Jazz | Fusion Vinyl 597 Items

Issued with the 75th Anniversary of Blue Note records!

Vinyl is Close to VG+

US original.

Original US stereo pressing.
Record has some hairlines and a few superficial scratches.
Label side 1 is missing.

Japanese pressing.

• Long lost 1968 album from visionary South African jazz composer incorporating traditional African music sources and instruments.

• Officially licensed from the Nxumalo family and reissued with inner sleeve containing archival photographs and new liner notes by Francis Gooding.

Gideon Nxumalo’s Gideon Plays might just be the most mythologised and sought-after LP in the whole South African canon. A sophisticated bop excursion with a distinctive African edge, it was only Nxumalo’s second LP as leader, despite his crucial place in South African jazz history. Pianist Nxumalo was a visionary jazz composer who had recorded regularly during the 1950s, and his 1962 Jazz Fantasia album was the first South African jazz recording to incorporate traditional African musical sources and instruments. But he was also the country’s most significant radio presenter and jazz tastemaker – from 1954 onwards, he had worn the nickname ‘Mgibe’ to introduce ‘This Is Bantu Jazz’, South African radio’s premier jazz show. But in the aftermath of the Sharpeville Massacre in 1961, Nxumalo had been side-lined from radio play, and was eventually sacked for playing records with political meanings. By 1968, he had not been heard on record or airwave for several years. Gideon Plays was a celebrated return to the studio for one of South Africa’s best loved and most forward-thinking jazzmen, and it showcases Nxumalo’s deep understanding of jazz, his brilliant touch as a composer, and his commitment to bringing South Africa’s indigenous sound into the music. However, it was released on the tiny JAS Pride label owned by production impresario Ray Nkwe, and after one pressing in 1968, Gideon Plays fell into the undeserved silence that has obscured so much of the South African jazz discography. It has since become a legend: hardly more than a rumour, it has been bootlegged by the unscrupulous, changed hands for eye-watering sums, and has scarcely been heard outside the circles of the most committed South African jazz devotees. It goes without saying that it has never been released outside South Africa, and even now only a handful of original copies are known to have survived. Over the last ten years, Matsuli Music has been proud to present some of the greatest lost and found jazz recordings in South African history – but we have never presented a rarer, lesser known album than the mighty Gideon ‘Mgibe’ Nxumalo’s Gideon Plays.

Upper seam has split and bottom seam got taped.

US original, mono version.

Vinyl with scuffs, hairlines and a couple of deeper marks. Cover with shelf wear

Vinyl with many scuffs and hairlines

George Russell was one of the most advanced composers and arrangers in the history of Jazz, A theorist and innovator who worked extensively between the 40's and the early 2000's. Originally released by Decca in 1960, "Jazz in the Space Age" was Russell's third effort under his name. A visionary work including music composed and arranged by Russell for various lineups featuring the likes of pianists Bill Evans and Paul Bley, trombonist Bob Brookmeyer, drummer Charlie Persip and others. This is adventurous yet highly accessible music that still sounds fresh today!

Shape of Things to Come is the fifth studio album by the American guitarist George Benson, recorded in 1968 and arranged by Don Sebesky. It was his first album for A&M Records and his first album to be produced by Creed Taylor, who would remain his producer until 1976. After four years and three different labels, Benson signed with the A&M/CTI label in 1968. He was to be the replacement for their star Wes Montgomery, who had died earlier in the year. For his first album with the label, producer Taylor brought in all of the labels heavyweights, arranger Sebesky, engineer Rudy Van Gelder, and guest artists Herbie Hancock and Ron Carter. The album is mostly cover songs from artists as diverse as Aretha Franklin, The Monkees and Glenn Miller. It also contains a pair of original compositions and some reworkings of movie soundtracks.

Copy close to VG+

This 1967 set, recorded live at Boston’s Jazz Workshop, showcases virtuoso guitarist Szabó—a veteran of Chico Hamilton’s and Charles Lloyd’s bands—at the top of his game on a diverse program featuring standards (“What Is This Thing Called Love”) and pop hits (“The Beat Goes On”) as well as the original and psychedelic-tinged jam, “Space.”



Verve BY Request Series: remastered, audiophile-quality 180-gram vinyl from Third Man Pressing/Detroit, gatefold sleeve.