Organic Grooves 623 Items

Puerto Rican composer, bandleader and percussionist Willie Rosario was a giant of Latin music, known as Senor Afinque or Mr. Tight for the strength of his musical arrangements. Born in Coamo in 1930, Rosario had already formed the Coamex band, prior to his emigration to New York in 1947, where he played in various orchestras, forming his own band in Spanish Harlem in 1959 and also presenting a Spanish-language music show on radio station Wado. Signing to Alegre in 1962, he began touring widely, the label issuing this sought-after debut in 1963; mixing covers and original, the hot salsa here features the dulcet tones of lead singer, Frankie Figueroa.

Record Store Day 2020 Release.
Limitation: 1500 copies.

The remarkable 1965 New York Concerts performances offer a rare, revealing glimpse into the discographic dark period. This captivating double LP would be valuable solely for the brilliant music, which finds Jimmy Giuffre leading otherwise undocumented trio & quartet lineups, advancing his experiments in counterpoint and abstraction into more adventurous avant-garde territory. But it also offers insight into one of jazz's most innovative thinkers at a key moment in his development. 180-gram vinyl. LP1 / Side A - 1. Syncopate 2. Introduction 3. Crossroads LP1 / Side B - 1. Drive 2. Quadrangle 3. Angles LP2 / Side A - 1. Syncopate 2. Quadrangle 3. Three Bars In One LP2 / Side B - 1. Cry, Want 2. Angles 3. Drive

In 1965, just one year after Paul Butterfield had formed his blues band – named after himself - and launched one of the very best groups among the white Chicago blues community, the band produced this dynamic and visionary album. The group presents a wide range of contrasting numbers, both eastern and western, which reflect the LP’s title – something totally new and innovative. In the first few titles, traditional standard numbers come over rather enigmatically while supporting original and rhythmic compactness, but this soon gives over to a tactically well-formed instrumentation and lengthy solo interludes. The all-embracing motto 'blues' is taken up by the band in Nat Adderley’s "Work Song" at the very latest, with mind-expanding ways of playing and varying sounds. Catapulted by Mike Bloomfield’s artistry on the guitar into the world of rock, all the musicians celebrate these well-known jazz standards and each man contributes his personal skill into forging a perfectly balanced team effort. The title number "East-West" ultimately demolishes the world of the blues. In the tonal mixture of confidently prepared rock ingredients and borrowings from Indian music (raga rock), we have an amalgamation of rock, blues, jazz and oriental melodies which result in an emotional, unheard-of sound that is well worth the hearing.

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

Recording: July 1966 at Chess Studios, Chicago (il), by Jac Holzman Production: Barry Friedman, Mark Abramson, Paul Rothchild

Very little is known about Roy Redmond besides the fact he recorded 4 songs and 2 singles in 1967 for Loma Records, a Warner Bros subsidiary that is well known by Norther Soul/6os Soul aficionados. Redmond's largest success is probably his soulful cover of The Beatles 's "Good Day Sunshine", considered by some as one of the best Beatles covers. His other single is a more obscure affair featuring on the A side "Ain't That Terrible" and on the flip "A Change Is Gonna Come", a very fine cover of the Sam Cooke's classic - beautiful stuff. The A side "Ain't That Terrible" is a stylish, uptempo, relentless Northern Soul piano stomper that will get Soul fans up and moving their moneymakers in no time! Relatively unknown, this track is on par with the greatest numbers of the genre such as Lou Pride's "I'm coming home in the morning" or Bob and Earl's "Harlem Shuffle". This is pure underground Northern Soul at its absolute best. To be played often and... Loud. Keep the faith!

Record Store Day 2020 Release.
Limitation: 500 copies.

Long sought after by collectors, DJs and lovers of hard salsa and boogaloo alike, 'Yo Traigo Boogaloo' is now lovingly reissued in replica form with the original cover art, remastered from the studio tapes, reproducing that magical MAG stuio sound for today's aficionados to enjoy like it was 1969 all over again.

Record Store Day 2020 Release. Finally, after 53 years, “I Caught You In A Lie” is now rightly regarded as one the Great New Orleans Soul classics. Whilst many people may only know the various cover versions, Robert Parker’s original sublime slice of heartfelt Soul has steadily built in reputation, especially recently. That’s why original Nola copies are £150+, even for battered ones! So here is the official legitimate, remastered repress on the sacred Nola label. 7 Inch with replica artwork.

Re-mastering by: Ray Staff at Air Mastering, Lyndhurst Hall, London

This is one of Eddie Harris' great records. The playing is inspired! What a band! Cedar Walton (piano) and Billy Higgins (drums), Lee Morgan's favourite rhythm section. The underrated but popular tenor saxophonist introduces his "Freedom Jazz Dance," which would become a jazz standard after featuring on Miles Davis' album Miles Smiles. Plays one of the earlier versions of "The Shadow of Your Smile," romps on "Love for Sale" and "'S Wonderful," and also performs "Born to Be Blue" and his own "Cryin' Blues." Harris is heard in prime form in a quartet/quintet with pianist Cedar Walton, bassist Ron Carter, drummer Billy Higgins, and part-time trumpeter Ray Codrington. A gem. - Scott Yanow/AMG

Recorded 1965
Engineer – Tom Dowd

Re-mastering by: Ray Staff at Air Mastering, Lyndhurst Hall, London

Clifford Jordan hailed from Chicago, hometown of hard-driving, so-called ‘tough tenorists’ like Gene Ammons and Eddie ‘Lockjaw’ Davis. While Jordan shared their unnerving bravado, his tone is different, an alluring tone, simultaneously rough around the edges and ephemeral. A sought-after sideman, Jordan recorded with stalwarts as Lee Morgan and Max Roach in the late fifties and early sixties, as well as a series of high standard solo albums. Like age matures wine, Jordan’s style ripened in the early seventies, his lines becoming fluent like ripples of lake water. Jordan kept recording and performing steadily until his death in 1993.

Maybe this album, filled with interpretations of such classic tunes as Take This Hammer and Goodnight Irene, is not such a surprise act after all. The preceding year, Jordan had been part of Charles Mingus’ outfit (appearing on the hi-voltage live album Right Now: Live At The Jazz Workshop) Musical gobbler Mingus’ unfazed search for new vistas while retaining an all-embracing sense of the past’s relevance and blend of harmonic finesse with unbridled juke joint tumult surely rubbed off on Jordan.

Da Gray Goose is one of the cases in point. Tasteful harmony over the stop-time theme kicks it into action, strongly plucked bass and fiery drums inspire the soloists, creating an atmosphere of abandon. Lusty shout choruses stoke up the fire as the tune progresses. There are also some, yes, virtuoso banjo parts.

The gloomy folk blues music of Huddie ‘Leadbelly’ Ledbetter, whose life story reads like a combined effort of Shakespeare and James Baldwin, including oppression, hardship, addiction, treachery, murder and prison life, is excellently cast in a jazz frame. But not too jazzy, often the sound of Jordan’s top-notch group is as tough-as-nails as the sound of any one group that enlivened the back alley bars way back when. Jordan’s unpredictable phrasing overcomes the restrictions of the rigid folk blues form.

Craftily uncrafted, These Are My Roots is a spirited album of earnest, raw and ebullient swing.

Recorded on February 1 & 17, 1965 in NYC