Organic Grooves 540 Items

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

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.

Time and troubles seem to melt away during the fifteen enrapturing minutes of “Idle Moments,” the opening track of Grant Green’s sublime 1963 album of the same name. As the piece unhurriedly unfurls all the unique colours of the ensemble present themselves with Green’s soulful guitar joined by Duke Pearson’s elegant piano, Bobby Hutcherson’s crystalline vibraphone, Bob Cranshaw’s reassuring upright bass, Al Harewood’s subtle drums, and Joe Henderson’s magnificent tenor saxophone. The pace quickens for the rest of this tremendous set including the nimble Green original “Jean de Fleur,” a bluesy take on John Lewis’ MJQ standard “Django,” and a driving performance of Pearson’s original “Nomad.”

Elemental Music, together with Universal Music Spain presents a new vinyl reissue of “Samba ’68“, the only album released on the Verve label by prolific Brazilian singer Marcos Valle. In 1968, Valle was commissioned by Verve to record his Brazilian hits in English in order to capitalize on the then-huge Getz-Gilberto-Jobim-Mendes-Astrud market. Marcos’ rapid and stunning artistic growth is apparent on this brilliant Bossa Nova album. Fans of Sérgio Mendes and Astrud Gilberto (both of whom recorded tons of Valle tunes) will enjoy it immensely, for “Samba ’68” is definitely one of the ultimate “loungy” records. “Samba ‘68 is a vibrant set of Brazilian pop, indebted to bossa nova and samba but undeniably Americanized for a domestic audience. The result is a joyous album throughout that wears its dated sound quite well. Marcos Valle interprets eleven of his own songs, including Brazilian standards like ‘Chup Chup, I Got Away,’ ‘Batucada’ and ‘So Nice (Summer Samba),’ as well as new tracks like ‘Crickets Sing for Anamaria’ and ‘The Answer.’ The vocal harmonies of his wife (the Anamaria of the song title) provide a beautiful counterpoint to Valle’s voice on several tracks, making Samba ‘68 one of the best Brazilian crossovers of the 1960s.”(John Bush, AllMusic) Marcos Valle was the Renaissance man of Brazilian pop, a singer/songwriter/producer who straddled the country’s music world from the early days of the Bossa Nova craze well into the fusion-soaked sound of ‘80s Brazilian popular music. Though his reputation in America never quite compared to contemporaries like Caetano Veloso, Milton Nascimento, Gilberto Gil, or even Tom Zé. Valle is one of the most important and popular performers in the history of Brazilian pop.

Mixed Bag is the debut studio album by Richie Havens, released in 1966. Mixed Bag is frequently cited as the singer's best work,[1] and was his first album to appear on Billboard's charts (appearing on both the jazz and pop charts). The recording was the first to introduce a wider audience to Havens's rich baritone vocals and the full-sound of Havens's distinct guitar style (thumb-chorded and played in open E tuning).[1] Electric Havens and Mixed Bag were two of the records reported among the personal collection of Havens' one-time Greenwich Village buddy, Jimi Hendrix.

Monstrous blue-eyed soul / garage double-sider and a must for any rare groove DJ.
250 copies pressed.

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

1961 Art Blakey and his Jazz Messengers made their only recording for the label Impulse! Records. It marked a turning point for the popular hard bop formation as it was their first appearance as a sextet with trombonist Curtis Fuller, and secondly their last recording with pianist Bobby Timmons. Also unusual is the fact that only one piece by a band member was on the program and otherwise only standards were played.
VERVE BY REQUEST SERIES: remastered, audiophile-quality 180-gram vinyl from Third Man Pressing/Detroit, Gatefold Sleeve.

Jamaican-born jazz trumpeter Dizzy Reece recorded one of his best opus in 1962. Released on the New Jazz label the album featured greats such as bassist Ron Carter, renowned saxophonist Cecil Payne and pianist Hank Jones. It’s a beautifully recorded and sequenced album, the compositions reflecting Reece’s interest in the music of the Asian continent and regions of North Africa, with each piece transitioning nicely into the next. Asia Minor would be the last session Reece would lead until 1967/68. A fixture of the European jazz scene of the Fifties, Reece came to New York in 1959. This intriguing, Eastern-flavored date, is still regarded has one of the best example of cross-pollination in the jazz genre.

