Organic Grooves Sale 194 Items

Optimal pressing.
The fourth album by Sault scored 97/100 at Metacritic and is the most beloved album at HHVs Supreme 100 of 2020 list, chosen by 150 journalists, musicians, label makers and record collectors.

Washington calls Fearless Movement his dance album. “It’s not literal,” Washington says. “Dance is movement and expression, and in a way it’s the same thing as music—expressing your spirit through your body. That’s what this album is pushing.” Dance as an embodied form of expression signals a shift in focus for Washington. Where previous albums dealt with cosmic ideas and existential concepts, Fearless Movement focuses in on the everyday, an exploration of life on earth. This change in scope is due in large part to the birth of Washington’s first child a few years ago. “Being a father means the horizon of your life all of a sudden shows up,” says Washington. “My mortality became more apparent to me, but also my immortality—realizing that my daughter is going to live on and see things that I’m never going to see. I had to become comfortable with this, and that affected the music that I was making.” The album features Washington’s daughter—who wrote the melody to “Asha The First” during some of her first experimentations on the piano—as well as a host of collaborators new and old. André 3000 appears on flute, George Clinton lends his voice, as do BJ The Chicago Kid, Inglewood rapper D-Smoke and Taj and Ras Austin of Coast Contra, the twin sons of West Coast legend Ras Kass. Washington further enlisted lifelong friends and collaborators Thundercat, Terrace Martin, Patrice Quinn, Brandon Coleman, DJ Battlecat and more. The album also features “The Garden Path,” a song Washington performed for the first time ever, making his late-night television debut, on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”

Limited edition of 500 copies, only available at HHV!

20 years HHV: our team has selected an album from each of these years that is particularly relevant and precious to us. On a monthly basis we release exclusive and limited pressings of these records in collaboration with some of our favorite labels.

This intimate center stage recording from Bubba's Jazz Restaurant in 1980 is a potent reminder of how good Ahmad Jamal’s live performances could be.
Bubba’s Jazz Restaurant was considered one of the most famous jazz clubs in the world, with its performance roster presenting the Who’s Who of the jazz world.
Jamal sadly passed away in 2023. He was a luminary in the world of jazz; his distinct style marrying the elegance of classical music with the improvisational spirit of jazz.
Teamed up with bassist Sabu Adeyola and drummer Payton Crossley, the trio interprets an exciting array of standards including "Waltz for Debbie" and "Autumn in New York."
Complete with extended liner notes, this reissue comes available in two vinyl colour variations - standard black, and opaque amber.

This one is special. All unreleased material. Only one pressing ever. Vulf collectors know the code. This is it.

Record Store Day 2021 Release.

The remarkable third act of Mavis Staples’ legendary career has seen the gospel, soul, and civil-rights icon embraced by new generations of fans through her collaborations with the likes of Jeff Tweedy, Run The Jewels, Neko Case, and Justin Vernon. And it all began with Have A Little Faith, her independently financed mission to bring her message into the 21st century. After being turned down by other labels unable to see the commercial appeal of this legend’s fresh, genre-busting approach to spiritual music, it was embraced by Alligator Records, who helped Mavis fulfill her dream and relaunch her career. Alligator is proud to release this landmark album on silver vinyl for a 20th Anniversary Edition with a reminiscence letter by Mavis, expanded artwork, and remastered on 2LPs at 45rpm for the best possible sound.

2023 repress, limited to 500 with Original Stoughton Tip On Sleeve!

Celebrating its 60th anniversary, this rare concert recording sees an official vinyl reissue, pressed on smoke effect vinyl.
The concert is notable, in that it formed part of the famous American Folk-Blues Tour, a touring music festival that played at venues across
Europe annually from 1962 to 1970. A showcase for American blues talent, Wolf’s performances in Europe added fuel to the burgeoning British Blues explosion.
Joined by a host of blues veterans including Willie Dixon, this record will form an exciting addition to the discography of any blues aficionados.

For the second instalment in our Cuban Classics series, we proudly present this sought-after slice of sublime Afro-Cuban jazz from 1976. It comes courtesy of one of Cuba’s most influential acts, Grupo Irakere. Founded in 1973 by Chucho Valdés (son of the Cuban pianist and bandleader Bebo Valdés) the group was home to many of Cuba’s finest musicians over the years. With an electrifying style and sound, they mixed traditional Cuban music with jazz, funk, and rock.

