★Klimt
Brown Rice
If Eternal Rhythm was Don Cherry's world fusion masterpiece of the '60s, then Brown Rice is its equivalent for the '70s. But where Eternal Rhythm set global influences in a free jazz framework, Brown Rice's core sound is substantially different, wedding Indian, African, and Arabic music to Miles Davis' electrified jazz-rock innovations. And although purists will likely react here the same way they did to post-Bitches Brew Davis, Brown Rice is a stunning success by any other standard. By turns hy…
Eternal Now
Something of a sequel to Eternal Rhythm, his classic meeting of free jazz and world music from five years prior, Eternal Now found Don Cherry entering the studio for the tiny Sonet label, once again with members of the European avant-garde scene (this time from Sweden).
This time around, though, the focus swings decidedly to the world-folk end of things: The only standard Western instrument is the piano, featured on only two of the five pieces (one of which is a non-traditional, African-styled r…
Gilgamesh
* Red Vinyl edition * Gilgamesh were a British jazz fusion band in the 1970s led by keyboardist Alan Gowen, part of the Canterbury scene. The original basis of Gilgamesh was Gowen and drummer Mike Travis, the two working together on a band project with guitarist Rick Morcombe. The original Gilgamesh line-up consisted of Gowen, Travis, Morcombe, Jeff Clyne and Alan Wakeman on saxophone.The band's line-up took a while to stabilise, with, for example, Richard Sinclair depping for Clyne on their deb…
To Keep From Crying
* Royal Blue Vinyl edition * To Keep from Crying is the second album by progressive folk band Comus, released in 1974. It featured a notably different lineup from their other releases, with the violin/viola and woodwind spots replaced by keyboards and a conventional drum kit. The album's content has also been noted as sounding more mainstream than their earlier work, which centred more in conventional progressive rock and folk
New Directions in Modern Music
Avant-garde jazz drummer Rashied Ali played with John Coltrane up until his death in 1967, appearing on final recordings like The Olatunji Concert and Interstellar Space. After Coltrane's death, Ali soon formed his own quartet, with Fred Simmons on piano, Stafford James on bass violin and Carlos Ward on alto sax and flute. The quartet's first release, New Directions In Modern Music, released on Ali's own Survival Records in 1973, exploded onto the free jazz scene, influencing the likes of Don Ch…
Edu & Tom
** Clear LP ** Edu Lobo has to be considered one of the great mysteries of MPB. Already in the early hours of Bossa Nova, he has mainly worked for the renewal and development of the Brazilian Bossa Nova post. Edu Lobo remains a character in the shadows, discreet but effective. Known as a writer "complex and sophisticated", he is part of the circle of composers "melodist" like Tom Jobim, Marcos Valle and Francis Hime. On this 1981 album the duo with Anton Jobim works perfectly, offering classical…
João Gilberto
** Clear LP ** Originally released in 1973, Joao Gilberto aka The White Album, is as a timeless classic of the genre and one of Joao's definitive masterpieces. Featuring only the minimalist drumming of NY jazz drummer Sonny Carr (and the backing vocals of 'Miucha', Gilberto's second wife and sister of Chico Buarque on the final track), Joao spins a delicate web of sound that from the first notes of Tom Jobim's anthem 'Aguas De Marco' has the listener dreaming of Bahia, even though the album was …
Arzachel
One of the great lost albums of British psychedelia, original copies of Arzachel's 1969 self-titled debut fetch huge sums on the collectors' market and it is not difficult to understand why. Originally released in 1969 on the small Evolution label, this album quite simply contains some of the best psych to ever come out of the UK. However, like so many other great albums of the era, it soon dropped entirely from the radar due to bad promotion. In fact, it may not have ever been rediscovered at a…
Where Is Brooklyn?
