Jazz /
Medasi
If being the founder and chairman of Third World Press Organisation - the largest independent black-owned publishers - wasn't enough for activist and poet Haki R Madhubuti, he is also credited with a lesser-known yet remarkable music career. As the bandleader of Haki R. Madhubuti and Nation: Afrikan Liberation Arts Ensemble, Madhubuti combined his razor-sharp spoken-word poetry with a band of incredible musicians to create an unforgettable experience of avant-garde and spiritual jazz.
The second…
Live At Théâtre Du Chêne Noir, Avignon, France 1989
*2022 stock* On October 14th 1989, Horace Tapscott, founder of the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, performed alongside his close friend and musical partner Michael Session at the Théâtre du Chêne Noir in Avignon, France. This was during a tour in which they traveled across Europe. The duo presented compositions by Leimert Park musicians Jesse Sharps, Nate Morgan and Tapscott himself.
The stark instrumentation of this concert led to minimal arrangements of compositions typically performed by much l…
The Sojourner
Japanese label P-Vine sure know how to pick out the essential spiritual jazz reissues. This is another gold standard that came originally on Strata East in 1974. Vocals feature throughout and often soar to the highest of heights and make it a charismatic album. Sample hounds and hip hop lovers might well recognise the track 'Optimystical' which has been pillaged by Detroit great Andres before now. Elsewhere there is real freeform magic on 'Music Is Nothing But A Prayer', cosmic exploration on 'T…
Ptah, The El Daoud
* Grey-area LP reissue, perfect replica of the original * Ptah, the El Daoud, recorded and released in 1970, is the third solo album by Alice Coltrane. The album was recorded in the basement of her house in Dix Hills on Long Island, New York. This was Coltrane's first album with horns (aside from one track on A Monastic Trio – 1968 - on which Pharoah Sanders played bass clarinet). Sanders is recorded on the right channel and Joe Henderson on the left channel throughout. Coltrane noted: "Joe Hend…
Aomawa: The 1970s Recordings (4LP Box)
4x CD Box set in printed fold-over CD case release from Strut Records. With a 32-page b&W info booklet featuring extended interviews with The Pyramids by Francis Gooding and a host of unseen photos. A brand new 4CD box set bringing together the incredible 1970s recordings of Afrofuturism pioneers The Pyramids, led by saxophonist Idris Ackamoor. The set features the remastered LPs Lalibela, King Of Kings and Birth / Speed / Merging alongside the first ever vinyl issue of their live session for K…
Atalaya
*Limited edition of 555 copies.* Atalaya is new work by bassist Dezron Douglas, and it is alive. That is, ‘alive’ in all the ways that jazz is at its best – as a pure and personal expression of Black Music channeled through time-honored traditions by a group of musicians who practice sonic coherence through musical unity. As Dezron puts it in the opening statement of his liner notes for the album: “Mysticism, Magic, Faith, Love, Power, Discernment! These are words that embody the creative proces…
Daguri
The music Coltrane, Tyner and others did back in their prime made a sizable ripple in jazz. Many went on to emulate their style well after the originators either died or moved on. For the most part I find these emulator (or keepers of the flame, to be more polite) to be either alright or great. Kohsuke Mine Quintet is one of those greater ones. They're relatively obscure from what I gather, releasing only a few albums back in the 70s and a resurgence album in the 90s but their music is much more…
Universal Tonality
William Parker’s Universal Tonality documents an epic performance which brings his titular concept to full, vibrant life. An exquisite example of this system in practice, it features a truly once-in-a-lifetime assembly of creative music luminaries and legends. Clocking in at nearly two hours and featuring six extended pieces flowing across two discs, this Universal Tonality happening took place in December 2002. Parker invited 16 musicians of various ages, cultures and musical backgrounds – to j…
2061
*In process of stocking.* If one was to interpret the whole output of EABS in general, an inquisitive listener would notice that each subsequent album stems from the previous one. The overtones are similar and they can be treated as variations on the same theme. The only thing that changes is the background of the story. It is all about life and death, the beginning and the end of the world, and the role of human beings entangled in all this existentially. Following the futurism lessons from Sun…
Drum Dance to the Motherland
Tip! There’s not another album on the planet that sounds even remotely like vibraphonist Khan Jamal’s eccentric, one-of-a-kind masterpiece, Drum Dance To The Motherland. Thirty years after its release, the album’s tapestry of sound, fearless abstractions, relentless grooves, cool swing, flashes of ecstasy, & pan cultural embrace remain powerful & beyond category. One of only three albums released on the Philadelphia-based Dogtown label, it was barely distributed beyond the city’s limits when it …
Shukuru
'Pharoah Sanders' "Shukuru" is noteworthy as being the album that reunited Sanders with vocalist Leon Thomas, who sang on some of Sanders' most endearing and powerful compositions-- among them the legendary "The Creator Has a Masterplan".
