Organic Grooves Vinyl 597 Items

Here are two great cuts, previously unreleased as singles, recorded for Al Sears’ Sylvia label in New York City in 1965. The Corvairs had one very good release on the label in a soul group harmony style. ‘I'll Never Do It Again’ and ‘A Feeling Deep Inside’ are more R&B and sound earlier than the 45 release. Both tracks have picked up admirers from their New Breed and Modernist CD releases and their release as a Sylvia repro label single will be very welcome.

Recorded at the 1962 Jazz Jamboree festival in Warsaw and originally released in 1963 on Danish Metronome label, here's a true gem from one of the most important figures in Polish music and a founding father of European Jazz. "Ballet Etudes" was one of the three full LPs released during Komeda' short lifetime. His fluent modern jazz conception was a perfect synthesis between the American influence and the European harmonic complexity, a unique kind of marriage colored by a clear Slavic lyricism. For many years considered a rare collector item "Callet Etudes" comes back to life as a major statement in East-European music history.” Allan Botschinsky - trumpet, Jan Wróblewski - tenor sax, Krzysztof Komeda - piano, Roman Dylag - bass, Rune Carlsson drums.

"Tattoo Woman" was originally released in 1965 and includes "Under My Skin", a favorite not only among calypso fans but also Ska and Reggae lovers! This is a calypso arrangement of Cole Porter's original song "I've Got You Under My Skin" and is truly a masterpiece! The album as a whole contains many wonderful pieces that convey the breath of calypso in its heyday! Please enjoy these two historical masterpieces by the god of calypso, Mighty Sparrow, together with "The Outcast", which will be released at the same time on analog LP!!

Family vocal group the Esquires was formed in Milwaukee in the late 1950s; by the time they moved to Chicago to launch their recording career the group featured Gilbert Moorer, Alvis Moorer, and Sam Pace and although Curtis Mayfield turned them down, Bunky Sheppard recognised their potential, their debut single ‘Get On Up’ a smash hit that led to the recording of this brilliant debut album, an excellent collection of upbeat melodic soul with the group’s vocal harmonies in the spotlight. Further permutations would follow but Get On Up And Get Away captures the group in its illustrious eginning, full of shining joy. A top-notch release!

The 1967 Impulse Records legendary Funk/Soul Instrumental masterpiece album Chicken Fat. If you haven’t heard Chicken Fat yet, get ready because the LP won’t leave your turntable until your jaw stops hitting the floor. Sourced from the original analog master tapes by Kevin Grey. All Analog Process (aaa) Initially working as a guitar player for such greats as Sonny Boy Williamson & Etta James, Impulse Records eventually offered Mel Brown the chance to record his own material. Recorded in 1967 in Hollywood, CA, for the Impulse record label, Brown amassed a group of session musicians who had played with Charles Mingus, Marvin Gaye, and Dizzy Gillespie. Much of the album was arranged by Oliver Nelson, who worked with Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins, Jimmy Smith and more. His touch is felt all over the record and helps solidify the journey. These recording sessions also reflected the Sunset Strip and the energy of late ‘60s Los Angeles so incredibly, you can almost hear the go-go boots hit the floor to dance til they drop.

Yes, *that* Al Hirt record. Featuring the godlike "Harlem Hendoo", looped unforgettably by De La Soul for the legendary Buhloone Mind State cut, "Ego Trippin' (Part Two)"!

Al Hirt's infamous Soul In The Horn is inextricably tangled up in crate-digger lore. Originally released in 1967, the album has been in heavy, heavy demand for over 30 years, entirely down to the majestic soul-jazz fire of "Harlem Hendoo". And it's a song so good, so vital, so timeless, that it will always tower above everything else in its proximity. This one track alone is worth the price of admission - even if the cost of entry were $100 or even $1000.

However, it would be an error to dismiss this record as merely a one tracker, loaded as it is with dope samples for adventurous beat makers. Certainly the funkiest Al Hirt record, it definitely lives up to the "soul" in the title. Thanks to composer Paul Griffin and arranger Teacho Wiltshire, Hirt got uncharacteristically free and groovy throughout. It comes on more like an obscure KPM library funk record than the easy listening Al was notorious for.

