Organic Grooves 553 Items

A multi-instrumentalist who reconfigured jazz many times during his long career, Yusef Lateef came to prominence in the late 1950s, after having toured with Dizzy Gillespie. Jazz Mood dates from 1957, when his Quintet had some of Detroit's finest, including Alice Coltrane's brother Ernest Farrow on bass and future Jazz Messenger Curtis Fuller on trombone. The use of an argol on 'Metaphor' and a rabat and finger cymbals on 'Morning' point to Lateef's Islamic grounding and his belief that music serves a higher purpose; this edition has bonus track 'Passion,' from the equally excellent Before Dawn. Rich, deep, and varied, this is required listening for all serious jazz heads.

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

This is 180g vinyl.

Intensity marked everything that Booker Ervin played. In his harmonic concept, slashing attack, and broad Texas sound, Ervin demanded attention and constantly built improvisations of searing drama and epic sweep. His primary legacy is a series of albums recorded for Prestige in the 1960s, of which this was his first, a riveting quintet recital where the alto saxophone of Frank Strozier supplies an urgent complement and the rhythm section is piloted by Horace Parlan, Ervin’s longtime compatriot from their days together in the Charles Mingus Jazz Workshop and in a cooperative quartet that worked at "Minton’s Playhouse". In addition to four inspiring originals by Ervin and drummer Walter Perkins, the session features an eloquent reading of Fats Waller’s immortal "Black And Blue" and an exploration of the show tune "Just in Time". Both the latter and "No Land’s Man" are included in two versions, the shorter of which were cut for release as a 45rpm single.

Blue Note’s modern jazz classic “Point of Departure” features pianist and composer Andrew Hill in a sextet with alto saxophonist Eric Dolphy, tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, trumpeter Kenny Dorham, bassist Richard Davis and drummer Tony Williams. AllMusic calls the album "a stellar date, essential for any representative jazz collection, and a record that, in the 21st century, still points the way to the future for jazz”.



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

Recorded in Stockholm in 1962, and originally released on Sonet Records, these sessions stand as Ayler's first step into a new sonic world. This was when Ayler was still dealing with classic Jazz standards such as "I'll remember April", M Davis's "Tune Up" and "Rollins Tune", a declared tribute to the older master Sonny Rollins. His already super-strong tenor sax voice dominates a quiet, almost shy, local rhythm section featuring Torbjorn Hultcrant on bass and Sune Spangberg on drums. This was just before stepping into his unique, hyper energetic and ecstatic form of Free Jazz. This was Ayler sowing the seeds of a revolution to come!

Booker Ervin's recordings with Charles Mingus and Randy Weston brought him good reviews and a bit of notoriety. But it was his series of Song Books for Prestige Records that broadcast the stentorian announcement that a jazz orator of gigantic stature had arrived. Ervin's tenor saxophone sound was haunted by the loneliness and spaciousness of the Texas plains where he was raised. The Southwest moan was an integral part of his playing. But his style went beyond the classic Texas tenor tradition to incorporate the intricacies of bebop and suggestions of the free jazz that was initiating one of the periods of self-renewal that keeps jazz fresh and interesting. "The Freedom Book", recorded at the end of 1963, was one of Ervin's masterpieces. He is abetted by the power and drive of Jaki Byard, Richard Davis, and Alan Dawson.

Impossible-to-find gem from 1969 finally reissued in a deluxe edition. Ultra Rare South African Jazz from District Six with legendary musicians Clifford Moses, Richard Schilder, Basil Moses and Basil Coetzee.

True Jazz today is becoming a rare art whose existence depends not only on the Jazz-musician but also on the medium by means of which it is propagated. This album is the combined effort of musician and Trutone Record Company to add their contribution to the interest of the arts. The theme for this album is set in "District Six", the community which brought forth "The Four Sounds".

Basil Moses is perhaps most widely known, in the context of South African jazz history, as having recorded prolifically – including performing on seven or eight of Abdullah Ibrahim’s 1970s recordings. He also features on Sathima Bea Benjamin’s African Songbird (The Sun, GL 1839).

Guitarist Cliffie Moses, three years older than brother Basil, was also a professional musician and the two, along with Richard Schilder and Billy Bowers (aka Billie Dollie), formed the Four Sounds in the early 1960s. The group with Basil ‘Manenburg’ Coetzee and Roy Nolly recorded their debut album, Jazz from District Six, in 1969 for Trutone (tblc 1).

In 1970 Basil, Cliffie, Roy Petersen and Monty Weber were all hired to tour the country as the core of Percy Sledge’s backing band for a seventeen-week sell-out tour of South and southern Africa. Percy Sledge described it as the “greatest tour of [his] career”.

