Jazz | Fusion Vinyl 302 Items

Here's a true West Coast soul-jazz gem originally released on pacific jazz in 1961. Les McCann's warm and emotional singing shines over some gorgeous big band arrangements signed by the great conductor and bandleader Gerald Wilson. McCann's usual trio with Herbie Lewis on bass and Ron Jefferson on drums is augmented by a phenomenal bunch of West Coast top musicians including clarinetist Buddy Collette, tenor sax lions Charles Lloyd, Teddy Edward, and Harold Land, and two absolute guest stars: tenor sax giant Ben Webster and organ stylist Richard "groove" Holmes, what else?

Soul-jazz and blues at their best. Allmusic Guide

Expertly utilised in hit series 'Breaking Bad' to soundtrack Walt and Jesse's meth manufacturing, The Peddlers 'On A Clear Day You Can See Forever' is a sumptuous smooth soul journey - full of exquisite organ solos and deep vocal tones.
2019 marks 50 years since it's release and with original copies pushing £40 it's a chance to bag this iconic record at a fraction of the price.
Remastered and reissued on 7 inch with large / dinked centre hole in Epic generic paper sleeve.

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!

It is 1960, Rock’n’Roll has just lost a couple of its protagonists during this and the previous year, the time of the great balladeers has just begun but soon will run out due to the new and exciting beat invasion. In US mainstream the tiki culture has reached a certain peak and is about to collapse but still goes strong and with it comes the so called “exotica” music, a crossover between smooth jazz and swing, Latin grooves, haunting melodies that are rooted in the folkloristic sounds from different parts of this world plus weird sound effects that often create a spooky jungle or dreamy island beach atmosphere. It can even bend your mind that far you would see palm trees growing out of your speakers and witness monkeys and parrots having fun in your room. Eden Ahbez, born in 1908, passed in 1995, a man living an even more consistent dropout and hippie lifestyle way before the movement was born in the mid 60s, a beat poet and composer who wrote the hit tune “Nature boy” that gave Nat King Cole his first big success in 1947, approaches the field of exotica music from a different point of view creating an epic concept album about an utopian society living in peace and harmony on an island far away from the modern western world as we know it. And indeed we find many trademarks of the prototypical exotica music beginning with this relaxed groove combining easy listening swing and Latin patterns, peaceful, dreamy and even transcendental vocal melodies, tinges of folk music from around the world including powerful dances and a whole color palette of mind expanding sounds giving the whole music an even greater depth and width.

Flutist Prince Lasha and alto saxophonist Sonny Simmons were one of the great teams in the "New Thing" era. Recorded in New York in May 1963 these early studio sessions feature great contributions from trumpeter Don Cherry and tenor sax giant Clifford Jordan, plus the rhythm section of Orville Harrison and Bill Wood on bass, Charles Moffett on drums, and producer Fred Lyman on flugelhorn. This is a great snapshot of the NYC music scene in the 60's, when a bunch of young, creative, uncompromising musicians invaded the city and began to change the rules of Jazz.

Originally released in 1963, this is a majestic piece of work. Considered as one of Ellington's best studio recordings of the Sixties this is also an essential mosaic piece within Duke's open wide afro-centric vision. Performed by a top version of his famous big band, Afro Bossa sounds as a sophisticated, sensual blend of orchestral Jazz arrangements and black bossa flavoured grooves. Among the players, many of Duke's historical sidemen such as trumpeter Ray Nance, sax giants Paul Gonsalves and Johnny Hodges, drummer extraordinaire Sam Woodyard and last but not least, Ellington's alter ego Billy Strayhorn, what else?

First released on Pacific Jazz in 1963 "Jazz Waltz" brings together the talent of pianist Les Mc Cann and the legendary Jazz Crusaders featuring the great late Joe Sample - piano, organ, the horn frontline of Wayne Henderson – trombone and Wilton Felder - tenor saxophone and the super tight rhythm section of Bobby Haynes - bass and Stix Hooper - drums. One of those great soul-Jazz records where every track is pure gold!

