectious rhythm section of Sonny Clark on piano, Doug Watkins on bass and Art Taylor on drums. Being Morgan, the only horn he has plenty of space for showing his innate sense of swing and melody. The whole quartet shines throughout a repertoire based entirely on standards including both up tempo numbers and ballads.
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SOW 053LP
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$23.50
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 1/10/2025
This 1956 Donald Byrd quartet session, subsequently released in 1957 on Transition Records, sees the young trumpeter leading a Beacon Hill based rhythm section featuring bassist Doug Watkins, pianist Ray Santisi, and drummer Jim Zitano. The perfect line up for getting through a selection of classic standards such as "Stella by Starlight," "Polka Dots and Moonbeams," and "What's New." The atmosphere is easy and relaxed, and far from the hard bop/soul mood that later became Byrd's signature. This is a highly-sensitive quartet that swings lightly and without unnecessary overplaying but with just the right hint of blues to make the music highly intriguing. Clear color vinyl.
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LBR 006-2LP
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$35.50
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 1/10/2025
This is a special edition of the 40th Anniversary of Cuerpo y Alma by Eduardo Mateo, in 180 -gram vinyl with obi, new cover artwork and insert. Cuerpo y Alma was his second record as a soloist, originally released by Sondor in 1984. Recorded between 1981 and 1984 with Hugo Fattoruso, Osvaldo Fattoruso, Pippo Spera, Urbano Moraes, Travesia, and more. In this record Mateo also experienced with percussion trying to get closer to a Hindú Percussion. Eduardo Mateo is one of the most important influences in the history of the Uruguayan Music. Mixing beat, jazz, Bossa Nova, and candombe. He was the one who created the "Candombe-Beat" mostly known as "Fusión." He also was a member and inspired the legendary band El Kinto. Mateo was a versatile and constantly evolving musician. If there is a record, however, that can be seen as the condensation of all his work, it is Cuerpo y Alma. Here are examples of his disconcerting simplicity, his most radical experimentalism, his mystical vein, of his explorations with Eastern, African and Caribbean music, their different approaches to the candombe, his tenderness and his frilly climates, his childish surreal humor, of abstractions and permutations of what would be his phase "Time Machine." Mateo took care again of all the instruments in most of the grooves and built in them these minimum-constructivist arrangements in the manner of El Kinto. But there are also collective grooves with a more spontaneous and improvisational approach, interacting with some old friends (Urbano, Pippo, the Fattoruso, Eduardo Marquez) and new colleagues with whom he interacted in the following years (Travesía, Walter "Nego" Haedo).
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7"
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TPCDRFT 4503EP
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$13.50
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RELEASE DATE: 1/10/2025
This new TopicDrift45 release comes straight outta Aachen. Originally released in 1982 on Rainer Wiedensohlers' Nabel Musik Imprint with a whole LP called Floating and for the first time on a DJ friendly 45 cut. Side A "Running" was and still is a well-known mover in the UK Northen and Asian Scene. A true example for all those DJs out there collecting and spinning organic music in all its forms.