This self-titled album includes the much-loved, dancefloor heavy-hitter 'Chequeré-Son’, a Latin-jazz funk masterpiece with Cubanized bebop-flavoured horn lines, lush keys, and ‘70s hip swagger. Though 'Chequeré-Son’ is the keystone of the record, the album is laced with brilliance at every turn, from the Carlos Santana-esque channelling ‘Iya’ with its percussive Latin power, to the sultry, slick and passionate '38 1/2’. Elsewhere, the absorbing, ever-building energy of 'Juana 1600’ and steamy vocal dancer ‘Xiomara’ are also highlights of this incredible album.

Pressed on Cuba’s state led Areito Records, the album was well received internationally, garnering distribution in Finland on Love Records, in Italy on Phase 6 Super Stereo, and also in the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Venezuela.

A cherished Afro-Cuban triumph, this album has been crying out for a reissue and we’re delighted to make that happen.

Lift off lid box with crushed emerald felt lining, Includes Embossed Gatefold edition Double Tri-Colour Splatter Vinyl.

Includes Signed Insert, Limited edition Black Classical Music branded ProMark Drum Sticks, and branded Afro Comb.

Artists Kyoko Takenaka + Tomoki Sanders team with In Sheep’s Clothing Hi-Fi & Pure Person Press to release their breathtaking debut record as Planet Q.

Gatefold Single LP w/ OBI & Insert

To explore and absorb Planet Q, the new record by artists Kyoko Takenaka + Tomoki Sanders, is to become untethered from structural expectations, to reside in a realm where genre vanishes and a profound musical space remains, where the absence of gravity causes curious things to occur.

It’s a spot where handclaps may not move in time, where sonic gurgles of unknown origin offer texture, where a deep, hooky rhythm can propel a groove into the stratosphere.

At various times the tracks move like Dilla pieces, at others like Terry Riley explorations, like Flying Lotus or Milford Graves or Alice Coltrane meditations. But every time you think you’ve got the sound figured out, it hits from another angle. Though a brief missive at 33 minutes, you exit Planet Q as if leaving an utterly alien spot.

Setting: In 2021, during the covid lockdown in America, Takenaka and Sanders were both living in Tokyo without any gigs or work to be found back home. They met at a mutual friend’s cafe in the Higashi-Koenji neighborhood, and the connection was immediate. “The chances of us meeting not only someone else of the diaspora when the borders are closed, but also queer and non-binary, and also a musician? Pretty slim, and pretty fateful,” Takenaka says.

In early 2022, the Omicron variant prompted a new round of isolation. Returning to New York, they united with kindred musicians by going to private jam sessions, but at the time those evenings didn't tap the magic they were seeking. They decided to quarantine and create together. Takenaka was living alone at the time so they invited Sanders to crash there. Says Takenaka, “We made rice, ate natto, meditated and made music for seven days straight.”

That they would create something masterful does seem somehow predestined. Sanders’ late father is the brilliant composer and saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, their mother a life-long music fanatic who nurtured the same. The younger Sanders, who grew up in New York and Tokyo, has been playing music – drums, saxophone, clarinet, piano – and absorbing profound sound since they had baby teeth. Takenaka is a first-generation Nikkei Japanese American actor, butoh dancer and filmmaker who also grew up with music; their father was a jazz pianist, and by age 7 they were already singing at jam sessions in Boston. Planet Q is Takenaka and Sanders’ debut musical collaboration.

That week together in isolation was pretty ritualized. Their aim, Takenaka says, was to create “a really beautiful, secluded safe space for ourselves as qtpoc folx – a planet where we both belong – and to make music as we created the space. Basking in it. Being inside it.”

They quickly fell into a daily routine that commenced with an improvised spoken meditation, tidbits of which made it onto the record. The layout of Takenaka’s apartment – an open kitchen looking out on the living room – afforded them the chance to mix rituals. They prepped meals and sampled parts of the process. Cooking rice, making curry, eating natto – the sounds simmer throughout Planet Q. Dancing and calligraphy also informed the compositions. Takenaka calls it “embodying the process, the textures.”

Tomoki says, “Before Hip hop, in my dad’s age, the saxophone was where the rapper, or the electric guitar spotlighted. It was only $500 to buy a saxophone in the 50’s...now its anywhere from $3000-$10,000. However, we fortunately are in a current time to have a whole studio literally in our laptops – and you can get a $50 midi device from a music store or online. Time of technology has advanced the music, the sound, the production – I’m challenged to reimagine things in ways never been thought before.”

Though each piece has distinct traits, Planet Q feels more like a suite of tracks, a gathering of waveforms that, despite their differences, when woven together create an utterly striking piece. The intention-setting opening piece was born through their improvised morning meditations. Tomoki uses bells their father gifted them.

