Altercat Vinyl, CD & Tape 23 Items

LP | 1973 | EU | Reissue (Altercat)

Release: 1970 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Limited edition of 300 copies for the 2022 Summer of Jazz campaign, focused on Brazilian jazz.

1970’s best-kept Bossa Nova secret. Surrounded by mystery for nearly 50 years due to its obscurity, this is one of the most honest, personal and unpretentious albums of its genre. A selection of 12 exquisitely crafted songs supported by measured, subtle arrangements.
The list of musicians born or raised in the Tijuca district of Rio de Janeiro is long and illustrious and includes names that have shaped Brazilian music: Tom Jobim, Roberto Carlos, Tim Maia, Milton Nascimento, Jorge Ben or Erasmo Carlos – to mention but a few. We can now add to that list another name: Werther. In 1970, a man by that name recorded an album unique in its personality, its honesty, and its lack of pretense. In a time when Bossa Nova had become a global phenomenon and its main characters were already household names in Brazil, Werther assembled a collection of songs that uncannily – almost naively – remind us of the time when Bossa Nova was just a group of youngsters making music. His songs are about simple things: Bohemian life, the sea, love.
Despite Werther and his friends being only in their teens, without any previous experience recording music, those working behind the scenes were not equally amateur. Producer Peter Keller had already worked with Aloysio De Oliveira in the quintessential Bossa Nova label Elenco, and was also an initial partner in Roberto Quartin’s cult label Forma. Studio owner Bill Horne was a very loved character in the Rio jazz scene who had regularly taken part in the legendary meetings in Nara Leão’s apartment and befriended some of Brazil’s most respected musicians. Some of these musicians were, for example, Naná Vasconcelos and Edison Machado, who provided small contributions to Werther’s album.
It was only in the 1990s that Werther’s album was rediscovered by a handful of collectors and Brazilian music enthusiasts, who recognized in it a purity that had already vanished from the mainstream Bossa Nova recordings. But due to the haziness around the original release and the relative anonymity of its instigators, many questions surrounding these recordings were left unanswered. Today, we are finally able to disclose the full story behind Werther’s short-lived contribution to Brazilian music.

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Jorge Lopez Ruiz

Coraje Buenos Aires

23,99 €*

De Las Colonias Del Rio De La Plata

Release: 1973 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Viejas Raices

LP | 1976 | EU | Reissue (Altercat)

LP | 2022 | EU | Reissue (Altercat)

Release: 1976 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Preorder shipping from 2024-05-10

Altercat proudly presents the definitive reissue of one of the crown jewels of South American jazz. Essentially the brainchild of Argentinian jazz's leading figure Jorge López Ruiz, the project Viejas Raíces marked Lopez Ruiz's departure from the traditional forms of jazz. The trio that recorded this album, consisting of López Ruiz joined by his life-long friend drummer Pocho Lapouble and gifted Chilean pianist Matías Pizarro, created a thrilling blend of jazz and Uruguayan candombe, surrounded by an undeniable cinematic feel spurred by López Ruiz's long experience in the soundtrack field. When read as one element, the cleverly chosen combination of group name and album title (in English: 'Old Roots of the Colonies of the River Plate') readily hints at the kind of sounds the listener will be challenged with when diving into this LP.

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Jorge Lopez Ruiz

Bronca Buenos Aires

LP | 1975 | EU | Reissue (Altercat)

Release: 2022 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Essential jazz from Argentina, originally released in 1971. Bronca Buenos Aires is one of the highlights in the career of Jorge López Ruiz, alongside El Grito and the much-acclaimed Viejas Raíces project. The album is jazz poem by López Ruiz to the city he loved, not just for its virtues but also its faults, and the recording was an ambitious project that gathered many of the prominent jazz musicians of Buenos Aires. However, due to the repressive political context of the time, Bronca Buenos Aires was not performed live upon its release. The text that accompanies the music, written and narrated by José Tcherkaski, was too daring despite not being directly outspoken against the dictatorship that ruled in Argentina, and broadcasters kept a distance under fear of retaliation by the military establishment. Inexplicably, several later re-releases of Bronca Buenos Aires omitted the spoken word overdubs, reducing the work to an instrumental album and stripping it of half of its beauty and significance. Altercat proudly brings you a new reissue of this essential recording IN Full, with its original spoken words in Spanish, respecting the original artwork and with an accompanying booklet with an English translation of the texts, including a foreword by José Tcherkaski. Sound sourced from the master tapes, and caringly mastered by Pablo López Ruiz.

