Jazz /
Dr Tree
Big Tip! In 1971, Dr Tree emerged as a highly innovative jazz-fusion ensemble from Auckland, formed by two of New Zealand's most seasoned session musicians, Frank Gibson Jr. and Murray McNabb - the pair had jammed together since grammar school. Drawing sizable crowds while working the Auckland circuit, the band caught the attention of EMI scout, Alan Galbraith, who wasted no time signing them up for an album. Galbraith, a trained musician and adventurous producer, brought in additional support f…
Ortodòxia
At the dawn of the seventies, Barcelona's underground scene veered towards a jazz-oriented fusion sound with echoes of Gary Burton, Miles Davis and John McLaughlin. Two bands were at the forefront of this movement: Om and Jarka. The latter being the brainchild of Jordi Sabatés, one of the most talented pianists/keyboardists in the Catalan scene. A generation younger than the late great Tete Montoliu, with whom he also recorded, he found fame on the teenage pop charts of the late sixties with the…
By All Means
At the time of his death in 2016 at the age of 68, drummer, composer and multi-instrumentalist Alphonse Mouzon had for decades been a major force within the jazz, fusion, R&B and pop arenas. The early eighties was a time when Mouzon toyed with disco and channelled funk. His musical amalgam was a far cry from the Saturday Night Fever brand – he brought more funk, more soul, more spontaneous creativity into the mix. For By All Means, Mouzon brought together musicians who were masters in virtually …
Total Space
Although MPS was known for his studio and brilliant recording technique, Rolf Kühn decided not to record his albums in the studio in the Black Forest. At MPS, Rolf Kühn was allowed free rein to choose the team for the recordings and so he decided to get Wolfgang Hirschmann on board, one of the most interesting sound engineers in jazz at that time. Together with him and seven other musicians, “Total Space” was recorded in January 1975 in the Cornet Studios in the south of Cologne, Germany. Having…
Eternity
*2024 stock* Released in 1976, Eternity was Alice Coltrane's first album for Warner Bros. after eight wondrous records on Impulse! Combining the drones and textures of India, the gospel and R&B of her Detroit youth and the dissonance of modern classical composition, Coltrane's music in the '70s would become increasingly difficult to categorize. Having moved a few years earlier to California (where she founded the Vedantic Center, an Ashram for spiritual studies), Coltrane stretches out on Eterni…
Carmell's Black Forest Waltz / B's Blues
Considered one of Nathan Davis’ best albums, and long a collector’s item, The Hip Walk was recorded in 1965, a time when the Afro-American Davis lived in Europe, working with such legends as Kenny Clarke, Eric Dolphy, and Art Blakey. Nathan’s Kansas City school mate, trumpeter Carmell Jones comes along for the ride. Jones played trumpet on Horace Silver’s classic 1965 Song for My Father – ‘nuff said about his credentials! Nathan’s rhythm section represents the underpinning of one of the greatest…
Echoes of Africa
Highly recommended, a true Revelation! After a long hiatus since the homonymous 2006 release on Schema Records, The Invisible Session is back with Echoes Of Africa to be released on the newly-launched Space Echo label. Initiated in 2006 by Schema Records’ co-founder and musician Luciano Cantone, The Invisible Session’s influences are rooted in Black music. Written in collaboration with trombonist and multi-instrumentalist Gianluca Petrella, and with lyrics by poet, rapper, and MC Martin Thomas P…
Arkinetics
There are many cultures that use repetitive, percussive music to induce meditative states. In cultures as diverse as those in Asia, the Middle East, and West Africa, the drum has been used to weave entrancing patterns that move the body and mind. Drummer/composer Dan Kurfirst has been studying the drums, rhythms, and their combined effects on the body and mind. His new recording, Arkinetics, provides a fascinating encapsulation of his study of global rhythms, free improvisation, and engaging pro…
Najwa
Wadada Leo Smith´s new album Najwa features four compositions in tribute to past masters of creative music, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Ronald Shannon Jackson and Billie Holiday, as well as the title composition "Najwa" in remembrance of a love lost. Compared to Smith´s prior recordings, the presence of four guitarists and Bill Laswell´s electric bass create a unique sound world and fluidity for the music. Although Wadada Leo Smith has worked with electric guitars in the past, including in h…