“‘My Sweet, My Tender, My Loving, Home’ is dedicated to my dad and his metaphysical and galactic sounds, that is grounding,” Tomoki says. “Every intention I put into the style of music or energy comes from him and the ancestors, or god, ‘subconsciously’ – being a continuation of his DNA but in a completely different generation and time; me matching his point of view in spirituality and raising a level of self-consciousness.”

Borders blur. Rhythms lope and gallop. “竹” is a beat-driven rush featuring Takenaka on guitar. When Sanders grabs their tenor saxophone for “Grow,” the result vibes like a funky film-noir soundtrack, with Takenaka reciting the title.

Their tools: bells, electric guitar, piano, shakers, saxophone, African thumb piano, flute, keyboard, drum programming and voice. Most importantly, Planet Q is the sound of two devoted artists committing in full to exploring the mystic, hellbent on mastering the ways that two mortals can, with focus, desire and ancestral guidance, unite in music to create something that transcends the here-and-now.

Red Vinyl. Side 3 has a deeper scratch, the other sides are between VG+ and NM

As the fable goes: pre-discogs, intrepid disc jocks would often take trips to Italy (many tricking their spouse into believe it was a ‘holiday’!) to source records from the seemingly endless supply of top tier Italo, disco and cosmic record shops across the country. According to legend, the classified sections of local yellow pages and information booklets which would contain the addresses of the record shops and dealers in the area would often be ripped out unscrupulously, thwarting – or at least making it more difficult for – the next vinyl tourist to source out the rare gems amongst the rich seams – a wild west vinyl gold rush if you will.

Such stories are a rarity these days, with youtube making some of the most underground tracks common knowledge, and discogs almost making any record obtainable – at a price of course. Upgrading his digging methodology, Bosco has developed a secret New Technique to side-step the machine and in doing so obtained a clutch of amyl-soaked fluffers that are so rare, that upon writing they aren’t even listed online! Seriously, he must be communicating with some interdimensional, upper echelon Italo overlords; taking us on a primo-thrust tour through the most unexposed recesses of the Italo disco galaxy.

Don’t be hoodwinked by their sheer obscurity however; we wouldn’t give a toss if they couldn’t tear the arse off the dancefloor. But they’re all fuckin rhodium grade tackle peeps! Eight neon-drenched late night roman candles of Italo disco decadence that’ll defo have you jizzing rainbow skittles over the dancefloor as you search desperately through the fog for another huff of poppers off Darren.

Total Discogs market value: as yet undetermined

Pharoah Brunson’s Pyramid Points: 9999999999999

* First time pressed on vinyl * Comes with Japanese obi-strip * Pressed on Black Vinyl / This is a great, and beloved modern soul work released by Ron Henderson and his group Choice of Color in 1976. the edition reissued by P Vine in 2020 sold out quickly and is now fetching high prices on the used market, so we We have decided to reissue this wonderful album once again in a new version. For vinyl lovers and collectors, the obi will have a new design different from the 1st edition and the vinyl will be updated to 180g weight vinyl!

Japanese Obi-strip Pressed on Black Vinyl Originally released in 1974 Note: Artwork to be updated "An American jazz drummer Roy Brooks started his career in the 1950s, and he had joined the Horace Silver Combo the early 1960s. Subsequently, he became a part of the bands led by notable artists like Stanley Turrentine, Yusef Lateef, and Charles Mingus. He was also a significant influence on the legendary Tribe label, which was based in his hometown of Detroit, and he spent his career at the forefront of the American jazz scene until his passing in 2005.



As a bandleader with Roy Brooks And The Artistic Truth, he pursued spiritual jazz guided by a refined sense of spirituality. Among his discography, the live recording "The Sahel Concert" from 1974 stands out as one of the most expressive showcases of his artistry, much like his previous work, "Ethnic Expressions."

The hottest 1980?s cosmic italo disco songs from the Czech national music archive bundled on one album.

“Things happen for a reason, man.” - Leo Nocentelli

At just fourteen, Leo Nocentelli was backing up Otis Redding. Soon after, he was playing on hits for Lee Dorsey, The Supremes, and The Temptations. As an original member of The Meters, Leo wrote instant classics “Cissy Strut” and “Hey Pocky A–Way,” but his greatest moment on record may be totally unknown, until now…

Recorded at Cosimo Matassa’s Jazz City Studio in New Orleans in the early ‘70s and then lost to the ages, Another Side is one of Leo Nocentelli’s most personal and definitive moments ever cut to tape. A mixture of funky folk and rootsy, raw emotion (think Bill Withers and James Taylor meeting Allen Toussaint at Link Wray’s Three Track Shack), this previously unheard album shines like the sun on a spring day on the New Orleans fairgrounds. Backing Nocentelli is an all-star line-up of New Orleans royalty, including Allen Toussaint (piano), James Black (drums), and both George Porter Jr. (bass) and Zigaboo Modeliste (drums) of The Meters. Deeply introspective, the album features nine original songs by Nocentelli, plus a soulful rendition of Elton John’s “Your Song.” Half a century later, these recordings sound just as fresh and engaging as the day they were recorded.

