★Nessa Records
Air Time
Vinyl repressing of a classic '70s jazz recording - one of the first recordings led by Pulitzer winner Henry Threadgill with bassist Fred Hopkins and drummer Steve McCall. This edition is limited to 550 copies pressed by QRP, the vinyl manufacturing division of Acoustic Sounds. These are 150 gram discs in 'rice paper' sleeves.Saxophonist Henry Threadgill, bassist Fred Hopkins and drummer Steve McCall originally came together in 1971 as a group designed to play the music of Scott Joplin for a Chi…
Signaling
**2020 stock** Cellist / composer Tomeka Reid and saxophonist / composer Nick Mazzarella have become valuable contributors to the Chicago music scene(s) for over a decade. This collection of duets demonstrates equally their instrumental skills and innate musicality. The saxophone / cello combination goes back to, at least, the '50s with the Chico Hamilton Quintet and recordings by Eric Dolphy and Ron Carter in the '60s. Most relevant here though is the pairing of Julius Hemphill and Abdul Wadud …
All the Numbers
These first recordings under Lester Bowie's name were made in 1967 with his compatriots from the Roscoe Mitchell Art Ensemble. Originally issued in edited form as Numbers 1 & 2 on a single LP, these two discs contain all the material recorded over two days in the studio. The first session was a trio date with Malachi Favors (bass, etc) and Roscoe Mitchell (saxophones, etc). A week later reed virtuoso Joseph Jarman was added to the group. These recordings were the first documentation of the quart…
Early Combinations
**2020 stock** As the title implies, this is the Art Ensemble in a formative stage. Three parts Roscoe Mitchell Art Ensemble and three parts Joseph Jarman quartet. A To Ericka was recorded for submission to a Jazz Festival in Poland and was not successful in landing them a ticket to Europe. Quintet was a dress rehearsal for a concert that was cancelled on the day of this recording. Luckily both performances survived on tape to reach a much larger audience than the concerts could have provided. B…
Saga of the Outlaws
Alto and baritone saxophonist Charles Tyler was an early associate of Albert Ayler and recorded with him for ESP in the middle 1960s. Tyler also recorded 2 dates for ESP under his own name. Saga of the Outlaws was recorded "live" at Sam Rivers' Studio Rivbea in 1976 and is generally considered to be his finest recording. The band includes Earl Cross - trumpet, Ronnie Boykins - bass, John Ore - bass and Steve Reid - drums. Charles moved to Europe in the middle '80s and died of cancer in 1992.