Jazz | Fusion 86 Items

Maximum Swing: The Unissued 1965 Half Note Recordings is the first official release of the complete previously unissued recordings from jazz guitar giant Wes Montgomery with the Wynton Kelly Trio at the famed Half Note jazz club in New York City in 1965 with drummer Jimmy Cobb and bassists Paul Chambers, Ron Carter, Herman Wright and Larry Ridley. Including over 2 hours from the original radio broadcasts with host Alan Grant, the limited-edition 3-lp 180-gram (and deluxe 2-cd) set will be mastered by Matthew Lutthans and come in a deluxe triple gatefold with an elaborate booklet containing previously unpublished photos taken at the Half Note by Raymond Ross; plus a new essay from acclaimed journalist and author Bill Milkowski; interviews with jazz legends Herbie Hancock and Ron Carter, who both recorded with Wes; guitar icons Bill Frisell and Mike Stern; plus bassist Marcus Miller, who is Wynton Kelly’s cousin! 2023 marks Wes Montgomery’s Centennial (born March 6, 1923), and this is Resonance’s 7th release of Wes Montgomery recordings in cooperation with the estate. Now Wes Montgomery fans can hear the rest of the music from the Half Note that was only broadcast on the radio nearly 60 years ago.

* 180gram HQ pressing * Remastered from the 1st generation Oasis Records master tape * Lacquer cut by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio * First time on vinyl reissue * Pressed on Blue Bubble Vinyl / This is the 3rd solo album by Yon Seok-won, whose career as composer/arranger spans 5 decades, released in 1991. The Mermaid is a monumental work representing Yon’s first output as a pioneer of a unique jazz-based Korean new age/fusion sound. The album has recently become much sought-after among listeners and collectors drawn to the ambient elements and Balearic vibes that permeate the album. At long last, after nearly 30 years, this hidden masterpiece from a visionary composer who was way ahead of his time has been reissued! Yon Seok-won was born in 1949 in Hwanghae Province, in what is now part of North Korea. After his family fled to the South during the Korean War, he grew up in Incheon. In 1969, he met Incheon-born musician Kim Myoung-kil, with whom he formed the soul band ‘Devils’. Playing mainly on the U.S. 8th Army entertainment circuit, the group also dominated music competitions and the club scene. Yon left the band when he was drafted into military service soon after the release of the Devils debut album. As soon as his service was complete, Yon formed and led the Outsiders, a rock band that mixed soul and Latin influences. The outfit’s only album was released in 1975. Yon then went on to join Shin Byoung-ha’s jazz-rock / disco unit, the Four Seasons, while also working on solo material and furthering his career as an arranger. Having built a working relationship with SRB Records at the time, he handled production duties as composer / arranger for various acts such as the folk singer Jung Tae-choon as well as soul-funk singers like Yoon Si-nae and Moon Ji-young. Ever passionate about exploring new music, in 1982 he left behind a promising career as composer / arranger in the domestic gayo scene and went to America to discover a greater world of music. He spent the next 5 years studying jazz and playing local gigs in Hawaii. Upon his return to Korea in 1986, Yon’s broadened musical scope organically found expression on numerous remarkable gayo productions, signaling the start of a new heyday for him. This is plain to see in his work on the albums by various top acts of the time, including In Soon-ee, Lee Eun-ha, Kim Wan-sun, and Kim Beom-ryong. In particular, he demonstrated an unparalleled knack for arranging New Wave-influenced disco tunes as well as ballads that incorporated elements of chamber music. Additionally, since the early 1990s to the early 2000s, Yon has been prolific as a score composer for numerous films and drama series. In 1990, Yon established a musicianship crew of his own, ‘Creation’, which became a steadfast vehicle for him to give form to his musical visions. His jazz-based fusion / new age albums, which threw a fresh new light on Yon and his work, were released during this era. Building on his close working relationship with Oasis Records at the time, in 1991 Yon released his first solo material in 10 years – ‘Mermaid’, while also working as head producer of Shin Hyo-bum’s idiosyncratic jazz-oriented gayo album ‘Jazz: The Outing (1991). Also prolific as an arranger, his career peaked when he participated in hit songs by Lee Moon-sae and Kim Gwang-seok. Ever since the 2000s, Yon has focused mainly on composing scores for drama series. Yon’s extraordinary yet woefully under-documented career saw him pursue a unique musical journey after his beginnings in a soul / rock band in the 70s, after which he infused jazz elements into gayo and realized his greater musical vision. His touch can be found everywhere from 70’s gems to the various gayo hits and score albums of the late 91’s. As such, Yon Seok-won is a mysterious musician whose works are familiar to any gayo lover / collector even while little is known about the man himself. It’s high time for a proper appreciation of Yon and his work.

ENC
'surreal Estate'
Limited Edition Gatefold 180gm Double Vinyl edition of 250
All profits from the release are donated to mind.org.uk
The third Emperors New Clothes album recorded and produced in 1996 by Trevor 'Underdog' Jackson, rejected and ridiculed by the bands original label, the album sat unheard for decades and unreleased in its original intended format anywhere till now.

A gloriously twisted mix of jazz, post-rock, dub, no wave, noise & abstract beats played by a live five piece, the album sounds as strangely relevant today as it was wildly ahead of its time in 96.

In founder member Luke Hannam's own words.

"Just two months before the recording took place at the chapel studios in Lincolnshire ENC went through a major line up change with Leo Taylor recruited on drums and David Bateman added on guitar & additional programming, Ian Girdlestone on decks & tape looping and the two founding members Andy Knight- Sax, electronics, flutes, programming, keys & percussion and Luke Hannam on Bass.