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LP
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ZORN 084LP
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$31.50
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 12/20/2024
Obscure and outstanding free jazz album reissued for the first time since its original release in 1969. Old-style gatefold LP, with liner notes by Ed Hazell. In the late 1960s, young jazz musician Bobby Naughton, a keyboardist and vibraphonist, faced significant challenges as he sought to record his first album. With major record labels and jazz clubs catering only to big names, Naughton and other creative musicians of his generation found themselves sidelined by the mainstream music industry. They turned to self-reliance and self-production, becoming part of a movement of independent musicians. Naughton's debut album, Nature's Consort, was a DIY effort in every sense -- recorded on home equipment and featuring a hand-printed woodblock cover. The album was distributed independently at concerts and by mail, receiving little attention initially, but over the years it gained a reputation as a rare, sought-after artifact of the period. Though recorded during an outdoor concert in Connecticut, Nature's Consort reflected the "loft jazz" scene in New York City. This avant-garde jazz movement centered around musicians who lived and played in loft spaces in lower Manhattan. Naughton commuted from his home in Southbury, Connecticut, to play with his bandmates Mark Whitecage, Mario Pavone, and Laurence Cook in New York's lofts. These musicians regularly performed at venues like Studio We, a key gathering spot for free-form jazz, where musicians could experiment and develop their sound, often with no audience present. Naughton's journey into jazz was a winding one. Originally from Boston, he played rockabilly and blues-rock before transitioning into free jazz. Inspired by avant-garde artists like Carla Bley and Paul Bley, Naughton sought to explore new forms of music that went beyond traditional jazz structures. His bandmates, Mark Whitecage and Mario Pavone, were both deeply affected by the death of John Coltrane in 1967, which prompted them to quit their day jobs, attend Coltrane's funeral, and move to New York to pursue jazz full-time. Nature's Consort was a collective project, with band members sharing equally in any profits. However, Naughton was the driving force behind the group's creative direction. He composed much of the original material and selected pieces by Ornette Coleman and Carla Bley for the band's repertoire. Jazz critic Nat Hentoff praised the album for its "high-risk improvisation" and the musicians' ability to anticipate each other's moves. Though Nature's Consort received little press at the time, it has since been recognized as a significant early document of the loft jazz era, representing Naughton's disciplined, improvisational approach to music.
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ESPDISK 5111CD
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$12.00
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RELEASE DATE: 12/20/2024
Rose Tang has previously been heard on ESP-Disk in the band ATTITUDE!, whose album Pause & Effect came out in 2021 (ESPDISK 5048LP). She writes: "There was a school of philosophy in ancient China whose core theory stems from a debate entitled 'A White Horse Is Not a Horse.' In a book by Gongsun Long (公孫龍 320-250BC, about 200 years after Confucius) in the Warring States Period, two persons argue if a white horse is a horse: the protagonist argues it is not, because 'white' is the color of a (particular) horse while a 'horse' is a shape and a generic term. It's a linguistic/logical paradox, or sophistry. Ridiculed by his contemporary philosophers and forgotten for centuries, Gongsun is now considered the only philosopher in ancient China who delved into logic and philosophy of language. I was about 12 when my artist father first told me about the debate. He's painted many horses, especially white horses. Long before I discovered I'm a Mongol, I had always loved horses. Funny, my high school politics (Maoism/Marxism) teacher nicknamed me 'Wild Horse Running off the Reins.' That's how I see myself when playing music. Music offers instant and countless ways of freeing myself and connecting with people and the multiverse. It's all about following the qi, the energy, the flow. It's like cooking or making love, with senses and feelings all out in the open, without thinking. Improvising in a group is the most democratic activity. And all sounds are equal -- birds, traffic, construction, the ocean, kids -- all music to my ear. All instruments are my toys (some are indeed my daughter's toys). For every instrument I play, I feel the physical and spiritual connections with them. Ask not what your instrument can do for you, ask what you can do for your instrument. I look for the sounds that an instrument isn't 'supposed' to make. Music is the most abstract art form and the closest to the truth, yet it's the most institutionalized. My slogan is 'Learn through play. Play by ear. Fuck the rest!' So here it is, just some Weird Shit, music that is not music. A white horse is not a horse." All music improvised by Rose Tang and Patrick Golden. Recorded by Jim Clouse at Park West Studios, Brooklyn, on August 28, 2024.
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MAR 097LP
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$37.50
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RELEASE DATE: 12/20/2024
Boogie jazz funk at its best. Rare 1985 session from guitarist Eddie Fisher, the East St. Louis native whose best known for the jazz/funk albums The Next One Hundred Years and The Third Cup. Fisher, who died in 2007, never really achieved major stardom, but has become a cult figure over the last years, thanks in large part to DJs and crate diggers who discovered his music and spread the word. Perhaps the most obscure item in his catalog, The Promise was issued only on vinyl in 1985 on Fisher's own Nentu label and has been out of print for years. Licensed by Christina Fisher.