A Louisiana trumpeter and band leader who made Allen Toussaint’s “Java” famous, Al Hirt was also known for TV themes, Dixieland, Swing and being a minority owner of the New Orleans Saints. Unlike every other Al Hirt record - and despite most "diggers" claiming otherwise - this here gem is genuinely hard to come across "in the wild". Normally, you can't give Al Hirt records away, except this particular one, which raises pulses in the crate digging community to life-threatening levels. For every owner claiming to have found their copy for a dollar, there's scores more claiming to have *never* unearthed one in the field. So, paradoxically, you can consider this the most tricky-to-pull "thrift store record", ever. This is why we're finally making it available for everyone, not just those with endless hours to spend scouring the global goodwills!

Soul In The Horn represented an expressive detour into authentic soul-jazz for Al Hirt. Throughout, we're struck by a fierce, fiery energy that's otherwise absent from his typically easy listening work. Without question, the slinky, magical "Harlem Hendoo" is the standout, here. It's also the reason why the record is so scarce and commands awe among crate diggers, sounding like something from an obscure and deeply revered spiritual jazz record. As is often the case, the true genius of the song is tricky to do justice to; it's like a minor miracle of songwriting and performance that simply swooned down from the heavens on the back of horns, bells and harpsichord. It's one of the sweetest musical compositions ever recorded inside a studio - it's only failing is that it's just too short. Sampled brilliantly by De La Soul, it has also been used by The Roots for "Stay Cool" and Nightmares On Wax for "Damn".

The rest of the record makes for a mighty fine listen. From the opening cover of Booker T. & The MG's "Honey Pot", to the propulsive, ultra-funky "Mess Around", it's nothing but a good time. Given its title, the elegant stepper "Calypsoul" sounds exactly as you'd hope whilst the melancholic, wistful "Long Gone" hurts so good. Truly, this is just dying to be looped up, Al's muted playing capturing a soulful longing only horns can often achieve. The bluesy, slo-mo swing of "Sweetlips" oscillates between cool disaffection and swelling pride whilst the graceful, low-key funky "Girl" closes out the A-Side in the fine style. Ushering in the B-Side, the brief but brilliant strut of "Love Ya' Baby" shines brightly before the skipping funky-jazz of true highlight "Sunday-Goin' To Meetin' Time" demands both your attention and your dancing shoes. The mellifluous piano-funk of bass and horn-drenched "Snap Back" serves as the sumptuous prelude to "Harlem Hendoo"'s main character energy before the irrepressible, upbeat R&B of "Ludwig" closes out this quite remarkable album. An album deserving of a place in every serious record collection.

The audio for Soul In The Horn has been carefully remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, ensuring it sounds better than ever. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the records have been pressed to the highest possible standard at Record Industry in Holland. The original sleeve has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue. This is after-hours music. Let it speak for itself. Listen. Listen to the soul in Al Hirt's horn.

A Svart Mondo Release. Limited to 500 copies on black vinyl. By early 1960’s, jazz in its mainstream form had become the standard dance music for the student parties in high schools and several student union clubrooms in Helsinki. The Polytech union even organized matinée dances for high school students on Sundays. The change in the musical preference of young people’s dance music occurred with the arrival of British rock in the mid-sixties and this, of course, coincided with another cultural and musical development. As the new campus for the school was built in Otaniemi, Espoo in 1955-1966 and its operations gradually moved there, the modern style “Dipoli” building became the crowning edifice on the campus. It was to be the new home for the Polytech student union. When this controversial building was opened in 1966, it was meant to introduce a new vision of the future and constituted an embodiment of the modernist spirit of those times in the late 1960’s. This reissue of The Complete Jazz at the Polytechnicum recordings, done in 1967-68, also provides us with a glimpse of the modern directions of those days, not only in jazz music, but also in performance art. It is easy to hear that the main aesthetic in these performances was to break conventions and find new avenues for individual expression. The publisher of these recordings was the Jazz Society of the Tech Students, which was formed a little before these recordings. The name of the society was a take-off from Norman Granz’ Jazz at The Philharmonic and it became Jazz at the Polytechnicum. Both are, of course, abbreviated as J.A.T.P., which became formulated in musicians’ mouths into “Jappa”. This Svart Records re-issue consists of four EP-records in chronological order. The first three feature three jazz groups of the leading young players with their ages ranging from 21 to 30. The fourth one documents an avant-garde art “happening” held in Dipoli on March 20th – 24th 1968 called “Posotusta, pimputusta, pompotusta”, which could freely be translated as “Huff ‘n’ puff ‘n’ plonk”.

