Jazz /
Milwaukee Tapes Vol. 2
In the winter of 1980, Chicago tenor saxophonist Fred Anderson (1929-2010) brought his quartet to Milwaukee, where they were recorded live in concert. These tapes were first plumbed for The Milwaukee Tapes Vol. 1 on the Unheard Music Series in 2000.
Blue Notes for Johnny
"Blue Notes for Johnny" - a defining statement by one of the greatest ensembles in the history of jazz. Recorded in mid-1987 by Blue Notes - then reduced to the trio of Dudu Pukwana on alto sax, Louis Moholo-Moholo on drums and Chris McGregor on piano - it encounters the band 25 years after their founding embarking on an inward meditation through collective music making dedicated to Johnny Dyani, their former bandmate and friend.
Blue Notes were founded in Cape Town in 1962, and stand among the…
Prophet
Featuring what may be his only recordings on the Prophet keyboard, these once lost performances expand the omniverse of Ra across a stellar set of lengthy cuts! All recorded in a single day and finally making their terrestrial debut! What happens when a Prophet meets a Prophet? The answer lies within these grooves. Amongst the hundreds of recordings issued by Sun Ra and his Arkestra, under their various guises, the majority were recorded in concert or in makeshift studios such as their early 19…
Computer & Jazz Project I
The official repress of Adelhard Roidinger’s contemporary jazz/fusion masterpiece, originally released in 1984. An extremely talented and eclectic musician, Adelhard Roidinger’s creativity couldn’t be contained by the walls of music. His compositions for computers, graphic designs and geometric studies are a testament to his wide array of interests and artistic expressions.This fascination for computers is in full display in Computer & Jazz Project I. Adelhard believed that machines are vital to…
Night Bird
*2023 stock* First recording of Eric Le Lann under his name in 1983. Around him, a group composed of Césarius Alvim on bass, André Ceccarelli on drums and Olivier Hutman on piano and Rhodes which escorts the sublime phrasing of a trumpet entirely placed on the melody. The quartet is of a remarkable flexibility, sonority and unity. A hell of a quartet!
For Future Reference
Never-before-released early 1980s sessions by a band of top British players and composers which never released an album, led by drummer Trevor Tomkins. This is, in effect, the late Trevor Tomkins debut album release as leader, as well as his memorial. We were working on this with Trevor when he died last last year and it's now released with the help and support of his family.
Deeper In Black
Deeper in Black was inspired by the 1969 Blue Note recording of American trumpeter Blue Mitchell entitled Collision in Black and took its name from Pillay’s cover of the album’s Peggy Grayson composition. Pillay’s album featured another two compositions from Collision in Black by way of the Monk Higgins track “Keep Your Soul,” with distinct arrangements straddling Side A and Side B, and Vee Pea’s “Jo Ju Ja” closing out the set. Although the source material was over a decade old when Pillay recor…
Sept Jeunes Et Fiers Maris
*Rare original* "ARFI is an improvised music group from the south of France that continues to evolve, involving not only musicians but also cooks and street performers in its search for more freedom of expression. One of the core bands of the ARFI, with all the main improvising musicians, was the Marvelous Band, released on their own label in 1985. Carnivals on street corners, street performers, the hints of foreign lands wafting from the back alleys - the original landscape that lies at the hea…
Azur Et Tenebres
*Rare original* "As you can tell from the additional description to the album title, this album and the compositions on it are a collection of sound illustrations for performances, performances, dances, films and plays (mostly in the spirit of early cinematography and early century theatre, one would think). Illustrations, stylistically very different. From rather sad interludes, which for some reason remind me personally of films like Silence, Sadness, Silence with to 'saspienza' moments, with…
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 …
Live At The Berlin Jazzbühne Festival 1982
“In the afternoon we performed in a rather austere theatre in East Berlin. Then I remember we crossed Checkpoint Charlie that evening to play in a club in West Berlin. The atmosphere was completely different. I felt as though we were living in a black and white spy movie.” Nicolas Fiszman recalls that chaotic day of 13 June 1982. Two outstanding guitarists, Philip Catherine and Nicolas Fiszman, who at the time was only seventeen years old, were taken from one side of Berlin to the other in pouri…
Steve Allen's Hip Fables
Before Sesame Street or Yo Gabba Gabba made art for kids that their parents understood on a whole other level, there were Hip Fables. Pop prose originally put to pulp by the pen of Steve Allen circa the ‘50s, which inspired a popular album and even a book titled Hip Fables (Simon & Schuster). The original recording featured Steve Allen on the piano accompanied by King Cool himself, Chicago DJ and Impulse! recording artist Al Jazzbeaux Collins!
