Jazz | Fusion Vinyl 424 Items

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.

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.

Recorded in May 1968 at Lila Eule in Bremen, here's one of the most important albums from Europe's entire free jazz history, reissued on wax in the Cien Fuegos series!

As Finders Keepers disobedient little-sister-label reaches her 20th (release) anniversaries
Cacophonic Records are proud to present a record that will not only leave rare record
collectors salivating but will open ambitious ears to a truly pioneering album from the seldom
celebrated and individualistic micro-genre that is French free Jazz. Comprising some of the
earliest uninhibited performances from key musicians behind records by Serge Gainsbourg,
Jef Gilson, Triangle, Don Cherry, Barbara and countless other groundbreaking European jazz
records and freakish films, this LP captures the birth of an exciting movement that would
soon earn its Parisian birthplace as the go-to European spiritual home of improvised and
avant-garde music. Spearheaded by polymath pianist and composer François Tusques this
1965 French LP coined the phrase “free jazz” before the American genre of the same name
had fully taken shape and packed its suitcase; laying the foundations (alongside Jef Gilson’s
Enfin!) for a unique satellite brand of jazz that would later provide visiting afro American
avant-gardeners with a vibrant Parisian platform. Having recorded a very rare single in
celebration of the architect Le Corbusier in late 1964 Tusques was lucky enough to play
live with Don Cherry (a key player on Ornette Coleman’s 1961 Free Jazz LP) thus planting a
pedigreed seed for this vibrant cultivar.
With this record we not only hear the unique differences within the Gallic approach to the art
form (combining masterful sombre cinematic changes with aerated free-form percussion and
erratic reed and brass) but we also get to witness the early lesser savoured secret ingredients
that would carry France’s mainstream pop culture into truly uncharted and unrivalled
territories throughout the following decades. Best known to faithful Finders Keepers fans as
the soundtrack composer to the horrortica films of Jean Rollin, Tusques is joined here by sax
and flute player Francois Jeanneau, who’s electronic jazz album Such A Weird Plane” would
later lead to his own band Triangle gaining recognition as France’s leading French language
prig-jazz-rock act. Featuring three players from the aforementioned Enfin! LP by French jazz
pioneer and producer Jef Gilson, Free Jazz combines the skills of Jeanneau, with clarinet
player Michel Portal (Gainsbourg Percussions/Claude Nougaro) and trumpeter Bernard Vitet
(whose avant-garde appearances on the Futura label are indispensable). In addition to this,
Free Jazz also boasts the inclusion of Tusques’ sidekick and double bass master Bernard
“Beb” Guérin (of Sonny Sharrock Monkey-Pockie-Boo infamy) who had also appeared on
the earlier Don Cherry/Le Corbusier recording providing further kudos to this LPs historical
importance.
It is by no coincidence that this carefully selected ensemble would around this time become
enlisted as the backing group for politically driven singer-songwriter Colette Magny (an action
which would arguably later influence Brigitte Fontaine’s choice to adopt The Art Ensemble Of
Chicago as her backing band after the Actuel records Pan-African Jazz festival and record
series). The fact that Colette Magny would provide the art direction for this very LP is a cute
small-print signifier of this LPs intended manifesto status. This album also captures a rare
glimpse of percussionist Charles Saudrais in free-form mode after his departure from the
Barney WIlen Quartet (Moshi) - an inclusion that would surely galvanise the relationship
between WIlen and Tusques resulting in the follow-up record Nouveau Jazz for actor Marcel
Mouloudji’s privately funded Disques Mouloudji label (on which both rare LPs were originally
pressed).
This glimpse into a seldom documented underground of a domestic, revolutionary,
uncompromised spiritual art-form successfully reveals the other-side of abstracted French
music which alongside musique concrète, protest pop, symphonic rock and Zeuhl-skool
electronic prog created a homegrown, self-contained music industry that went on to influence
a universe of Gallic magnetic inspiration. “This is free jazz, Jim; but not as we know it.”

Never before reissued, this legendary 1968 EMI recording is a revered Indian jazz rarity; a collectors’ holy grail.

Raga Jazz Style is an original Indian excursion into Indo-jazz fusion. A one-away recording from the almost unknown Bombay jazz scene, it is among the few jazz LPs to hail from the subcontinent.