The band had come along way from its earliest days as a three piece in the late 80s based in the northeast . ENC were always an unusual band formed around Andy's deep musicality and knowledge of free jazz and experimental music and Luke's love of intense groove and dark post punk. They were an unlikely pairing in someways but they lived closely and supported each other for years.

The 'Surreal Estate' project began as the third album loomed into view. Trevor Jackson who had contributed some fantastic remixes on previous material was hired as producer with Corrine 'The Sea' Pennington as an engineer. The band headed to their Brixton arch and set about making the most adventurous music of their career. The tracks that's you hear on this album were mostly recorded during extensive sessions at The Chapel residential studios in Lincolnshire followed by various additional session in London and also at Trevor's home studio. Recording sessions are funny things, stuff works, stuff fails, bands implode, and sometimes great albums get made, stability never makes the best music and this album probably proves both are true.

My memories of these sessions are pretty vivid, we worked through the night creating our own private universe playing music as freely and intensely as we could. Andy provided, as he always did a sense of otherworldly concentration, I always found him like a man in the centre of a storm building circles and cycles, spinning patterns of sound rhythm and melody. Leo was a relative newcomer at the time but as afar as I was concerned produced beats so intense, so perfect, they pulled my bass into line … visceral and exact. David Bateman listened and carefully spun delicious guitar parts finding space where others thought there was none to be found … it was beautiful to watch and when I listen I can see him in the shadows immersed in the music. Ian's loops and analogue textures found their perfect embrace with Andy's subsonic samples and electronic depth charging …. The whole thing lurched like an obscure On U sound recording colliding with Sun Ra in Trevor's hip hop universe".

The legendary TBN tag team, Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio and Yoshihiko Kannari, have revived and newly recorded this superb Erroll Garner album. Tsuyoshi Yamamoto and Yoshihiko Kannari, a former engineer for the TBM label, reunited on their last album "Blues for K" (scol-1062). The duo have also produced numerous world-class recordings from Japan, including "Midnight Sugar" and "Misty". Then in 2023, Yoshihiko Kaminari made his return to the Onkio Haus in Tokyo! They will once again be at this iconic studio, where the TBM label used to do recordings. The songs for this album are a collection of ballads, mainly by Erroll Garner, whom Tsuyoshi Yamamoto has always admired and loved. The result is a return to their roots and a challenging work for both of them.

Blue, transparent voice wraps you. A beautiful bouquet of piano and vocals. The Muse who colors your passion with intelligence. The original concept was faithfully reconstructed for this album's vinyl release. The songs are reduced to vocal numbers, and the jacket also features the original version. There are some "blue ones," but there are also cute and gorgeous ones. We hope you will enjoy it over and over again to your heart's content.

For our beloved Japan, with all our hearts. Here are the pleasures of the piano trio. Taste the essence of Jos van Beest, the "poet of sentimentality". Simple yet profound. Beest has found a golden recipe for this question that everyone struggles with, and he captures the heart with a piano touch as neat and beautiful as if he had found a golden recipe. The melody is like the shimmer of a daiquiri pouring from a shaker into a glass.

Long-awaited analog release of the NY-based pianist and composer's second album! Lush and magnificent soundscapes by a new generation of jazz ensembles that make full use of voice. As the title of the album, which combines the words "Sol" (sun) and "Luna" (moon), suggests, the album contains colorful compositions with magnificent power. The new sound of the jazz ensemble, featuring a fusion of instrumentals and voices of talented New York musicians, is a perfect match for the warm tones of analog records.

"Ocean Garden" is the new release from Turn On The Sunlight, a collective that gathered its splendid members at the urging of Jesse Peterson and Carlos Nino, beloved by many musicians in the LA music scene. Seven selected songs from that album are being released on vinyl!! Featuring Musicians: Josh Johnson, Fabiano do Nascimento, Dwight Trible, Mia Doi Todd, Sam Gendel, Randal Fisher, Phil Ranelin, Anna Butterss, and more!

This Blue Note 80 Vinyl Edition is all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.

Brilliant, inspired and somewhat surprising collaboration between Chicago’s premier free-rock trio and the truly legendary percussionist, Hamid Drake, who has played with everyone from Don Cherry to Peter Brotzmann to Lee Perry.

​ This collusion was precipitated by Matt Jackowiak, a mutual friend, who thought a merging of their sounds might make for an ecstatic explosion. This feeling became mutual after they played a show together at Constellation. The set mixed Mako Sica tunes with improvisations that took everyone to places they hadn’t expected, and the trip was deemed an utter success.

​ Ronda was done at two sessions, scheduled around Hamid’s insanely busy work schedule. The first was at Jamdek with Douglas Malone at the board, the second was at Electrical Audio with Taylor Hales. The Electrical session allowed the players access to a host of additional instruments, so the sonic palette on “Dance with Waves” and “Emanation” is wider and somehow more cosmic than usual.

​ But the whole album has an extraordinary depth and width of sound. Even the great songs Mako Sica has had in its set for a while like “The Old Book,” gain whole new levels of otherness here, and the material based in quartet improvisations, like “The Wu Wei,” explores wild new territory for the band.

​ Ronda (named after a town in southern Spain with a famous 18th Century bridge crossing a deep gorge) is the first span connecting the disparate musical worlds of Mako Sica and Hamid Drake. Let us hope it is but the first of many.

-Byron Coley, 2018

A collection of previously unreleased recordings, rehearsals, demos and alternate takes from the personal archive of the brilliant French jazz innovator Jef Gilson. Tip!