What makes Another Side even more extraordinary, however, is the fact that the album—which could have easily become a classic in the ‘70s singer-songwriter canon—sat untouched for decades; miraculously surviving the devastating blow of Hurricane Katrina, only to be found 2,000 miles away at a Southern California swap meet in 2018 by record collector Mike Nishita. The album’s incredible journey is documented in the liner notes by Sam Sweet (New York Times, Los Angeles Times), who spoke with Nocentelli and Nishita about the recording process and re-discovery of the tapes. Sweet’s full notes appear in the release’s accompanying booklet, alongside handwritten lyrics by Leo Nocentelli. The first pressing of the vinyl edition will feature gold-foil treatment on cover and spine. Rounding out the package are original designs and layout by the multi GRAMMY®–winning designer Masaki Koike.

While Nocentelli was embedded in New Orleans’ R&B scene, he was also deeply inspired by the late 1960s and early 1970s rising singer-songwriters, and soon found himself exploring sounds that were miles away from his band’s hard-edged funk riffs. Whenever he had downtime from session work and shows, Nocentelli spent much of 1971 recording his newly-found, reflective, diaristic songs at Matassa’s Jazz City studio. Backed by longtime Meters bandmate George Porter Jr. on bass, Nocentelli crafted the lineups for his sessions to match the tone of the material. When he needed a pianist, he’d call Toussaint. For percussion on the slower songs, he used drummer Zigaboo Modeliste, but many of the tracks featured James Black—a frequent collaborator of Toussaint’s and a member of Ellis Marsalis’ jazz group, whom Nocentelli recalls as an “unbelievable” musician. The recording, which Nocentelli fondly refers to as his “country-and-western-album,” paints a picture of a young man yearning to find a sense of purpose. “I was going through some changes which were reflected in the songs that I wrote during that time,” he tells Sweet. Among them is the mid-tempo “Getting Nowhere,” in which he expresses a sense of frustration, as he watches others find success around him. Similarly, “Till I Get There” details a man who is struggling to persevere in his goals. In the soaring “Tell Me Why,” meanwhile, the singer contemplates the existence of God. Other songs center around fictional characters. “Pretty Mittie,” for instance, is sung from the perspective of a farmer who longs to give up his arduous life for the city. “You’ve Become a Habit” is about a man who falls for a sex worker named Fancy. “Riverfront” is based on stories that singer Aaron Neville shared, about his days working on the New Orleans waterfront. Nocentelli also chose to perform one cover: Elton John’s breakthrough hit, “Your Song.” The guitarist made the recently-released ballad his own—infusing it with a loping, head-nodding cadence, ever so tastefully “funkdafied” in true New Orleans fashion. By the time that the album was finished, The Meters were busier than ever. They had just signed a record deal with Warner Brothers and were now the official house band at Toussaint’s studio, Sea-Saint. There, they not only backed artists on Toussaint’s Sehorn label but had also become the go-to session musicians for every major artist that recorded in New Orleans. Rather than focus on a solo career, Nocentelli poured his energies into The Meters’ next album. Eventually, time moved on, as did Nocentelli, and he decided to store his unreleased solo album at Sea-Saint for safekeeping. In 2005, when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, Sea-Saint was among its victims. While Toussaint (who passed away in 2015) had sold the hallowed studio in the mid-90s, hundreds of his archived recordings remained in the building. The new owner salvaged what he could from the flooded building, shipping everything to a storage facility in Southern California. Boxes of tapes sat there for more than a decade before moving to another unit, which foreclosed a year later. The contents were purchased in a blind auction and, days later, sold at a swap meet. The fact that record collector Mike Nishita just happened to be there was pure kismet. Nishita, a DJ and brother to “Money Mark” Nishita (of Beastie Boys fame), recognized the Sea-Saint label on the boxes and purchased all 673 master tapes at the swap meet. He inspected the contents with his friend Mario Caldato Jr., the longtime audio engineer for the Beastie Boys. In addition to masters from Irma Thomas, Dr. John, Lee Dorsey, and Toussaint, there was a quarter-inch reel with Nocentelli’s name on it. As Caldato and Nishita played it back, they knew they had something special. “There was nothing else like it,” writes Sweet. “An acoustic album by the greatest funk guitarist who ever lived. It was the tape Mike would play for people to show them how special the collection was. The best album in the vault was something nobody knew existed.” Eventually, Nishita and Nocentelli connected, “He was so grateful, so sincere,” recalls Nishita. “I just kept thinking about how this music needs to be heard... Especially when you look at all the things that had to fall into place for these tapes to survive and be discovered this way.” As Nocentelli simply puts it, “Things happen for a reason, man.” And now, Light in the Attic is thrilled to give this remarkable record the spotlight it so rightly deserves. 50 years later, all is not lost.