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Matias Pizarro

Pelo De Rata

Ara Tokatlian & Enrique Villegas

Release: 1975 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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"Hey, there's this new guy around that plays like Herbie Hancock!!". When Chilean pianist Matías Pizarro arrived in Argentina fleeing Pinochet's dictatorship, word spread like wildfire in the local jazz scene.

In the two short years that Pizarro spent in Buenos Aires, he became one third of the Viejas Raíces project alongside local jazz heroes Jorge López Ruiz and Pocho Lapouble, recorded with famed Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava and released his own solo album, Pelo de Rata ("Rat's hair").

Pizarro was no beginner though. Whilst in Chile he had already participated in several music projects and worked as a producer and arranger for the IRT label, and was connected to influential bands such as Los Jaivas and Blops. He had also studied in the Berklee School of Music where he not only met and lived with the cream of an emerging new wave of musicians, but he also had the chance to attend live performances of giants such as Miles Davis or Thelonious Monk.

In the recording of Pelo de Rata Pizarro is joined by fellow Chilean Alejandro Rivera (Sacros, Grupo Sol) on quena and charango, Swedish bassist Bo Gathu on bass, Uruguayan saxophonist Finito Bingert and an impressive percussion team featuring Pocho Lapouble, "El Zurdo" Roizner and the mighty Domingo Cura. The album draws from the US jazz fusion currents of the time (think Chick Corea and Miles Davies), adding an undeniable Latin American character, all projected through Pizarro's own musical prism which displays his acute sense of harmony and a musical intimacy that reminds of those sincere, dreamy moments in Viejas Raíces.

The 8-page booklet that accompanies the vinyl edition will give you a deeper insight into the story of Matías Pizarro, with previously unseen pictures and liner notes by Argentinean journalist Humphrey Hinzillo (La Nación , Rolling Stone Argentina).

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Inspiracion

LP | 1978 | EU | Reissue (Altercat)

Nana Nelson Angelo Novelli Black Vinyl Edition

Release: 1978 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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This top-notch spiritual jazz album from Argentina will leave fans of Pharoah Sanders and John Coltrane astonished. Recorded in 1975 and still surprisingly off the radar, this is one of the deepest jazz albums from South America.

Inspiración is the meeting of two generations united by music: Ara Tokatlian and Guillermo Bordarampé, members of the influential 70s rock band Arco Iris (which Tokatlian cofounded with the now Oscar award-winning composer Gustavo Santaolalla), join forces with Enrique "Mono" Villegas, an admired jazz pianist who had been active since the 1930s.

Meditative, soothing and serene, Inspiración is music your soul yearns for.

Official reissue with sound off the master tapes, including a reproduction of the original 16-page booklet. With the blessing and support from Ara Tokatlian and Guillermo Bordarampe.

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Naná Vasconcelos

LP | 1975 | Reissue (Altercat)

Africadeus Red Vinyl Edtion

Release: 1975 / Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Naná Vasconcelos

LP | 1973 | EU | Reissue (Altercat)

26,99 €*

LP | 1981 | EU | Reissue (Altercat)

Release: 1973 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Spiritual, intimate and revolutionary, yet firmly rooted in Brazil’s folklore. Africadeus was the breakthrough album of the mighty Naná Vasconcelos, in which he discovered the berimbau to the world and took the instrument to a universal level. Having played in the shadows for other artists such as Milton Nascimento, Gato Barbieri or Som Imaginario, Naná is here finally in the spotlight.

