Jazz | Fusion Vinyl 482 Items

There are constellations within the grooves of Cymbalom Solos. Innumerable points of light, rendered audible in glowing, radiant sound. There are entire worlds too - undiscovered, yet familiar - both terrestrial and celestial. There are moments of quiet comfort and exultant discovery. And all of it conjured by one man with a handful of ancient and invented instruments, recorded mostly-live, with precious few overdubs. Michael Masley has been a fixture of Berkley, California, since he arrived from Michigan in 1982. Even today, he remains a common sight, working as a street performer - catching the attention of passers-by as he summons otherworldly overtones from a coterie of arcane instruments. This is how he met fellow east-coast transplant and musical voyager, Barry Cleveland, in 1983. Cleveland was enraptured by the sound of Masley’s wildly innovative bowhammer cymbalom. The cymbalom is an ancient instrument, similar to a zither or hammered-dulcimer - originating in Eastern Europe in 1874, but with primitive early examples dating back as early as 3500 BC. Yet Masley’s approach to the instrument was wholly original. Masley replaced the two traditional cymbalom hammers, with bowhammers - an invention wherein he fitted each of his fingers with it’s own combination hammer/bow device, which allowed him to both strike the strings, and bow them like a violin. Outfitted with his bowhammers, Masley was able to wrest startlingly new sounds from a centuries-old instrument. In 1985, after performing together for a couple years, Cleveland produced Masley’s first solo endeavour, Cymbalom Solos. With the help of Cleveland’s timely production, Masley’s technique reached its zenith. His complex and beautiful compositions combined elements of Eastern-European classical, new minimalism, and celtic/folk music, yet the end result falls squarely within the world of new age kosmiche. Music of the spheres, conjured by earthbound strings. Masley estimates that he sold tens-of-thousands of cassette copies of Cymbalom Solos over his years of performing. And now, Morning Trip is distinctly proud to offer it on vinyl for the first time ever - an album of startling, imaginative beauty, by a brilliant American folk artist.

"Musa-Ancestral Streams" remains a relative oddity in the pantheon of jazz's black consciousness movement -- a solo piano set of stunning reach and scope, its adherence to intimacy contrasts sharply with the bold, multi-dimensional sensibilities that signify the vast majority of post-Coltrane excursions into spiritual expression, yet the sheer soulfulness and abandon of Stanley Cowell's performance nevertheless vaults the record into the same physical and metaphysical planes. Cowell's energy and touch are remarkable, as if guided by divine power, and for all the music's structural spaciousness and rhythmic freedom, not a note feels out of place, let alone excessive. Most intriguing is "Travelin' Man", an overdubbed 'duet' featuring Cowell on both acoustic and electric piano that underscores his uncommon affinity for space and presence.

At the dawn of the Reagan years, LA jazz pianist Nate Morgan recorded his first album for Nimbus West. "Journey Into Nigritia" portrays an artist marked by the icons of his day, and striving for reinvention. Although he came from a solid jazz background, coming up through the Pan Afrikan People's Arkestra, Morgan found more exciting work with pop bands in the seventies, including glory years with Rufus w/Chaka Khan. On "Journey Into Nigritia", Morgan re-embraces jazz. Included in the band are Jeff Littleton on bass, Fritz Wise on drums, and Dadisi Komolafe on alto sax. The collection opens with the Trane-ish "Mrafu". Komolafe blasts off in short order, and while the modal chording recalls Tyner, Morgan shows flashes of the nimble loquacious gift that define him. While Alice Coltrane incense perfumes "Morning Prayer", Morgan's devotional sincerity and personnel expression triumph. Suitably complex with yearning minors, "Mother" features the trio performing a memorable composition. Littleton's deep-note sustain contrasts Wise's shimmering cymbals, while Morgan tells heart-wrenching truth. With a somewhat solemn theme, "He Left Us A Song" regularly bursts through into straight-ahead fast break sprints up and down the court. The unexpected "Study In C.T." offers an homage to Cecil Taylor and Morgan's musical roots with free improvisations on a dense and spiky theme. The exhilarating result has Morgan exploring his own way, with a winking slinging of jagged bass chords halfway through. While a quarter century's experience has nurtured Morgan's prodigious gifts beyond this ambitious debut, "Journey Into Nigritia" offers enjoyable insights into his artistic evolution, while adding another precious title to the discography of one of the most woefully under-recorded greats of our time. Review by Rex Butters

Born in San Francisco, Rickey Kelly moved to Los Angeles in 1982. I first heard Rickey on the local Jazz station and that haunting sound on vibes was just too much to resist. He was working at Hughes Aircraft and didn't have time for gigging in the evening. He had to take care of his family which numbered about six children. I began booking his band soon after meeting him. An artist this blessed should not be working a day job I thought. Rickey soon quit his job at Hughes aircraft and began performing full time. Rickey stayed in his apartment for long periods of time just practising. He often mentioned to me that he needed to stay in isolation to keep his music pure. During Rickey's stay in L.A. he had worked with all the great jazz and R'n'B bands. Musicians like altoist Bobby Watson, the legendary drummer Billy Higgins, The Jazz Crusaders, pianist Ahmad Jamal, and one of the most popular artists of his generation Marvin Gaye, often called on Rickey to perform with their bands. As great as these artists were, the addition of Rickey Kelly on vibes seemed to make their music better. Because of his isolation Rickey's music has developed a uniqueness and purity of sound that transcends styles. One reviewer described it as a »childlike quality, a profound innocence«. Relax and listen closely. This is music with a purpose.

