Organic Grooves 24 Items

In the mid-'60s, Albert Ayler found himself at the center of major transformations within jazz. On his albums for ESP-Disk', his delivery was radically aggressive and his tone blistering – aiming for something beyond the New Thing. His music would be further energized when (at the behest of John Coltrane) Bob Thiele signed him to Impulse! As Ayler told The Plain Dealer at the time, "It's not about notes anymore. It's a sound – a feeling. The approach we're taking will discontinue the use of the word 'jazz.'" In Greenwich Village, Ayler's first LP on Impulse!, perfectly captures the Cleveland-born saxophonist's radiant intensity. Sourced from a pair of live engagements – February '67 at the Village Theatre on New York's Lower East Side and December '66 at the Village Vanguard – these recordings show an improved clarity in production and performance. Both sets feature two basses (including Alan Silva and Henry Grimes) which allowed the ensemble to go in different harmonic directions while maintaining an organic unity. Of particular interest are "For John Coltrane," a tribute to Ayler's mentor who would pass later that year, and "Truth Is Marching In" where trumpeter Donald Ayler joins his brother to celebrate and ultimately deconstruct several jazz traditions to stunning effect. Vibrant in sound and vision, Albert Ayler's In Greenwich Village is a landmark statement in free jazz and a career high-point for this truly original artist. Superior Viaduct is honored to present this classic album on vinyl for the first time domestically in 30 years.

Wewantsounds is delighted to announce the first international reissue of Ayako Shinozaki"s hard to find LP "Music Now For Harp" released in 1974 by Nippon Columbia. The LP was released on the label"s cult "Master Sonic" series and features Shinozaki"s harp soundscape on works by renowned composer Toru Takemitsu and Katsuhiro Tsubono. The highlight of the album is the spaced-out, ethereal 25-min ambient epic "Heterodyne" featuring cult musician Takehisa Kosugi (Taj Mahal Travellers, Group Ongaku) on electric violin and sound waves. The album has been newly remastered by Nippon Columbia and is reissued here with its original artwork designed by legendary Japanese graphic designer Kohei Sugiura. It includes a 2 page insert with new liner notes by Alan Cummings.

Bobby Harden & The Soulful Saints are proud to announce their new 45 "One Night of the Week" in conjunction with their debut album "Bridge of Love." The A-Side is a slice of svelte seventies pop and is backed with the exuberant "Raise Your Mind" on the B-Side. Both sides are presented in sparklingly-clear stereo sound, with Harden's voice tailored to perfection by the almost impossibly dexterous Soulful Saints, and further dressed to the nines by an accoutrement of Latin percussion, full-on horns, high-flying backing singers and even a string quartet.. This comes as no surprise as The Soulful Saints have performed live and recorded together with acts such as Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Charles Bradley & His Extraordinaires, Lee Fields & The Expressions, The Budos Band, Mark Ronson, Antibalas, The Impressions, & The Wu-Tang Clan.Both sides are produced by Dala Records founder Billy Aukstik and recorded to analog tape at Hive Mind Recording in Brooklyn, New York. Kurtis Powers of BQE Records Co-Executive Produced the album along with Aukstik.

Byard Lancaster was a composer/multi-instrumentalist born in Philadelphia in 1942. He started playing alto saxophone at an early age and later took up flute and bass clarinet. While attending Berklee College of Music, Lancaster and pianist Dave Burrell organized late-night jam sessions with fellow students and touring musicians. In 1965, he moved to New York and quickly became part of the city's burgeoning scene – playing with jazz luminaries such as Archie Shepp, Sunny Murray, Bill Dixon and Marzette Watts. It's Not Up To Us, Lancaster's 1968 debut as a leader, was originally released on Vortex, a subsidiary of Atlantic responsible for first albums by Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett and Sonny Sharrock. Featuring guitarist Sharrock (another Berklee alum), It's Not Up To Us is true fire music – fusing elements of free jazz, soul/R&B and traditional folk song. On the opening title track, Lancaster's luminous flute draws the listener in, while bassist Jerome Hunter grounds the tune with a simple descending theme over Keno Speller and Eric Gravatt's syncopated rhythms. "John's Children," a reference to the group's status as post-Coltrane players, showcases the modal strumming of Sharrock's steady drones as Lancaster cries into the void. After repeated listens, Lancaster's original compositions become visceral aural memories ingrained in the ear, while the standards ("Misty" and "Over The Rainbow") sound the most avant-garde pieces on the album. This first-time vinyl reissue is recommended for fans of Albert Ayler, Don Cherry and Pharoah Sanders.

