Jazz /
The Dealer
Verve By Request continues its essential reissue series with Chico Hamilton's "The Dealer", a previously overlooked 1966 gem that captures one of jazz's most innovative drummers at a pivotal creative moment – and marks the recording debut of future fusion pioneer Larry Coryell. While Hamilton built his reputation discovering and nurturing young talent throughout his decades as a bandleader, "The Dealer" represents one of his most prescient finds. Coryell's solid and mellow performance lends a di…
Barcelona Traction
Top notch jazz-rock-fusion with funk and Latin touches from Catalonia, 1975. Featuring Lucky Guri on electric piano (Rhodes) & Mini Moog, Jordi Clua on bass and Francis Rabassa on drums. Original artwork in gatefold sleeve and insert with liner notes by Àlex Gómez-Font & photos. RIYL: Placebo, Soft Machine, Egg, Return To Forever, Weather Report…“After recording in 1972 the cult album "We Are Digging The Beatles" with ex-Màquina! sax player Peter Rohr, innovative pianist Lucky Guri decided to fo…
A Cosmic Poet From Martinique 1979-1989
Creole poetry, folk mysticism and heavy-grooving cosmic synths combine on this unprecedented survey of spiritual Martinique polymath Gratien Midonet’s first four albums. “I always broke free from the rules, from codes being too narrow,” says poet, musician and sonic shaman Gratien Midonet. “I have always had this sense of peaceful knowledge that there is no separation between genres, beings and universal things.” For Midonet, pushing musical boundaries was less a choice than an extension of his …
Darius (LP)
Rare original 1974 edition on Mosaic of this masterwork of balance between composition and improvisation.
Point Of Departure (LP)
Rare excellent privately produced LP on MD in 1979 featuring Marc Moulin’s-Placebo keyboards player Michel Herr.
Live At Montreux 72 (LP)
Original 1972 LP on Les Disques Pierre Cardin, with typical sleeve with round corners, of superb fusion / free improvisation by the French masters, never re-issued on either LP or CD.
Chateauvallon 76 (LP)
Original 1979 LP (recorded 1976) on L'Escargot, of superb experimental fusion / free jazz by the French masters, never re-issued on either LP or CD.
Special Alloy
Excellent CD-only album on Olufsen from 2000 by the avant-garde big band put together by Hugh Steinmetz after Cadentia Nova Danica with lots of first-class Danish musicians.
System Tandem (LP)
Lovely 1975 album on Japo of sax/flute and guitar duos by the illustrious Czeck musicians. Never re-issued on either CD or LP. Black labels edition.
Zodiac (LP)
Excellent and diverse album on Supraphon from 1978, a wild hybrid of modal and postbop arrangements populated with Penderecki and Ligeti-like choral writing in a dizzying array of styles.
The Suite Unraveling
2014 release ** "Brooklyn based Lily Maase is a guitarist and composer of powerful originality. Influenced equally by Ornette Coleman, Morbid Angel and electronic music, she has created a modern jazz-rock fusion that captures the funky edge of Blood Ulmer with minimalism, indie rock and a touch of psychedelics. Powerful riffs, spontaneous conducting techniques, searing solos and a unique lyricism from this exciting New York based trio!"
Ich Will Die Zeit Nicht Bereuen / Sonderbar
Sound Essence is more than proud to presents a very special production from East Germany of the early 70s! One of the TOP Soul-Jazz & Beat combos in the country led by bassist and singer Horst Kruger, recorded two previously unreleased, outrageously good titles here in the newly formed septet format. "Ich will die Zeit nicht bereuen" ("I don't want to regret the time") is probably by far one of the most crispy produced German-language soul beats numbers that existed in the GDR at that time! From…
Dedos
Here comes a true South American Latin JazzFunk treasure from Argentina!!! Sound Essence is more than proud to present these lost recordings from 1974 to music lovers again in all their glory. Carlos Franzetti, who has once again been in the spotlight in recent years thanks to the re-release of his strong late 70s JazzFusion record "Graffiti", was also in charge of this record called Dedos. The story behind: In 1974, after Carlos Franzetti was living in Mexico and worked as the musical director…
That Look Of You / The New York Business
Here comes one of the most exclusive and sought-after recordings of a hotel band from the Caribbean Antilles. The resident and highly talented soul singer Lloyd Baptiste played there during the 70s with his group "The Joys" in the popular hotel called Divi Divi on the then Dutch island of Aruba.
The finest soul, funk and disco filled the repertoire of this outstanding formation. This led to the hotel management sending them to the Pyramid Sound Studio, New York in 1976 for advertising purposes a…
Gruppo AdRa
This recording is an experiment in composing from percussion first. To feel movement in harmony and arrangement through the improvising senses of a percussionist. The melodic and harmonic elements appeared instantly after recording the percussion with Rama Parwata. The additional Tenor Saxophone of Cheryl Durongpisitkul (Sola) and Bass Clarinet of Flora Carbo (Sfondo and Mondo) were the final touches to bring life into the music. The result is a through-composed work, a narrative starting inside…
The Celestial Squid
2015 release ** "...The Celestial Squid is so special... Here are two of the greats....no, the greatest." – Jim O'Rourke. "The Celestial Squid pairs guitarist/improviser Henry Kaiser with one of his earliest idols, British guitarist, producer, arranger, and composer Ray Russell. Kaiser has a long history of recording with players he admires and has been influenced by, including John Abercrombie, Derek Bailey, David Lindley, and Fred Frith. Russell may be somewhat of a cipher to non-guitar heads.…
I/O
Akio Niitsu's first album, "I/O(i･o)" released in 1978, was produced in a homemade studio that had been converted from a storeroom in his home, and he spent three years doing everything from composition to engineering by himself, using overdubbed guitar recordings. Akio Niitsu's first analog re-release has been decided.
As a guitar multi-recording album, the idea was realized six years earlier than the album "E2-E4" released in 1984 by Manuel Göttsching, the central figure of "Ash La Tempel", bu…
Spiritual Sound (Mizik Filamonik)
Telluric, intense, terribly alive, the gwoka drums of Guadeloupe carry the identity of a painful and fervent island. Marked forever by the crime of slavery, Guadeloupe's créolité cherishes the ka drums and their natural environment: the low-pitched boula drum with male goatskin, the high-pitched soloist makè drum with female goatskin, the chacha, ti bwa, triangle, calabash and other percussion instruments that surround them, and the voices - the fiery, proud, timbred, urgent voices of the gwoka.…
Reflections Of A Golden Dream
Lonnie Liston Smith was one of the most important musicians to emerge in jazz in the 1970s. His 1975 album ‘Expansions’ is one of the foundation stones of modern dance music and his recordings have been sampled by many of the biggest artists in the world. His music was a cosmically inspired spiritual interpretation of the music he had been making during his time with Pharoah Sanders, Gato Barbieri and Miles Davis.
Released in 1976,“Reflections On A Golden Dream”, the follow-up to “Expansions”, w…