It's tempting for "Blues In Orbit" to be overlooked when Duke Ellington's best albums are discussed, but truly it's an undisputed gem. There are 14 tracks, none of them is longer than 4:50 and it is all good stuff. There are some familiar favorites such as "In A Mellotone" and "C Jam Blues" as well as less often heard gems like "Blues In Blueprint and "Sweet And Pungent". It is also in stereo, and the arrangements are superb.
The featured performers include Ellington stalwarts Johnnie Hodges, Ray Nance, Harry Carney and Jimmy Hamilton, as well as the less familiar Booty Wood and Matthew Gee. Johnnie, in particular is well showcased here, taking the lead not only in slow pieces like "Brown Penny" and "Sentimental Lady", but also in the rousing "Smada".
The full Analogue Productions reissue treatment is at work on this smashing LP — famed mastering engineer Bernie Grundman handled the remastering from the original analog tapes. The lacquers were plated and pressed at Quality Record Pressings, maker of the world's finest-sounding LPs. Lastly we've stashed each super-silent 200-gram disc in a premium Stoughton Printing gatefold jacket.
All of the takes were recorded during after midnight sessions recorded over two nights starting on December 2, 1959 in New York at Columbia Record's studio on East 30th Street. Each night Duke's late dinner arrived at 2 a.m. — a sizzling steak, a pot of coffee with lemons in it, portions of American cheese, and grapefruits. After dinner, and a breather for the band, the sessions finished around dawn in a swinging fashion.
If you're just getting into jazz, this album is highly recommended as a great way to initiate your collection. The sound is incredible, with packaging to match. Another audiophile home run.

This release comes with a download code.
180g Vinyl

Jorge López Ruiz is one of most versatile of musical talents to emerge from Argentina. As a bass player, composer, performer and arranger he has worked across many genres including jazz, pop as well as stage productions and feature films. The "B.A. Jazz" album has been a rarity for years and original pressings attract huge amounts from collectors. It's rarity is matched by the fantastic music contained with its grooves. It's a genuinely important record in the development of jazz in South America.

180g vinyl.

Here is one of the musical giants of the 20th century, poised on the precipice of greatness. Between the spring of 1957 and the winter of 1958, during which time "Lush Life" was recorded, the music of tenor saxophonist John Coltrane (1926-1967) was developing in giant steps, thanks in great part to a six-month 1957 stint with Thelonious Monk that had much to do with sharpening Coltrane’s harmonic conception and torrential attack.
"Lush Life" contains Coltrane’s first recordings as sole leader, his initial date fronting a pianoless trio, and one of his first extended readings of a ballad, Billy Strayhorn’s resplendent title track. We also hear him at the helm of a quartet and quintet, featuring pianist Red Garland, with trumpeter Donald Byrd, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Louis Hayes added to “Lush Life”. Coltrane handles the tune’s delicate complexities with infinite style and finesse.
Coltrane and jazz would never be the same.

180g vinyl including download code.

Helen Merrill with Piero Umiliani!

Re-mastering by Ray Staff at Air Mastering!

180g vinyl

Oscar Peterson's Frank Sinatra tribute features his trio with bassist Ray Brown & drummer Ed Thigpen. The renditions are all under four minutes and are highlighted by "Come Dance with Me," "Just in Time," "I Get a Kick Out of You," and "How About You?" This is one of Oscar Peterson's most essential dates—swinging and enjoyable.

VERVE BY REQUEST SERIES: remastered, audiophile-quality 180-gram vinyl from Third Man Pressing/Detroit, Single Sleeve

An American jazz critic once said that Wes Montgomery was the "best thing that could happen to a guitar." Grand words, one might say quickly racking one's brains to come up with other great names. But after only a few minutes of listening to this live recording made in 1965 at the Half Note in New York, you will forget your brain-storming and concentrate on the unfused performance of this brilliant guitarist and the superb Wynton Kelly Trio. The music which gets down to the nitty-gritty, is always cool and straight with no fuss or frills getting in the way; the message comes over clearly--and it makes the blood surge through one's veins! This legendary session was recorded at a New York nightclub. It captures Montgomery at the height of his improvisational powers. Many consider it the best performance on record by one of the most inventive guitarists in jazz history.

Mostly improvised by clarinettist Scott, backed by Hozan Yamamoto and Shinichi Yuize — on the Japanese instruments shakuhachi and koto — this 1964 album is a precursor to later movements in ambient and new age music, from in and out of the jazz world.



VERVE BY REQUEST SERIES: remastered, audiophile-quality 180-gram vinyl from Third Man Pressing/Detroit, Single Sleeve.

Der frühreife und begnadete Schlagzeuger und Komponist Tony Williams war bereits Mitglied des Miles Davis Quintet und wirkte an zahlreichen bahnbrechenden Blue-Note-Aufnahmen mit, darunter Herbie Hancock "Empyrean Isles", Eric Dolphy "Out To Lunch", Andrew Hill "Point Of Departure", Jackie McLean "One Step Beyond" und Grachan Moncur III "Evolution", als er im August 1964 sein eigenes abenteuerliches Debütalbum "Life Time" aufnahm, als er gerade einmal 18 Jahre alt war.