Recorded in 1973 in France for Pierre Barouh’s Saravah label, this is the album that definitely imprinted Naná’s name in the international scene, on his track to becoming one of the best percussionists of all times.

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Maria De Fatima

Bahia Com H

7" | 1967 | EU | Reissue (Altercat)

Release: 1981 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Ethereal, sensual, subtle. Maria de Fátima is that new favourite singer you think you just discovered, but who had actually always been there. This Brazilian muse from Tijuca (Rio de Janeiro) has worked and recorded with artists such as Milton Nascimento, Gilberto Gil, Arthur Verocai, Airto Moreira & Flora Purim, Chico Buarque, Lincoln Olivetti or José Roberto Bertrami (Azymuth).

We're immensely proud to bring you a deluxe reissue of her only solo album Bahia com H, one of the finest pieces of Brazilian music released outside of Brazil. The album was recorded in 1981 in Uruguay, where Maria had settled with her then husband synthesizer wizard Hugo Fattoruso (opa), who also takes on production duties. Bahia com H combines Maria's own compositions with her unique takes on some Brazilian classics by Ary Barroso, Denis Brean and Gilberto Gil amongst others, compositions which gain a new significance with Maria's ethereal interpretation and the blended elements of Candombe, provided by the all-star line-up of Uruguayan musicians who joined in for the recording.

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The Paragons

Abba / Better Man Than I

12,99 €*

LP | 2019 | EU | Original (Altercat)

Release: 1967 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Rock & Indie

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"Let me hear you say YEAH!!!". We’re proud to bring you the first official reissue of this essential 60s garage classic, after several bootlegs hitting the market in recent times and its appearance in countless compilations in the last 20 years. Done in cooperation with surviving band members Pat Walters and Danny Huntley, the single receives the usual deluxe treatment at Altercat and comes housed in a brand new picture sleeve, with a 12-page booklet with the band’s story written by Mike Stax (Ugly Things magazine) and previously unseen pictures. Sound mastered by Tim Warren (Crypt Records / Back From The Grave). We aim to get these to you Asap so they are available for the Christmas period. Read on below

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Afrodyssey Orchestra

Under The Sun

19,99 €*

Un Hombre De Buenos Aires

Release: 2019 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Greece is maybe not the first country that comes to mind when you think of Afrojazz. Afrodyssey Orchestra unexpectedly hit the scene some time ago after the release of In the Land of Aou Tila, their debut album — while that first album was going to the hands of the few lucky ones who managed to discover the band back then, Afrodyssey Orchestra were already booking more studio time in order to start working on further recordings. Three years later, we’re proud to present you Under the Sun, with seven new compositions that reflect the logical evolution the band has experienced during this time, including some fine-tuning in their line-up. A melange of African polyrhythms, jazz, a scent of the Balkans and a fling with Afrobeat that holds hands with their beginnings — all this devised through the prism of the vast Greek musical universe.

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Jorge Lopez Ruiz

LP | 1978 | EU | Reissue (Altercat)

LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Altercat)

Release: 1978 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Here's one for your long, breezy summer afternoons by the sea. Jazz, funk, tango and bossa vibes kiss each other, all wrapped up in JLR's trademark cinematic feel. In his colourful Un Hombre de Buenos Aires, recorded in 1978, JLR puts the political outcry of his early 70s works aside and focuses on his love for the city of Buenos Aires.

As always, Jorge López Ruiz enroled for the recording of Un Hombre de Buenos Aires some of the best musicians in the country. The line-up includes Dino Saluzzi on bandoneon, Domingo Cura on percussion and his lifelong friend Pocho Lapouble on drums.

Jorge López Ruiz gets far less credit than he deserves. His crucial role in shaping Argentina's jazz history should place him right next to Gato Barbieri and Lalo Schifrin, giants who found success abroad. It's an honour do dig deeper into his vast discography after having already reissued his masterpiece Viejas Raíces and his historical milestone album Bronca Buenos Aires.