Notes by Siemon Allen at Flatinternational”

Few have done as much for salsa in Venezuela as band-leader, composer and pianist Ray Pérez. He burst on to the scene in the mid-60s with his group Los Dementes, creating the blueprint for guaguanco, pachanga and boogaloo in Venezuela. When the name salsa began to be used as something of a catch-all-term he was still at the forefront, recording two hugely-popular salsa albums with Los Dementes in 1967. Remarkably, that very same year, he also recorded two albums with a brand new group, Los Calvos, that showed how as well as being the genre’s most visible band-leader, he was also pushing the nascent genre to its limits. Looking back, revered journalist Alfredo Churion states that Los Calvos were “one of the most innovative experiences in Venezuelan popular music.” Estos Son Los Calvos is the first of the two albums he made with Los Calvos. On it, he made a few alterations to the line-up that may seem minor, but created a completely new sound. For the first time, he recruited a drummer (unprecedented at the time for a salsa ensemble, which always used percussionists), he switched from the trombones of Los Dementes to the much harder, direct sound of trumpets, and he recruited Carlos Yanez, best known as El Negrito Calavén, as singer. Whereas Los Dementes had been aligned with the slightly pop sound of tropical orchestras, Los Calvos took an almost-jazz approach, allowing room for the musicians and vocalists to improvise, and they also took inspiration from the sounds of surf rock swirling around Caracas. The group’s drummer El Pavo amusingly once described the group’s sound as like “wearing a dinner suit with flip-flops”. Opening track “El Kenya” is the clearest example of that surf rock influence; it’s opening lines make clear its intentions: “una linda trigueña que me invitó a bailar el Kenya” (“a beautiful trigueña – tri-ethnic girl – invited me to dance the Kenya”). They are intent on creating their own dance craze, El Kenya. If the group had ever performed live, then maybe it would have taken off, as the song had all the credentials: rollicking montuno piano from Pérez, ingenious scatting and vocal improvs from Calavén, and a middle section where the drums and trumpets battle it out hard, with an audience screaming its appreciation throughout. It’s followed by ‘Mi Salsa Llego’, which Pérez had already recorded with Los Dementes; here, it’s a tougher beast, the sparser hits of the drums and trumpets giving a harder sound evocative of the times, with more and more people moving to the cities, and wanting a grittier, urban soundtrack. The secret weapon in Los Calvos was the fact that this was a group made up of some of Venezuela’s finest musicians, many of which, Pérez included, had working class roots. Music for them was as much a part of their day-to-day lives, as it was a profession, it was what they did. The legendary Frank “El Pavo” Hernandez was on drum kit, with revered names like Alfredo Padilla, Carlos “Nene” Quintero, Pedro García, Miguel Silva, Enrique Vazquez, Rafael Araujo and Luis Lewis, also involved in the group. Their versatility allowed Los Calvos to go from the slower, haunting groove of “Negrito Calavan”, a showcase for their singer to improvise, and on to “Bailemos Kenya”, another attempt by the group to create their own version of “The Twist”! Los Calvos never played live, but that was always the intention. Pérez was in demand by the record labels of the time and his deal with RCA Victor to make two albums as Los Calvos was only ever that. But the spirit of Los Calvos remained when Pérez then formed Los Kenya, whose name came from the opening track of this album, and whose line-up featured the same inventions as Los Calvos, with a drum kit, two trumpets and the same vocalists (for their second album, Carlín Rodríguez joined as a singer, and remained for Las Kenya). For this reason, Los Calvos would never have the same successes as Pérez’s other groups, though even Pérez has revealed in interviews that the two albums he made as Los Calvos are some of the most fun he ever had recording. With the price of originals for both albums ever increasing for vinyl collectors, this is a great chance to get hold of two of the heaviest salsa albums ever issued in the 60s, and an important moment in the life of Venezuela’s salsa king, Ray Pérez.

The Egyptians - Thanks Yo You

Guitarist Kenny Burrell debuted on Blue Note Records in 1956 and over the following seven years made a series of excellent albums for the label that culminated with his masterwork Midnight Blue. Recorded in 1963, the album waded deep into the blues, conjuring an alluring late-night vibe with a profoundly soulful cast including tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, bassist Major Holley, Jr., drummer Bill English, and Ray Barretto on congas.
Burrell originals including “Chitlins con Carne,” “Midnight Blue,” “Saturday Night Blues,” and the stunning solo guitar piece “Soul Lament” set the tone for this timeless classic adorned by one of the all-time great Reid Miles cover designs.