Jazz | Fusion 798 Items

Green Is Beautiful Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition

Release: 1970 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Lipposen Levy ja Kasetti. An official repress of this classic Finnish jazz record from 1970, limited to 340 copies only.

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Grant Green

LP | 1970 | EU | Reissue (Blue Note)

Release: 1970 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Akira Ishikawa Count Buffalo Jazz And Rock Band

Bakishinba: Memories Of Africa Black Vinyl Edition

LP | 1970 | EU | Reissue (Cinedelic)

Black,Brown And Beautiful

Release: 1970 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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An ambitious, brand new album has reached the Japanese jazz scene. It is ‘Bakimba – Memories of Africa.’” This is how Akira Ishikawa Count Buffalo Jazz AND Rock BAND’s album was advertised by the Japanese press in 1970. The Japanese jazz artists were bravely approaching the rock scene, and their choice became an inspiration to jazz-rock groups like Takeshi Inomata & Sound Limited, Jiro Inagaki and Soul Media, and more. The blending between jazz and rock was born in the United States, thanks to Miles Davis and orchestras like Blood Sweat and Tears and Chicago. This movement resulted in the empowerment of jazz and in the birth of a new musical genre: a perfect mix of jazz, latin influences, and rock. Akira Ishikawa and Count Buffalo’s jazz-rock band remind of Santana in the way they embody these energies in their album “Bakimba.” Yet, at the same time, they give life to even more impressive musical compositions. This is also thanks to Hiromasa Suzuki’s innovative electric piano. Often defined as a jazz-rock band, Count Buffalo scales new heights in the context of jazz thanks to the strong rock influences that characterize this work.

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Oliver Nelson

LP | 1970 | UK | Reissue (BGP / Flying Dutchman)

LP | 1970 | JP | Reissue (P-Vine)

Release: 1970 / UK – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Originally released in 1970, “Black, Brown and Beautiful” saw legendary composer and arranger Oliver Nelson musically address the state of black America in the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King. Tracks like ‘Requiem’, ‘Lamb Of God’ and ‘Martin Was A Man, A Real Man’ directly address the passing of King, whereas ‘Self Help Is Needed’ and ‘I Hope In Time A Change Will Come’ orchestrally and passionately ask questions that still remain unanswered today. Indeed, Nelson, writing about the track ‘Self Help Is Needed’ stated “I have always felt that the Federal Government wasn’t going to do a damn thing and American Blacks were going to have to do it themselves. However, you can’t have a foot on your neck making it impossible for you to help yourself. That seems logical – doesn’t it?” Sadly, those words still hold true today.

Musically, this is a sumptuous, almost big band, banquet with Nelson himself talking the soprano sax solo on the aching ‘I Hope In Time A Change Will Come’. Those who are fans of classic Nelson albums like “The Blues And The Abstract Truth” (1961) and the equally polemical “The Mayor And The People” (1971) will find much to enjoy here.

This reissue replicates the original high-quality gatefold sleeve of the original and is pressed on 180gm vinyl.

“Black, Brown And Beautiful” has never been reissued on vinyl since the original 1970 US pressing.

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Sonny Stitt

When Sonny Blows Blue

35,99 €*

Pop Music Black Vinyl Edition

Release: 1970 / JP – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Groove Diggers is delighted to present a reissue of When Sonny Blows Blue by the legendary saxophonist Sonny Stitt for the first time on limited edition vinyl. Originally released in 1970, this album featured a star-studded line-up with the likes of Herbie Hancock, Grady Tate and Ron Carter backing Stitt across a number of jazz standards. By force of its cast, ‘Summertime’ and ‘Out of This World’, have never sounded quite like this. The gold sleeve returns along with an iconic Japanese obi strip.