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Horacio "Chivo" Borraro

Blues Para Un Cosmonauta

LP | 1970 | EU | Reissue (Altercat)

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Fans of Coltrane will certainly dig this historical 1970s spiritual jazz album from Argentina which left an everlasting imprint in the local jazz scene. From the eerie “Blues para un cosmonauta” —which could easily fit in the Twin Peaks soundtrack—, to the majestic “Líneas Torcidas” or the mid-tempo groove of “Mi amigo Tarzán”, new landscapes in jazz are explored without hiding, at moments, the musicians’ bebop pedigree. Venturing into uncharted dimensions, the album breaks with traditionalism and combines jazz and new electronic instruments into a contemporary concept that is both cosmic and sensual, a sound where timbre and space play a crucial role. Here, no track sounds like the other. The charismatic, multifaceted saxophone player Horacio “Chivo” Borraro is joined here most notably by Fernando Gelbard —who pioneered electronic keyboards and analog synths in Argentina, playing here Fender Rhodes and Minimoog— and Brazilian musician Stenio Mendes —who plays the 12-string craviola and contributes two tracks. Jorge González on bass and Néstor Astarita on drums —both part of Gato Barbieri‘s rhythm section in the early 60s— and Chino Rossi —responsible for much of the unusual percussion and special effects that give the album its unprejudiced aura— complete the line-up of Blues para un Cosmonauta.

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Werther

16,99 €*

Africadeus Black Vinyl Edition

Release: 1970 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Used Vinyl

Medium: VG+, Cover: VG+

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Naná Vasconcelos

LP | 1973 | EU | Reissue (Altercat)

23,99 €*

LP | 2022 | EU | Original (Altercat)

Release: 1973 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Property

Water Temple

29,99 €*

CD | 2022 | EU | Original (Altercat)

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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Water Temple' is the debut album of the Berlin-based group Property. Comprised of Marijn Degenaar (nl) and Vivant de Non (aus), the group use the theme of hydromancy to straddle the poetics of reverb from a post-punk perspective. The album wanders through dense end-of-world sensations without keeping away from piercing melodic instrumentation. As hazy as 'Water Temple' can get, Property just as easily trade the murky side of their post-punk sound for analogue synthesisers that feel almost celestial. Used to striking effect on 'Water Temple', the chorus-heavy bassline is interwoven with a strident melody that punctures the rhythm and accents the Neue Deutsche Welle energy that the pair play on at certain moments. Similarly, the vocals on 'Water Temple' flirt with our cracked times from another angle, rendering a remarkable first transmission from this new duo. Foggy synthesisers fill the cavities of every track, though the driving leads ensure the ambience never overtakes the song-structures across the album. This tendency is best captured on the downer-anthem Blood Cube with its sharp drum machine rhythm, just as Clear Boys reprises this rowdy pop edge for a forceful album closer. The burning melancholy of 'Water Temple' is as shadowy as it is enlivening. Riyl: Tuxedomoon, Chrome, Death In June

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Matias Pizarro

Pelo De Rata

15,99 €*

LP | 1978 | EU | Reissue (Altercat)

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Luis Vecchio

Contactos

Baligh Hamdi & Magid Khan

Release: 1978 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Cosmic jazz from the Canary Islands. After a few years in London, where he worked with Archie Shepp and recorded a sought-after album for the famed library music label De Wolfe, Argentinian pianist Luis Vecchio settled in the island of Gran Canaria following advice from a superior entity from outer space. Vecchio subsequently opened the first jazz school in the Canary Islands, effectively planting the seeds of jazz in the archipelago. In Contactos, recorded in 1978 in the Mayra studio owned by Ramiro González, Vecchio gives a free jazz account (with a dash of funky jazz rock) of his contacts with Adionesis, who delivers his ominous message upon the human race on side B of the album. Fellow Argentinean Fernando Bermúdez on percussion and Japanese bass player Yoichi Yahiro complete the line-up of Contactos.