With Candi Staton hitting the UK to play the Love Supreme festival over the weekend of 30th June/2nd July, Ace records is delighted to reissue her debut LP, which has been out-of-print on vinyl for decades. "I'm Just A Prisoner" was released in 1970 and remains a definitive slice of Southern soul. Recorded at Rick Hall's legendary FAME studio in Muscle Shoals, "I'm Just A Prisoner" pulled together five tracks - 'I'd Rather Be An Old Man's Sweetheart (Than A Young Man's Fool)', 'I'm Just A Prisoner (Of Your Good Lovin')', 'Evidence', 'You Don't Love Me No More' and 'Sweet Feeling' - that had appeared as A and B-sides on early singles issued in 1969 and 1970. These were augmented by another five tracks recorded specifically for the album; 'Someone You Use', 'Get It When I Want It', 'Do Your Duty', 'That's How Strong My Love Is' and 'Another Man's Woman, Another Woman's Man'. Like Southern fried chicken, this music is essential food for your ears. This new edition includes an inner sleeve featuring a new interview with Candi conducted by Ace Records' Ian Shirley about this magical stage of her career as well as photos from the period.

Habibi Funk is excited to share “Marzipan” - our first full length contemporary release courtesy of Beirut’s multi-instrumental phenom Charif Megarbane, also known as the man behind prolific Cosmic Analog Ensemble. The LP is a journey into Charif’s styling, one he terms “Lebrary”: a vision of Lebanon + Mediterranean expressed through the kaleidoscopic sonics of library music. Drawing from artists that encapsulates the HF sound, such as Ziad Rahbani, Ahmed Malek and Issam Hajali, Charif translates these influences into an LP that is equally at home in ’23. We always wondered why Charif’s music stayed under the radar for so long, that all changes with “Marzipan”, out July 14.

Los Angeles-based Fabiano Do Nascimento is a multi-string guitarist and songwriter who melds the traditional idioms of his native Brazil (i.e., samba, choro) with the more contemporary and experimental strains of jazz, pop, and electronic music. Das Nuvens (“The Clouds”), out July 2023 on Leaving Records, is a crisp, frequently blissful, and deceptively groove-oriented showcase from a consummate musician — a rich and varied collection of songs, all of which seem to prioritize, and thrive in, the soft and intentional spaces between notes.

Das Nuvens constitutes the free-form, exploratory work of a musician who, having mastered a distinct musical language, seeks to apply his skill towards broader, more experimental modes of expression. Fittingly, track one — built around a contemplative, pointillistic refrain— is titled “Babel,” a reference to the legend of man’s attempt to build a tower to heaven, and how God thwarted this alleged act of hubris by shattering man’s shared language, sowing chaos and confusion. Though a stern parable on its face, it is a myth that enshrines our world’s dizzying array of languages (of modes of being), and the subsequent beauty of cultural exchange through art. In this regard, it is a fitting opening statement for an album that collapses and collages not only contemporary and classical Brazilian and pop idioms, but also the diverse range of indigenous music that Nascimento has encountered and studied in his travels as a touring musician.

Known by genre aficionados as one of the greatest singers and most riveting stage presences in soul music, Jackie Shane has remained largely unknown outside Toronto, where her career briefly flowered in the 1960s. Beyond her unmistakable gift of the gab, Shane is a pioneer of transgender rights, born in a male body but unabashedly living her entire life as a woman at a time when to do so seemed unthinkable. Any Other Way is the first artist-approved collection of Ms. Shane's work, collecting all six of her 45s and every highlight from the legendary 1967 live sessions at the Sapphire Tavern, including three mind blowing, previously-unreleased tracks. Rob Bowman's 20,000 word essay is Jackie's first communication with the public in nearly half a century, telling for the first time ever Jackie Shane's story in her own words.

Recently created Guatemalan label Identidata is extremely proud to present Sacratávica, the very first collected survey of Joaquín Orellana’s compositions. With a career spanning over 50 years of activity across contemporary art, performance, theater and sound art, Orellana is a highly singular figure in Guatamalan culture. Often considered to be the sole avant-garde composer in the country, his work has a deeply interdisciplinary quality. Most of his music was created using an orchestra of his self-built instruments, also known as Útiles Sonoros. Sitting at the border of sculpture, sound installation and musical instrument, these Útiles Sonoros, which he’s been building and developing since the late ‘60s, are at the center of his artistic activity. Aside the obvious formal aspect, his compositions also have a strong political message, while being deeply rooted in Guatemalan history, folklore and various identities, both indigenous and modern. Playful opener “Híbrido a presión” was one of the first of his compositions to be performed entirely using the Útiles Sonoros. However, due to its technical complexity the piece was seldom reproduced, except for a later staging that Orellana directed in Louisville, Kentucky. “Ramajes”(1984), initially titled “Evocación profunda y ramajes de una marimba” , tracks the many incarnations of the marimba across history, before reaching its final form as one of Orellana’s instruments by combining vibrational percussion with melody and poetry fragments. The title track, ‘’Sacratávica’’, represents one of the most ambitious and emotionally charged pieces from the album. An expansive 22 minute composition mixing textures that mimick field recordings and multi-layered vocal melodies culminating in choral catharsis, ‘’Sacratávica’’ deals in baroque maximalism without ever feeling cluttered. For the casual listener, the track immediately stands out, not only because of the moving vocal layered harmonies, but also through its epic scale and strong sonic narrative. Dubbed “Las voces del Rio Negro”, the piece references the massacres that took place in Coban during a period where the army massacred numerous towns, throwing the bodies in the nearby Rio Negro (the Black River). Final track, “Fantoidea”, a glistening, metallic ambient improvisation, was a reimagining of Disney’s Fantasia using Paul Dukas’s “The Sorcerer's Apprentice” as inspiration.

