Jazz | Fusion Vinyl 359 Items

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.

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 last of the collaborative LPs Miles Davis recorded with Gil Evans for Columbia, Quiet Nights is easily the most controversial. Following the success of Sketches Of Spain, Davis and Evans aimed to further the Latin explorations, this time pointing to Brazil, as heard on the adaptation of Antonio Carlos Jobim’s ‘Corcovado’ and Joao Gilberto’s ‘Aos Pés Da Cruz,’ with its stellar Ron Carter bass accompaniment, though some were surprised by the brevity of the proceedings, including Miles himself. Nevertheless, those who get to know the album will appreciate its intricacies, the product of the pair’s unique creative chemistry.

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.

Saxophonist Eddie Harris – a favorite sample staple of jazz-leaning hip-hop producers of the ‘90s – was a very busy man in the 1960s, releasing albums at a brisk pace since his first as a leader in 1961. By the late ‘60s he had fully hit his stride, as both a performer and an innovator.
A case in point is heard very clearly on this gem from Harris’ expansive catalog – 1968’s Plug Me In, which features his pioneering use of the Varitone saxophone effects processor unit (first heard on his 1967 album, The Tender Storm). The effect, used on “It’s Crazy” and “Ballad (For My Love),” never gets in the way, but gives the proceedings a feeling of “the next.” 1968 saw jazz entering a new era, influenced by electronic advances as well as the soul music dominating the pop charts of the day. Plug Me In slid perfectly into the vanguard of the day.
There is a soulful warmth to the proceedings on this classic LP, starting with album opener “Live Right Now,” which builds and swirls to a beautiful crescendo, with notes ricocheting back and forth amongst a top level crew of players including Jodie Christian, Chuck Rainey and Richard Smith. “Lovely Is Today” and “It’s Crazy” also feature waves of sunshiney brass and group interplay, alongside album ballads like “Winter Meeting” and “Ballad (For My Love).”
Eddie Harris’ catalog can be daunting, considering his impressive input throughout the 60s and 70s, but there’s a reason fans old and new come back to Plug Me In again and again. Innovation and soul is a combination that never fails, and this reissue is destined to bring more fans into the fold.

One of the most important Jazz Albums from the mighty Amiga catalogue is back in print!

180g vinyl.

Originally released on Roulette records in 1960, this is a unique and yet often overlooked document in the form of a split album featuring early, little known works by John Coltrane and Lee Morgan. Coltrane, already in full modal flight, is featured with an unusual quartet that includes McCoy Tyner on piano, Steven Davis on bass and the great Billy Higgins on drums. Lee Morgan's straight ahead hard bop set sees the young trumpet genius leading a hard swinging group that includes a fabulous Wayne Shorter on tenor sax, Bobby Timmons on piano (both were Morgan's colleagues in Art Blakey Jazz Messengers) Jimmy Rowser on bass and Art Taylor on drums. A must have item for fans of these two masters of modern jazz

Complex, emotive, and straddling several genres, Sketches Of Spain is one of Miles Davis’ masterpieces, a landmark of orchestrated jazz. The third of his collaborations with Gil Evans, Sketches was inspired by the classical ‘Concierto de Aranjuez,’ which sparked the suite that makes up the LP. Drummers Jimmy Cobb and Elvin Jones and bassist Paul Chambers reconfigured their approaches to blend with the orchestra under Evans’ command and Davis uses a muted flugelhorn for the epic opener; his solo on ‘Saeta’ is blinding and the adapted Andalusian folk song ‘Solea’ draws on flamenco. This absolute stunner is a must-have!

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.

Gilberto with Turrentine is an album by Brazilian samba and bossa nova singer Astrud Gilberto and American saxophonist Stanley Turrentine featuring performances recorded in 1971 released on the CTI label. The album can be described as a blend of jazz, pop, and tropicalia. It was arranged by Eumir Deodato and features appearances by A-list jazz performers including Airto Moreira, Ron Carter, Sam Brown, Hubert Laws, and Toots Thielemans.

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.

Another legendary Lateef session cut in 1960 for the New Jazz imprint. The co-leader - bassist Doug Watkins - died tragically in a car accident in 1962 at the age of 27. However, prior to his early demise, he recorded dozens of wonderful sessions with some of the greatest jazzmen of his time, among them Sonny Rollins, Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and the Horace Silver Quintet. Imagination ! marked his second and final album as a leader, and features Watkins on cello instead of bass. The use of cello - and oboe on some numbers - makes the date stand out a bit from the usual hard bop sessions of the period and straight-ahead jazz fans will want to get this.

In his 1967 DownBeat review of the initial release, Amiri Baraka wrote: "The music is beautiful on this album... These two players... are making some of the deepest music anywhere. It wants nothing."

Peter Margasak included the album in his list of "Favorite Albums of 2020," and wrote: "Essential coupling of two insanely rare duo albums from a 1966 concert at Yale University: Pullen at his most ferocious and probing, Graves making a huge step in establishing his radical approach to polymetric movement."

In a review for Point of Departure, John Sharpe commented: "The five pieces represent a true dialogue... Although intensity levels vary, the exchanges remain resolutely non-melodic and non-metric throughout... Even after all this time the music still challenges preconceptions. It remains a classic of the genre and deserves to be widely heard."

Thurston Moore included Nommo in his "Top Ten From The Free Jazz Underground" list, first published in 1995 in the second issue of the defunct Grand Royal magazine, calling the interplay between the musicians "remarkable."

The virtuoso trombonist Albert Mangelsdorff was one of the prominent figures of European Jazz of the 60s – 70s. Eastern influences with a perfect blend of Western culture characterized this album recorded in Frank- furt after the groups Asian tour. “Now Jazz Ramwong” sees the group in its best shape: alto saxophonist Gunther Kronberg, tenor saxophonist Heinz Sauer, bassist Gunter Lenz and drummer Ralf Hubner. A really mind-blowing mix of jazz, folk and Eastern sounds. The album contains “Three Jazz Moods”, a jazz adaptation of Ravi Shankar’s music.

A few copies arrived with a seamsplit Cover. We're therefore selling it on a reduced price.

Sahib, besides being an undisputed leader and releasing records for prestigious European and American labels, was one of the key members of the prestigious Kenny Clarke Francy Boland Big Band.

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.

Reissue for this classic album from '67 on Orange Impulse Rec. Considered to be the last Coltrane's lifetime release it includes the all-time classic "Welcome", as defined by Coltrane himself “the song is that feeling you have when you finally do reach an awareness, an understanding which you have earned through struggle. It is a feeling of peace. A welcome feeling of peace."

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.”