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Live in 1965
A rousing live album from the Holy Modal Roundersfeaturing songs spanning their careers on both the ESP and Prestige labels. Digitally remastered Booklet with essay by John Kruth. Peter Stampfel(banjo, fiddle, violin, arranger, vocals, electric fiddle); Steve Weber (guitar, arranger, vocals). First live recording, recorded at Chess Mate, in Detroit, 1965. Digitally remastered. Booklet with essay byJohn Kruth.
Live At Cafe Montmartre 1966 Volume Two
"Don Cherry, more than any other artist in the jazz of his era, pioneered the music's internationalist nature that has now come to be commonly accepted as an integral part of its character. The individuality of Cherry's contribution to the history of jazz has often been unfairly obscured by his admittedly important association with the music ofOrnette Coleman. While the (pocket) trumpeter's position as Coleman's front line partner in the altoist's first revolutionary quartet was indeed a major o…
Gold
Lindha Kallerdahl studied jazz at renowned Swedish schools Skurup and Birka from 1993-1996. Situated in Stockholm, she was exposed to free music at a young age, and has participated in collaborations with Mats Gustavsson, David Stackenäs, Raymond Strid, Mattias Windemo, andFredrik Ljungkvist. In Summer 2000, Kallerdahl made a spectacular project with Jim O'Rourke, Mats Gustavsson, and dancer Lotta Melin. In 2001, she was awarded the prestigious Jazz in Sweden Prize, which resulted in the critica…
The Heliocentric Worlds Vol.3
Heliocentric Worlds Volume 3 is the continuation of the Heliocentric Worlds Volume 2 session, recorded the same day and with the same personnel, that has been lost for nearly 40 years. Recently, the tapes were discovered, digitally remastered, and are now available for the first time. Totally-unreleased studio material -- continuation of the session hailed as a "...masterpiece of free jazz."Sun Ra (piano, tuned bongos, clavioline); Marshall Allen (alto sax, pic, flute); Pat Patrick (bar sax);Wal…
Concert for the Comet Kohoutek
Recorded on December 22, 1973 in New York City at the famous Town Hall, this eclectic ESPDisk-sponsored celebration of the Comet Kohoutek featured a fire eater, talking drums, and dancers in platform shoes, in addition to Sun Ra's Arkestra. After taking the stage ninety minutes late, the band expertly navigates its way through cosmic free playing, big-band romps, and didactic vocal numbers. Compared to the original pressing, this re-issue is digitally remastered by Joe Phillips and includes brie…
Clarity
Before his career defining records on Arista/Novus in the 80s and 90s, jazz and fusion guitaristMichael Gregory Jackson recorded his debut for ESP-Disk'. The sessions, recorded in New York, Connecticut and Los Angeles in the summer of 1976 are wildly meditative and personify the seventies laid-back vibe. A trio of soft, lilting melodies set the mood; David Murray on tenor sax, Oliver Lake on flute, and the album's leader, Michael Gregory Jackson on acoustic guitar. The unfolding stream of ideas …
Black Beings
This version of Black Beings contains of 15 minutes of additional material thought to have been lost. When he started out on ESP-Disk', Frank Lowe was one of those hard-blowing tenor saxophonists we think of when we heard the phrase "free jazz." Born in Memphis, he moved to San Francisco and, while visiting New York, began playing with Alice Coltrane (on whose album World Galaxy he made his recording debut in 1971), Sun Ra, Rashied Ali, and Noah Howard, and eventually moved to the Big Apple. On …
Contact High With The Godz
"Contact High With the Godz is the first album, released in 1966, by this NYC-based band. The Godz were part of the Lower East Side scene that produced post-beat avant-hippie rockers/performance artists the Fugs and the Holy Modal Rounders, as well as beat performers like Allen Ginsberg. Sounding like a prototype for Half Japanese or the Shaggs, the Godz play as if they discovered their instruments ten minutes before the tape started rolling. Digitally remastered. Issued in digipak format with o…
Straying On The Watch
The noted west coast composer makes his ESP debut accompanied by his then wife, Barbara Donald, on trumpet, Teddy Smith on bass, John Hicks on piano and Marvin Pattillo on percussion. Recorded August 1966, Staying on the Watch is an important infusion of straight-ahead and avant jazz. Barbara Donald is a superb trumpeter who has made a stern contribution to the legacy of women performers and has been widely written about. Also, pianist John Hicks, who makes his New York debut on the record, went…
Charles Tyler Ensemble
Charles Tyler, from Albert Ayler's band, makes a startling statement on his debut solo record. His group, featuring an unusual instrumentation of cello, bass, drums, orchestra vibes, and saxophone, plays through his original compositions and showcases some heated solos. Although primarily known as a baritone sax player, Charles Tyler is featured on alto sax yet his sound and concept are fully evident on this record. Performers: Charles Tyler: alto sax; Charles Moffett: orchestra vibes;Joel Freed…
