Jazz | Fusion Vinyl 311 Items

Kenny Burrell's album "Guitar Forms" stands as Burrell’s definitive musical statement. It was nominated for three Grammys in 1965, is considered one of the true masterpieces in the Verve catalog. This is partly due to the outstanding performance of the guitarist himself, of course, but also to the unforgettable arrangements that Gil Evans wrote for five of the album's nine tracks. According to AllMusic, these were in no way inferior to the brilliant arrangements that Evans had made for Miles Davis classics such as "Birth Of The Cool", "Porgy And Bess" and "Sketches Of Spain".



Verve Acoustic Sounds Series: mastered fully analogue from the original tapes by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound, QPR pressing (180 g), firm tip-on gatefold (Stoughton Printing), padded inner sleeve, Gatefold Sleeve.

Trumpeter Blue Mitchell had a soulful, swinging style and was equally at home in jazz, R&B, and funk settings. This 1965 date featured his Horace Silver bandmates Junior Cook on tenor sax and Gene Taylor on bass along with a 24-year-old Chick Corea on piano and 22-year-old Al Foster on drums.

“BLUE NOTE TONE POET EDITION: Stereo, produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analogue master tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI, packaged in a deluxe gatefold tip-on jacket.

Dolphy had left his native California and come east as part of Chico Hamilton's group, settling in New York in 1960 and becoming part of Charles Mingus's group. This first recording as a leader brought comparisons with Ornette Coleman but the two were really parallel figures in the then-emerging avant-garde. Dolphy did not eschew 'changes', as Coleman did, but he used them in new ways. This LP was significant not only for his alto saxophone but introduced his individual approach to the flute and, particularly, the bass clarinet.

In 1960, the free jazz pioneered by Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Horace Tapscott and a very few others was rejected by many musicians and most listeners. For the visionary saxophonist, clarinetist and flutist Eric Dolphy, it was simply new music fed by the mainstream, a logical extension of the jazz tradition. In "Far Cry" without leaving form behind, he incorporated the spirit of adventure and abandon with which free jazz at its best infused freshness into jazz. Recording with a pianoless quartet that used Ron Carter’s cello as the other melody instrument, Dolphy worked from chord patterns developed within structures that depart from ordinary 32-bar jazz and popular song forms. He used 30-bar, 35-bar and 18-bar structures, but he also observed standard practice with 12-bar blues, “Serene”. Dolphy’s speech-like improvisations and Carter’s bowed or plucked cello solos soar over the impeccable and responsive accompaniments of bassist George Duvivier and drummer Roy Haynes.

John Coltrane brought a new sound and style to jazz, and he applied it in his own unique way to the standard material of the storehouse of American music gathered from Broadway, Hollywood and Tin Pan Alley. With the excellent rhythm team of Red Garland, Paul Chambers (both of whom had done so many concert, club and recording dates with him) and Jimmy Cobb and the Miles-directed flugelhorn of Wilbur Harden, Trane puts his personal stamp on numbers not done that often like Henry Nemo's "Don't Take Your Love from Me", Fred Ahlert's "I'll Get By" and two more familiar yet still not overdone songs, Richard Rodgers' "Spring Is Here" and Bronislau Kaper's "Invitation."

e-mastering by Ray Staff at Air Mastering, Lyndhurst Hall, London



'Basie at Birdland' is a 1961 live album featuring Count Basie and his famed orchestra playing at Birdland in New York City. Recorded on June 27-28th of 1961, and released just one month later in July of that year, 'Basie at Birdland' proved once again that Count Basie was one of the world's best players, band leaders, and flag bearers of Jazz. Birdland, the self-proclaimed, 'Jazz Corner of the World' provides a raucous, lively backdrop to the band's soulful Kansas City style Jazz, on tunes like, 'Blue Backstage', and 'Good Time Blues' alongside their harder hitting, big band bop. 'Basie at Birdland' features the Count at the height of his prowess, and he and his band's fervent, swinging performance cannot be missed - it's perfect for novices and aficionados alike.



This is a jaw-dropping recording of Basie's band in 1961. The band is so tight and swings so hard it sounds at times as if one is listening to a Wurlitzer organ. There simply was no band that swung as hard as Basie's - at least not as recorded on this live date. Amazing.



Simply the best live recording of a big band ever!

This 1961 set of standards, favoring ballads, is Gene Ammons in his prime. For the most part, this session is tight and structured, keeping Ammons firmly locked in the groove more so than on some of his more wandering dates. His big-as-a-house tone stands center stage in front of a sympathetic piano-bass-drums trio of Richard Wyands, Doug Watkins and J.C. Heard, respectively.