The album includes 12 new recordings made especially for the film and soundtrack plus an existing recording by Dave Van Ronk. Also featured is a never-before-released version of Bob Dylan performing his song “Farewell,” which was recorded during the sessions for his album The Times They Are A-Changin' and is available exclusively on this soundtrack.

Sun Ra Arkestra, Live in Japan! Recorded at Shinjuku Pit Inn on August 8, 1988, this recording has undergone fresh remastering from the master tape, marking the first reissue in 36 years!!

180g pressing

Recorded in ’73 and rejected by tin-eared major label execs in ’75, Crystal Spears (or “Crystal Clear” as it appears on the tape box) subsumes a cathartic brawl between Minimoog and Yamaha combo organ, with percussionists providing tonal textures, and plaintive oboe colliding with roaring electronic keyboards over waves of rollicking marimba, devilishly chattering below the fray. Crystal Spears is Ra’s once lost aural cinematheque! Includes a quad-ra-color Sun Ra poster!
Crystal Spears, intended for release in 1975 by ABC/Impulse! and assigned catalog # AS-9297, was ultimately rejected by the label. Ra and business manager Alton Abraham retained the rights, rechristened the album Crystal Clear and assigned Saturn Records catalog # 562—but they never got around to issuing it. The first three tracks on this album were mastered from that tape, a 1/4-inch four-track (15 ips) brand favored by home recording enthusiasts—and generally disfavored by pro engineers. The sessions took place at Variety Recording Studio in New York on February 3, 1973, a month before the Ark returned on March 8 to record Cymbals, as well as tracks issued decades later under the title Sign Of The Myth (and perhaps even Pathways To Unknown Worlds).

Record Store Day 2023 first release limited to 1750 copies worldwide.

All Analog Lacquer by Bernie Grundman. Also Features An Extensive Booklet By Now-Again’s Eothen Alapatt The definitive reissue of Hair composer Galt MacDermot’s masterpiece - a quirky instrumental album originally created as the soundtrack to a film about fashion designer Yves St. Laurent. Long loved by hip hop samplers - one of the first to use it was the legendary J Dilla - funk and rare groove aficionados and those into the shapes of rhythm. Woman Is Sweeter is one of the few releases to feature drummers Bernard Purdie and Idris Muhammad on the same album. Presented for RSD 2023 in the first ever reissue from master tapes, lacquered in an all-analog transfer by Bernie Grundman with an extensive booklet written by Now-Again’s Eothen Alapatt, who worked with Galt Mac-Dermot since the 1990s, about the composer’s life in music.

Originally released in 1974, Big Fun presents music from three different phases of Miles Davis's early-seventies "electric" period. Sides one and four ("Great Expectations" and "Lonely Fire") were recorded three months after the Bitches Brew sessions and incorporate sitar, tambura, tabla, and other Indian instruments. "Ife" was recorded after the 1972 On the Corner sessions, and the framework is similar to tracks from that record. Recorded in March 1970, "Go Ahead John" is an outtake from Davis's Jack Johnson sessions.

First ever vinyl reissue of this rare masterpiece - Remastered from the original analog tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio - Includes new liner notes by Dave Segal interviewing Herb Albert and Chuck Berghofer - Pressed at RTI on Clear Amber Wax & Clear Light Green Wax - Originally released on A&M in 1970 - Featuring session heavyweights Chuck Berghofer (bass), John Pisano (guitar), Milt Holland (percussion), Paul Humphrey (drums), Emil Richards (percussion) and Herb Albert (producer) - Sampled by Cypress Hill, Jay Dee, & Busta Rhymes Organic, electric, freeform. Pete Jolly's Seasons is comprised of melodies and textures composed live and without pretense—its grooves contain a complete and divine listening experience that surpasses all others of the era in which it was originally released, coming as close to transcendent musical meditation incarnate as one could possibly imagine. Seasons is an unsung masterpiece of ensemble groove and stellar musicianship, equally unsurpassed and inspired in its quiet excellence.

While Seasons never had significant commercial success upon its release, it has since amassed a cult following, leading collectors to pay top dollar for copies of the rare record. Out of print since 1971, it has only been reissued once on CD. In his liner notes accompanying this release, Dave Segal puts the album’s massive demand in perspective: “British label owner Jonny Trunk put up an original pressing of the LP for sale for an undisclosed but large sum on Instagram in January 2023, and it sold in five minutes. With Seasons back in circulation, maybe Pete Jolly will finally gain the broader audience that his phenomenal skills merit,” writes Segal. “If nothing else, it serves as a valuable lesson to artists: venturing outside of your comfort zone can bring the most interesting, enduring results.”

Remastered from the original analog master tapes by Kevin Gray at Coherent Mastering, this record not only foreshadows the roots of hip-hop but manages to embody the richness of a full album listening experience that few records can offer. Its timeless appeal is rare—and its dynamic range sets it apart as an album that straddles both the jazz and pop worlds in a way that almost no others can. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the changing and complex colors of Seasons for the first time ever since its initial release.