Trumpeter Don Cherry, an Ornette Coleman soulmate and a world musician decades ago, became one of jazz’s many early losses 10 years back. But saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, who joins him on this fizzing 1966 set, has since ascended to cult status, and he is still around to admire . In the 1960s, he knew no melodic fear at all, in which respect he was aptly partnered with Cherry. This is a quartet set, strongly influenced by the melodic approach of Coleman, but with a fierce abstraction of tone qui…
Relativity Suite
**Strictly limited to 300 copies. Clear Vinyl** Finally available again on vinyl! Don Cherry's Relativity Suite, recorded with the Jazz Composer's Orchestra in 1973. At this time, Cherry was becoming increasingly interested in Middle Eastern and traditional African and Indian music, having traveled extensively and studied with Indian musician Vasant Rai. This suite of songs was particularly influenced by the Indian karnatic singing tradition, as can be heard from the very opening moments of the …
Body Music
**Royal blue vinyl edition** Ken Elliott was the keyboard player for Second Hand and Seventh Wave, two obscure and elusive bands from the Seventies British underground scene, and this is the first ever reissue of his ultra rare gem released in the UK in 1979. After fourty years Body Music still sounds as a highly eclectic album. This is groove oriented music based on a series of both motoric and infectious Electro Funk rhythms and Synth Pop Disco elements. In other words this is great fuel for d…
Affenstunde
**Transparent blue vinyl edition** Issued on Liberty in 1970, the debut LP by Popol Vuh features Florian Fricke's Moog synthesizer experiments at its most spirited wild. One of the earliest experimental Moog LPs, with Fricke's electronic explorations supported at times by Holger Trülszch's percussion, flying free at others, the result has been labeled as a dark, unmelodic, unprecedented sound and it settled the path for many Kraut adventurers to follow.Blending electronics with traditional percu…
In Reality
**Clear vinyl edition** In 1971, following the departure of his bandmate Jerry Cole, bassist Alan Henderson joined forces with U.S. guitarist Jim Parker and drummer John Stark to make this lost power trio classic - the last to be issued under the legendary Them moniker. It opens with a searing medley of the Them classics Gloria and Baby Please Don't Go, boasting superb interplay and savage psychedelic guitar throughout. Elsewhere, Stark and Parker flex their songwriting muscles on a series of po…
The End of the Game
**White vinyl edition** Peter Green's legendary debut album was released in June 1970, only a month after leaving Fleetwood Mac, the iconic band he formed in 1967. The End of the Game takes a radical shift from Green's previous works with the band. The music, produced through a long free form studio session based on almost non existent structures, takes us through a deep hypnotic sonic experience. Green on guitar was joined by Alex Dmochowski on bass, Godfrey Maclean on drums, Nick Buck on keybo…
Fela Ransome Kuti and his Koola Lobitos
**Clear vinyl edition** Before Afrobeat, there was Highlife-Jazz and Afro-Soul. Highlife music, originally from Ghana and widely popular across West Africa, dominated the music scene in Lagos when Fela Kuti returned to the newly independent Nigeria in 1963. Fela had been studying trumpet at Trinity College of Music in London where he met drummer Tony Allen, who also joined him in new group Koola Lobitos as they sought to mix things up by introducing the sounds they had heard in the capital's jaz…
Little Red Record
**Edition of 500 copies, pressed on color vinyl LP with a bonus track** From the 70's Canterbury scene, one of the greatest pieces of work in the genre. Matching Mole was the first band formed by Robert Wyatt after the seminal Soft Machine experience. An incredibly tight unit featuring Phil Miller (Hatfield and the North) on guitar, Dave McRae (Nucleus) on keyboards, Bill McCormick (Quiet Sun, 801) on bass and Wyatt himself on drums and vocals. Released in 1971 Little Red Record was Mole's secon…
In The Land Of Grey And Pink
2021 Repress. The third album by Canterbury's own Caravan, originally released in 1971, reissued with two full sides of bonus outtakes taken from the album's original recording sessions at A.I.R. and Decca studios in London in 1970-71. This was the last album to feature the original Caravan line-up, before David Sinclair left to form Matching Mole with Robert Wyatt (Soft Machine) later that year.
"In the Land of Grey and Pink is considered by many to be a pinnacle release from Caravan. The album…
Buy
Another newly reissued album included infamous and influential NWW list. An angular & brilliant mix of free jazz & post-punk funk, this seminal 1979 album is the quintessential No Wave release & the spark for much of what has come out of the Downtown New York music scene. Although James Chances Contortions had already appeared on Brian Enos legendary No New York compilation in 1978, Buy was the groups first full-length LP. An angular and brilliant mix of free jazz and post-punk funk, this semina…
Live at the Bracknell Jazz Festival
Small repress available, in process of stocking. The mid 80s were a pivotal period for Don Cherry. Much of his energies had been devoted to co-op projects like Codona and Old and New Dreams and he also helped jumpstart the Leaders. The time being ripe to form his own ensemble, Cherry created Nu, a quintet with saxophonist/flutist Carlos Ward, bassist Mark Helias, percussionist Nana Vasconcelos and drummer Ed Blackwell. Live at the Bracknell Jazz Festival, 1986 confirms Nu to be an ensemble that …
Harumi
Wow what a find! One of the trippiest albums recorded for Verve in the 60s -- a unique 2LP set by Japanese psyche artist Harumi -- and a record that stands proudly next to the best by Zappa or the Velvets at the time! Originally released in 1968, Harumi is a classic double album of obscure Japan meets Greenwich Village psych with legendary producer Tom Wilson at the helm, desperately trying to reign in the talents of this enigmatic Japanese artist on the outer fringes of an East/West freak out. …