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Structure

LP | 1970 | EU | Reissue (Sommor)

25,99 €*

Bobby Hutcherson & Harold Land

Release: 1970 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Cool library-styled French album from 1970. Psychedelic, proggy jazz-funk with Brazilian/Bossa touches! Groovy flute by Bernard Wystraëte plus heavy bass, drums (by André Ceccarelli), violin, occasional fuzz-wah guitar and Urszula Dudziak-like scat vocals. In 1970, the AFA label asked flautist Bernard Wystraëte to register a “pop” album after the worldwide impact of progressive bands like Aphrodite’s Child and Jethro Tull. Bernard recruited some of his friends who were professional musicians and Structure was born. He wrote a collection of songs influenced by progressive rock, jazz and Brazilian music. The “Pop Music” album was recorded live in the studio to give a “live show” feel. It was released later that year housed in a superb psychedelic sleeve. The band even toured across France and several countries at the same time that Bernard and other Structure members started backing famous French singer Marie Laforêt live. After the good reception given to the album, another label asked Bernard to record a Structure 45. “Dilatation” / “Scale” was released under a new line-up. Both tracks of this 45 are included as bonus tracks on the Digital Download version and the CD.

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San Francisco Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition

LP | 1970 | EU | Reissue (Blue Note)

Discovers Hoagy Carmichael's Music Shop

Release: 1970 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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The musical partnership between vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson and tenor saxophonist Harold Land fully blossomed on the 1970 album San Francisco, which found the musicians moving into fusion territory with relentlessly grooving tunes like “Goin’ Down South” and “Ummh” counterbalanced by exploratory pieces like the mesmerizing “Prints Tie.”

This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is stereo, all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.

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Stark Reality

2LP | 1970 | US | Reissue (Now-Again)

36,99 €*

Soul On Top Verve By Request Edition

Release: 1970 / US – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Definitive reissue of the album Mojo Magazine called “one of the most prized 'funk’ artifacts of all time... a project that allies Hendrix-stoned guitars, heavily-fuzzed vibraphone and Bitches Brew rhythms…” Lacquered by Bernie Grundman in an all-analog transfer directly from the master tapes. Contains an extensive, oversized booklet with rare photos, liner notes and annotation. The story of The Stark Reality’s Discovers The Hoagy Carmichael’s Music Shop begins in Boston the late 1960s, with a wild jazz – as psychedelic as they were modal, as funky as they were swinging - band based in Boston landing a deal with Ahmad Jamal’s nascent AJP imprint after the legendary jazz pianist heard their demo recordings. They had been tasked by the great American songsmith Hoagy Carmichael’s son, Hoagy Bix Carmichael, to create interpretations of the elder Carmichael’s children songs for a Mr. Rogers-themed show that the younger Carmichael was producing for local PBS affiliate Wgbh. The quartet - Monty Stark on vibes, Phil Morrison on bass, Vinnie Johnson on drums and a very young John Abercrombie on fuzz guitar – recorded an album that flopped upon its initial release and went on to become one of – as Mojo Magazine noted - “the most prized 'funk’ artifacts of all time... a project that allies Hendrix-stoned guitars, heavily-fuzzed vibraphone and Bitches Brew rhythms…” Now-Again Records, who has kept the Stark Reality’s music in print since 2002, presents the definitive reissue of The Stark Reality’s Discovers The Hoagy Carmichael’s Music Shop. Lacquered by Bernie Grundman in an all-analog transfer directly from the master tapes maintained by the Stark Reality’s photographer Jim Bourne, it’s presented in a replica gatefold sleeve, and contains an extensive, oversized page booklet with rare photos, liner notes and annotation.

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James Brown

LP | 1970 | EU | Reissue (Verve)

Release: 1970 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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LP | 1970 | US | Reissue (We Are Busy Bodies)

Virgilio Armas

De Repente

33,99 €*

Release: 1970 / US – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Masayuki Takayanagi And New Directions

Independence: Tread On Sure Ground

LP | 1970 | EU | Reissue (Cinedelic)

LP | 1970 | EU | Reissue (Souffle Continu)