Cover has tiny wear, stuffed corners. Vinyl has some scuffs and light scratches, vinyl is close to VG+. US reissue from 2011. Limited edition. Handnumbered copy #849.

We Want To Play was the second and final album from North Carolina vocal and instrumental group Brief Encounter. First released in 1981 on the Californian label Music Town Records, their take on modern soul and boogie has been popular with rare record collectors from all over with their large nine-member group creating a wall of sound with powerful vocal harmonies. P-vine is excited to be reissuing the album under its Groove-Diggers imprint on limited 180g vinyl with an iconic Japanese obi strip.

The latest in our ongoing Rsd/bf series of rare grooves and soulful Jazz from the Craft vaults. Pressed on colored vinyl.

Deluxe double vinyl LP pressing of the 2021 holiday release from the acclaimed singer/songwriter.

Norah Jones’ album “I Dream Of Christmas”, last year’s holiday bestseller, is a hip and charming seasonal masterpiece. This year it returns to make the season even brighter, as a 24-track deluxe LP + CD, featuring eight new recordings: the studio tracks “The Christmas Waltz”, “O Holy Night” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” plus five live performances recorded on top of the Empire State Building!

Vinyl shows a few scuffs, close to NM!

Green translucent vinyl.

Copy close to VG+. Vinyl with a couple of light scuffs

Simultaneous double release of the percussionist / composer Steve Shehan's legendary albums!! The world's first LP reissue of his 1990 CD album "Arrows" from First on Vinyl, and his 1995 CD album "Indigo Dreams" from Silent River Runs Deep.

A new spirit to the old gods. Is this the standard? This is THE Standard! Alessandro Galati has created a beautiful and profound "Standards Song Book". Alessandro Galati, who until now has been thoroughly devoted to being an original, dares to put a "fetter" on all of the standard numbers. The profound resonance created by the carefully chosen sequence of notes brings back to life melodies that you should have known well. We hope you will simply savor this music.

Limited to 4500 copies worldwide. Madlib reissues his long out of print collaboration with legendary Brazilian drummer Ivan “Mamao” Conti, propellant for lauded jazz fusion archetypes Azymuth, on his own imprint. Alternate cover artwork, photography by B+. When Madlib went to Brazil in 2002 with Mochilla to participate in the production of the Brazilintime documentary, his one mission was to meet Ivan “Mamao” Conti, the drummer of the legendary trio Azymuth. Madlib had made an Azymuth tribute record he wanted to play for him. On a rainy night in Rio, Mamao and Madlib went in the studio. Several hours later the rhythm tracks that make up Sujinho were laid and the process began. Featuring the music of Madlib, Mamao, Edu Lobo, Chico Buarque de Hollanda, Luiz Eca, Baden Powell, Vinicius De Moraes, Marcos Valle, Joao Donato, Dom Um Romao, Airto Moreira and even George Duke… and with guest vocals by Thalma De Freitas — Sujinho is a unique and classic record. Filled with the angularity and edge of a Madlib production and underwritten by the polyrhythmics of Mamao — Sujinho takes Brazilian music into places it has never been, bringing oft forgotten classics like “Upa Neguinho” to 21st century ears.

With love from Northern Europe... Erotic Mondo's hidden treasure! The long-awaited analog reissue of two Monica Lassen album titles!

A Wamono erotic work produced in Japan with the setting of ``A work created for the enjoyment of men and women by a Swedish female musician named Monika Lassen, who is also active as a sexual psychologist.'' Mondo's hidden treasure. This is a rare and unusual record, with sounds that overlap with the dazzling sounds of jazz, rock, lounge, psych, etc.

