Vinyl, CD & Tape 429 Items

The Kinks - Kinda Kinks Kinda Kinks is the second album by English rock band the Kinks, otiginally released in 1965. Recorded and released within two weeks after returning from a tour in Asia, Ray Davies and the band were not satisfied with the production. The big single was "Tired of Waiting for You".

It's tempting for "Blues In Orbit" to be overlooked when Duke Ellington's best albums are discussed, but truly it's an undisputed gem. There are 14 tracks, none of them is longer than 4:50 and it is all good stuff. There are some familiar favorites such as "In A Mellotone" and "C Jam Blues" as well as less often heard gems like "Blues In Blueprint and "Sweet And Pungent". It is also in stereo, and the arrangements are superb.
The featured performers include Ellington stalwarts Johnnie Hodges, Ray Nance, Harry Carney and Jimmy Hamilton, as well as the less familiar Booty Wood and Matthew Gee. Johnnie, in particular is well showcased here, taking the lead not only in slow pieces like "Brown Penny" and "Sentimental Lady", but also in the rousing "Smada".
The full Analogue Productions reissue treatment is at work on this smashing LP — famed mastering engineer Bernie Grundman handled the remastering from the original analog tapes. The lacquers were plated and pressed at Quality Record Pressings, maker of the world's finest-sounding LPs. Lastly we've stashed each super-silent 200-gram disc in a premium Stoughton Printing gatefold jacket.
All of the takes were recorded during after midnight sessions recorded over two nights starting on December 2, 1959 in New York at Columbia Record's studio on East 30th Street. Each night Duke's late dinner arrived at 2 a.m. — a sizzling steak, a pot of coffee with lemons in it, portions of American cheese, and grapefruits. After dinner, and a breather for the band, the sessions finished around dawn in a swinging fashion.
If you're just getting into jazz, this album is highly recommended as a great way to initiate your collection. The sound is incredible, with packaging to match. Another audiophile home run.

Monk's Dream is the first album jazz musician Thelonious Monk released on Columbia Records. Jazz scholars and enthusiasts alike also heralded this combo as the best Monk had been involved with for several years.

180g audiophile vinyl.

Kenny Burrell's album "Guitar Forms" stands as Burrell’s definitive musical statement. It was nominated for three Grammys in 1965, is considered one of the true masterpieces in the Verve catalog. This is partly due to the outstanding performance of the guitarist himself, of course, but also to the unforgettable arrangements that Gil Evans wrote for five of the album's nine tracks. According to AllMusic, these were in no way inferior to the brilliant arrangements that Evans had made for Miles Davis classics such as "Birth Of The Cool", "Porgy And Bess" and "Sketches Of Spain".



Verve Acoustic Sounds Series: mastered fully analogue from the original tapes by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound, QPR pressing (180 g), firm tip-on gatefold (Stoughton Printing), padded inner sleeve, Gatefold Sleeve.

The only one of tenor saxophonist Tina Brooks’ albums as a leader to be released during his too-brief lifetime, 1960’s True Blue is a hard bop masterpiece featuring Brooks’ distinctive compositions performed by an exceptional quintet with Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Duke Jordan on piano, Sam Jones on bass, and Art Taylor on drums.



Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition: Stereo, mastered from a digital source by Kevin Gray, manufactured at Optimal (180 g), padded inner sleeves.

In 1963, tenor saxophonist Harold Vick made his sole album as a leader for Blue Note, the underrated soul jazz gem „Steppin’ Out“. The record finds its groove from the first downbeat and stays firmly in the pocket throughout this set featuring Blue Mitchell, Grant Green, John Patton, and Ben Dixon.



Blue Note Tone Poet Edition: Stereo, produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analogue master tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI, packaged in a deluxe gatefold tip-on jacket



Harold Vick (tenor saxophone); Big John Patton (organ);

Grant Green (guitar); Ben Dixon (drums); Blue Mitchell (trumpet)