A grab-bag of hot John Coltrane performances executed in the early 1960s, Impressions is comprised of four Trane killers, all highlighting his versatility and a concerted effort not to be constrained by any given form, the music delivered with aplomb by Trane and an impressive supporting cast that includes the unfettered drummer Elvin Jones. The extended versions of ‘India’ and the title track were taken from Coltrane’s celebrated residency at the Village Vanguard with bass clarinettist Eric Dolphy in the fold; ‘Up Against The Wall’ holds a kind of tense optimism and ‘After The Rain’ is a melancholic classic. Top-notch Coltrane, superb!

When stars collide, sparks will fly. At least that's the theory. Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington accepted the invitation to record together with dignity and polite courtesy. While keen to see what this pairing might produce artistically speaking, it was certainly an historic occasion. As the red light went on and the tapes rolled, Duke on piano and Louis on trumpet and vocals, backed by the Armstrong All-Stars began to play. As Ellington hits the keys on a riff that sounds suspiciously like C Jam Blues and Satchmo sings cheerfully 'Baby, take me down to Duke's Place!' the champions are ready to exchange ideas rather than blows. Perhaps unsurprisingly Louis soon emerged from this unique musical gathering as the natural born leader. But all the source material was firmly Ellingtonian. Both men had enjoyed extraordinary careers and were world renowned figures when the idea of bringing them together was first proposed.

Unorthodox saxophonist Albert Ayler straddled different jazz streams during his brief career. After playing with Stanley Turrentine and Harold Budd in the late 1950s, a move to Sweden brought him into the limelight, fronting his own trio. Debut album Something Different!!!!!! comprised four dissonant songs delivered live with bassist Torbjörn Hultcrantz and drummer Sune Spångberg, with a barely recognisable rendition of showtune “I’ll Remember April,” an off-kilter take of Sonny Rollins’ “The Stopper” (retitled “Rollins’ Tune”) and a wobbly cut of Miles Davis’ “Tune Up,” along with the original “Free.” An exceptional musical experience!

Recorded in Stockholm in 1962, and originally released on Sonet Records, these sessions stand as Ayler's first step into a new sonic world. This was when Ayler was still dealing with classic Jazz standards such as "I'll remember April", M Davis's "Tune Up" and "Rollins Tune", a declared tribute to the older master Sonny Rollins. His already super-strong tenor sax voice dominates a quiet, almost shy, local rhythm section featuring Torbjorn Hultcrant on bass and Sune Spangberg on drums. This was just before stepping into his unique, hyper energetic and ecstatic form of Free Jazz. This was Ayler sowing the seeds of a revolution to come!

The debut album by a prolific musician, ‘Grant’s First Stand’ is a significant work that set out the Blue Note musician’s highly personal manifesto.

Though Grant’s First Stand was guitarist Grant Green’s maiden release for Blue Note Records it wasn’t his debut recording session for the famous New York jazz label. The St Louis guitarist had, in fact, gone into Rudy Van Gelder’s legendary studio at Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey – where Blue Note did the majority of their recordings from 1959 onwards – on two previous occasions. For some reason, however, the music recorded on two days across October and November 1960 was shelved. It wasn’t until Saturday, 28 January 1961, that Green got to lay down the six tracks that became his debut album for the label.