Sonnet
"Tee" in Tee and Company is the nickname of Three Blind Mice's founder and producer Takeshi Fujii, who formed the all-star group of eight top Japanese jazz musicians in 1977 for a series of concerts and seven days of studio recording that produced three separate albums. This supergroup included who's who of the Japanese jazz scene: Kenji Mori and Takao Uematsu on saxophones, Masaru Imada on piano, Masayuki Takayanagi on guitar, Hideto Kanai on bass, Nobuyoshi Ino on electric bass, Hiroshi Muraka…
Maiden Voyage
"Five of Japan's most famous arrangers (Miki, Yamaya, Takahashi, Ueda, Maeda) have come together to create a rare big band work. Highlights include the title track with its electric sound arranged by Miki and the dynamic "Giant Steps" arranged by Maeda. "Koki Hanawa
Wamono A To Z Vol.II (Japanese Funk 1970-1977)
Following the highly acclaimed Volume I, dig further into the Wamono sound - the cream of the Japanese jazz, funk, soul, rare groove and disco music developed throughout the years since the end of the sixties in Japan! Active as a professional DJ in Japan since the late eighties, DJ Yoshizawa Dynamite is also a renowned remixer, compiler and producer. An avid record collector and an expert of the Wamono style, Yoshizawa published the Wamono A to Z records guide book in 2015 which instantly sold…
Spanish Flower
“Spanish Flower” by Tee & Company, an all-star band assembled by producer Takeshi “Tee” Fujii, is an extended (nearly 19 minutes) modal workout very much in the mode of Coltrane or McCoy Tyner‘s 1970s solo work, but the tasteful guitar solo that appears at the 11:30 mark, right after the flute fanfare, is by none other than Masayuki Takayanagi!
Dragon Garden
Masayuki Takayanagi, a charismatic artist who relentlessly pursued new jazz. Three albums by Tee & Company, the strongest big combo of the 20th century under Takayanagi. This is their second album. Includes the fast-paced "Dragon Garden". The other three tracks, in which Takayanagi, Mori and others interplay with a unique sense of time, are also must-listen.
Wamono Groove (Shakuhachi & Koto Jazz Funk '76)
Following the already classic Wamono A to Z trilogy, 180g presents an exceptional collection of jazz funk / rare groove tunes recorded in the mid-seventies at the Nippon Columbia studios by three giants of Japanese music: arranger Kiyoshi Yamaya, koto legend Toshiko Yonekawa and shakuhachi master Kifu Mitsuhashi.Born in 1932 in Tokyo, Kiyoshi Yamaya started his musical career in 1953 when he played in various jazz bands in town. In 1957, Yamaya joined Nobuo Hara’s famous jazz big band Sharps & F…
SAC School Of American Craftsmen
Outernational Sounds present a reissue of Jeff Resnick's SAC ("School Of American Craftsman"), originally released in 1978. Organically funky, laced with avant-garde synth textures, and studded with breakbeats, the second release on Outernational Sounds is Jeff Resnick's unique, ultra-rare, 1978 promotional recording for the School for American Craftsmen, at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Five tracks of soul jazz and modal fusion -- re-modeling Trane, and opening with a variation of "Nor…
Birth Of A Fossil
Wendell Harrison was born in Detroit in 1942 where he began formal jazz studies for piano, clarinet and tenor saxophone. At 14, while still in high school, Harrison started performing & recording professionally with artists such as Marvin Gaye, Grant Green, Sun Ra, Hank Crawford … and many others.
In 1971, Harrison began teaching music at Metro Arts (a multi-arts complex for youth) where he also connected with Marcus Belgrave, Harold McKinney and Phil Ranelin…soon after they formed the (now lege…
Akuma Ga Kitarite Fue Wo Fuku
Hozan Yamamoto, a legend of Japanese jazz, he is rightly regarded as a true master and was recognised as a "living national treasure" by the Japanese government in 2002. Over five decades he pushed the genre into new directions, absorbing fusion, funk, spiritual jazz and many other sounds, resulting in a discography studded with gems of rare beauty. Exploring his back catalogue has taken us on an engrossing journey that now sees us reissuing another work from this ground-breaking musician.Though…
Umbra
Rare jazz funk ,fusion Lp. Private label from 1978.Hailing from Knoxville, Tennesee, Joel Fairstein has earned critial praise as Jazz pianist, composer, producer, and studio musician. His first album, "Umbra", an LP recorded at age 24 with eighteen sidemen has since become a sought-after collector item.First ever worldwide reissue.Transfered directly from mastertapes.