Jazz | Fusion 563 Items

'Miles in Tokyo' is a live album recorded on July 14, 1964, by the Miles Davis Quintet (featuring Sam Rivers, Ron Carter, Herbie Hancock and Tony Williams) at the Tokyo Kosei Nenkin Kaikan, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. It is the first recording of Davis in Japan and the only album to showcase an early incarnation of his Second Great Quintet featuring Sam Rivers on tenor saxophone, following George Coleman's departure. After this, Wayne Shorter's appointment completed the classic line-up which recorded such albums as 'ESP' and 'Miles Smiles', through to 'Miles in the Sky'. The legendary 'Miles in Tokyo' album is now available on vinyl in Europe for the first time. The heavyweight gatefold contains a 4 page-booklet glued inside, like the original 1969 Japanese LP version.

Fat Albert Rotunda is the venture into jazz-funk by keyboardist Herbie Hancock. The record is
centered around the music Hancock wrote the Fat Albert cartoon show. It’s one of the records which
appeared in the period between his landmark album Maiden Voyage of 1965 and his 1973 classic
Head Hunters. Fat Albert Rotunda is a unique item in Herbie Hancock’s long and diverse catalog, with
funky tracks like "Fat Mama" and modern jazz-oriented tunes like "Tell Me A Bedtime Story". The
sextet which is backing Hancock consists of some of the most prominent musicians of that time, like
Joe Henderson on tenor sax, Johnny Coles on trumpet and Buster Williams on the bass.
Herbie Hancock is one of the most prolific jazz pianists of the 20th century. A child prodigy, he played
with the greats such as Donald Byrd and Miles Davis. As he was a bit of a geek, he enjoyed gadgets &
buttons and he was one of the first to embrace and master the electric piano, but he always stayed
true to the acoustic sound. In fact, he always bounced back and forth between his electronic and
acoustic sound, touching upon almost every development in R&B, Funk and Jazz while retaining an
original and distinctive voice.

Exclusive reissue for Plattenladenwoche 2011!

A cult album from 1968 that has long since become known as a groove classic across genre boundaries, now for the first time as a deluxe edition, freshly remastered, with bonus tracks and attractive packaging. Along with Alice Coltrane, Dorothy Ashby was the only world-famous jazz harpist. Thanks to deep grooves and sophisticated orchestral sounds, “Afro-Harping” is her most famous album to date, which is continually breathed new life into thanks to samples and remixes by Pete Rock, Kendrick Lamar, Jay Dee (aka J Dilla), Madlib, Flying Lotus and others. Remastered from the original ¼-inch tapes by Alex Wharton/Abbey Road Studios and featuring eight strong, previously unreleased alternate tracks, including an explosive version of the single “Soul Vibrations”, the classic album is now available for the first time in a high-quality format appropriate to its ever-growing importance.

2-lp: gatefold sleeve, padded black inner sleeves, illustrated eight-page insert with detailed liner notes by Seán Casey/Shindig! magazine.

Reissue as a part of the Start Your Year Off Right Kampagne von Warner. The final album recorded by Coltrane under his own supervision for Atlantic Records, Ole Coltrane features several of the players from Africa/Brass, which was recorded two days earlier, and is widely considered one of the premiere statements of Avant Garde jazz as well as the moment that Coltrane moved from an accessible artist to a more daring and complicated one. (Original RD: November 1961)

An impressive live album by Marvin Peterson who was one of the finest trumpetersin the 60's-70's is making its return on vinyl format. These tracks were performed by the band led by Hannibal Marvin Peterson, though he had yet to add "Hannibal" to his name at the time of recording. Here, he performed with eight musicians in his hometown of Texas, and theirperformance crossed the boundaries of jazz, soul and funk with skilled musicians. These included organistEugene Carrier who also participated in the BB King Band and drummer Emry Thomas who would later participate in the band led by Johnny "Guitar" Watson.

With a glance at the cover art, you can get a sense of the powerful and passionate live recording that brought joy to its many fans. The opening "Groove for Otis" (m1) with a jazz-funk whose edgy beat excites rare groove fans. "Our Groove" (m4) is also a fine track whichhas a slick bassline and Eugene'sorgan fusing in harmony. P-vine are very proud to be repressing this record with its intimate feeling akin to being there in the crowd as the mighty Peterson walks up to take center stage.