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ZORN 091LP
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$31.50
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RELEASE DATE: 12/20/2024
Classic free jazz album reissued for the first time since the '70s. Old-style Gatefold LP, with liner notes by Ed Hazell. Noah Howard, an alto saxophonist and composer, was known for weaving intricate and innovative musical patterns, often likening his work to "sound paintings." His 1971 album Patterns, the first LP he self-produced on his Altsax label, stands as a testament to his experimental and spiritual approach to music. In interviews, Howard frequently used visual terms like "patterns" and "shapes" to describe his compositions, emphasizing the importance of melody and structure even in highly improvisational settings. For Howard, patterns and melodies were essential to guiding listeners through his explorations without alienating them, maintaining a balance between innovation and accessibility. Howard's quest for an original sound was deeply influenced by jazz greats like Charlie Parker, Ornette Coleman, and Jackie McLean. While he admired these legends, Howard avoided imitation, striving instead to develop his own distinct voice. His sound was unmistakably his own, and he felt a deep obligation to carry the jazz tradition forward through personal expression, not by mimicking others. His music was also rooted in spirituality, a legacy he traced to his upbringing in the Black Baptist Church. He believed jazz had always contained a spiritual essence, from Louis Armstrong to John Coltrane, and his work aimed to channel this cosmic, spiritual energy. Patterns was recorded in the Netherlands during Howard's second stint in Europe, where he found a more open, less racially charged environment compared to the U.S. For the album, Howard collaborated with Dutch musicians such as Misha Mengelberg (piano), Han Bennink (drums), and Earl Freeman (bass). Despite the challenges faced by guitarist Jaap Schoonhoven, who felt out of place in the session, the album came together as a powerful mix of blues, jazz, and classical elements. The music on Patterns is a high-energy fusion of American free jazz and Dutch improvisation. Howard's saxophone work alternates between leading with passionate, lyrical lines and blending into the collective improvisation. The album's dynamic interplay, particularly between Mengelberg's dissonant piano clusters and Bennink's thunderous drumming, creates a vivid "sound painting" full of contrasting forms and colors. Patterns remains one of Howard's most unique and celebrated recordings, showcasing his visionary approach to jazz.
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PRF 011LP
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$28.50
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RELEASE DATE: 12/13/2024
Fearlessly Accessing the Divine Spirit From Here on Out is the vinyl debut from Los Angeles pianist, composer, and producer Diego Gaeta. He has previously released projects as Club Diego and with the trio Human Error Club (whose members Mekala Session and Jesse Justice helped produce this record). He's become a fixture in various musical environments, working with Lionmilk, The Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, Carlos Niño, Photay, and Black Nile, among others. This album is a synthesis of many of those relationships, and carries chamber, jazz, ambient, and folk influences, ultimately giving it an uncategorizable feel similar to works by Arthur Verocai or David Axelrod. Gaeta recorded the initial ideas for the album by himself after experiencing a burst of creativity during the lockdown of 2020, in the aftermath of a season of protests in Los Angeles, on a piano at his home in El Sereno. Once he had created the tracks as Ableton sessions, he realized the gravity and context of how he was processing his ideas so he, as he puts it, "felt like taking them outside the hands of midi and into the hands of friends." Gaeta was able to assemble his dream band, which ended up being a nine-piece ensemble, or a nonet. The recording process began the following summer in June 2021 as the musicians were all adjusting to the newfound dynamic of getting tested for COVID, waiting a few days, and then meeting up to record. The title track and single, featuring vocals by Jimetta Rose, begins with a speech by Gaeta delivered when playing with Black Nile in 2019 at the Levitt Amphitheatre in MacArthur Park. Moor Mother and Zeroh are found on their respective tracks, "Memory Screen" and "Eccolo" -- both delivering a distinct, commanding vocal performance. Low Leaf colors the track "Soft Spot" with harp, a beautiful ballad nestled in the center of the album. Other players include Gregory Uhlmann on guitar, Jon Kaye on violin, Devin Daniels on alto saxophone, Caleb Buchanan on bass, Dante Luna on vibraphone, Patrick Behnke on viola, Bryan Baker on tenor saxophone/flute, and Mekala Session on drums.