Born in 1938, and raised in Glendale, California, Lloyd Miller has had one of the most unusual careers in all of jazz. By age 12 he had declared an
intent to make his living as a jazz musician, and by high school he had already begun to experiment, shunning swing music's mechanical perfection,
and chafing at his parents’ desire for him to nurture his talents with formal training. This tumultous relationship with his parents would eventually
lead to a stint in a psychatric hospital, before reuniting with them in moving to Iran, his father having accepted a job working for the Shah.
Stops in Hong Kong, Japan and Pakistan on the way to Iran deepened Miller's connection to other cultures he’d first felt while listening to old world
music compilations. He felt a definite calm and peace, an immense respect from everyone towards everyone else, and immersed himself in other
cultures and languages immediately. Miller spent a year in Iran with his family, picking up Farsi after a few short months, and steadily gaining more
and more of an appreciation for how deep the roots of Persian art run. However, still committed to his decision forge a career in jazz, Lloyd left Tehran
in 1958 to head to Europe to see if he could make a living from jazz music.
Miller kicked around the continent, first in Germany, then in Switzerland, Sweden and Brussels. He collaborated and performed alongside 60s jazz
legend Jef Gilson, and experimented with exotic instrumentation before returning to America to resume his studies at Brigham Young University in
Utah. In the years following his stint with Gilson, Miller had become more and more disillusioned with both modern music and modern society, which
had ashewed jazz for rock music, which he detested. In Miller’s conception, for a music to have value it had to have a deep connection to a tradition,
specifically connecting jazz to African lore. To Miller, something like “Tuareg African music is blues, just with no chord changes.”
Oriental Jazz was recorded, compiled and self-released in 1968 while Miller was studying at Brigham Young. The record, originally pressed in
a quantity of 300 copies, sought to combine a cool, modal style with the exotic arrays of instruments and styles that Miller had picked up during
his travels. Miller included songs he’d cut with Gilson in his Parisian studio years before, and a solo piano piece that he recorded in one of the
school’s practice rooms. Despite Lloyd’s professed aversion to modernity, there nevertheless is something strikingly new sounding about this
music, which fits together in startling juxtapositions. Traces of Bill Evans, Stan Getz and Jimmy Giuffre rub shoulders with Persian santur, Arab oud
and Turkish saz music.
Copies of Oriental Jazz languished in Miller's home for years after numerous failed bids for record contracts, before finally ending up in the hands of
record collectors decades later. After its release however, he would find a second life after returning to Iran, doing field recordings, and eventually
hosting a weekly television show that programmed both American jazz and the best traditional Persian musicians he could find. It was not to last
however, as he abruptly abandoned the country to return to the US in the late 1970s, predicting the arrival of the Islamic Revolution.

Saxophonist, composer, bandleader and innovator Camilla George makes a stunning return with her third album 'Ibio-Ibio' - a rich, cultural journey dedicated to her Ibibio tribe of south eastern coastal Nigeria, out on Ever Records / !K7. The album is a heady mix of afrobeat, hip hop and jazz coproduced by Camilla George. Across eight tracks, Camilla's virtuosic alto saxophone performance collaborates with a stellar line-up of some of the hottest players in London's jazz scene including Daniel Casimir (bass), Shirley Tetteh (guitar), Winston Clifford (drums), Sheila Maurice-Grey (trumpet), Rosie Turton (trombone), Renato Paris (vocals), Sarah Tandy (keys), plus Senegalese kora player Kadialy Kouyate, acclaimed US drummer Daru Jones (Jack White, Pete Rock, Talib Kweli), and Birmingham's finest MC Lady Sanity.

Limited to 750 copies.

We've got a bit of an obsession with Hozan Yamamoto here at Mr Bongo! A legend of Japanese jazz, he is rightly regarded as a true master and was recognised as a "living national treasure" by the Japanese government in 2002. Over five decades he pushed the genre into new directions, absorbing fusion, funk, spiritual jazz and many other sounds, resulting in a discography studded with gems of rare beauty. Exploring his back catalogue has taken us on an engrossing journey that now sees us reissuing another work from this ground-breaking musician.

Though not translating perfectly into English 'Akuma Ga Kitarite Fue Wo Fuku', (kitarite has not been a modern expression in Japanese) roughly means 'The Devil Comes Playing The Flute' / 'The Devil Is Coming While Blowing The Whistle' or 'Devils Flute’. It is the original soundtrack to Kôsei Saitô’s 1979 mystery and suspense movie, ‘Devil’s Flute’. The film is based on a story by the famous author, Seishi Yokomizo, and is centred around a much-loved fictional Japanese detective, Kosuke Kindaichi. A Japanese Sherlock Holmes that has been popular for generations.

Hozan Yamamoto was invited to compose the soundtrack directly by the producer of the film, Haruki Kadokawa. Mr Kadokawa also hired keyboard player and producer Yu Imai as assistant producer on the project, resulting in a stunning cosmic, breaks and beats-laden, funk, disco soundtrack extravaganza.

When it comes to the soundtrack and the technology of the time, Hozan Yamamoto and Yu Imai got inventive, tripped out, funked up, and experimented, creating a quirky soundtrack masterpiece that needed to be heard more outside of Japan. Differing from the more traditional Japanese music orientation of some of his other albums such as 'Beautiful Bamboo-Flute' (also released on Mr Bongo) the album showcases a number of genres, from lush atmospheric incidental music to disco and funk grooves, experimental nuggets, drum and flute workouts, to neo-classical and more.

A special record that showcases the further depths of this wonderful musician's talents.

A product of the not-so-underground, genre-bending melting pot that is Naarm (Melbourne, Australia). producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist Don Glori (aka Gordon Li) prepares to unleash his forthcoming album ‘Don’t Forget To Have Fun’ via DeepMatter Records.

Following the release of his much-heralded 2022 LP ‘Welcome’, and a relocation to London, Don managed to tap into a potent creative current, by taking himself to a place of discomfort, and taking his creative back to basics for ‘Don’t Forget To Have Fun’. This invigorating approach helped distill the initial album sketches into a compelling and intoxicating listening experience across the record, creating a true work of art, traversing jazz, funk, soul, RnB, samba and beyond. Whilst the record itself is hard to describe, but even harder to forget.