A rich album that includes the ecstatic erotic psychedelic groove "Cottage" and the erotic Japanese groove "Incitation", which has an explosive drum break not only in the intro but also at the end. *Comes with color pinup poster

The collaboration between Chicago funk band Southside Movement, who released a total of three albums between 1973 and 1975 on Wand and 20th Century Records, and female soul singer Jackie Ross, also based in Chicago and left many records for Chess and Brunswick. The fabulous collaboration is forgotten so long as it hasn't been released officially though a few test pressing copies only exist. P-vine proudly reissue the lost gems with new artwork and adding previously unreleased tracks from the Southside Movement to the tracklisting. The tropical groovy soul 'You Are The One That I Need' is just a super killer tune!

Hilton Felton is a keyboardist with a strong following amongst rare groove fans for his sophisticated, mellow and groovy playing. He has released many albums during his career on his own label, Hilton's Concept, Inc. and Family And Friends This is the first time that P-vine has reissued this gem, which is sought after by many collectors due to the excellence of the music and the rarity of the record.

For this reissue, all tracks have been given state-of-the-art mastering. There are numerous cover versions of the Jackson 5's well-known hit 'Never Can Say Goodbye' (m3), but it is safe to say that this version by Hilton Felton is by far the best quality. Also impressive is the jazz-funk cover of the Delfonics classic 'La, La Means I Love You' (m5), including the opening track 'Family And Friends' (m1), which enjoys a superb groove created by Hilton's soft playing. The original compositions will satisfy even the most demanding jazz listener. The groovy soul of 'The Power Of Love (It's In My Heart)' (m8), featuring vocals from a young Angela Winbush and Hilton Felton themselves, is also a wonderful performance that offers great depth of sound.

The 7" set also includes 'The Power Of Love (It's In My Heart)', which has never been released as a single, and 'Spreading Fever (Part 1)', the original version of which is very rare and almost impossible to find!

Roy Porter released two albums in the 70's, "Inner Feelings" and "Jessica", which are now highly sought after as important rare groove albums. After a brief absence from the scene, he entered the 90s and challenged the times with a new Sound Machine! The killer funk tracks "Panama" and "Party time," which have been featured as sampling sources on numerous occasions, have been reconstructed by Roy Porter himself, and brushed up to sound with the texture of the 90s. It is no exaggeration to say that this album embodies the fusion of jazz and hip-hop that Robert Glasper and others have shown since the 2010s, 20 years ago.

Miles Davis: "I could definitely hear right away that this was going to be one of the baddest motherfuckers who had ever played a set of drums.”

The Tony Williams Lifetime's Emergency! is a furious, stunning, seminal album. In 1969, it's explosive sound divided critics in both jazz and rock but is now rightly regarded as groundbreaking. A musical statement so bold and irreverent that it was revolutionary, it's one of the most important records you will ever hear. With Emergency!, provocative percussionist Tony Williams unified the most vital sounds of the era and galvanised the creation of jazz fusion. A sprawling double LP that shattered the boundaries between jazz and rock, it forged fresh frontiers by unleashing dense, courageous and fantastically mysterious music.

The group was founded by Tony Williams, a member of Miles Davis’ radical 1960s quintet, out of his desire to fuse the influences of modern jazz and rock music. To effectively meld the scorching bop of Coltrane with the raging rock of Hendrix, in the process crafting, as Mojo put it, "jazz-rock's equivalent of Are You Experienced?". The album's urgent title was profoundly significant for Williams: “It was an emergency for me to leave Miles and put that band together (...) and I wanted to play an emerging music that was my own." The band he formed was one hell of a power trio, comprising nothing but raw virtuosity: Williams's colossal drumming, John McLaughlin's pioneering, aggressive guitar playing and Larry Young's freeform organ work.

The album's sound is incredibly fierce and inordinately intense. Indeed, the group were famed for playing “louder than rock’n’roll”, as Herbie Hancock said of going to hear them live in 1969: "This is something new...It was exciting and very arresting. It snatched you. It yanked you out of your seat.” Ian Carr, of Nucleus, was equally impressed: "The only other comparable band that existed ...They were incredibly loud, but we liked what they were doing. Fundamentally they had a different approach from ours, with some very highly arranged things that featured Larry Young's organ blending with the guitar, as well as intricate passages where Tony doubled the melody on the drums."

Like all the very best records, Emergency! takes multiple listens for your brain and body to decipher everything going on, to truly process and appreciate the details that our senses are throwing at us. It's a mesmerising, rough sound yet the intuitive interplay of all 3 musicians is super-tight. The tunes are strung out and jamming but retain a tight rhythmic focus.