Release: 1970 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Considered the 'Lochness monster' of Japanese free jazz records due to its incredible rarity, this album was the debut recording of Takayanagi Masayuki as leader with The New Directions. Recorded at the Teichiku Kaikan studios on 18 September 1969 (released in 1970) Independence - Tread on Sure Ground, is largely regarded as the first true classic of Japanese free jazz. The group thrashes out an entirely new Japanese methodology for improvisation based on Takayanagi's theories about progressive art. As Alan Cummings explains in his texts to review issues, the group's sonic outburst is pregnant with an urgent intensity similar to a violent rotating windstorm. .....“An electric guitar string is pinged with a sour and markedly unlovely resonance. It is left to fade away naturally, its dying whisper replaced with a wavering feedback tone that grows steadily in volume and thickness. Against the slow feedback wave, a sudden loud percussive crash, urgent staccato rolls across the toms, and the dry rasp of a rattle. A choppy, non-sequential series of chords from the guitar, still mouth-puckeringly bitter is set against the warmer resonance of an alternately bowed and plucked double bass. Each instrument sounds self-contained, like lunar bodies spinning on their own axes at different tempos, but locked together by unfathomably complex rules of motion. Additional percussive rattles and scrapes have been overdubbed to fill in the blank space. Tendrils of feedback snake in and out, like cosmic dust from some cataclysmic celestial event. The playing is exploratory and deliberate, technically adept and keenly judged, easily sustaining interest and motion across the track's eleven minutes. Its sense of focused concentration is more akin to the European free improvisation of AMM or The Spontaneous Music Ensemble than the violent ecstasies of American fire music.”....... (by Alan Cummings) Includes OBI and insert

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Francois Tusques

Piano Dazibao

25,99 €*

LP | 1970 | EU | Reissue (Four Flies)

Release: 1970 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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In Paris in 1965, F. Tusques mixed with Michel Portal, François Jeanneau, Jean-François Jenny-Clark, Aldo Romano or Jacques Thollot. He also met Don Cherry and above all recorded, with other like-minded Frenchmen (Portal and Jeanneau alongside Bernard Vitet, Beb Guérin and Charles Saudrais), the first album of free jazz in France. Years later his thirst for freedom led him to isolation; between May and September 1970, the pianist recorded, at his home, the first of two albums that he would release on Futura Records: »Piano Dazibao« and »Dazibao N°2«.

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Piero Umiliani

Paesaggi Limited Edition

32,99 €*

Bravo Pravo Yellow Vinyl Edition

Release: 1970 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Limited to 700 copies. Four Flies Records is proud to present the first reissue of Piero Umiliani’s Paesaggi – a record that, despite remaining for many years pretty obscure compared to other titles in the maestro’s discography, is now regarded by collectors and experts as the gold standard in Italian library music. By using a multitude of instruments, such as flute, vibraphone, harpsichord, sitar, gong and others, it brings together a variety of arrangements, styles, and genres spanning from bossa nova to jazz, easy listening to psychedelic, Latin, exotica, and many more.

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Patty Pravo

LP | 1970 | EU | Reissue (Rca Label)

26,59 €* 37,99 € -30%

Release: 1970 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Washington Suite Ox Blood Red Vinyl Edition

Lloyd McNeill Quartet

LP | 1970 | UK | Reissue (Soul Jazz)

John Mclaughlin & John Surman

Release: 1970 / UK – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Soul Jazz Records' new ox-blood red Colored Vinyl limited-edition 1000-copies worldwide LP (+ download code) issue of this very rare deep spiritual jazz album, first released as a private-press album in 1970 on flautist Lloyd McNeill's own Asha Record label in Washington, DC. Lloyd McNeill is an African-American flautist, painter, poet, and photographer born in Washington, D.C., in 1935. His multi-disciplinary creative life led to encounters and friendships with Nina Simone, Picasso, Eric Dolphy, Nana Vasconceles and other legendary cultural figures. Lloyd McNeill's hypnotic 'Washington Suite' was originally commissioned as a piece of music for the Capital Ballet Company, in Washington, DC.

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Where Fortune Smiles Color Vinyl Edition

LP | 1970 | EU | Reissue (Tiger Bay)

15,99 €*

Release: 1970 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Live Evil Black Vinyl Edition

Miles Davis

2LP | 1970 | EU | Reissue (Music On Vinyl)

33,99 €*

LP | 1970 | EU | Reissue (Eargong)

Release: 1970 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Live-Evil (1970) by Miles Davis is a double live album which features different settings of Miles Davis' bands. One of such recordings is of a 1970 gig at the Cellar Door, which featured a band comprised of Miles, bassist Michael Henderson, drummer Jack DeJohnette, guitarist John McLaughlin, saxophonist Gary Barts, and Keith Jarrett. The group is groovy, fast, and funky.