Although the beautiful sound, mutual understanding and harmonic balance mostly predominate, the music of alto saxophonist Paul Desmond performing together with baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan is far from what one calls 'easy listening'. For many, it is even difficult to identify the melody of evergreens such as "Stardust" and "The Way You Look Tonight". (And what theme is tucked away in "Two Of A Mind"????)
The recording in the RCA Victor Studio took place over several days in 1962, and this is why different bass players and percussionists are heard – Wendell Marshall, Joe Benjamin and John Beal each take their turn on the bass, while Connie Kay and Mel Lewis change places behind the drum set. These musicians form a brilliant team, and that there is no piano is both deliberate and inevitable for Gerry Mulligan recordings of the day. By the way, the second saxophonist in "The Way You Look Tonight" is Paul Desmond – by means of over-dubbing in the middle of the stereo recording!
The present LP could certainly take a rightful place in a 'Best Of' collection alongside the other recordings by Gerry Mulligan with Ben Webster and Stan Getz.

Pressed to 180g audiophile vinyl.

At the end of the '60s in Italy - but also abroad, especially in France and
England - a very particular trend began to spread, that one known as 'Library
music' or 'sonorization': as suggested by its name, those were real music
libraries intended for the accompaniment of audiovisual productions such as
television programs, advertisements, documentaries and films. Since they
were created in total artistic freedom condition, they are often difficult if not
impossible to catalog, as they're not anchored to a specific musical genre;
this freedom also allowed the authors to compose, sometimes in the most
complete anonymity, experimental and avant-garde music, capable of
anticipating the sounds that only many years later would have been
widespread on a larger scale.
Oronzo De Filippi is known not only for his library music works, but also for
having been part of the project The Braen's Machine, together with
Alessandro Alessandroni, another very important name in this context.
"Meccanizzazione" is a completely instrumental record - like practically all
LP's in this genre - literally dominated by the sound of the harpsichord, and it
substantially features two main kinds of compositions: the most 'friendly' and
easy-listening ones with a jazz-lounge and bossanova flavor, and the darker
and hypnotic ones, decidedly more fitting the repetitiveness of the industrial
world and its machines at work.
"Ritmo dell'industria N. 2" is part of a reissues series, made in collaboration
with Edizioni Leonardi (Milan, Italy), of extremely rare library music LP's
published between late '60s and early '70s, most of which have never been
released again until today, and that are finally made available again for
collectors and sonorization music lovers.

Originally released in 1963, this is a majestic piece of work. Considered as one of Ellington's best studio recordings of the Sixties this is also an essential mosaic piece within Duke's open wide afro-centric vision. Performed by a top version of his famous big band, Afro Bossa sounds as a sophisticated, sensual blend of orchestral Jazz arrangements and black bossa flavoured grooves. Among the players, many of Duke's historical sidemen such as trumpeter Ray Nance, sax giants Paul Gonsalves and Johnny Hodges, drummer extraordinaire Sam Woodyard and last but not least, Ellington's alter ego Billy Strayhorn, what else?

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.

Sylvie Vartans seminal 1962 debut LP transformed the 18-year-old collegiénne du twist into the French pop diva, whose songs (and high-profile marriage to Johnny Hallyday) would dominate the European pop charts throughout the 1960s. Songs like Est-ce que tu le sais and Le Loco-motion remakes of Ray Charles What Id Say and Little Evas Locomotionbecame two of her first smash hits.