The incendiary title track immediately presents jazz-rock’s chaotic birth. After Williams's ominous snare-roll signals the brewing storm, the snarling band blasts its way through the gate in truly breathtaking fashion, fuzzed-up wahed-out guitar riffs vying for prominence with gnarled, insistent organ. Thrillingly, Williams manages to both acrobatically crash over every element of his drum kit while keeping the whole groove undeniably funky. "Beyond Games" is a gloriously volatile freeform, featuring Williams' bugged out vocals, whilst the 12-minute "Where" is another deep, wild jam. It's disorientating and humid with weird rhythms, abrupt vibe shifts and semi-classical lines running between guitar and organ. It's like nothing else you've ever heard, absolutely vital.

With the buoyant “Vashkar”, we begin to experience jazz-rock's many angles; imaginative melodics, taut dynamics and as torrent of searing heat. Perhaps the most economical track on Emergency!, it's the most instant. In a recent retrospective review in Pitchfork, Emergency! received a monumental 9.0 ranking. The writer Hank Shteamer correctly gushed: "Driven by a tumbling Williams pulse, the trio dances through the complex stop-start theme, ending each iteration with a dramatic full-band rest. Then, in the middle of McLaughlin’s scrambling solo, Williams starts playing an embryonic version of an extreme-metal blastbeat, alternating snare and bass in rapid succession while rising precipitously in volume, as Young joins in with shuddering note clusters. During Young’s solo, the organist seems to incite Williams to repeat the move with his increasingly frenzied lines, and soon all three musicians are hurtling toward a supernova climax." WOW!

The laconic "Via the Spectrum Road", a brilliant pop-psych tune, was sampled by Showbiz & AG on their classic debut LP. It oscillates between a tranquil funk groove and strutting improv interludes. The pyrotechnic jam "Spectrum" wakes things up again with pure, molten jazz lava and crazy soloing from all involved. A breathtaking, kaleidoscopic 13-minute cycle through ferocious noise, "Sangria For Three" is a sublimely frenetic detonation of distilled (acid) jazz rock. To quote Shteamer again, "Don’t let the track’s breezy title fool you: As much as, say, “Sister Ray” the year before or “Fun House” the year after, this is punk before punk." Closer "Something Spiritual" finishes this jaw-dropping set with a driving, unrelenting heavy guitar and organ freakout, backed high in the mix by Williams's untamed funk before unsettled dissonance rides us out.

Listeners will be struck by the timelessness of Emergency!; dank, trance-inducing voodoo jazz that's intellectually challenging at the same time as viscerally thrilling. The blurred cover photo, whereby the convulsing vibrations of this sonic apocalypse ensure it looks exactly as the record sounds - out of focus - has been delicately restored at Be With HQ. Mastered for vinyl by Simon Francis and cut by Cicely Ralston for Alchemy at AIR Studios, the magnificent grit and spontaneity remains dizzyingly intact. If you're a jazz fusion fan and don't already have this, consider ownership of this record as an Emergency!

Since launching in early 2020, Claremont 56’s Claremont Editions series has served up two impeccably curated and lovingly curated compilations of label rarities, unheard archive cuts and brand-new music. Two years on from the release of the second volume, C56 boss Paul Murphy has finally got round to compiling a third instalment, and as you’d expect it’s full of attractive, sun-soaked treats.

The set introduces us to a handful of label debutants. German collective Neumayer Station, a group who emerged from the same musical and social circle as existing Claremont 56 artists Fürstattl, contribute two cuts: ‘Unterführung’, an evocative, low-slung, reverb-laden fusion of krautrock and horizontal psychedelic dream-pop featuring Fürstattl’s Frank Mollena and Patrick Göbel, and the subtly jazz-flecked krautrock hypnotism of ‘Crossings’, a cut whose atmospheric intent and well-placed dub delays make it undeniably Balearic.

Speaking of Balearic, experienced musical daydreamer Mike Salta finally makes his Claremont 56 bow, joining forces with regular collaborator Marty Mortale on the deliciously tactile, warming, electric piano-sporting sunset shuffle of ‘Seashore Redemption’. The final new addition to the C56 family is Taichi Arakawa, the DJ/producer behind Japan’s Café Goofy. His track, ‘Ocean Sunrise’, is a gorgeously dreamy and kaleidoscopic shuffle through drifting synth-sax, slow-motion beats, immersive pads and layered synthesizer melodies.

As with its predecessors, Claremont Editions Volume Three also boasts fresh, unreleased material from label stalwarts. Jpye, whose Samba With You album was one of the label’s highlights of 2021, once again joins forces with regular collaborator Renato – and newcomer Michael T – to deliver a dose of club-ready Balearic samba smothered in glistening jazz guitar licks, lazy synth solos and languid electric piano licks (‘Va Là-Bas).

