Don Shinn

Don Shinn’s Departures, first issued in 1969 and recorded at Lansdowne Studios in London just months after his acclaimed debut, returns in a newly remastered edition that highlights the record’s adventurous spirit and Shinn’s singular command of the Hammond organ. Where his debut established him as a rising force, Departures reveals a more overtly jazzy, exploratory side — muscular, unpredictable and deeply musical — that helped influence a generation of keyboardists, including the young Keith Emerson.

A daring blend of jazz, rock and psychedelic imagination, Departures captures Shinn at a moment of creative restlessness. The arrangements give space to improvisation and subtle interplay: Shinn’s fluid, harmonically rich organ leads, rhythmic inventiveness, and occasionally gritty textures are matched by a stellar ensemble that includes jazz luminary Stan Tracey. The result is an album that moves effortlessly between soulful grooves, modal explorations and shimmering, atmospheric passages.