★BYG Records
Luna Surface
2024 restock. 12th volume in the BYG Actuel series; 180 gram vinyl. "Super-session recorded in Paris on August 17, 1969. Alan Silva collected here many of the top free jazz players of the time, an incredible 11-piece ensemble featuring, among others, Grachan Moncur III, Archie Shepp, Anthony Braxton, Dave Burrell, Leroy Jenkins, and Malachi Favors. As a result, this is a very free record and a historical document of Pan-African high art music. Two tracks."
Live At The Panafrican Festival
Tip! Archie Shepp has many made many Afrocentric statements in his long distinguished career but this meeting with Algerian and Touareg musicians in 1969 ranks among his greatest artistic achievements. The backdrop was the inaugural Pan African Festival Of Culture that took place in Algiers in July 1969 in order to promote solidarity among African nations at a time when many were emerging from the yoke of colonialism and some were still fighting for freedom. Their struggle chimed with the Black …
Freedom At Last
The impact made in Britain in the 60s by legendary American blues artists such as Muddy Waters, Little Walter and Howlin’ Wolf cannot be overstated. With their loud guitars, soulful voices and sexually charged lyrics, they inspired a new generation of aspiring young UK bands to throw off their inhibitions and make music that had the same brashly unapologetic energy and raw power. By plugging in and cranking up the volume they succeeded in capturing the imagination of the youth of the day. Freedo…
Ketchaoua
Recorded August 18, 1969 in Paris with Archie Shepp on soprano, Grachan Moncur III on trombone, Dave Burrell on piano, Sunny Murray on drums plus Arthur Jones, Beb Guerin and Earl Freeman.
Restored & remastered from the original tapes Pressed on 180-gram black vinylInsert featuring insightful essay by author & music journalist Kevin Le GendreLP original gatefold sleeve & artwork faithfully reproduced
"Mu" First Part & "Mu" Second Part
Straight from the vaults of the legendary French imprint, BYG, come astounding deluxe, 180gr. audiophile editions, fully remastered from the original analog tapes, of two of the most beloved LPs in the towering Jazz Actuel series: Don Cherry’s “Mu: First Part” and “Mu: Second Part”. Among the most creatively captivating gestures in the history of jazz, these two duets between Cherry and his longtime collaborator, the drummer Ed Blackwell, are the product of a single, groundbreaking session in Pa…
Poem For Malcom
Historic 1969 Paris session by the american saxophonist-vocalist-intellectual who conveys his deep anguish at the loss of a civil rights icon.
"Mu" First Part
** Deluxe 180gr. Black vinyl edition. Comes in a deluxe matte laminate gatefold sleeve. Original 1969 BYG album. Mastered to vinyl from BYG tapes by Nick Robbins. Exclusive liner notes by author John Masouri ** Don Cherry and Ed Blackwell, graduates of the revolutionary Ornette Coleman quartet, are in perfect accord on this seminal free jazz set, recorded in Paris during the late sixties. The emphasis, as on all Don Cherry releases, is on the life-giving, often magical qualities of pure sound, c…
"Mu" Second Part
** ** Deluxe 180gr. Black vinyl edition. Comes in a deluxe matte laminate gatefold sleeve. Original 1970 BYG album facsimile-edition. Mastered to vinyl from BYG tapes by Nick Robbins. Exclusive liner notes by author John Masouri ** ** Second chapter of Don Cherry’s "Mu" recordings for BYG - a landmark of free jazz improvisation. Don Cherry and drummer Ed Blackwell had both played with Ornette Coleman and contributed to the revolutionary free jazz movement of the late fifties and early sixties. …
Message to Our Folks
** Deluxe 180gr. Marbled vinyl edition. Comes in a deluxe matte laminate gatefold sleeve. Original 1969 BYG album facsimile-edition. Mastered to vinyl from BYG tapes by Nick Robbins. Exclusive liner notes by author John Masouri **'A Jackson in Your House' is the first of the Art Ensemble of Chicago’s renowned trio of albums for BYG's Actuel series. This album is The Art Ensemble’s most celebrated release and finds the American avant-garde jazz collective at their most sensational, mocking and st…
A Jackson in Your House