Pressed at Pallas in Germany

First time officially reissue, sourced from the original master tapes in a new edition, the Milan based imprint Dialogo, returns with this compilation published in Italy by RCA Victor in 1962 - a precious historical document of some important international jazz and pop artists who came to Italy and left their marks, influencing the generations of those golden years. The RCA artists on this LP record have only two things in common: “Inter-continental Airport Rome-Fiumicino” stamped on their passports and a great love for Italy. As a tribute to the country which gave them a friendly welcome and where they spent unforgettable vacations and reaped enthusiastic applause, all of them chose to sing songs in Italian or perform - in the case of Perez Prado - a number of outstanding Italian hits. The dazzling trumpets and electrifying rhythms of Perez Prado, the captivating voice of Helen Merrill, rightly considered the top-notch white jazz singer by critics over the world, the young, all-time best-sellers, Paul Anka and Neil Sedaka, the fantastic trumpet of Chet Baker and his mysterious swinging style of singing, and lastly Antonio Prieto, the Latin-American singer-songwriter who wrote “LA Novia”, are the guest stars of this “passport TO Italy”, which, more than a record, is a full-fledged musical show, with a vast assortment of voices, of musical styles and songs. The Italian pronunciation of these North and South American recording artists is virtually perfect and particularly praiseworthy, if for no other reason than for the effort they have made in getting around, in just a few days, the difficult twists and turns of the Italian language. Their accent is naturally somewhat exotic but it only adds to the charm and the originality of the interpretations. The “show” opens with the already classic “arrivederci Roma”, which, though turned into an overpowering “chunga” by Perez Prado, has kept all its original melody intact. Prado, the wizard of Latin-American dance music, is an extremely refined blender of sounds and rhythms, and without any difficulty can take even a Neapolitan song, change it into a mambo and adapt it to his orchestra. In “guaglione”, for example, the “corruption” comes off perfectly and testifies to the everfresh inventiveness and the unmistakable personality of the Cuban-born pianist arranger. Helen Merrill prefers quality over quantity and so has made very few records but they already occupy a place of their own in the annals of jazz. She consented to record two popular ballads only because Armando Trovajoli, the most qualified exponent of Italian jazz as well as a far-out modernist, was to conduct the orchestra. Furthermore, the two songs, “nessuno AL Mondo” and “estate” are particularly congenial to her musical temperament, for she is most of all concerned with creating subtle and seductive moods, making an intelligent use of her vocal resources in that she tries to “add” her voice to the orchestra as though it were another instrument. Canadian-born Paul Anka, by now a regular member of the exclusive club of top-selling vocal artists of America, presents one of his own songs, “ogni Giorno” originally entitled “love ME Warm AND Tender”, the most requested hit in his present-day repertoire. And the young singing star’s interpretation of “voglio Sapere” (“i’d Like TO Know”) once again makes clear why his name became a permanent fixture as all-time best-seller. Neil Sedaka is another representative of the younger generation of American singers. When he was still in high school in Brooklyn, Neil became a close friend of one of schoolmates: Howard Greenfield. The two of them wrote numerous songs together for school shows: Neil handled the music and Howard the words. Their collaboration proved extremely fruitful, and they were soon to make their debut as professional songwriters with two hits of the calibre of “stupid Cupid” and “falling”. The Sedaka-Greenfield team, which in only a few year time has become one of the best-known, presents, in Italian, two songs which in their original tongue have already climbed to the top: “esagerata” (“little Devil”), translated by Leo Chiosso, and “UN Giorno Inutile” (“I Must BE Dreaming”), translated by Gentile and De Simoni. After Sedaka comes one of the big names of cool jazz: Chet Baker. Trumpet-player and singer, he proves here for the nth time that the names “Golden Trumpet” and “Angel Voice”, given him not only by his fans but by the crites as well, are in no way exaggerated. With an at once restless, desperate and almost possessed musical style, Chet sings and plays two songs which he himself wrote: “IL MIO Domani” and “SO CHE TI Perdero”. His reserved, curiously, precarious and profoundly dramatic way of singing, virtually the mirror-image of his life, is the same in both songs and makes them seem almost unconsciously autobiographical. The “show” then closes with Antonio Prieto. Precisely because of his Latin origins (he was born in Chile, but is Argentine by adoption), it is perhaps easier for him than for the others to express himself in Italian. As is well-known, the name of Prieto soared to the Olympic heights of popular music with “LA Novia” which he wrote in collaboration with his brother, Joaquin. He is a typically Latin singer with a warm, melodious and romantic voice, tinged with melancholy, and on more than one occasion he has shown that he thoroughly understands the tastes of the public. Listen to his two most recent compositions: “papà”, written in collaboration with singer-songwriter Sergio Endrigo, the author of “aria DI Neve”, and “baciami” and... judge for yourselves.

This is it, the live, double LP where the magical Tony Bennett created indelible memories! "Tony Bennett At Carnegie Hall" is the Tony Bennett album to buy for any Bennett fan or those just introduced to his music. And you'll never hear or experience it presented in finer fashion than from this outstanding reissue by Analogue Productions and Quality Record Pressings!
We've given "Tony Bennett At Carnegie Hall" the deluxe reissue treatment. Starting with premier mastering by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound from the original analog tapes. Then plating and presssing by Gary Salstrom and the crew at Quality Record Pressings, where the finest quality LPs in the world are pressed. But it doesn't stop there: We've expanded and enhanced the original studio photography, which was supplied by Sony to our graphic designers. And we've wrapped up the whole package in a deluxe 'old-school' tip-on gatefold jacket from Stoughton Printing!
Originally recorded in 1962, "Tony Bennett At Carnegie Hall" is a testament to Bennett's live vocal ability, writes allmusic.com. Backed by the Ralph Sharon Orchestra, Bennett moves far beyond his standard musical catalogue.
Along with standards like "I Left My Heart In San Francisco" and "Just in Time", Bennett reached out to create great medleys such as "(I Like New York in June) How About You/April in Paris", that automatically become his as soon as they are performed. Altogether there are 30 tracks on the album. Most remarkable is the clarity of the recording of the concert. If not for the tremendous applause of the audience, you could swear that Bennett had recorded each track in the studio. A masterpiece!

180 Gram 45RPM Audiophile Vinyl, Numbered Limited-Edition