The Giuseppi Logan Quartet
On November 11th, 1964, Giuseppi Logan went to Bell Sound Studios to record his first album for the newly-formed ESP-Disk label. Bernard Stollmandiscovered Giuseppi and others who would form the nucleus of his label at the October Revolution Concert of 1964. For the recording, Giuseppi chose friends and fellow music companions Don Pullenand Milford Graves, and added bassist extraordinaire Eddie Gomez. The session is rich with imagination, and added to the dimension of musicians who would become …
The New York Art Quartet
“Roswell Rudd assembled the newly formed New York Quartet for an afternoon recording session at Bell Sound Studios in midtown Manhattan. They were joined by a small, youthful appearing individual, the poet Amiri Baraka. Their engineer was the late Art Crist, an accomplished pianist. I was introduced to Lewis Worrell, Amiri Baraka andJohn Tchicai. The group was short lived. I heard them again 40 years later, when they reassembled for a concert at the South Street Seaport in New York City, opening…
Kahraba
Restocked!! Kahraba is the debut studio album of Islam Chipsy's EEK. Recorded in late 2014 in downtown Cairo, it contains four tracks perfectly representing Chipsy's wild and inimitable artistic spectrum, ranging from the frenzied sound signature technique that brought him his fame ('Trinity' and 'Kahraba') to the band's individual maneuverings of typical Egyptian standards such as the Northeastern Nile delta 'Simsimiyya' in 'El-Bawaba' or Upper Egypt's traditional 'Mouled Saidi' in 'Mouled El-G…
Whispers From The Archive
Outstanding work from bassist/percussionist Juma Sultan – a wealth of wonderful tracks from the loft jazz years of the 70s! Sultan's a player who doesn't always get his due on record – especially during this formative generation. Most of the tunes are quite spiritual, and feature a shifting lineup that really keeps things fresh – players who include Sultan on bass, percussion, and flute – plus Ali Abuwi on drums, flute, and oboe; Kasa Allah and Earl Cross on piano, Art Bennett on tenor,…
Virtually
The previously unreleased show captured on Virtually, recorded 3/23/71, presents the classic quartet Softs [Elton Dean/Mike Ratledge/Hugh Hopper/Robert Wyatt] during their final European tour & just 4 months before their dissolution. The recording [licensed from German radio & taken from the master tapes] is superb for the time period, & the performance really sparkles, with everyone shinning, although special note must be made of Robert's drumming, as he plays with more gusto on this show than …
Way Back When
This is a truly stupendous archival find, with broad appeal to both jazz and early fusion fans. This never before released album was recorded on October 7th, 1969 by John Surman and British jazz superstars. It is a mix between the vibrancy of late 60's uk jazz and spacey early electric jazz/rock ala "In A Silent Way"; listening to this album, you can hear that the fusion explosion is on the cusp of happening. Soprano/baritone saxophonist John Surman is one of the UK's best known jazzmen, having …
Metatron
"We take it for granted today, but not too long ago, integrating electronics into a rock setting was something exotic and strange..... Heldon and Richard Pinhas are considered building blocks for whole schools of experimental rock music, and one of the few who rarely fail to deliver on the hype." –Pitchfork Media"Richard Pinhas demonstrates that he is capable of contstructing some of the most formidable but exhilharating sonic edifices ever heard by mortal ears." – Bill Tilland, All Music GuideM…
Tabligh
Recorded live, the sound on Tabligh veers from a sound akin to early electric jazz ala "In A Silent Way" and especially 'the lost quintet' of Miles in late 1969/early 1970, to both more sparse and modern jazz fare, all of it informed by the distinctive personalities of these four players and their leader's musical concepts."Smith is working at his highest level since the mid '70s. This quartet - with its combination of maturity, craftsmanship, and sense of adventure - is the perfect band to real…
NDR Jazz Workshop - Hamburg, Germany 1973
Released for the very first time here is the Soft Machine's television broadcast, recorded for Germany's famous "NDR Jazz Workshop" on May 17, 1973. This performance was one of the earliest shows by the quartet of Roy Babbington (electric bass), Karl Jenkins (oboe, baritone sax, soprano sax, electric piano), John Marshall (drums) and Mike Ratledge (electric piano, organ). This was a very high profile appearance by the group and for this performance Soft Machine made it a special show. They perfo…
Metal / Crystal
In Metal/Crystal, French experimental guitarist and electronic musician Richard Pinhas summons the assistance of noise artists Merzbow (Masami Akita) from Japan and Wolf Eyes from USA to weave a spellbinding aural web that spans 2 CDs.Over the years, many artists in the 'noise arena' have expressed interest in his pioneering use of synthesizers and electronics in rock and contemporary music. Pinhas has likewise been intrigued by various areas of the ‘noise’ scene and Metal/Crystal, recorded "dur…