Album opener ‘Pause’ pairs psychedelic influences with a cyclic loping groove and focuses on recognising a safe space that can act as a refuge. Taking inspiration from Steely Dan, Brian Bennett & Azymuth, ‘Emerald’ channels Jazz rock, 70's LA studio energy, with the faster funk sections featuring an unruly amount of mouth percussion, synth lead lines, and vocal melodies that weave in and around the tight horn arrangements. ‘All Seeds’ is a heady blend of samba and Brazilian street soul, with field recordings of Don’s old house in Melbourne providing additional seasoning. ‘First Touch’ is a downtempo 80’s boogie-infused gem, keeping proceedings nice and sleazy. The final three movements move through one fluid composition, charting the disorientating course of a fever dream, through beguiling astral travels, unexplainable occurrences, and transcendent moments.

Enjoy Foat's rhythmic mastery, jazz-infused mood, and cosmic synths, accompanied by Finland's finest, including the legendary saxophonist Eero Koivistoinen.

Aptly titled, ‘Welcome’ is the debut album from Don Glori. A kaleidoscopic free dive into his world, featuring 8 recordings of revolving jazz, Brazilian, soul and funk inspired compositions spinning together and blurring into a genre bending slew of new music.

There is an intangible element of joy and connection sitting just outside the grasp of description or definition that can be felt throughout this album. Each song on this album captures the spirit and irrepressible energy that underpins the core of the Don Glori project.

Imperfections are captured along with the moments of transcendence. Layers of vocal harmonies oscillate next to pulsating samba rhythms while spiritual overtones permeate throughout. Congas and percussion form a holy union with the drum kit, co-piloted by Don Glori’s own bass lines.

Saxophones, horns and flutes flutter in between the musical canyons carved out by the piano and vibraphone. When you press all of these forces together you can start to feel the intangible; the intrinsic human elements existing in the creases. The sweat, excitement and willingness of each musician to dedicate their spirit and take risks on every track of this album.

It’s clear from the outset that this is an expansive body of work, from the spiritual jazz opener ‘Maiden Waters’ to the bubbling street party that is ‘Dlareme’, and ending on the unashamedly seductive ‘Commodore’. This is the kind of record that will translate equally well to both the dance floor and the lounge room rug.

Music with a message and for community. Various writers and reviewers have tried their best to categorize the sound of London's United Vibrations using terms like Spiritual Jazz, Afropunk, and Afrobeat. However, this unique group may be best described by the feelings their music instills instead of through a genre classification. Call it spiritual, or call it vibrations, for that matter. Vibrations for the sound waves produced by their instruments and voices as well as for the emotions that it stirs, the culmination of which is realized in The Myth Of The Golden Ratio.
Comprised of three brothers - Ahmad, Kareem, and Yussef Dayes - alongside close friend Wayne Francis II, the group prescribes to the mantra, "Out of many must come one." Over the course of two EPs and a full-length album previously released independently, they have worked tirelessly to channel their ideas into soundscapes enriched with beauty and meaning. While their early material was developed by busking and each song created separately, on The Myth Of The Golden Ratio they fused the process for writing and recording and with access to more instruments in the studio, the band has felt even more creative freedom to enhance their sound. Already admired by festival audiences throughout Europe for their live performances, United Vibrations has also garnered recognition from tastemakers such as BBC 3 jazz stalwart Jez Nelson and legendary producer Theo Parrish. While many acts perform for or to their audiences, United Vibrations relishes in their ability to perform amongst and with theirs. In fact, they consider the crowd the most integral part of the experience, with the energy becoming cyclical - the crowd feeding the musicians feeding the crowd. Oftentimes they utilize call-and-response to elicit participation that helps to create and maintain a musical and divine space. People from different life experiences and demographics have become a united force through this creative space at festivals and concerts across the UK and Europe.

Social Joy Records presents Natural Lateral's new album "Tapestry of life", a superb excursion in fusion jazz with a wonderful blend of electronics and subtle elements of spiritual Jazz.
Undeniably on the rise after the success of their first album, "Cogito Ergo Jam", which received support from the British Jazz scene and was featured on Gilles Peterson's BB6 broadcast,the North London Based collective goes a step further this time by carefully crafting a new release of a tapestry of music stemming from rich jam sessions at the Lazy Robot Studio and representing the band's phenomenal musical canvas. Echoing jazz legends like Azymuth, Roy Ayers, Alice Coltrane and Miles Davis by paying tribute to those who paved the way but always searching for new musical territories, this six-track LP is moving, thought-provoking and engaging. It is a musical questing where each band member searches for meaning through sounds and rhythms - giving a new life to Jazz music and dropping the full spectrum of a vibrant tapestry of life into the listener's ears.
The band's work ethic is based on a sense of freedom in the studio filled with live jam sessions where it's all about "catching a moment" and letting the inspiration flow. "We just want to feel a sense of freedom and connection through playing. In the studio, it's the music which connects us all, and we just want to allow that process to unfold".

Original 12" vinyl LP pressing of the Atlantis Jazz Ensemble's debut album.

The Atlantis Jazz Ensemble is on the rise once again with "Celestial Suite", a brilliant set of spiritual soul-jazz, with a righteous energy in the mode of some of the best work on independent labels such as Strata East or Tribe back in the day, though updated with a fresh current vibe. With the blend of electric piano, sax, trumpet, bass and percussion presented here, the quintet has refined the searching, soaring quality of their sound, capturing over the course of two days in the studio an inspired session worthy of the skyward promise of the album’s title.