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Mike Osborne

Outback

13,99 €*

Release: 1970 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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From Left To Right White Vinyl Edition

Bill Evans

LP | 1970 | EU | Reissue (Klimt)

On The Way To Eden White Vinyl Edition

Release: 1970 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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In the '60s the jazz pianist Bill Evans would occasionally record an orchestral "easy listening" session to pay the bills, with predictably mediocre results. But From Left TO Right, while certainly easy on the ears, is also one of Evans' most intriguing "lost" records. The novelty is that Evans plays both Fender Rhodes and acoustic piano simultaneously in real time, trading off themes and improvs with deliberative taste and, of course, rare skill. The sessions were produced by Evans' long-time, protective manager Helen Keane, so there was little danger of "selling out." Unobtrusively arranged by Michael Leonard, this 1969 release resembles nothing so much as famed bossa nova composer Antonio Carlos Jobim's series of shimmering instrumental albums with arranger Claus Ogerman, even without those gently relentless rhythms driving every tune. Still, the highlight of this album is the dancing two-part "The Dolphin - Before & After," a non-Jobim bossa nova which allows Evans his only extended improvisations. (allmusic.com)

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Eden Rose

LP | 1970 | EU | Reissue (Guerssen)

21,99 €*

LP | 1970 | CA | Reissue (Return To Analog)

Release: 1970 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves, Rock & Indie

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Limited to 200 copies on white vinyl!

Proto-progressive, groovy instrumental psychedelia, recorded in France in 1969 by this pre-Sandrose band and released on the tiny Katema label. Swirling Hammond grooves by keyboard virtuoso Henri Garella, top guitar playing by Jean-Pierre Alacen and a tight, funky rhythm section create one of the best early prog/psych French albums ever. First reissued on Guerssen back in 2016 and out of print for many years, here's a repress in hard cardboard sleeve + OBI - resealable outer sleeve.

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Marius Cultier

Release: 1970 / CA – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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LP | 1970 | US | Reissue (Blue Note)

Reuben Wilson

Blue Mode

25,99 €*

Paul Baillargeon & Dean Morgan

Release: 1970 / US – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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This Blue Note 80 Vinyl Edition is all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.

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Viens, Mon Amour

LP | 1970 | EU | Reissue (Tresor National)

20,89 €* 21,99 € -5%

LP | 1970 | EU | Reissue (Amercia)

Release: 1970 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Tresor Notional is a new Montreal-based record label dedicated to reissuing long lost gems recorded in Quebec (Canada). Their inaugurational release will be o 180g vinyl-only official reissue of the 1970 cult classic “maple syrup porn” soundtrack “Viens, mon amour’ (Love in a 4 letter World), composed by Paul Baillargeon (Star Trek TV series, Jean- Pierre Ferland's Soleil, Curious Georges) and Dean Morgan.
Between 1968 and 1974, Quebec was exposed to unabashed exploitation cinema. Erotic and taboo, these B-movies took on the name of films de fesses (titty films) or “maple syrup porn”. The genre produced some of the most delectable and collectable soundtracks at the time while “Viens, mon amour” easily stands out as one of the sexiest example ever recorded in La Belle Province! Original pressings are scarce and have been highly sought-after for decades by collectors from around the world. This remastered reissue highlights every sensual, psychedelic and
funky side, where rare grooves mix with delicate pop songs and Moog- infused, fuzz-driven titles with hard-hitting brass. A true gem for cinephiles, DJs and all diggers of exotic sounds... with a distinctive Québécois feel.
This first-ever reissue also includes extensive liner notes, rare artwork and exclusive commentaries from the composers. Pressed at 1000 copies, the album will be released in June 2019.