Sourced From The Original Master Tapes; Out of print since the 1960s

Now joining Jackpot Record's ever-expanding collection of Martin Denny re-issues is the hypnotic "visual sound" of Exotic Percussion, which has not been on vinyl since its original release in 1961.

His production on Exotic Percussion is ambitious, adventurous, and fascinatingly futuristic, especially when a tumbler with ice was still the preferred way to let loose. Xylophones and chimes swim from ear to ear; traditional jazz instrumentation collides with such musical oddities as boo bas, shamisens, Manga harp, and Burmese gongs.

As always, the choice of compositions on a Martin Denny record is a bizarre yet exciting spin around the globe, but this one is even weirder than usual. From the faster-than-light of "Cumana" to the luscious groove of "Moonlight On The Ganges" (made famous by Frank Sinatra and a track that is still being played on a loop at Disneylan's Jungle Cruise attraction), it's a whiplash of a ride. But the stand-out on the record is the combo of "Misirlou" (which would be made famous a few years later by Dick Dale and even decades later with its appearance in Pulp Fiction).

So join the conga line and head out into the street as Martin Denny once again creates a world we yearn to return to and an album we can always revisit.

Why you'll love it...
Freddie Roach’s first three albums introduced him to the world, but Brown Sugar showed it who he was. It was the album that Roach made to capture the energy of soul jazz. To somehow take the sounds in the city, in the clubs, and bring them to a record. In his original liner notes, Roach writes that the album is an ode to late nights and loud clubs, to backs damp with sweat, arms wrapped around waists. ‘’Not caring for the moment about troubles or problems,'' he wrote of people dancing, ‘’their bodies quivering under smiles that seemed to promise ‘after the dance.’'' After talking to Alfred Lion, president of Blue Note, they decided that the album needed to be made up of standards — not the standards of the stage or screen, but the standards of the people. ‘’To get the ‘soul,’'' Roach wrote, ‘’I decided to do show soul tunes.''

Why you'll love it...
Straight Ahead, featuring saxophonists Oliver Nelson and Eric Dolphy, is the VMP Classics Record of the Month for April 2024. It's pressed on 180g black vinyl, with lacquers cut from master tapes (AAA) by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound.

Donald Byrd was off to the races after joining Blue Note in 1958 and had fully hit his hard bop stride by 1961 with his excellent album "Royal Flush". Joining the trumpeter was a state-of-the-art rhythm section featuring Herbie Hancock on piano, Butch Warren on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums plus Byrd’s frequent collaborator Pepper Adams on bari sax.

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

One of the great line-ups of Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers coalesced when saxophonist Wayne Shorter joined trumpeter Lee Morgan, pianist Bobby Timmons, and bassist Jymie Merritt, as heard on the 1960 album "A Night In Tunisia". Opening with a fiery version of Dizzy Gillespie’s famous piece, the rest of the set showcased new bandmember originals.

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

Tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley had already led nine dates for Blue Note Records by the time he arrived at Rudy Van Gelder’s studio on February 7, 1960 with pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Art Blakey, but on that day the quartet laid down what would become his masterpiece: Soul Station.
The crystalline six-song set was a showcase for Mobley’s lyrical flow from the breezy opening take on Irving Berlin’s “Remember” through bluesy originals like “Dig Dis” and the title track, and the swinging up-tempo numbers “This I Dig of You” and “Split Feelin’s.” Soul Station endures as a jazz classic for the ages.

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.

Why you'll love it...
The songs that populate Odetta and the Blues are 1920s blues and jazz standards sung by the likes of Bessie Smith, Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Mississippi John Hurt, Leroy Carr and other titans of the time and genre. Most are traditional, unattributable to any one songwriter — but all are linked to Black musicians. In this way, the album feels like an important (and understandable) aspect of Odetta’s quest to show America the myriad ways this country’s music wouldn’t be what it is without Black Americans.

Odetta makes each track sound timeless and true, but also utterly, entirely her own. I think that’s the hallmark of a true and truly unique talent — and a sign that the artist in question understands the assignment, as it were: to find the throughlines between their perspective and the art itself; to preserve the original message and add one of your own, like a constructive game of Telephone. There’s an art to being a cover artist and an art to being an archivist.