The set flows seamlessly from track to track. Opener “Breaking Dawn” starts things off gently as in a morning sunrise, before settling into a hypnotic modal groove. “Transcendence” then kicks up the tempo with boisterous Afro-Latin rhythms, before heading into the mystic soul-bossa brew of “Enlightenment”. Side A eases off with the pleading soul-jazz of “Invocation”, before ramping things up again on Side B with the ethereal pharoanic groove of “Oneness”. The tension builds on “Blessings”, with its searching, coltranesque modal quality, before easing into the funky, down-home exultations of “Joyful Noise”. The suite then winds down as calmly as it began with a solemn “Meditation”, closing the arc of this skybound journey.

The Atlantis Jazz Ensemble was first formed by Pierre Chrétien and Zakari Frantz of The Souljazz Orchestra back in 2013, as an outlet for the more modal, esoteric and spiritual compositions they were exploring outside the confines of their original unit. After the addition of trumpeter Ed Lister, bassist Alex Bilodeau and drummer Mike Essoudry, the Atlantis Jazz Ensemble released their maiden voyage "Oceanic Suite" in 2016, a bold first outing that became a bit of an underground classic, capturing the number two spot on the Canadian radio jazz charts that year (just behind BadBadNotGood’s "iv"), and leading Atlantis to open up live for the likes of Kamasi Washington and Anderson Paak.

However, the wind was somewhat taken out of the group’s sails when their original bassist suddenly moved away to Boston to study with Dave Holland, Cecil McBee, and other jazz luminaries. Atlantis sank into hiatus for a few years, until young double bass phenom Chris Pond blew into town from Eastern Canada, and the group rose up once again in 2022. After a fruitful residency in Ottawa’s hip Somerset Village that summer, perfecting the new set of original compositions that were to make up "Celestial Suite", the quintet hit Metropolitan Studios in the fall, and laid down an especially inspired rendition of the suite, captured with all of the analogue warmth the studio is known for.

"Celestial Suite" is the Atlantis Jazz Ensemble’s 2nd album and is released by Marlow Records on LP, CD, and digital / streaming on October 27th 2023. LP format is meticulously pressed in Canada with the new WarmTone fully automatic, modernised vinyl record pressing system, and comes with download card.

There is something simultaneously both brand-new and retro about 'All News Is Good News’ - the debut album from Melbourne's instrumental soul group Surprise Chef. It sounds like something dreamt up by lo-fi cousins of David Axelrod and Janko Nilovic, with dramatic Library-music-eqsue cinematic arrangements echoing both light and dark, delving into moments of dissonance and positivity. There is a meticulous education of 1970’s soul on display that touches on the legacies of the great composer / producers, yet at the same time this is a truly contemporary record that could have only been made now. The first limited pressing of 'All News Is Good News’ was released on the band's own 'College Of Knowledge' imprint in November 2019. It slipped rapidly into the collective consciousness of underground music lovers around the world, with all copies selling out within a week and becoming a firm favourite at Mr Bongo HQ in the process. We felt Surprise Chef had made something very special, a future-classic, and that needed to be heard well beyond those lucky enough to have bagged those limited first copies. Formed at the end of 2017, Surprise Chef have grown within the fertile, creative, and supportive Melbourne music scene. Whilst the band is comprised of four core members, the album features friends and family as guest instrumentalists on flute, saxophone, vibraphone, congas, and assorted percussion; all adeptly recorded by engineer Henry Jenkins from the band Karate Boogaloo. The warm-raw-authenticity of the album was captured in the recordings live to tape over a handful of sessions in the band’s home studio in Melbourne’s inner-northern suburb of Coburg. As band member Lachlan Stuckey explains “All of the music we record is tracked live to tape, simply because so many of the records we love most were made that way". The results are a captivating journey of instrumental cinematic-soul that will connect with the hardened Axelrod, Truth & Soul, El Michels Affair, and Daptone's fans, as well as the open-minded first-time listener. We are very excited to share this first slice of Surprise Chef’s world, with plenty more magic from these guys coming around the corner very soon.

Afro Latin Vintage Orchestra’s (ALVO) new album Pulsion delves deeper into spiritual jazz, library and film music. The result is a heavier, more progressive and darker sound albeit
with their signature funk and groove remaining intact as the foundation.

Weather Report’s long and illustrious career had many twists, turns and revelations. Live In London draws on the best moments of performances delivered at the Hammersmith Odeon in June 1983, with former Chic percussionist Jose Rossy, plus a take of ‘Corner Pocket’ as played at the Dominion Theatre one year later with Mino Cinelu. Mainstay Joe Zawinul mans the ship alongside saxophonist Wayne Shorter, this edition of WR driven by the frantic beats of Omar Hakim and the bass of Victor Bailey, less showy than Jaco yet just as engaging. Initially cut for radio broadcast, fans of late-era Weather Report will love every moment.

A few copies arrived with a seamsplit Cover. We're therefore selling it on a reduced price.