Virtually all serious and even casual music lovers ought to be familiar with, or at least are likely to have heard The Dave Brubeck Quartet, even without realizing it — for the quartet's best-known hit "Take Five" has graced the soundtracks of multiple films, including "Mighty Aphrodite," "Pleasantville" and "Constantine." The piece is famous for its distinctive, catchy saxophone melody, as well as its use of unusual 5/4 time — so distinctive, it's a rare jazz track that became a pop hit.
Including the monster hit "Take Five", the Brubeck Quartet's "Time Out" is a jazz and audiophile classic. Every album collection needs a copy. And now, cut at 33 1/3 RPM on 200-gram premium vinyl, pressed at Quality Record Pressings (Acoustic Sounds' own industry-lauded LP manufacturer), Analogue Productions brings you "Time Out" renewed.
Like its 45 RPM sibling, "Time Out" is presented here packaged in a deluxe gatefold jacket. Inside are eight fantastic black and white images shot during the recording session at Columbia's famous 30th Street Studios. Sony Music supplied the images for use in our SACD reissue, and gave us persmission to use them in our LP reissue as well.
The jacket is also special — very heavy-duty. It's produced for us by Stoughton Printing featuring a printed wrap mounted to a heavyweight chipboard shell, producing an authentic ‚old school‘ look and feel. This jacket is a beauty! Never has "Time Out's" colorful iconic cover art looked so vibrant.
The record label's sales executives didn't want a painting on the cover when "Time Out" debuted in 1959 on Columbia Records, Brubeck told an interviewer. An entire album of originals? That wouldn't work either, he was told. Some standards and some show tunes were needed in the mix. Fortunately, Brubeck ignored the conventional wisdom and "Time Out" became the original classic we know it as today. Brubeck became proof that creative jazz and popular success can go together.
The album was intended as an experiment using musical styles Brubeck discovered abroad while on a United States Department of State-sponsored tour of Eurasia. In Turkey, he observed a group of street musicians performing a traditional Turkish folk song that was played in 9/8 time, a rare meter for Western music. Paul Desmond, who was Brubeck's alto saxophonist, wrote "Take Five“, at Brubeck's urging to try and write a song in quintuple (5/4) time.
"Time Out" peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard pop albums chart and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. "Take Five" became a mainstream hit, reaching No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100, and No. 5 on Billboard's Easy Listening survey, the precursor to today's Adult Contemporary charts. The song was included in countless movies and television soundtracks and still receives significant radio play.

Dolphy had left his native California and come east as part of Chico Hamilton's group, settling in New York in 1960 and becoming part of Charles Mingus's group. This first recording as a leader brought comparisons with Ornette Coleman but the two were really parallel figures in the then-emerging avant-garde. Dolphy did not eschew 'changes', as Coleman did, but he used them in new ways. This LP was significant not only for his alto saxophone but introduced his individual approach to the flute and, particularly, the bass clarinet.

The release comes on 180g Vinyl.

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.

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

"Comin’ Home Baby" – that’s how the LP begins and that’s what catapulted it right into the charts. Not to one of the top places, but from this time on Herbie Mann was one of the superstars in Atlantic’s collection of jazz musicians. He was known as 'our man with the flute', and the critics in the early Sixties were full of praise for him. He became even more famous, and probably richer, through soundtracks and later on sometimes rather commercialised productions. Well, good for him. 'The Man' serves up jazz pure on this recording, made live at the legendary Village Gate club, which is no wonder considering the rhythm group that includes Ahmad Abdul-Malik and Rudy Collins. The composer of "Comin’ Home Baby", Ben Tucker, also makes an appearance as a guest soloist before the two Gershwin numbers from "Porgy And Bess" offer a wealth of rhythm pure. On the cover text of the LP, Willis Conover, who hosted the Newport Jazz Festival as a sideline (older jazz fans will know his baritone voice from AFN broadcasts), describes in detail the ethnic background of the musicians who come from all over the world – from Romania to Puerto Rico. The three numbers are by no means commonplace. Perhaps a tasty flute cocktail would be a good description. This true rarity from Atlantic’s treasure trove in the early Sixties has long been marked down on the wish list of many fans and at long last it’s available again.

11 tracks ... sampled by Guru, Ghostface, Geto Boys ... 180 gram vinyl

180g 2LP 45rpm

The album "Night Lights" by American jazz saxophonist Gerry Mulligan was released in 1963, at the height of the bossa nova boom of the early 1960s. Laid-back rhythms and lyrical compositions leave room for improvisations and charming arrangements of signature solos by his fellow musicians - in addition to three original compositions, there are relaxed versions of Chopin's "Prelude in E Minor" and the Brazilian anthem "Morning of the Carnival" from Luiz Bonfa's "Black Orpheus".



Verve Acoustic Sounds Series: mastered fully analogue from the original tapes by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound, QPR pressing (180 g), firm tip-on gatefold (Stoughton Printing), padded inner sleeve, Gatefold Sleeve.

The drum hero’s classic 1963 album
 Recorded at Van Gelder Studios, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, during November and December 1961
The Jazz Messengers’ 11th Blue Note album
Featuring the classic Messengers line-up of Freddie Hubbard (trumpet/flugelhorn), Wayne Shorter (tenor), Curtis Fuller (trombone), Cedar Walton (piano) and Jymie Merritt (bass)
Showcasing three classic Shorter compositions (‘Backstage Sally’, ‘Contemplation’, ‘Reincarnation Blues’) plus Fuller’s ‘Bu’s Delight’, Walton’s ‘Shaky Jake’ and a take on Henry Mancini’s ‘Moon River’
Produced by Blue Note co-founder Alfred Lion
Includes photography by BN co-founder Francis Wolff and liner notes by esteemed writer Leonard Feather