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DFPRKPM 006B-LP
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"Peace of Action is the latest release from artist Earl 'Damu the Fudgemunk' Davis, and also, the newest installment of Def Pressé's series of projects made in partnership with KPM and associated music libraries. 'It's a pleasure to present Peace of Action. So much excitement went into the initial venture to collaborate with KPM and become part of their history. When I listen to the final album, I hear all the excitement and passion I had for the music. Discovering things in their archive helped me discover and rediscover things about myself that I usually restrict in previous work. It was fun to break some rules and still maintain some limitations especially after 20 plus years of creating music.' says Damu. Peace of Action features nine all new tracks, however this album contains no guests or vocals and is fully instrumental. With dozens of titles under his belt over the past two decades highlighting his musicality and a reputation built on beats, it may be of a surprise to many that this is the Fudgemunk's first official instrumental project in over seven years. Peace of Action makes a real statement from Damu. This is a jazz record, made with hip hop production techniques. The source material is a love of the records that came before it. Literally, digging into the jazz catalogue at KPM, taking inspiration from the material, absorbing the imagination and talent of previous composers, and re-imaging it through a multifaceted lens. 'It certainly reflects the accelerated changes we've all experienced since we entered the 2020's. I hope the music is able to take people's imagination to different places. I won't give away too much detail into my personal messaging in each track because I prefer to leave that to the audience. But, I will say that there's a common theme of transformation throughout. I'm sure there are a few people out there that'll pick up on exactly where I'm going. And that's the beauty of being able to share art with the world,' says Damu."
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1FFJT176
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$24.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 12/13/2024
Alga Marghen/Formalibera present the first of a series of released documenting the work of Danish composer and multi-instrumentalist John Tchicai. This new LP features two previously unpublished recordings, "Beautiful United Harmony Happening" with Don Cherry and "Education Of An Amphibian" with Sahib Shihab. Tchicai returned to his native Denmark in July 1966 after spending a remarkable four years in New York City. In that short span, he helped redefine and expand the relationship between soloing, collective improvisation, and composition in small free jazz ensembles such as the New York Art Quartet, the New York Contemporary Five, and on albums such as New York Eye and Ear Control with Albert Ayler and John Coltrane's Ascension. It certainly counts as one of the most fertile periods in any artist's career. Yet when he returned to Europe, Tchicai turned his attention primarily (although not exclusively) to large ensemble music. The breakthroughs made in New York were not lost, but transferred to a large group context, opening up further avenues of exploration. "The Education of an Amphibian" by the John Tchicai Octet represents a first try at "Komponist Udøver Ensemble," or "Composing Improvisers Orchestra," an approach that further blurred boundaries between improvisation and composition. Recorded in October 1966, the piece presents Tchicai as composer and guiding presence; an organizer of sounds; and an explorer of a widening musical vocabulary drawn from contemporary classical and African influences. "Beautiful United Harmony Happening" is something different -- an opportunity to embrace new modes of interdisciplinary performance. From the beginning of his return to Denmark, Tchicai sought out not only musicians, but artists in all artforms and began to organize happenings. Although rarely noted, ideas linked to Fluxus, performance art, and happenings were a large influence of Tchicai's thinking at this time. All these related movements sought to blur or erase boundaries between media and set up juxtapositions between styles and artforms that disrupted received ideas of "high" and "low" art. Participation by non-artists introduced elements that challenged ideas about virtuosity and legitimate expression. Random elements were embraced, and non-Western music and concepts were welcome. This performance, heard here in an excerpt from the full two-hour performance, is very much in this vein. It is one of the last performances involving members of Cadentia Nova Danica, but they are only one component (and hardly the focus) of an ensemble that included a five-member chorus of disciples of the Swami Narayanananda (Tchicai lived at the yogi's ashram and had organized the choir himself), the Diane Black Dance Theatre, and trumpeter Don Cherry. Includes insert.