Why you'll love it...
There is something raw and disruptive about La Lupe and her modalities of performance, something that far exceeds tropes of so-called hysteria and all the gendered and racial scripts that come along with it. Uncontrolled expression opens up new routes; it presses against obligatory composure.

The boleros, boogaloos and salsas of Reina de la Canción Latina contain lessons about love, about a willingness to stay alive, about what it means to push against the confines. Reina de la Canción Latina asks us to listen to La Lupe outside of a binary mode — to look a little deeper, to find her personhood and to search for flashes of freedom wherever we can.

Why you'll love it...

Cadet Records was one of the oddest jazz labels to ever issue LPs in America; it was the jazz imprint of Chess Records, and most of its releases came from the minds of two men: Charles Stepney and Richard Evans. The latter man ran point on the short-lived label's lone holiday release, which found the label's house band – which included luminaries like Phil Upchurch – doing their thing on 10 holiday classics. A curio for the cratedigger who already owns every Dorothy Ashby album, this album was AAA remastered by Barry Grint.

Limited to 2,000 copies, the VMP exclusive version of The Soulful Strings' The Magic of Christmas is pressed 180g Opaque Olive vinyl at Independent Record Pressing (IRP). The AAA 1 LP will arrive in a single, tip-on, foil-stamped and numbered jacket. The lacquers were cut by Barry Grint at Alchemy Mastering at AIR.

Why you'll love it...
Creating harmony out of unlikely combinations was integral to Charles’ genius, and that’s evident with how effortlessly he navigates multiple genres on In Person, oftentimes on the same song. It’s an album that’s a testament to him as a versatile musical pioneer: someone who was unafraid to explore different ideas and sounds throughout his career, becoming a seminal figure in American music in the process.

Nobuo "Hara", whose real name is Nobuo Tsukahara, is a Japanese saxophonist who became known in 1951 with his big band, the Sharp & Flats. Together they recorded more than a hundred album during their career. Hozan Yamamoto is, for his part, a Shakuhachi player, a traditional Japanese flute, enjoying such recognition in his country that he was awarded a Living National Treasure in 2002. The first record bringing together the two musicians is a live recorded in 1967 during the Newport Jazz Festival. It was a year later, in 1968, that New Jazz in Japan, their first studio recording, was released. Accompanied by the ower of the Sharps & Flats, Nobuo Hara"s tenor sax and Hozan Yamamoto"s shakuhachi respond subtly to give this record, which had not been reissued since 1971, a completely unique style.

Iconic 1968 Northern Soul Anthem, One Of The Famed “3 Before 8” As Played Every Sunday Morning At Wigan Casino During It’s 8 Year Reign Coupled With The Original Demo, Recorded By The Writers At The Impact Studio, Detroit, 1965

Nara Leão is known as "the muse of bossa nova”. Already as a teenager in the late 1950s, she became friends with several singers and composers who took part in Bossa Nova's musical revolution, including João Gilberto, Vinicius de Moraes, and Antônio Carlos Jobim. By 1963, after singing as an amateur for a few years, she became a professional and toured with Sérgio Mendes. In 1968 she appeared on the album “Tropicália: ou Panis et Circenses” together with artists including Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Os Mutantes and Gal Costa, performing "Lindonéia”, which appears as first track in this album, published in the same year.

The Soul Album is the fourth studio album by American soul singer-songwriter Otis Redding, released in 1966. It features Redding performing songs that he co-wrote, as well as covers of songs by such musicians as Sam Cooke, Eddie Floyd, Roy Head, and Smokey Robinson. Guitarist Steve Cropper contributed guitar on the album and is also credited as the co-author of three tracks. The Soul Album shows Otis Redding moving from strength to strength in a string of high-energy, sweaty soul performances, interspersing his own songs with work by Sam Cooke ("Chain Gang"), Roy Head ("Treat Her Right"), Eddie Floyd ("Everybody Makes a Mistake"), and Smokey Robinson ("It's Growing") and recasting them in his own style, so that they're not "covers" so much as reinterpretations.