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Noah Howard

Space Dimension

41,99 €*

A Tribute To Jack Johnson

Release: 1970 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Noah Howard was born in 1943 in New Orleans and, like many of his contemporaries, first played music in church as a child. In his 2010 book, 'Music in My Soul', Howard reflected upon his childhood in New Orleans and the influence the city had on him: “Growing up in New Orleans was like receiving a steady diet of music, and my taste in music became increasingly more sophisticated. In the neighborhood where I grew up kids around me were listening to Rhythm and Blues and Jazz; Rock came only much later. One of the great moments of my life was when I was around 13 years old and heard Duke Ellington with Paul Gonsalves playing a twenty-some minutes chorus solo on tenor sax at Newport. We had never heard anything like this before; a saxophone player doing so many choruses, this was years before Coltrane opened up. That experience meant there was no turning back; my ears were open and my desire was burning for music.”
He first learned to play the trumpet before moving on to alto, tenor and soprano saxophone. And his musical journey initially took him to Los Angeles where he worked with Dewey Johnson and then later moved to New York to join the Sun Ra Arkestra. Like most forward thinking saxophonists of the time, Howard was influenced by the evolving expressionism of John Coltrane and Albert Ayler and it wasn't long before he became a key member of the mid-60s free jazz movement, a stepping stone to his elevation into one of the world’s most notable saxophonists.
Howard's debut LP as leader, 'Noah Howard Quartet' was recorded in 1965, and the follow up, 'Noah Howard at Judson Hall', in 1966 but not issued until 1968, both for the groundbreaking ESP Records label (incidentally, both albums featured British trumpeter Ric Colbeck). However, Howard's view of ESP was not positive, calling it “ a monster of deception... I am aware of ESP's adventures...they continue to make money off the artists and they refuse to pay any royalties.”

Like many of the black jazz musicians of the 60s, Howard left the USA and settled in Europe (making the permanent move to Paris in 1972). In an interview in 2005, Howard explained his move: “When I first came to Europe it was 1969 and I came to play in a big festival and after that we had a lot of concerts, recalls Howard. "Then we left and we came back to the States, I was based in New York at that time. About six months later, we had some more concerts, we came back and this went on for years, going back and forth and back and forth and back and forth... I decided that instead of going back and forth all the time, it was more advantageous for me to stay over here and live and work.”
It was in Paris that Howard took part in sessions for the Frank Wright albums 'One For John', cut for the leading French free jazz label BYG Actuel and another Wight session, 'Uhuru Na Umoja', for the America label. Another album on America that featured Howard was Archie Shepp's 'Black Gipsy'. This session also featured , among others, Sunny Murray on drums and Clifford Thornton on trumpet.
America Records was to be home to Howard's third album, 'Space Dimension'. On this album, Frank Wright was reunited with Howard once more, and Wright also composed one track, 'Church Number Nine' (Wright would also do his own version as the title track on his 1970 album, initially only released in Japan. That album would also feature Howard.) 'Space Dimension' also features bop drummer Art Taylor on three tracks, with Muhammed Ali (brother of Rashid), on one. They're joined by alongside pianist Bobby Few, longtime member of Frank Wright's group and an alumnus of Archie Shepp's band.
'Space Dimension' has never seen an official reissue since its original release in 1970 and remains, among a few aficionados, one of the most in demand - and little known - albums in Howard's discography. The blend of free improvisation with a tough rhythmic foundation make for an edifying listening experience. The spectral disjointed afro-blues of the title track, with Howard's soaring, searing horn, introduces an exceptional album of weight and significance, a real statement piece. 'Viva Black' starts as a lush groove, rich with texture and tone. Bobby Few's piano is sparse and disciplined, allowing space for the interweaving angles of the horns and drums to cross and jostle and build in intensity, with Muhammad Ali's drum solo acting as a cathartic release.
'Song for Poets' is blistering in its attack, an intense assault from the whole group – urgent and imperative, a call to action that seemed to resonate with the tumult of the late 60s and early 70s and, perhaps, still resonates now. The album closes with the extended piece 'Blues for Thelma'. It starts like a sort of angular, shattered New Orleans first line march band; Howard visceral horn and Few's piano joust and punch like fighters in a ring; Ali's drums hammer a solid undertow of power and energy, relentless in its fire.
All in all, 'Space Dimension' announced Howard's arrival into a new decade, a decade that was to see not just jazz but music and wider society undergo profound change.
Howard's third record was the widely acclaimed 'Black Ark', which featured Arthur Doyle on his first recording. 'Black Ark' soon became a landmark free jazz recording and elevated Howard into the first division of globally renowned free jazz players.