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Indo-Arabic Variations

LP | 2022 | EU | Original (Altercat)

LP | 1977 | EU | Reissue (Altercat)

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves, Rock & Indie

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Unique fusion of the Indian and Egyptian music cultures devised by Baligh Hamdi, the most prominent of all modern composers in the Arab-speaking world. Hamdi, who penned dozens of hit compositions for Umm Kulthum, Abdel Halim Hafez, Warda and Sabah amongst others, also shaped the future of Arabic music in a way that's difficult to overestimate. Directed by Hamdi, the renowned Indian sitar player Magid Khan joins the Egyptian musicians of Abdel Halim Hafez's orchestra in re-reading some of Hamdi's compositions from a new perspective – here sitar and tabla dance together with arghoul, ney and other Arabic instruments. An east-meets-east masterpiece in which Hamdi once again pushed the boundaries of Arabic music in his tireless quest for a broader, more global reach.

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Costa Blanca

Viaje A Prantia

LP | 1983 | EU | Reissue (Altercat)

Release: 1977 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Rock & Indie

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You know you're into something good when you open the album you just bought and find a lyrics sheet, then play it and quickly realise the record is actually instrumental. The unruliness that defined Costa Blanca's short-lived career resulted in such nonsensical contradictions, and helps understand why one of Spain's best jazz-rock bands of the 70s never had a proper breakthrough. Hailing from sun-bathed Alicante in the Spanish Levantine coast, Costa Blanca shared the stage with some of the country's best-known rock acts of the time, including Triana, Guadalquivir, Bloque or Coz, often receiving praise from fellow musicians and music critics alike. The band's sole LP takes the listener through a typical summer in the Mediterranean, from its blissful afternoons by the sea to galloping thunderstorms, and is reminiscent of some kind of Weather Report with a Mediterranean flair. Formed by four musicians of diverse musical backgrounds, the band members proved to be exceptionally skilled despite their limited experience, remarkably drummer Pedro Barceló who, aged just 17 at the time of recording, delivered an astonishing 9-minute solo and grew to become one of the most in-demand session musicians in Spain. Napi Carratalá's guitar makes sure his inclination for psychedelic rock doesn't go amiss and the imperturbable Chiki Navarret provides the funky bass lines that hold the band together, while the French saxophonist Alain Fabrizio blows the jazz influence, adding a bit of soulfulness into the blend.

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Zeca Do Trombone

Rota-Mar Feat. Azymuth

De Las Colonias Del Rio De La Plata

Release: 1983 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Mainly known to DJs for the funk groover "Te Queria", Rota-Mar is the first solo album by the charismatic Zéca do Trombone. During a vertiginous career which started in the late 60s, Zéca was a permanent member of Wilson Simonal's band, toured with Luiz Eça's Sagrada Família (alongside Joyce, Naná Vasconcelos, Nelson Angelo and others), recorded the seminal Brazilian funk "Coluna do Meio" for his joint effort with Roberto Sax, and played and recorded for some of the big names of Brazilian music such as Tim Maia or Martinho da Vila. Particularly for samba artists such as Alcione, Leci Brandão or Moreira da Silva, Zéca do Trombone was the trombonist of choice.

Rota-Mar displays the work of an established musician who has nothing to prove. Impregnated with Zéca's characteristic voice, the songs draw inspiration from the sea, love and bohemian life, and let us all dream of what life in Rio the Janeiro was during that time. "Te Queria", penned by Zéca's childhood friend Elízio de Búzios (known for his highly collectable funk/boogie single "Tamanqueiro") is the obvious highlight, although we believe the real beauty of the album lies in the relaxed sea-side groove and MPB in the rest of the songs, including Zéca's superb take on Martinho da Vila's "Manteiga de Garrafa".

As bonus tracks to this reissue, we include both sides from Zéca's rare 1977 single, featuring the allmighty trio Azymuth.

Comes with an 8-page booklet with bilingual (Portuguese / English) liner notes by Brazilian journalist Marcelo Pinheiro and previously unpublished pictures from the artist's archive.

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Viejas Raices

CD | 1976 | EU | Reissue (Altercat)

15,99 €*

LP | 1970 | EU | Reissue (Altercat)

Release: 1976 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Werther

20,99 €*