For the few people lucky enough to have heard the entire album in the five
decades since its release, the mythical POPERA COSMIC LP is now considered
to be France’s first dedicated psychedelic album and the shrouded blueprint for
the hugely influential Gallic concept album phenomenon that followed – including
SERGE GAINSBOURG’s HISTOIRE DE MELODY NELSON and GÉRARD
MANSET’s LA MORT D’ORION.
Spearheaded by FRANÇOIS WERTHEIMER (songwriter for VANGELIS, BARBARA
and BYG RECORDS), composed with future JODOROWSKY soundtracker
and genius all-rounder GUY SKORNIK, and based on an embryonic concept
co-conspired by a teenage JEAN-MICHEL JARRE, this instantly deleted 1969
recording is a true essential for any outernationalradicalised record collection.
With credentials that mark the birth of the cosmic funk (later disco) that helped
shape the influential sound of France today, this LP also includes the first pressed
instrumentals by members of SPACE ART, some of the best orch rock arrangements
by WILLIAM SHELLER (Lux Aeterna, Eriotissimo) and orchestrator PAUL PIOT
(Jean Rollin), as well as sitar psych benchmarks courtesy of uber legend SERGE
FRANKLIN – all pinned down by the rhythm section that would later be known to
prog aficionados as ALICE.
Subtitled LES ESCLAVES (The Slaves), this street theatre/rock opera (influenced
by the work of Julien Beck’s Living Theatre) now celebrates its 50th birth-day
standing firmly as a sonic tome to the birth of the no-no era (that rebuked
France’syé-yé” hamster wheel) leading directly to the thematic progressive
network of WAKHÉVITCH, MANSET and MAGMA while comprising an inter-Gallic
intergalactic super group from the early annals of France’s pop psych revolution.
Imagine a rock opera where the cast of MISTER FREEDOM perform CLASH OF
THE TITANS at the foot of THE HOLY MOUNTAIN – then pinch yourself...

With her tenure on Verve drawing to a close, Astrud Gilberto steps further away from her bossa nova roots with I Haven't Got Anything Better to Do, an intimate, nocturnal set closer in scope and spirit to the Baroque pop of Burt Bacharach, whose "Trains and Boats and Planes" is beautifully rendered here. In the liner notes Gilberto dubs it "my fireplace album," and indeed the record is immediately warm and comforting, despite the melancholy that colors all of the selections. Albert Gorgoni's arrangements are sumptuously romantic, perfectly complementing the simple, poignant vocals. Mistakenly considered a minor entry in the Gilberto canon, I Haven't Got Anything Better to Do is instead a minor masterpiece.

Depending on the nature of the person involved, success either dictates more and more compulsive activity, or else it permits relaxation. With Cannonball Adderley, the latter certainly appears to be the case; and this album can, among other things, serve as a testimonial to the truth of the impression. In a peculiar way, the present album is a result of that success. For it is something that Adderley might well not have dared attempt in the past, and that he might not have been able to convince his record company to do. This his most satisfying LP. The nature of this album should be immediately apparent from Adderley's choice of associates. Cannonball feels, and many agree, that pianist Bill Evans is unexcelled when moody delicacy is called for.

One of the major statements in the history of Jazz and African American liberation movements. Originally released in 1960 on Candid Records, Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite consists of five original compositions and performances staging and celebrating different moments and aspects of the African American history and culture. Here is a wonderful cast of musicians reunited around Max Roach – drums and Abbey Lincoln – vocals. Throughout the album you can find great contributions from the likes of Booker Little – trumpet, Julian Priester – trombone, Walter Benton – tenor saxophones, James Schenk – bass and three percussionists Michael Olatunji, Raymond Mantilla and Tomas du Vall. Highlights include the highly intense triptych for Drum and Voice by Roach & Lincoln and a special appearance of tenor sax giant Coleman Hawkins on the opening Driva Man.

First Lady of Song Ella Fitzgerald overcame the challenges of a tumultuous youth through music, her performances with the Chick Webb Orchestra at the Savoy Ballroom and distinctive scat singing leading to early recordings and the 1938 breakthrough, ‘A Tisket A Tasket.’ After recording bebop LPs for Decca, manager Norman Granz launched the Verve label to allow her to broaden her musical horizons, exploring the Great American Songbook. Released in 1960, Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas sees her tackle Christmas classics as only Ella can, the lavish orchestration overseen by noted conductor Frank de Vol.

Deliberately presented as a dance music release, this brilliant Quincy Jones album - first released on Mercury label in 1961 - comprises material from two marvelous big band performances recorded the year before in Paris and New York. Here the great composer and arranger leads a first class "dance organization", a top-flight big band featuring the cream of NY Jazz musicians, among them: Clark Terry and Freddie Hubbard - trumpets, Curtis Fuller and Melba Liston - trombones, Phil Woods, Oliver Nelson and Sahib Shihab - saxes, Stu Martin - drums. An exquisite platter of highly swinging and danceable grooves signed by the genius of Quincy Jones