Jazz | Fusion Vinyl 456 Items

Recorded: November 1970 in Rudy Van Gelder Studios, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, USA

Japanese jazz/breakbeat, folkloric mega-rarity as hallowed the likes of DJ Shadow, Cut Chemist, Egon and co. Uniquely combines traditional Japanese instrumentation with Western jazz influences. Minoru Muraoka plays ‘shakuhachi’ – a traditional bamboo Japanese flute – joined by his band members accompanying him on the ‘koto’ (strings) and ‘tsu-tsumi’ (drum) amongst others, to create their ‘Shakuhachi Jazz’ sound.

A download code is included. Carefully ReEdited, 100% Original Lady of Mine is the 1989 debut LP by self-made Italian-American Joe Tossini. An astoundingly honest, passionate record of cosmopolitan lounge music, he willed this charming suburban oddity into existence without any formal musical training.

Originally released in 1983 Stop Bajon (Primavera) became a favourite in Rimini Discotheques, Balearic Islands and even Chicago during the early house days. It was an anthem on what went on to become the Italo Disco movement. The vocal mix is still revered and played to this day by DJ's such as DJ Harvey at his Mercury Rising night at Pikes, Ibiza. This special limited edition release from Best Record Italy features for the first time the original acapellas (tracked down during tape restoration) plus the song Stadera that was available only on the first italian pressing and of course the original extended club vocal and instrumental.

Most of the musicians who gathered to record this fantastic spiritual jazz record for the Strata-East label on May 24th, 1974 had crossed each other's paths in various musical pairings over the preceding few years. Husband and wife team Dee Dee Bridgewater (vocals) and Cecil Bridgewater (trumpet) had been working together on albums like Frank Foster's "Loud Minority", and Roy Ayers' "Coffy" and "Virgo Red". Ten weeks before the "Freedom Of Speech" session, the couple had been joined in Tokyo by Cecil's brother Ronald Bridgewater (tenor saxaphone) to record Dee Dee's debut album, the beautiful "Afro Blue". Also in the studio on May 24th, 1974 was Donald Smith, (piano, vocals), fresh from recording on his older brother Lonnie Liston Smith's "Cosmic Funk" - on which Ronald Bridgewater had also played percussion. Cecil McBee (bass) was also there - just two weeks before, he'd completed his own Strata East date "Mutima", and in February he'd played on Mtume's "Rebirth Cycle" - with both albums also featuring Dee Dee Bridgewater on vocals. He'd also played on Lonnie Liston Smith's "Astral Travelling".
So 1974 was a huge year for all five of these people. Donald Smith and Cecil McBee were six months away from recording on Lonnie Liston Smith's massive "Expansions", with McBee fitting in a few Pharoah Sanders albums in between.
AND THEN, THE MYSTERY ... So with all this fervent activity, the question has to be asked ...Who was Billy Earl Parker Jr (drums), the leader of this session?
Billy Parker remains unlisted as a musician on all major jazz sites. His only other recording appears to be as a percussionist on Charles Tolliver's "Impact" in 1975.

“Places” is an important album for the Norwegian saxophonist with its stellar transatlantic line-up.

“Places” brings together another congregation of musicians that could only come from ECM. Drummer Jack DeJohnette lassoes his scurrying loops to the acoustic hooks of guitarist Bill Connors, while John Taylor supplements most of the cargo with organ. At the helm of this vessel is Jan Garbarek, whose saxophonism starts high and goes only higher. With cumulative notecraft and a heartfelt commitment to atmosphere, he and Taylor unwrap a lush nexus in the stunning opener. The occasional harmonic falls like a dandelion seed onto this pool of night as cymbals splash all around us. Taylor weaves a fine spread, anchoring us with sustained bass lines and attentive chording, leaving Garbarek to seal every crack with his sonic caulk. Connors seeks to light his surroundings, striking at the flint with his percussive gesticulations in hopes that one spark might show the way. Garbarek sharpens himself with arid flavor and carves out a miniature oasis in the crumbling image of exotic desire. The organ weaves in and out like a halo circumscribing us with subtle urgency until it pulls us beyond the point of no return, where dwells only silence in these “Reflections.” We then find the organ “Entering” into an electric guitar embrace. Bass and drums give us footholds where we might not expect to find them. Thus, what began as an elegy turns into a far-reaching journey that is over too soon. But in the next track we’re still “Going Places,” spurred by DeJohnette’s steady pulse and Garbarek’s hidden thermals. The energy comes in waves, subsiding here for a guitar solo and swelling there at Garbarek’s call. “Passing” ends where the album began, in a fluid ostinato of organ over which Connors looses his wavering song. Garbarek draws an ascendant pattern between those quiet strings, lifting us to an arena in which age curls into a semblance of time.

The global corporation Columbia recorded and released only two LPs with pianist Bill Evans. A meagre result when one considers the numerous concerts that the new trio undertook between 1969 and 1974. Together with Eddie Gomez, a phenomenon on the bass, and drummer Marty Mortell, the three established a firm – and ever better – trio. Evans became interested in the possibilities offered by the Fender Rhodes piano and used it for the first time in "The Bill Evans Album".
The LP is remarkable in that only Evans’s own compositions were recorded – three previously recorded pieces and four brand-new works. Of particular note is the melancholy "Two Lonely People", Evans’s musical interpretation of a poem by Carol Hall. "Sugar Plum" and "T.T.T." were to remain in his repertoire right up until his very last recordings. Unusual but very commendable because it begins with an ad hoc introductory improvisation is the electric piano version of Evans’s most well-known composition – "Waltz For Debby".
The excellent technical facilities at the Columbia Studio were used to the full by Bill Evans, even though they were only recording a small ensemble. And that is why the seven numbers sound far better than most of the trio’s live recordings. And as Bill Evans once said, it was with this trio that he could fulfil his musical ambitions.

Word Of Mouth was the second album by virtuoso bassist Jaco Pastorius, released in 1981 while he was still a member of Weather Report. Word Of Mouth focused on his ability to compose and arrange for a larger band than was previously featured on his first self titled album from 1976 [MOVLP136]. The band's all-star cast included Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Peter Erskine, Jack DeJohnette, Michael Brecker, Don Alias and Toots Thielemans who is featured on harmonica on many of the songs.

180g vinyl.