He spent much of the next decade or so exploring new ideas and places to work, including Europe and Africa, moving to Nairobi in 1982 and finally Brussels, where he had a studio and ran a jazz club.
In his autobiography, Howard described going to Africa: “It was a Sunday morning with bright blue skies and I reached down and grabbed a handful of earth, holding it in my hands. It was red earth. As the first of my family to make this voyage back to my community, I was filled with emotion and started to cry – thinking about all those before me who didn’t survive the middle passage and slave trade. I thanked the few strong survivors of which I’m a descendant and was grateful to be a live and to make it back to Africa in my lifetime. The feeling of coming back home, after generations had gone through abuse and suffering, was upon me. I would put some of this into music later on when recording with James Emmanuel, the poet on 'Middle Passage'”
He recorded steadily through the 1970s and 1980s, mostly with his own label AltSax and continued to expand his repertoire, exploring a range of sounds from ethno-funk to world music in his latter decade. He returned to his free jazz roots in the 90s, mixing the myriad of influences and styles he had encountered throughout his journey.
Noah Howard recorded 35 albums, and their styles reflect the ceaseless musical searcher he was: blues, free jazz, world music. He covered it all.
Noah Howard died on September 3rd, 2010 while on holiday in the South of France. He died a day before finishing the first draft of his autobiography.

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Miles Davis

LP | 1970 | US | Reissue (Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab)

62,99 €*

2LP | 1970 | EU | Reissue (Sony)

Release: 1970 / US – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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SOURCED FROM THE ORIGINAL ANALOGUE MASTER TAPES
MOBILE FIDELITY’S NUMBERED-EDITION 180G SUPERVINYL LP PRESENTS 1971 LANDMARK IN EXUBERANT, FULL-RANGE SOUND

Miles Davis' A Tribute to Jack Johnson is the best jazz-rock record ever made. Equally inspired by the leader's desire to assemble the "greatest rock and roll band you have ever heard,” his adoration of Johnson, and Black Power politics, Davis created a hard-hitting set that surges with excitement, intensity, majesty, and power. Bridging the electric fusion he'd pursued on earlier efforts with a funkier, dirtier rhythmic approach, Davis zeroes in on concepts of spontaneity, freedom, and identity seldom achieved in the studio — and just as infrequently accepted by the mainstream.

Sourced from the original analog master tapes, pressed on MoFi SuperVinyl, and housed in a Stoughton jacket, Mobile Fidelity's 180g LP reissue brings it all to fore with startling realism. Benefitting from SuperVinyl’s nearly inaudible noise floor, superb groove definition, and clean, ultra-quiet surfaces, this 180g LP showcases everything — from the bold tonality of the headliner's white-hot trumpet solos to the decay of crashing cymbals, carry of wiry guitar notes, and echoes of the studio — in reference fashion.

Bristling with exuberance, Davis' high-register passages explode with authority and commanding presence. Around him, a barrage of urgent backbeats, knifing riffs, and supple bass lines emerge amidst black backgrounds. One of the most prominent differences long-time fans will notice is how much more aggressive, immediate, and vibrant the music sounds, with those aspects central to the composer's original desires.

Utilizing wah-wah and distortion, the go-to instrumentalist of the performances— guitarist John McLaughlin — attacks with a nasty edge, slashing style, and vicious streak that allows A Tribute to Jack Johnson< cross the until-then-impenetrable divide between rock and jazz. Davis puts both feet in the former camp and erases any gap. The stories of the record’s creation are nearly as legendary as the sounds within: Two sessions, multiple jams, different sets of musicians (several uncredited), and near-miraculous production perfectionism that made it all appear cohesive.

