Jazz /
Carvings
The William Penn Jazz Ensemble was formed by American composer and flutist Leslie Burrs. Throughout the 1970s, Leslie performed with several major jazz and funk artists, including Grover Washington Jr., Kool & The Gang, and most notably, with Del Jones for the now cult album Positive Vibes.
Carvings, recorded in 1982, holds a special place in Leslie's career. This album showcases Leslie's musical versatility and features clear influences of both jazz and classical music. The Ensemble's uncommon …
Compass Rises
Tip! When artsts self-releases their own recordings, they do so in the hopes that a hit might develop, or even better, a sphere of influence might form. In a lot of cases these records provide a stamp of existence and intent – a sonic business card showing what musicians were made of. Compass Rises (1973), the privately pressed sole LP by Oneonta, New York’s Compass, is both a sampling of versatility and a declaration of straight-ahead purpose.
Regularly active in upstate New York between 1969 …
Dusk Fire
Limited 2022 repress. Due to overwhelming demand for Jazzman Records' five-LP boxset, here are the first ever official individual reissues of all five of the iconic Lansdowne recording sessions by the legendary UK jazz combo, the Don Rendell-Ian Carr Quintet. The five albums; 1965's Shades Of Blues (JMAN 107X-LP), 1966's Dusk Fire, 1968's Phase III (JMAN 109X-LP), 1969's Change Is (JMAN 111X-LP), and 1969's Live (JMAN 110X-LP), have reached almost mythical status in the collector's world. Regard…
Shades of Blue
Limited 2022 repress. Due to overwhelming demand for Jazzman Records' five-LP boxset, here are the first ever official individual reissues of all five of the iconic Lansdowne recording sessions by the legendary UK jazz combo, the Don Rendell-Ian Carr Quintet. The five albums; 1965's Shades Of Blues, 1966's Dusk Fire (JMAN 108X-LP), 1968's Phase III (JMAN 109X-LP), 1969's Change Is (JMAN 111X-LP), and 1969's Live (JMAN 110X-LP), have reached almost mythical status in the collector's world. Regard…
Warm Up: The Complete Live At The Highwayman 1965
Limited edition double compact disc, in a gatefold digipack, of the never-before-released complete performance of the Don Rendell - Ian Carr Quintet at The Highwayman in November 1965. Includes a 20 page booklet with an essay written by Simon Spillett and previously unseen photographs. Only 1,000 copies available worldwide. The never-before-released complete performance of the Rendell-Carr Quintet at The Highwayman in November 1965.
“Live. Up close and personal. Palpable. Almost within reach. T…
Peace Treaty
*2022 stock. In process of stocking* “One of the first true moments of genius from saxophonist Nathan Davis – originally released in the mid 60s for the tiny SFP label – and a record that’s even rarer than his early classics for MPS! The sound here is similar to the MPS sides – a mixture of soul jazz and modal jazz – served up with a bit more freedoms than Davis might have gotten on the US scene, and featuring a lineup that includes Woody Shaw on trumpet, Jean-Louis Chautemps on baritone sax, Re…
Hoarded Dreams
*2022 stock* Graham Collier is one of the best known and most important British jazz composers and over a 40 year career, his list of compositions and commissions has grown to encompass ensembles around the world. He is well-known as an author and educator, having written seven books on jazz. Hoarded Dreams is a previously unreleased long-form composition heard here in a powerful live performance from 1983 by an international all-star band that includes Tomasz Stanko, Conny Bauer, Malcolm Griffi…
The Loneliest Flower in the Village
For the past 20 years Nostalgia 77 has become a catch all for the musical life of Benedic Lamdin. His schizophrenic offerings range from songwriting sessions, soundtracks, excursions into Soul and in this case Jazz. The Loneliest Flower in the Village is an album that sees Lamdin reunited with longtime collaborator and arranger Riaan Vosloo and experienced veterans from a host of Nostalgia 77 projects. 'It had been a long time since we'd gigged or recorded so the idea was as much a little reunio…
Black Orpheus
*2022 stock* "A beautifully spare session from the mid 70s – one that features bass and cello from Isao Suzuki – stretching out here in a sound that's totally unique! The trio's a great one – with Donald Bailey on drums and Tsuyoshi Yamamoto on both acoustic piano and Fender Rhodes – the latter of which sounds amazing next to Suzuki mellow-stepping lines. If you've heard any of Suzuki's other albums from the period, the style is somewhat similar – quite soulful throughout, but with an easygoing,…
Step!