Welcome to ‘Feel The Wind’…maybe one of the greatest team-ups in Jazz history featuring jazz superstars Art Blakey and Freddie Hubbard! Art Blakey (1919–1990) needs little introduction, the American Jazz drummer and bandleader made a name for himself in the 1940s & 1950s playing with contemporaries such as Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. He is often considered to have been Thelonious Monk's most empathetic drummer (he played on both Monk’s first recording session in 1947 and his final one in 1971). In the decades that followed Blakey recorded for all THE labels that mattered in the field of jazz (Columbia, Blue Note, Atlantic, RCA, Im pulse!, Riverside, Prestige, Verve, etc.). His collaborations were numerous and include working with equally legendary artists such as Sonny Rollins, Max Roach, Chet Baker, John Coltrane….and countless others. Art Blakey was a major figure and a pioneer for modern jazz, he assumed an aggressive swing drumming style early on in his career and is known as one of the inventors of the modern bebop style of drumming. Blakey was sampled and remixed by major acts such as The Black Eyed Peas, Digable Planets, Buscemi, KRS-One and Madlib. The legacy of Art Blakey is not only the music he produced, but also the opportunities they provided for several future generations of jazz musicians. Freddie Hubbard (1938-2008) also needs little introduction, he was one of the most renowned American jazz trumpeters who played bebop, hard bop and post-bop from the early 1960s onwards. His unmistakable and influential tone contributed to new perspectives for modern jazz and bebop. At the age of 20, in New York, he began playing and recording with some of the best jazz players of the era, including Don Cherry, Quincy Jones, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Oliver Nelson and Herbie Hancock. Freddie Hubbard recorded for labels such as Blue Note and Atlantic and he became a prominent member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. Hubbard achieved his greatest popular success in the 1970s with a series of landmark albums. Hubbard's trumpet playing was featured on the track 'Zanzibar' from the 1978 Billy Joel album 52nd street (the 1979 Grammy Award Winner for Best Album) and in 1988, Hubbard played with Elton John contributing trumpet and flugelhorn solos. In 2006, the National Endowment for the Arts accorded Hubbard its highest honor in jazz, the NEA Jazz Masters Award. Freddie Hubbard was sampled and remixed by renowned artists such as Raekwon, A Tribe Called Quest, Beastie Boys, Jungle Brothers and Kamasi Washington. On the album that we are presenting you today (Feel The Wind from 1989) , you’ll find six sublime tracks recorded in 1988 by renowned engineer Max Bolleman at the Studio 44 Monster in Holland. These recordings were originally released on the legendary Dutch jazz label Timeless Records (and produced by its owner Wim Wigt). Supporting Hubbard and Blakey is an all-star line-up of musicians from the likes of Leon Dorsey (Lionel Hampton), Lonnie Plaxico (Dizzy Gillespie, Ravi Coltrane), Benny Green (Joe Henderson, Houston Person, Milt Jackson), Mulgrew Miller (Frank Morgan, Donald Byrd) and Javon Jackson (Cedar Walton, Curtis Fuller, John Hicks). The combination of this being one of Art Blakey's final recordings near the end of his life and a glorious rejuvenating return by Freddie Hubbard gives us all the ingredients for a unique album that sounds as innovating today as back in the day when it was released. Expect supercharged hard bop with striking notes, no-holds-barred musicianship, high swinging solos, screaming choruses and plenty of solid virtuosity to spare. This release is not only a classic but also a bonafide hit and a must have for any self-respecting jazz fan or collector. Tidal Waves Music now proudly presents this much-needed vinyl reissue that pairs up two iconic jazz legends at the top of their game. Originally released in 1989, this is the first time these unique sessions are being reissued as a deluxe 180g vinyl edition w/obi strip.

Welcome to ‘Feel The Wind’…maybe one of the greatest team-ups in Jazz history featuring jazz superstars Art Blakey and Freddie Hubbard! Art Blakey (1919–1990) needs little introduction, the American Jazz drummer and bandleader made a name for himself in the 1940s & 1950s playing with contemporaries such as Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. He is often considered to have been Thelonious Monk's most empathetic drummer (he played on both Monk’s first recording session in 1947 and his final one in 1971). In the decades that followed Blakey recorded for all THE labels that mattered in the field of jazz (Columbia, Blue Note, Atlantic, RCA, Imp ulse!, Riverside, Prestige, Verve, etc.). His collaborations were numerous and include working with equally legendary artists such as Sonny Rollins, Max Roach, Chet Baker, John Coltrane….and countless others. Art Blakey was a major figure and a pioneer for modern jazz, he assumed an aggressive swing drumming style early on in his career and is known as one of the inventors of the modern bebop style of drumming. Blakey was sampled and remixed by major acts such as The Black Eyed Peas, Digable Planets, Buscemi, KRS-One and Madlib. The legacy of Art Blakey is not only the music he produced, but also the opportunities they provided for several future generations of jazz musicians. Freddie Hubbard (1938-2008) also needs little introduction, he was one of the most renowned American jazz trumpeters who played bebop, hard bop and post-bop from the early 1960s onwards. His unmistakable and influential tone contributed to new perspectives for modern jazz and bebop. At the age of 20, in New York, he began playing and recording with some of the best jazz players of the era, including Don Cherry, Quincy Jones, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Oliver Nelson and Herbie Hancock. Freddie Hubbard recorded for labels such as Blue Note and Atlantic and he became a prominent member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. Hubbard achieved his greatest popular success in the 1970s with a series of landmark albums. Hubbard's trumpet playing was featured on the track 'Zanzibar' from the 1978 Billy Joel album 52nd street (the 1979 Grammy Award Winner for Best Album) and in 1988, Hubbard played with Elton John contributing trumpet and flugelhorn solos. In 2006, the National Endowment for the Arts accorded Hubbard its highest honor in jazz, the NEA Jazz Masters Award. Freddie Hubbard was sampled and remixed by renowned artists such as Raekwon, A Tribe Called Quest, Beastie Boys, Jungle Brothers and Kamasi Washington. On the album that we are presenting you today (Feel The Wind from 1989) , you’ll find six sublime tracks recorded in 1988 by renowned engineer Max Bolleman at the Studio 44 Monster in Holland. These recordings were originally released on the legendary Dutch jazz label Timeless Records (and produced by its owner Wim Wigt). Supporting Hubbard and Blakey is an all-star line-up of musicians from the likes of Leon Dorsey (Lionel Hampton), Lonnie Plaxico (Dizzy Gillespie, Ravi Coltrane), Benny Green (Joe Henderson, Houston Person, Milt Jackson), Mulgrew Miller (Frank Morgan, Donald Byrd) and Javon Jackson (Cedar Walton, Curtis Fuller, John Hicks). The combination of this being one of Art Blakey's final recordings near the end of his life and a glorious rejuvenating return by Freddie Hubbard gives us all the ingredients for a unique album that sounds as innovating today as back in the day when it was released. Expect supercharged hard bop with striking notes, no-holds-barred musicianship, high swinging solos, screaming choruses and plenty of solid virtuosity to spare. This release is not only a classic but also a bonafide hit and a must have for any self-respecting jazz fan or collector. Tidal Waves Music now proudly presents this much-needed vinyl reissue that pairs up two iconic jazz legends at the top of their game. Originally released in 1989, this is the first time these unique sessions are being reissued as a deluxe 180g vinyl edition w/obi strip.