Recorded in 1965 at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in New Jersey, Roland Kirk's album Rip, Rig and Panic finds him teamed with the most awesome rhythm section he ever recorded with: pianist Jaki Byard, bassist Richard Davis, and drummer Elvin Jones. It received a 5 stars rating on AllMusic, with reviewer Thom Jurek stating that "Rip, Rig, and Panic may be pre-Rahsaan Roland Kirk's greatest outing. Kirk and his quartet moved through a series of musicological changes that defined him as an artist at the time. Five of the seven compositions are his, and reach through each of the phases that Kirk was interested in integrating into his compositional and improvisational voice. Positively smashing."

Jewels of Thought is an album by the American jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders. It was recorded at Plaza Sound Studios in New York City on October 20, 1969, and was released on Impulse! Records in the same year.

The Shadow of Your Smile is a studio album by Astrud Gilberto. With arrangements by Don Sebesky, Claus Ogerman, and João Donato, it was released via Verve Records in 1965. It peaked at number 66 on the Billboard 200 chart.

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.

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.

A deep dive into the one of most collectable jazz catalogues in the world, a selection of some of the rarest and most sought-after recordings from the 60s and 70s, a time when British jazz began to find its own identity. Drawn from the iconic labels of Decca, Deram, Argo, EMI Columbia/Lansdowne Series, Fontana, Mercury, & Philips. Kenny Wheeler was born Canada in 1930 and, with encouragement from his father - himself a trombone player - began playing trumpet at age 12. After studying at Toronto’s Royal Conservatory, he arrived in London in 1952, his playing enveloped in the sounds of Miles Davis, Booker Little, and Fats Navarro. In 1959, Wheeler joined the Johnny Dankworth Orchestra and stayed there until 1963, although he returned frequently for shows and other projects in the years that followed. He quickly become a distinguished soloist in the Orchestra and appeared on Dankworth’s key sixties albums. Wheeler met and played with the rising artists of London’s free jazz scene. Players such as Trevor Watts, Derek Bailey, and Evan Parker, musicians who would challenge the conventions of the day, eschewing formal composition and structure to embark on group improvisation. For a musician thoroughly schooled in all the conventions of charts and dance bands as Wheeler was, this was a radical departure. Wheeler’s contributions proved his ample flexibility and showed he was capable of inhabiting both the free environment and the more formal and controlled settings of a big band and orchestra. This was shown most clearly on his debut album, Windmill Tilter, recorded for Fontana with the John Dankworth Orchestra. The album features a young John McLaughlin on guitar along with bassist Dave Holland and a roster of talented and well respected musicians playing on one of the greatest modern jazz big band and orchestral albums.

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

On his second and last album for Impulse! Records, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard went all out: with a first-class orchestra conducted and arranged by Wayne Shorter, occasionally reinforced by strings, and a varied repertoire that seamlessly combined standards with originals by Hubbard.
VERVE BY REQUEST SERIES: remastered, audiophile-quality 180-gram vinyl from Third Man Pressing/Detroit, Gatefold Sleeve

The Latin Jazz classic that started it all! Mandatory!

Blow-Up is a soundtrack album by Herbie Hancock featuring music composed for Michelangelo Antonioni's cult film Blow-Up, released in 1966. Musically the songs evoke the ambience of swinging Sixties' London with grooves that create effective bluesy Jazz moods on the slow pieces, and funky ones on the up-tempo tracks.

When Charlie Byrd toured South America in 1961, Bossa Nova—a melding of Brazilian samba rhythms with the harmonic structures and cool sound of West Coast jazz—was booming. He brought back records for Stan Getz to hear and they planned a session. The result was Jazz Samba—the first album of Bossa Nova music by jazz artists and the one that created the Bossa Nova wave.



VERVE ACOUSTIC SOUNDS SERIES: Stereo, mastered fully analogue from the original tapes by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound, QPR pressing (180 g), firm tip-on gatefold (Stoughton Printing), padded inner sleeve.