Williams hatte nicht die Absicht, auf seiner Jungfernfahrt als Leader auf Nummer sicher zu gehen und machte sich daran, seinen kompromisslosen Ausdruck auf diesem Programm mit innovativen Originalkompositionen zu dokumentieren. Seite 1 präsentiert die ausgedehnte zweisätzige Suite "2 Pieces of One", bei der der Schlagzeuger von dem Tenorsaxophonisten Sam Rivers und den Bassisten Gary Peacock und Richard Davis unterstützt wird. Seite 2 beginnt mit dem fröhlichen "Tomorrow Afternoon", bei dem Williams, Rivers und Peacock mitwirken. Auf dem frei improvisierten "Memory", bei dem Herbie Hancock am Klavier und Bobby Hutcherson am Vibraphon mitwirken, spielt Williams verschiedene Perkussionsinstrumente, und das nachdenkliche Klavier-Bass-Duett "Barb's Song to the Wizard", das von Hancock und Ron Carter gespielt wird und das Album abschließt, ist ganz auf ihn zugeschnitten.

Diese Stereo Tone Poet Vinyl Edition wurde von Joe Harley produziert, von Kevin Gray (Cohearent Audio) von den originalen analogen Masterbändern gemastert, bei Record Technology Inc. (RTI) auf 180g Vinyl gepresst und in einer luxuriösen Gatefold-Tip-on-Hülle verpackt.

Released on the Verve label in 1968, Giblet Gravy marked jazz/soul guitarist George Benson's fourth album as a leader. It features Benson backed by an all-star group arranged and conducted by Tom Mcintosh, that includes such jazz luminaries as Ernie Royal, Pepper Adams, Johnny Pacheco, Billy Cobham, Ron Carter, and Herbie Hancock. According to AllMusic reviewer Richard S. Ginell, the label's "immediate goal was to groom Benson as the next Wes Montgomery (who was about to leave Verve) - and so he covers hit tunes of the day, playing either with a big band plus voices or a neat quintet anchored by Herbie Hancock, and the sound is contoured to give his guitar a warm mellow ambience. But the eclectic Benson is his own man, as his infectious repeated-interval rhythm trademark tells us on his self-composed title track. George's work is always tasty and irresistibly melodic."

The only one of tenor saxophonist Tina Brooks’ albums as a leader to be released during his too-brief lifetime, 1960’s True Blue is a hard bop masterpiece featuring Brooks’ distinctive compositions performed by an exceptional quintet with Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Duke Jordan on piano, Sam Jones on bass, and Art Taylor on drums.



Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition: Stereo, mastered from a digital source by Kevin Gray, manufactured at Optimal (180 g), padded inner sleeves.

John Coltrane Quartet — A Love Supreme Analogue Productions' Uhqr, the pinnacle of high-quality vinyl! 45 RPM Ultra High Quality Record release. Limited to 10,000 copies. Mastered from the original tape by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound Pressed at Quality Record Pressings using Clarity Vinyl® Includes a 12" x 12" 12-page booklet featuring liner notes by Ashley Kahn and images from the Coltrane home

Audiophile reviews rave about saxophone master John Coltrane's immortal Impulse! records, A Love Supreme (1964) and Ballads (1963). In fact, jazz critics have lauded A Love Supreme as Coltrane's most important recording. The rave reviews which appeared in the magazines Downbeat, Jazz Hot, Jazz Podium and Swing-journal reflected this: critics all over the world, in America, Europe and Japan recognized that Coltrane's deep religious belief had influenced both his approach to life and his music-making.

You're about to experience A Love Supreme at its peak of vinyl perfection — in Uhqr format on Clarity Vinyl, with the added bonus of a double 45 RPM cut by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound. Ryan's cut has his characteristic clarity and transparency all set against Quality Record Pressing's usual noiseless backgrounds on 200-gram flawless records. Each Uhqr will be packaged in a deluxe box and will include a booklet detailing the entire process of making a Uhqr along with a hand-signed certificate of inspection. This will be a truly deluxe, collectible product.

For this 45 RPM 2LP edition you'll also receive a 12" x 12" 12-page booklet featuring liner notes by Ashley Kahn and images from the Coltrane home.

The original master tape is available but it's not in the best shape. This LP was cut from a flat tape copy made by Rudy Van Gelder and used for cutting in the UK in April of 1965. Of course, the original recording was in December '64, so only a handful of months later. This tape was discovered at Abbey Road and had been untouched between 1965 and 2002. So while the original tape is available and while we would always opt for the original whenever we can, in this case this copy was the better choice as the tape has incurred less overall wear and sounds much better than the original.

A Love Supreme was Coltrane's pinnacle studio outing that at once compiled all of his innovations from his past, spoke of his current deep spirituality, and also gave a glimpse into the next two and a half years (sadly, those would be his last). Recorded at the end of 1964, Trane's classic quartet of Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner, and Jimmy Garrison stepped in and created one of the most thought-provoking albums of their relationship.

The album not only enabled Coltrane to express himself with great intensity but also lent him the necessary inner peace to conceive a work of almost 40 minutes in length and to lead his quartet along the same path as himself.