The least-well-known masterpiece of Davis' career, the 1971 record — seamlessly assembled and spliced together by producer Teo Macero — was a victim of limited record-label promotion. Audiences also didn’t immediately know what to make of its original cover art — faithfully replicated here. In addition, the powers that be at Columbia Records were directing the public’s attention to Miles at Fillmore, a completely different kind of album guided by two keyboardists. A Tribute to Jack Johnson practically lives in a different universe, one from the future. To many listeners who did manage to hear it — among them critic/musician Robert Quine, Stooges leader Iggy Pop, and renowned critic Robert Christgau — it surpassed everything that came before.

Indeed, Davis treated it as a personal manifesto: An opportunity to salute the Black championship boxer admired for his threatening image to the establishment and impeccable taste in clothes, cars, women and music. Davis explains in the liner notes his affinity for Johnson — a stance mirrored by the defiant music, which hits with a prize fighter's force and reflects the graceful elegance with which a pugilist navigates the ring — and closes the album with a Johnson quote read by Brock Peters.

Inspired not only by Johnson but by Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone, Davis changed his approach and his band. He surrounds himself with a cadre of musicians in their 20s and, in the case of bassist Michael Henderson, a 19-year-old fresh from touring with Stevie Wonder. Henderson gives Davis what he requested: boogie-based grooves that don’t lose shape or direction. Soprano saxophonist Steve Grossman, drummer Billy Cobham, and organist Herbie Hancock adhere to a similar aesthetic that prizes brazenness, innovation, and energy.

In that vein, during a portion of “Yesternow,” Davis segues into a separate performance (which became known in its entirety as “Willie Nelson”) played by guitarists McLaughlin and Sonny Sharrock, bass clarinetist Bernie Maupin, keyboardist Chick Corea, bassist Dave Holland, and drummer Jack DeJohnette. Dig it!

Talking with jazz scholar Bill Milkowski — who himself noted how McLaughlin’s unrestrained style, decibel-forward volumes, and rapid-fire power chords engendered himself to the rock crowd at the same time that his harmonics and syncopation still definitely made him a jazz player — guitarist Henry Kaiser summed up part of the appeal of A Tribute to Jack Johnson as well as anyone, saying: “It’s a jazz record that way way more open than other jazz records at the time, but still not free jazz. [McLaughlin’s] rhythm guitar playing on ‘Right Off’ — the use of different chords in a rock shuffle than what anybody had used before — was revolutionary.”

And to think that’s just one aspect of a record that contains multitudes. “Never let them forget it.” Indeed.

MoFi SuperVinyl
Developed by NEOTECH and RTI, MoFi SuperVinyl is the most exacting-to-specification vinyl compound ever devised. Analogue lovers have never seen (or heard) anything like it. Extraordinarily expensive and extremely painstaking to produce, the special proprietary compound addresses two specific areas of improvement: noise floor reduction and enhanced groove definition. The vinyl composition features a new carbonless dye (hold the disc up to the light and see) and produces the world’s quietest surfaces. This high-definition formula also allows for the creation of cleaner grooves that are indistinguishable from the original lacquer. MoFi SuperVinyl provides the closest approximation of what the label’s engineers hear in the mastering lab.

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Miles Davis

Bitches Brew

26,99 €*

LP | 1970 | EU | Reissue (Musik Produktion Schwarzwald)

Release: 1970 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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180 gram pressing!

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Joe Pass

Intercontinental

Babs Robert & The Love Planet

Release: 1970 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Joe Pass (born Joseph Passalaqua) knew how to conjoin melody and chords. Moreover, he brought the walking bass line into the jazz guitar repertoire, as heard in his duo performances with Ella Fitzgerald. Deftly accompanied by German bass virtuoso Eberhard Weber and English drummer Kenny Clare, the music runs the gamut of genres – a meditative Jobim bossa nova, a lusciously relaxed version of the jazz standard, “Stompin' at the Savoy”, a blues-drenched rendition of the Bobby Gentry pop classic, “Ode to Belly Joe”, and a display of dynamically controlled guitar pyrotechnics on the exhilarating “I Love You”.

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LP | 1970 | EU | Reissue (Alpha)

44,99 €*