Thomas only joins the band on two tracks-- "Mas in Brooklyn (Highlife)" and "Sun Song". The former gets a full calypso reading complete with steel drum sounds and chanted vocals traded between Sanders and Thomas. It's a lot of fun, but by and large, throwaway. …
Afro Trane
*In process of stocking. Limited edition of 250 copies.* Third all-solo outing from Nat Birchall. This time Nat pays homage to the patron saint of the tenor saxophone, John Coltrane. With a balanced programme of original songs and John Coltrane compositions the album focusses on the more Afrocentric aspects of the music.
Blue Lotus
The Classic Greg Foat Group line-up returns with special guests Art Themen on Soprano Saxophone and Morgan Simpson (Black Midi) on Drums. Heavy synth and percussive grooves.
Blood In My Eye (A Soul Insurgent Guide)
*Limited edition of 500 copies.* It was during the long stretch of isolation that I received a message from Bashi Rose. A big brother figure to many of us in Baltimore during the 1990s - 2000s, he’s been a fixture on the scene as a poet, writer, theatre person, director, and most recently drummer. His message came shortly after the release of the Ocean Bridges lp by Archie Shepp, Damu, and Raw Poetic (on which Bashi and Jamal Moore both played integral parts). I was blown away by the music and p…
Hyperituals Vol. 1 - Soul Note
Drawing to light rhythms, grooves and Afrocentric traditions, Hyperjazz Records takes an unprecedented dive into the incredible back catalog of the seminal Italian imprint, Soul Note, with “Hyperituals Vol. 1”. Gathering an astounding group of recordings by Billy Bang, Hamiet Bluiett, Beaver Harris, Paul Motian, Tony Scott, George Russell, Andrew Cyrill, Max Roach, Nanà Vasconcelos, and others - many of which have never before appeared on vinyl - across a beautifully produced double LP, the albu…
Tauhid
Recorded November 15, 1966 at Van Gelder Studios, Englewood Cliffs - New Jersey, Tauhid is one of the most iconic album recorded by the tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders. On his debut for Impulse ! the leader assembled an extraordinary line-up, defining the boundaries of the so-called spiritual jazz movement. Henry Grimes (bass) Roger Blank (drums), Sonny Sharrock (guitar), Nat Bettis (percussion) and Dave Burrell (piano)Pharoah, (born Farrell Sanders of Little Rock, Arkansas on October 13, 1940…
Future Percussion + Sotto e 'Ncoppa
Tip! This bundle includes the two recently reissued Future Percussion and Sotto e 'Ncoppa. A lost bit of 70s Italian modal jazz, with spiritual overtones and global percussion from drummer extraordinaire Tullio De Piscopo – an incredible set of heavily rhythmic grooves recorded in Milan in 1978 – originally a tiny edition effort on Carosello Records, and the most impressive rediscovery yet from New Platform! For the occasion, the Tullio De Piscopo Quintet meets Argentine percussionist Luis Ag…
Soundnitia / Soundmagnificat / Soundmusication
Tip! This bundle includes the following items:
"Soundnitia" is the cipher under which the experimental group The Talismen constituted in 1974 and made its presence known on the Jazz scene with the first LP. The initiator and spiritus rector of the avant-garde ensemble is the saxophonist Fitz Gore, a "stormer of the valves" and unknown to the augurs of the jazz scene. As a saxophonist and a newcomer, he documents with his ultra-hard sound. Fukara (Swahili) is a clear affinity to the school of "h…
Blue Notes for Mongezi / Blue Notes for Johnny
This bundle includes the following items:"Blue Notes for Mongezi" (2LP, 1976)Otoroku is proud to present the first vinyl reissue of "Blue Notes for Mongezi", one of the most passionate celebrations of a life in music ever laid to tape. Recorded in late 1975 by Blue Notes, then reduced to a quartet - Dudu Pukwana on alto sax, whistle, percussion, and vocals; Johnny Dyani on bass, bells, and vocals; Louis Moholo-Moholo on drums, percussion, and vocals; and Chris McGregor on piano, and percussion …
The Temple Within
When Matthew Halsall released Salute to the Sun in November 2020, his first new album in five years, he shared the first fruits from an especially fertile period of writing and recording, which also gave birth to the music released here as The Temple Within.
The recording sessions featured Halsall's then brand new band of hand-picked local musicians, brought together through weekly rehearsals and a monthly residency at Yes in Manchester, they forged an immersive, communal sound, drawing on spiri…