One of the most active bebop trumpeters, Kenny Dorham started in the big bands of Mercer, Ellington, Lionel Hampton, Billy Eckstine and Dizzy Gillespie and eventually landed in the Charlie Parker Quintet. In addition, he was a charter member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, recorded as a sideman with Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins and replaced Clifford Brown in the Max Roach Quintet. Throughout his career he can be heard playing trumpet on various recordings with Lou Donaldson, Sonny Stitt, Fats Navarro, Kenny Clarke, Mary Lou Williams and many more musical legends. “Quiet Kenny” is a jazz masterpiece. Recorded by the great Rudy Van Gelder with a group of musicians playing at the top of their game, this title continues to be one of the most collectible Jazz LPs due to its high demand and short supply.

It's 1964 and the first Berlin Jazz Festival is about to reach its absolute peak: the final concert on the night of Friday, 25th September by Miles Davis. And the European subsidiary of Columbia Records, CBS, couldn’t wait to release this legendary event on LP.
The new quintet, for the first time with Wayne Shorter on the tenor sax (and not yet as composer), thrilled and roused the audience in the Philharmonie from the first minute to the very end. The classics "Miles(tones)", "So What" and "Walkin’" were performed at an astonishingly fast pace, the ballads were tender and dreamy. Such a magical atmosphere was rarely evoked at later concerts, which was probably due to the excellent acoustics of the large concert hall. The audience were also seated behind the stage, so Miles couldn't turn his back provokingly on people; sometimes he just squatted on the stage. However, this didn’t prevent him from performing his solos lyrically and tenderly, most of them finely nuanced, soft and gentle, yet audible right into the furthest corner. The rhythmic structure created by the young drummer Anthony Williams provided the necessary excitement.
Miles at the top of his form, an enthusiastic audience, impressive acoustics and, to top it all, excellent recording technology and a fantastic pressing on virgin vinyl - what more does a jazz fan want? Now’s the time to dig out your credit card!

This Speakers Corner LP was remastered using pure analogue components only, from the master tapes through to the cutting head. All royalties and mechanical rights have been paid.

Dolphy had left his native California and come east as part of Chico Hamilton's group, settling in New York in 1960 and becoming part of Charles Mingus's group. This first recording as a leader brought comparisons with Ornette Coleman but the two were really parallel figures in the then-emerging avant-garde. Dolphy did not eschew 'changes', as Coleman did, but he used them in new ways. This LP was significant not only for his alto saxophone but introduced his individual approach to the flute and, particularly, the bass clarinet.

In 1960, the free jazz pioneered by Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Horace Tapscott and a very few others was rejected by many musicians and most listeners. For the visionary saxophonist, clarinetist and flutist Eric Dolphy, it was simply new music fed by the mainstream, a logical extension of the jazz tradition. In "Far Cry" without leaving form behind, he incorporated the spirit of adventure and abandon with which free jazz at its best infused freshness into jazz. Recording with a pianoless quartet that used Ron Carter’s cello as the other melody instrument, Dolphy worked from chord patterns developed within structures that depart from ordinary 32-bar jazz and popular song forms. He used 30-bar, 35-bar and 18-bar structures, but he also observed standard practice with 12-bar blues, “Serene”. Dolphy’s speech-like improvisations and Carter’s bowed or plucked cello solos soar over the impeccable and responsive accompaniments of bassist George Duvivier and drummer Roy Haynes.

John Coltrane brought a new sound and style to jazz, and he applied it in his own unique way to the standard material of the storehouse of American music gathered from Broadway, Hollywood and Tin Pan Alley. With the excellent rhythm team of Red Garland, Paul Chambers (both of whom had done so many concert, club and recording dates with him) and Jimmy Cobb and the Miles-directed flugelhorn of Wilbur Harden, Trane puts his personal stamp on numbers not done that often like Henry Nemo's "Don't Take Your Love from Me", Fred Ahlert's "I'll Get By" and two more familiar yet still not overdone songs, Richard Rodgers' "Spring Is Here" and Bronislau Kaper's "Invitation."