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2FFCND177
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$24.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 12/13/2024
This revelatory album positions John Tchicai's large ensemble, Cadentia Nova Danica (CND), in the broad context of international new music activity. All previous releases by the group presented them as a free jazz unit. There were only three -- their self-titled release on Polydor (1968); Afrodisiaca (MPS, 1969); and Live at Jazzhus Montmartre (Storyville), recorded in 1967 but not released until 2016. They are all on jazz labels, so the bias is perhaps understandable. CND was a great free jazz group, to be sure. But the band and its leader were willing to experiment with a wide range of musical developments outside of jazz and incorporate them into their music. This LP encompasses a collaboration with classical composer Svend Erik Werner, an experiment with taped sound collage, and a remarkable sui generis composition by Tchicai. With the addition of this album to CND's discography, a broader and deeper portrait of the band's courageous spirit begins to emerge. Tchicai formed the group just after returning to his native Denmark in 1966 after four highly productive years in New York. Upon his return to Copenhagen, he immediately sought out musicians with whom he could form a band. He was soon working with an ensemble that included trumpeter Hugh Steinmetz and altoist Karsten Vogel. By late 1966, they became Cadentia Nova Danica (New Danish Cadence). They made their Danish debut at Café Montmartre and quickly developed a reputation as one of the most creative bands in Europe. They remained together until 1971, when Tchicai entered the ashram of Swami Narayanananda for an extended period of meditation during which he didn't publicly perform. The cryptically, if absurdly, titled "Mc Gub Gub, (I-VIII)" is a stunning example of the creative ways Tchicai used ostinatos to structure his compositions and provide a supporting trellis for improvisation. Recorded during a Danish Avantgarde Jazz concert that also included the Contemporary Jazz Quintet, the piece opens with the band loosely repeating a phrase. There's a constant interchange between composition and improvisation. The written passages also function as transitions between improvised sections, in one case setting up a piano solo whose fluidity contrasts starkly with the angular writing. "Ode to Skt. John" is contemporary in form and outlook but based on methods taken from Gregorian music. It also makes room for improvisation from members of Cadentia Nova Danica. Although vividly contrasting, the two modes of musicmaking speak to one another. The alto saxophone and trumpet duet has a songlike, vocal quality in keeping with the spirit, if not the form, of Gregorian music. "Pladepip," Tchicai's foray into musique concréte, another modern classical genre, is unlike anything else in Tchicai's recorded canon. Two full-band improvisations bookend a remarkable audio tape created by Tchicai. Includes insert.
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AR 171LP
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$28.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 12/6/2024
LP version. A journey -- that's how musicians like to describe working on a new album. In the case of krajenski.'s new LP B-3 Vol. 2 it really was a journey. Many ideas were born and discarded, several sessions were played for inspiration, plenty of songs were produced in advance -- the journey is the journey. Then the decisive missing link: krajenski. was able to find the two musicians and producers Dirk Berger (Peter Fox, Seed, Marteria) and Samon Kawamura (Joy Denalane, Max Herre, Till Brönner) for this project. And suddenly the production took a completely different magical turn -- away from a "band album" towards a musical experiment. These three musicians locked themselves up in a studio for two days, let the inspiration flow and recorded everything that happened spontaneously and unplanned. The nucleus can be a small, melodic phrase, a beat or simply a sound from the Hammond organ. The tracks, some of which last ten minutes, were then reduced to their essence and refined with great care and diligence and finally produced -- without changing the original DNA of the material. As there were basically no musical guidelines, the songs have a wide range of styles -- from groovy-funky to atmospheric to boogaloo, bossa nova and Latin. The common thread, however, is always the wonderfully diverse sound of the Hammond organ. But B-3 Vol.2 is not just an instrumental album: Nené Vàsquez from Mo' Horizons recites a hymn to the most legendary of all Hammond organs and MOORE, a rising star from Italy, enhances two further tracks with his voice.