*2022 stock* Naosuke Miyamoto Sextet's Step!, originally released in 1973. A fantastic modal jazz album, led by Naosuke Myamoto on bass, with Masayoshi Yoneda on the piano and Takashi Goto on saxophone. On One For Trane, the group delivers a strong and amazing moment of spiritual jazz. Also features Kunji Shigi (trumpet), Takashi Furuya and Shoji Nakayama (drums). Produced by Takeshi Jujii. Recorded on August 25, 1973.
Morning Flight
*2022 stock* Recorded in 1973, “Morning Flight” by trombonist Hiroshi Fukumura is a stunning modal and spiritual jazz album! Genius work from Japanese trombonist Hiroshi Fukumura – working here at the helm of a twin-trombone group that also features the talents of Shigeharu Mukai – in a style that's filled with soul and free-thinking imagination! The two players work together beautifully here – avoiding any of the cliches of trombone-heavy groups from the past – and instead, using the open-ended…
Standards
*2022 stock* Sublime release from Masaru Imada Trio. Imada's got a way of letting a tune really find its way organically – almost as if the songs here are little flowers opening up in his fingers on the keyboard of the piano – although never in a style that's "flowery" at all, because Imada's a master of finding just the right notes at the right moment – never embellishing things just to show off. Instead, his imagination finds all the best paths forwards, especially on his original tunes on the…
Alone Together
*2022 stock* "A lyrical duo work that was created during the legendary Czech-American jazz bass player, composer, also occasional saxophonist George Mraz's tight schedule. Imada's original, light "Blue Road" and romantic "Blue Rain" will make you intoxicated." - Koki Hanawa
The Reel
"The multifaceted drummer Chad Taylor, who proves to be as much virtuosic as practical in his chops, returns with his bass-less trio - featuring saxophonist Brian Settles and pianist Neil Podgursky - for a sophomore album whose program is a jewel. As a sideman, the drummer has been contributing to some of the most compelling projects by the Chicago Underground Quartet, saxophonists Avram Fefer and James Brandon Lewis, and bassist Eric Revis, just to name a few. He brings two of his own compositi…
Coltrane's Sound
Complete rendition of the saxophonist’s famed divinely inspired suite was recorded at Seattle’s Penthouse in 1965. Despite being John Coltrane’s most celebrated album, and one of the most beloved jazz albums of all time, A Love Supreme wasn’t a record that the saxophonist touched on much in the live setting. Up until now, most Coltrane enthusiasts have only ever heard a single live performance of the literally divinely inspired four-movement suite that makes up the LP. That will change in Octobe…
2nd Session 1956 Revisited
Here is a chance to hear Miles Davis in something close to real time. Small matter that most collectors of hard bop will have these sides already and will be familiar with a particular running order. Perhaps those who have invested in the complete sessions will have a clearer sense of the continuity of these remarkable sessions, but that now familiar obsession with the burrs and snarf of the studio process may win out over musical appreciation. What happened at Van Gelder’s on October 26 1956 is…
Erotica Suite
Nice, and official reissue of the rarest LP at cult Strata East label! John Gordon’s ‘Erotica Suite’ is one of the holy grail for deep and spiritual jazz fans, check the superb ‘Neleh’! A great later label effort under the leadership of trombonist John Gordon, with work by James Spaulding on alto and flute, John Miller on piano and keyboards, Waymond Reed on trumpet, Lyle Atkinson on bass, and Frank Derrick on drums and bells
Turkish Women At The Bath
This is a wonderful rediscovery, and one of the great lost sessions of the 60s. Drummer Pete LaRoca made only three albums as a leader during his heyday in the 1960s and now this long forgotten session is available once again. Although best known for his Blue Note debut Basra in 1965, LaRoca recorded two albums for Douglas Recordings in 1967, the previously released Bliss! and this obscure date. This session is a fascinating slice of late-60s modally influenced Jazz featuring an especially welco…
The Centaur And The Phoenix
2022 Stock From his first explosion of recordings in the mid-'50s, Yusef Lateef was a player who was always gently stretching the boundaries of his music to absorb techniques, new rhythms, and new influences from Africa, the Middle East and Asia. The Centaur and the Phoenix, however, takes the risks and the innovations that Lateef was known for, and expands them in a number of different directions all at once, leading to an album that bursts with new ideas and textures, while remaining accessib…
GSU Jazz Live!
*2022 stock* This is a live album performed by a band of college students from the Governor's State University in Chicago under the direction of Warwick L. Carter. Although there were many college bands that existed at the time, this is one quite unlike any other and under the strong leadership of Carter, the group rose to tower heights in a performance very fortunate to be recorded to tape.
The almighty jazz-funk cover of "Freedom Jazz Dance" under the title of "Listen Here" bursts with a stron…