Ferdi Schuster, who released his sole album to date on the label back in 2019, offers up the pastoral, folksy and hand percussion-heavy brilliance of ‘The Fuzz Version’, while C56’s own in-house trio, Hillside (aka Paul Murphy, Alex Searle and Patrick Dawes) deliver the utterly gorgeous and cinematic ‘Pole Vault’ – a delightful hat-tip to classic library music featuring brilliant brass and string arrangements from Michele Chiavarini.

Rounding off another excellent package are two remixes from the vaults: Bosq’s pitched-up, Latin-tinged Balearic jazz-funk interpretation of Hillside’s deeply personal and emotive ‘For Daniel’ (a revision previously only available digitally) and a previously unheard revision of Paqua’s ‘The Visitor’ from Idjut Boys’ Conrad McDonnell, a long-time friend of the label. His take is predictably magical and dubbed-out to the max, with Quinn Luke’s evocative vocals seemingly drifting above sparse, stripped-back beats, echoing guitars, hissing cymbals and hazy bass.

To complete the package, Claremont Editions Three features a specially commissioned cover painting from Andy Kehoe, an illustrator whose distinctively colourful, detailed and fantastical images are a perfect match for the vividly evocative music contained on the LP.

Wojtek Mazolewski Quintet - Live Spirit is a recording of a two-day residency at Katowice's Hipnoza club, released especially for RSD 2024.

New times, new lineup, new formula. Wojtek Mazolewski Quintet, with a new refreshed lineup, played a series of concerts in a new unusual formula called Live Spirit. Instead of hitting the road and playing single concerts, the band held several-day club residencies in several Polish cities. At first it was Krakow and Katowice. Here, WMQ brings back the best jazz traditions of club residencies by such masters as Eric Dolphy, John Coltrane and Miles Davis.

WMQ has once again challenged itself and you.

With the best of intentions, we pushed the boundaries and appealed to tradition, bringing something new to the here and now.

Wojtek Mazolewski - double bass Pola Atmanska - piano Piotr Checki - saxophone Oskar Torok - trumpet Tymek Papior - percussion

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Tracklist: Side A Live Spirit / NEW Energy

Side B Skoki DO Wody Spirit TO ALL

Wojciech Mazolewski is an artist who is impossible to pigeonhole musically. For years he has been famous for combining jazz and rock in his various projects, including Pink Freud and the Wojtek Mazolewski Quintet. In his Quintet, which already has five studio albums to its credit, the bassist is accompanied by Joanna Duda (keyboards), Marek Pospieszalski (saxophone), Oskar Torok (trumpet) and Qba Janicki (drums).

The special edition of Spirit To All on RSD 2024 combines tracks from the Polish and UK releases and includes all the songs that appeared on the album released by WMQ Rec/Agora and Whirlwind Rec. It is the essence of what the band had to say with this album.

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Tracklist: Side A 1. Slavic Spirits 2. Harmony 3. The Year of Magical Thinking 4. Alchemia 5. The Power of Spirit

Side B 1. Spirit to All 2. My Heart 3. Grey Day 4. Ghost Town

‘the Congregation - Jazz Alliance International’ compilation is the latest offering from Mono Jazz label. Compiled by Massimiliano ‘Jazzcat’ Conti - a DJ, broadcaster and internationally respected selector with over 150,000 followers on Mixcloud - and featuring liner notes by Paul Bradshaw (from the iconic ‘Straight no Chaser’ magazine), ‘the Congregation’ is an innovative, largely contemporary selection of tracks that they feel is representative of the current era - a true manifesto of the international jazz scene of the present days. The release was received with great enthusiasm by some of the leading DJs and music critics of the scene – from the UK, to Germany, to Japan – getting early radio support by Patrick Forge (nts), Colin Curtis (Hitmix Radio), Kevin Beadle (twr), Rainer Trüby (Compost Records), Shuya Okino (Kyoto Jazz Massive), Raffaele Costantino (Rai Radio 2), Ilya Rasskazov (Headz.FM), Michael Rütten (Soul Searching), David Patterson (jfsr), Simon Harrison (Basic Soul) & more. Built around a near mythical, unreleased song by Japanese producer Yellowtail featuring legendary beat generation jazz singer Mark Murphy, the selection of tunes contained in this album ventures far and wide. Soulful offerings by Anthony Joseph and Jimetta Rose & The Voices of Creation, percussive and spiritual renditions by the likes of Malcolm Strachan, Right Tempo’s own Francesco Sotgiu and Nicola Conte, Latin-flavoured explorations by Mexican giant Tino Contreras and Acid Jazz’s signed Mama Terra and a hip-hop spiced cut by Portuguese producer Azar Azar are some of the many moods that can be found in ‘the Congregation’.