** Deluxe 180gr. Marbled vinyl edition. Comes in a deluxe matte laminate gatefold sleeve. Original 1969 BYG album facsimile-edition. Mastered to vinyl from BYG tapes by Nick Robbins. Exclusive liner notes by author John Masouri ** 'A Jackson in Your House' is the first of the Art Ensemble of Chicago’s renowned trio of albums for BYG's Actuel series. This album is The Art Ensemble’s most celebrated release and finds the American avant-garde jazz collective at their most sensational, mocking and s…
Camembert Electrique
** Deluxe 180gr. Marbled vinyl edition. Comes in a deluxe matte laminate gatefold sleeve. Original 1971 BYG album. Mastered to vinyl from BYG tapes by Nick Robbins. Insightful essay by long-term Gong fan Mark Paytress (Mojo magazine). Artwork, illustrated booklet, inserts & lyrics faithfully reproduced ** Formed in 1969 by Daevid Allen, one of the founder members of Soft Machine, Gong established itself as one of the most unique, innovative, and experimental rock groups of the 70s. “I have a dis…
The Solar-myth Approach (Vol 1)
** White Vinyl. Comes in a deluxe matte laminate gatefold sleeve. ** The first instalment of a landmark session by one of the most unique figures in black music is a shower of sounds that have come straight from another world. Occupying a unique place in the history of black music, Sun Ra took the big band aesthetic of his role model Duke Ellington into thrilling new territory. A pianist and keyboard player with an ear for uncommon timbres, a profound interest in a wide range of non-Western cul…
The Solar-Myth Approach
The second instalment of a landmark session by one of the most unique figures in black music is a shower of sounds that have come straight from another world. Sun Ra and the various groups he led were as prolific as they were innovative. By conservative estimates they produced around 200 recordings over a fifty-year period, and the early 70s was as fertile a time as any. In a typical burst of creative energy Ra and an ensemble he dubbed The Solar Myth Arkestra produced enough material to be spr…
Banana Moon
** Original 1971 BYG album. Digitally mastered from BYG tapes by Nick Robbins. 16-page booklet with photos & exclusive liner notes by author and journalist Kevin Le Gendre ** Debut solo album by the legendary purveyor of music that daringly blurred the boundary between psychedelic rock and raucous, riotous Dadaism. Australian vocalist-guitarist Daevid Allen was a part of the highly experimental Canterbury scene, alongside the likes of drummers Robert Wyatt and Pip Pyle, before he relocated to P…
Blasé
Florida-born saxophonist, composer, poet, actor and playwright Archie Shepp was one of the most articulate exponents of politicized black culture in the late ‘60s, a time of enormous upheaval and radical thought. Relocating to Paris he made a number of highly influential albums, such as Blasé, that broached the essential themes of freedom and racial equality, and tapped into the bedrock of African-American music. Gospel and blues were a major part of the work, which also had a strong avant-garde…
Magick Brother
2024 Stock. "In 1970, the world got its first taste of the original pothead pixie, Daevid Allen's Gong, as Magick Brother was released in France on the BYG label. Allen's wife, Gilli Smyth, penned all the tunes on the album, and Allen's now-classic "Ph.P." drawing style graces the inside of the gatefold. Leaning a little toward the pop end of the spectrum, Magick Brother is a fairly light album, devoid of the blatant psychedelic/hippie qualities which shine through so brilliantly on the later Ca…
Blue Whale
Legendary British drummer’s adventurous sophomore album is still full of surprises decades after it was made.
The Sound Pool
Pioneers of live electronics, found sound and urban environment-as-instrument, Musica Elettronica Viva created suites that were as imaginary as imaginative.
Yasmina, A Black Woman
Iconic musician and political activist makes a typically thought-provoking statement on historic 1969 recording.
L'incendie
Vocalist-multi-instrumentalist Areski and singer Brigitte Fontaine are a legendary French musical couple that rose to prominence in the ‘60s, making a series of albums that showcased a boldly unorthodox approach to the art of song.
Taken as a whole the 13 pieces on L’Incendie stand as high-impact scenes or episodes in a theatre or TV production as much as they represent another take on the concept album. Translated from French L’Incendie means fire, but Areski & Fontaine give it admirably broad …