Bernard Purdie is one of the most well known drummers of all time, and probably the most recorded in history. From his early days as a session player, Purdie rose to become Aretha Franklin’s musical director, did overdubs for The Beatles, and recorded with the likes of Steely Dan, Cat Stevens, Joe Cocker, Hall & Oats, Quincy Jones, Roberta Flack, and James Brown, to name a few. In 1967 he entered a studio with several friends to cut his first solo album, “Soul Drums”. The album was critically acclaimed upon its initial release, only to reach mythical proportions once being rediscovered by DJs and hip-hop producers years later, when it became one of the most sought-after drum LPs among vinyl collectors.

A product of the not-so-underground, genre-bending melting pot that is Naarm (Melbourne, Australia). producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist Don Glori (aka Gordon Li) prepares to unleash his forthcoming album ‘Don’t Forget To Have Fun’ via DeepMatter Records.

Following the release of his much-heralded 2022 LP ‘Welcome’, and a relocation to London, Don managed to tap into a potent creative current, by taking himself to a place of discomfort, and taking his creative back to basics for ‘Don’t Forget To Have Fun’. This invigorating approach helped distill the initial album sketches into a compelling and intoxicating listening experience across the record, creating a true work of art, traversing jazz, funk, soul, RnB, samba and beyond. Whilst the record itself is hard to describe, but even harder to forget.

Album opener ‘Pause’ pairs psychedelic influences with a cyclic loping groove and focuses on recognising a safe space that can act as a refuge. Taking inspiration from Steely Dan, Brian Bennett & Azymuth, ‘Emerald’ channels Jazz rock, 70's LA studio energy, with the faster funk sections featuring an unruly amount of mouth percussion, synth lead lines, and vocal melodies that weave in and around the tight horn arrangements. ‘All Seeds’ is a heady blend of samba and Brazilian street soul, with field recordings of Don’s old house in Melbourne providing additional seasoning. ‘First Touch’ is a downtempo 80’s boogie-infused gem, keeping proceedings nice and sleazy. The final three movements move through one fluid composition, charting the disorientating course of a fever dream, through beguiling astral travels, unexplainable occurrences, and transcendent moments.

Freestyle Records reissue a DIY 7" from 1980 by short-lived all-female group Spoilsports. Existing at the intersection of post-punk, jazz-rock and modern soul - these two political yet playful numbers were laid down by a band formed from a range of players active in London's feminist and improvised music scenes at the time, and represent the groups only recordings.

-------

Spoilsports began in 1979 with the aim of having an all-female band that could be actively feminist and playful at the same time, with an eye toward gaining an appeal beyond that of the wider women's lib movement of the time. The line-up originally consisted of Carole Nelson on keys, Angele Veltmeijer on saxophone, Sheelagh Way on drums, Lesley Shone on bass, Isabel on congas and with Laka Koq providing vocals. After a short while this would become just Carole, Angele & Sheila - with Ruth Bitelli being brought in on bass, and Barbara Stretch topping things off on vocals. The band played at Gay Pride '79 in Hyde Park, a Women's Music Festival in Neimegen, Holland; lots of benefits, and maintained a weekly residency at The Earl of Aberdeen in Mile End (now sadly demolished).

Unfortunately the group lasted only 18 months or so all in all, and this is their first and last record - in fact, they intentionally laid it down to tape in order to provide a memory of the group before they called it a day, and we are so glad they did! Recorded in Pimlico's Archipelago Studios in the same year that Elvis Costello would record his album Get Happy there, the original 7" gained a review in the NME, whom dubbed it "a cross between Steely Dan and The Joy of Cooking".

Australian Soul Jazz holy grail from 1968! Limited to 300 copies w/wide. Debut release on Pacific Theatre Encore, the reissue label started by Melbourne's contemporary funk / soul lynchpin Australian Lance Ferguson (The Bamboos, Menagerie, Lanu, ex Cookin' On 3 Burners). Two high energy Mod burners, both originals taken from the forthcoming album 'Whatever It's Worth'.
Lead by Australia's own rival to Jimmy Smith and Jimmy Witherspoon, the '68 line up of Col Nolan & The Soul Syndicate would prove to be an Australian jazz super-group, consisting of John Sangster on drums / percussion (whose own late '60s Festival albums are highly collectable), John Allan on bass, Col Loughnan on sax and Jimmy Doyle on guitar (the latter two were also in mid Oz '70s jazz-rock giants, Ayers Rock).
"Pacific Theatre Encore will be reissuing music from across the globe, but it was important to me for the first release to shine a light on the important legacy of our own scene" says Ferguson, who meticulously restored the audio himself, which was then remastered.