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ROG 139CD
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"In the quartet on this album with Liam Noble on piano, John Edwards on double bass and Mark Sanders on drums, Paul has returned to his first love: free improvisation based on interaction between the four players. The quartet is a worthy successor to the Mujician quartet, and must be one of the finest working free improvising groups in the world. His approach is to listen very carefully to what is happening around him and to react to it. In general terms, there are two broad approaches to soloing in free music; one is where musicians develop their own lines in a method that can be defined as independent simultaneous action, and which John Corbett (2016) has described as 'skiing down the slopes separately', the other is interactive where the musicians listen carefully and react to the other players in a kind of musical conversation. Of course, there is a grey area between these two approaches. Paul Dunmall's playing falls very definitely into the interactive category. If you see him play live, you will see how he concentrates on the flow of the music, often stepping back and allowing the music to develop before choosing the right moment to enter or re-enter. At times his playing is foregrounded, while at others it is an equal partner in the mix of sound. His solos always develop original melodic lines, free of the clichés of both straight-ahead and free jazz. The other three musicians make equally important contributions to the music. Liam Noble plays in many different contexts from solo piano to more mainstream quartets; he has a highly original approach to free improvisation based on short melodic ideas and clusters of notes that weave in and out of Dunmall's lines. John Edwards and Mark Sanders are longstanding partners in free music and they create intense swirling rhythms that react with and set off the improvisations of Dunmall and Noble. They are, in fact, equal partners in the quartet, free to influence the development and flow of the music."
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MANAGARM 001CD
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"Moondog's jovial H'art Songs was the first release not to incorporate his name in the title, but the record that forever proved his genius. A rare vocal album recorded by Moondog when he was in his sixties, these ten art songs blur the boundaries between classical and pop music. Moondog called this series of art songs 'H'art songs' -- Hardin's art songs. The musical content is on a higher level than most popular music, but has an appeal to a wide range of tastes, from the pop to the classical listener. This collection of piano pop songs written and recorded in 1977 made Moondogs' stunningly eclectic discography even more chaotic musically, it also featured some of his most mesmerizing wordplay. Telling tales that can be interpreted as metaphors for how to live -- sometimes political, sometimes autobiographical, sometimes nature loving - they are always intriguingly poetic, and helped push this album to the very top of all Moondog's releases."
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ESPDISK 5079CD
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From Howard Mandel's liner notes: "Reut Regev is a boundary-crossing composer-trombonist born in Israel, living and active in New York City and its metroplex since 1998, noted for four previous albums with drummer and coleader Igal Foni (her husband), three featuring the quartet R*time, the last two co-starring electric guitarist Jean-Paul Bourelly, all loaded with spiky, funky, free-wheeling originals, performed with a bang. Meeting Hammond after a concert in Austria, Regev and Foni were delighted to discover the man whose oeuvre they had long admired was equally enamored of their sound and attitude. Correspondence led to It's Now: R*time Plays Doug Hammond, a unique collaboration setting the eminence's mature reflections on life, love, and music with the energy to render them timeless. Doug Hammond is a veteran American composer, drummer, percussionist, bandleader, singer-songwriter, essayist, and educator who is not nearly as well known in the U.S. as his music warrants. That may be largely because he's been based in Linz, Austria since 1989 as a professor at Bruckner University, making only periodic visits back to his native Detroit. Hammond's sixty-year career, begun with bluesman Earl Hooker and the R&B duo Sam & Dave, comprises more than a dozen albums under his own leadership starting with Reflections in the Sea of Nurnen from 1975, on which he played melodica and ARP synthesizer as well as drumming, crooning, and directing an octet. Independence, originality, fundamental tunefulness, and a spirit of inquiry characterize those Reflections as well as his subsequent releases, which include an anthology spotlighting hometown colleagues and first recordings of singer Angela Bofill (Doug Hammond Special), Steve Coleman's nascent M-Base (Spaces), through-compositions for flute, piano, and cello (Pictures and Hues), trios with trumpet and bass (May Be Blue and Singing Smiles), an ambitious, eponymous (Tentette), live solo 'griot' shows (Be You). He's had professional associations with Smokey Robinson, Sonny Rollins, and Charles Mingus (who recorded 'Moves,' heard here with lyrics, as an album title track), among others. Musicians abroad regard him as a beacon.
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