Jazz /
啫啫银河 Ze Ze The Milky Way
" Here we have the tasty combination of two blog favorites, finding China-native Lao Dan joining forces with the visiting Jooklo Duo for a set of cosmic vibrations (and a little bit of free funk) at Old Heaven Books during 2018's LOFT Festival. Here Vanzan takes up his usual percussion duties while Lao Dan and Genta load up on various reeds and flutes which Genta supplements with a generous sidecar of vintage keyboard. This rowdy little number has a little bit of everything and once the trio get…
Percussion Ensemble
* 2021 Stock ** Percussionist Milford Graves recorded his first and only ESP-Disk' recording on August 5th, 1966 along with fellow percussionist, the late Sonny Morgan. According to Milford Graves, the titles were given numbers according to how many beats were in each measure. Milford Graves has been one of the main drummers in the free mode scene (known for skillful inclusion of Asian and African rhythmic ingredients into his solos). He worked with the New York Art Quartet, Giuseppi Logan, Albe…
The Call
It has occasionally been assumed that Henry Grimes got this recording date as a reward for his long service in the avant-garde of jazz. Having already honed his musical conception with a varied range of players, from Benny Goodman and Arnett Cobb to Lee Morgan, Gerry Mulligan, and Sonny Rollins to McCoy Tyner, Steve Lacy, Albert Ayler(including ESP 1020, Spirits Rejoice), Don Cherry, and Cecil Taylor (to name just a few), the service was certainly there, but he got this gig fully on his merits. …
And Company
** 2021 Stock ** The Alabama born saxophonist/clarinetist Marzette Watts had a short lived career as a member of the sixties avant-garde, but achieved legendary status for the company he kept in his Cooper Square loft where the likes of Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Don Cherry, Archie Shepp, and Pharoah Sanders often congregated. This debut date is best known for the presence of players, who like Watts, were to become renowned for the rareness of their recorded output, including Sonny Sharrock,…
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…
Sea Breeze
George Otsuka, sadly passed away in March 2020, was one of Japan’s most renowned jazz drummers. After three records with the George Otsuka Trio in the late part of the 60’s, “Sea Breeze” was released in 1971 on the Union label, his first record in quintet formation and a superb album which showcases the thrilling talent of this band. Included the brilliant jazz-funk track “Sea Breeze” and the astonishing cover of “Fool on the Hill”.
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…
Let's Go
** Limited LP sealed w/hype sticker ** Afro7 Records presents Let's Go by The Scorpios. Everyone’s favourite Sudanese collective from London is back with another full album! Traditional meets today and everything in-between - future classic!
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