Robert Ponger is perhaps best known as the producer for Austria’s biggest pop sensation Falco. His unparalleled production skills are on full display in the iconic hit single “Der Kommissar”, and he is also the main man behind Falco’s legendary early albums “Einzelhaft” and “Junge Römer”. But Ponger deserves at least as much credit for his solo recordings. The most sought-after of these is Ponger’s 1979 self-titled LP, which Edition Hawara is honoured to re-issue. The album contains twelve disco-inspired pieces that are unabashedly playful, but also signal serious musical knowledge and finesse. Recorded in the vicinity of Mistelbach, a village even locals struggle to find on a map, Ponger’s LP breathes the vibe of Studio 54 – with the little special extra that only Mistelbach can add. A true Austrian classic.

Limited to 300 copies. Officially licensed. Reissue on two discs.

Originally released in 1979, Betty Lou Landreth's Betty Lou has been expanded to a 15-song double album featuring the original studio recordings along with bonus material, alternative takes, and extensive liner notes from Joel Palmer, the producer of this Motor City holy grail.

Recorded in Detroit and produced and released by Detroit-born jazz historian Joel Palmer on his YaYa label, the album features many veterans and esteemed Detroit and New Orleans Jazzmen. Alongside Joel, producer and arranger Charlie Gabriel recruited some of the city’s top fellow musicians for the session, including his longtime friend and housemate, trumpeter Marcus Belgrave, drummer J.C. Heard, Motown's Funk Brothers, keys player Emmanuel Riggins, bassist Hubie Crawford, violinist Travis Biggs, the Body sisters and many more.

"Honestly, there were never any commercial expectations or aspirations for the album. We just got together to cook up a gumbo. Detroit, New Orleans, funk, jazz, torch, country and some great, great musicians to bring the flavors together. Our only intent was to create the best work of music possible; one which would allow Betty Lou Landreth to display her extraordinary vocal skills, and that we did. The reissue serves as a monument to all of those who all those long years ago contributed their special magic to creating a unique musical work which has endured the test of time.” (Joel Palmer, 2021).

Officially licensed. Reissue on two discs.

Originally released in 1979, Betty Lou Landreth's Betty Lou has been expanded to a 15-song double album featuring the original studio recordings along with bonus material, alternative takes, and extensive liner notes from Joel Palmer, the producer of this Motor City holy grail.

Recorded in Detroit and produced and released by Detroit-born jazz historian Joel Palmer on his YaYa label, the album features many veteran and esteemed Detroit and New Orleans Jazzmen. Alongside Joel, producer and arranger Charlie Gabriel recruited some of the city’s top fellow musicians for the session, including his longtime friend and housemate, trumpeter Marcus Belgrave, drummer J.C. Heard, Motown's Funk Brothers, keys player Emmanuel Riggins, bassist Hubie Crawford, violinist Travis Biggs, the Body sisters and many more.

"Honestly, there were never any commercial expectations or aspirations for the album. We just got together to cook up a gumbo. Detroit, New Orleans, funk, jazz, torch, country and some great, great musicians to bring the flavours together. Our only intent was to create the best work of music possible; one which would allow Betty Lou Landreth to display her extraordinary vocal skills, and that we did. The reissue serves as a monument to all of those who all those long years ago contributed their special magic to creating a very unique musical work which has endured the test of time.” Joel Palmer, 2021.

Manfredo Fest who is a blind genius pianist, and pop bossa evangelist alongside Sergio Mendes. Brazilian Fusion Classic "Who Needs It" and "Jungle Kitten" from "Manifestations" in 1979 is released 7inch for the first time!

Ella Fitzgerald was, by any yardstick, a remarkable singer. She had achieved much by the time she signed to the newly created Verve Records in 1956, but it was the genius of Norman Granz, her personal manager and Verve founder, in suggesting she tackle the material of great contemporary composers in themed albums that sent her career into orbit. As the New York Times wrote on her passing in 1996, "These albums were among the first pop records to devote such serious attention to individual songwriters, and they were instrumental in establishing the pop album as a vehicle for serious musical exploration." The song selections ranged from standards to rarities, and the eight-title series represented an attempt by Fitzgerald to cross over to a non-jazz audience that may have been unaware of the talents she first committed to vinyl in 1935.

"The Queen", they called her and Dinah Washington's regality was nowhere more apparent than in the recording studio, where she was uncompromising in her demands for the best in material and in backing. She is marvelous in this recording, which dates from 1957, for not only did she have some great standards to sing in arrangements by Quincy Jones and Ernie Wilkins, two of the best around at that time, but she also had behind her a star-spangled band (the trumpet section alone is sufficient indication of its quality) that gave her every opportunity to be at her best.