In 1983 under the watchful eye of original producer …
Doctor Dancing Mask: Pianoisms
Neil S. Kvern’s Doctor Dancing Mask: Pianoisms is a near mythical marker on the map of late 20th century experimentalism transpiring in America’s Pacific Northwest. A sublime, spacious effort of left field DIY minimalism constructed from recurring piano pieces, hypnotic percussion, and a peppering of diverse instrumentation, vocals, and invisible effects, Doctor Dancing Mask illuminates a hidden but remarkable legacy of a young composer at the height of his creativity and consciousness.
Original…
Unforeseen Blessings
*2022 stock* "This is a pure gem, a beautiful and much enjoyable album, highlighting the immense talent and musicality of pianist Kirk Lightsey and his accomplices. Listen to the solos of Arthur Blythe and Chico Freeman, the music and humour of Lester Bowie, the pure life and joyful rythm by Cecil Mc Bee and Famoudou Don Moye. Be ready do move and rejoice with Heaven Dance ! " - All Music
Dimension 5
*2022 stock* "While not the absolutely earliest of this excellent bassist, bandleader, and composer's projects, Dimension 5 still features a photograph on the back cover that has prompted comparisons with nervous high school kids at a dance, all dressed up but afraid to ask anyone to boogie. Except John Lindberg is already holding a bass in the picture, so doesn't need a partner, and in the process of creating this recording was putting his best foot forward not to boogaloo but to establish hims…
Intaglio
*2022 repress* Studio Mule present a re-recording of Motohiko Hamase's Intaglio, originally released in 1986. Currently the rediscovery of long-forgotten Japanese electronic, jazz, and new age music is at a peak like never before. Although many reissues have already hit record stores, the large, diverse musical culture of Japan still got some gems in store that are really missing. For example, the work of Japanese bass player, new age and ambient musician Motohiko Hamase. When the now 66-year ol…
Hoarded Dreams
*2022 stock* Graham Collier is one of the best known and most important British jazz composers and over a 40 year career, his list of compositions and commissions has grown to encompass ensembles around the world. He is well-known as an author and educator, having written seven books on jazz. Hoarded Dreams is a previously unreleased long-form composition heard here in a powerful live performance from 1983 by an international all-star band that includes Tomasz Stanko, Conny Bauer, Malcolm Griffi…
Shadows And Reflections
Super Tip ** original copies, last ones ** 'Trumpeter Baikida Carroll was once again in the company of alto saxophonist Julius Hemphill for a January 1982 recording with pianist Anthony Davis, bassist Dave Holland, and drummer Pheeroan Ak Laff for Soul Note called Shadows & Reflections. The material here sounded like it could have been a late Blue Note recording; in fact, there were times when the horns brought back flashbacks of the Jackie McLean-Charles Tolliver front line of the '60s. And for…
To Hear The World In A Grain Of Sand (World Music - Live At The Donaueschingen Festival)
** original copy ** "...Of course, they are all just 'grains of sand' in the universe of world music - and yet, a grain of sand, a drop of water, can be a symbol of the entire universe. In this way, the title given to his composition by German composer and saxophone player Berndt Konrad - 'To Listen To The World In A Grain Of Sand' - so beautifully expresses what this concert stands for." (from the CD liner notes by Joachim-Ernst Berendt). Live Recorded at the Donaueschingen Musiktage (Contemp…