Despite his work being presented in numerous exhibitions and concerts in various prestigious museums and theaters across the world, very few quality recordings exist to date. The only previously available recordings so far or either of very poor quality or did not receive enough attention. This is why, although The compositions presented not being previously unheard, having them all together in a high quality audio object represents a key moment In Guatemalan and Latin American culture. Recorded on August 31st 2016 during a historical concert attended by over 1000 people at the Centro Cultural Miguel Angel Asturias, designed by Efrain Recinos, one of Guatemala’s leading contemporary artist from the last century, the four pieces were performed by a selection of over 90 musicians (including 60 vocalists) who were already familiar with Orellana’s instruments, cherry-picked from the Guatemalan Conservatory. For the people behind Identidata, it has been a long and arduous process to put together these pieces. Trying to offer a panoramic view of Orellana’s work, the curators have selected pieces ranging from different decades and artistic periods. Sacratávica is a portrait of a singular artist whose work speaks not only to his culture, but carries strong aesthetic sensibilities that resonate universally.

In the wake of their hit, 'Funky Worm', the Ohio Players quit Westbound Records and keyboard and vocal wizard Junie quit the Ohio Players. He immediately set out on a solo career that was less commercial than his erstwhile colleagues, but musically intriguing. He recorded three solo albums for Westbound, with "Freeze" being the immediate follow up to his debut "When We Do". Recorded at the world-famous Ardent Studio in Memphis, it saw Junie play every instrument, from a traditional rhythm section to a barrage of the latest synthesizer technology. The result was an avant-funk masterpiece that ranged from the sublime 'Not As Good As You Should' to the wild 'Granny's Funky Rolls Royce' which reprised the worm character and was later sampled by DJ Shadow. Junie would later join Funkadelic, originating their biggest international hit, 'One Nation Under A Groove', and touring the world. He died in 2017, a year after Solange and Andre 3000 from Outkast lauded him on the track 'Junie' from Solange's Grammy winning album "A Seat At The Table". The album is reissued in a facsimile of it's original cover, and is reissued for the first time ever

Never before reissued debut album by hit-making member of the Ohio Players Junie Morrison - the first of his much-sampled Westbound recordings. Junie is best known today as Funkadelic's late 70s keyboard player who wrote their worldwide hit 'One Nation Under A Groove'. "When We Do" was released on his departure from the Ohio Players, who decided to leave Westbound after the success of 'Funky Worm'. "When We Do" features Junie's unique mix of funk and soul, including the classic 'Tight Rope' and the title track as sampled by Lyrics Born. Junie, who died in 2017, was celebrated by Solange Knowles and Andre 3000 of Outkast on the track 'Junie' on her "A Seat At The Table" album from 2016. "When We Do" is reissued on vinyl for the first time since it's 1975 original release.

Lonnie Liston Smith was one of the most important musicians to emerge in jazz in the 1970s. His 1975 album 'Expansions' is one of the foundation stones of modern dance music and his recordings have been sampled by many of the biggest artists in the world. His music was a cosmically inspired spiritual interpretation of the music he had been making during his time with Pharoah Sanders, Gato Barbieri and Miles Davis. Released in 1976,"Reflections On A Golden Dream", the follow-up to "Expansions", was his fifth album for Flying Dutchman and featured the core band of the Cosmic Echoes, including his brother Donald Smith, David Hubbard and Wilby Fletcher. As for the music, this album is a classic, with the funky 'Get Down Everybody (It's Time For World Peace)', the reflective 'Quiet Dawn' and 'Meditations' and the sumptuous 'Beautiful Woman'. "Reflections Of A Golden Dream" was also the first of Lonnie's albums to feature his own vocals. It's a lost classic everyone should own.

Five years after the release of their last album "Luyando", Zimbabwe"s most celebrated music export returns with their long-awaited album "Tusona: Tracings in the Sand". The six musicians from Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe have come up with their most danceable album to date: The DIY production is recorded in Zimbabwe and sees them refining their unique sound: Infectious Afro grooves deeply connected to Zimbabwe"s cultural DNA.

Repress! Essential garage Zamrock/soul/funk: the first official reissue of the celebrated band’s one and only album.

The musical style that became known as Zamrock came to embody the economic despair that
followed the 1973-1974 oil crisis, which flung Zambia into recession and exacerbated a wide
range of social tensions. Much of Zamrock also captured the controversy of wider politics in
Africa and the world. Perhaps the finest example of this is Black Power by The Peace.

The Boyfriends, from Kitwe’s Chamboli Mine Township, supplied the founding members for Zamrock’s most
famous band, WITCH, and kick started one of Zamrock’s best bands, Peace. Their sole Zamrock entry, Black
Power, recorded at Malachite Film Studio circa 1973/4 and issued circa 1975, sounds like nothing else in the
Zamrock canon: a lost message drifiting from the flower power era, imbued with a fiery Zambian voice.

Get ready for schntzl 2.0

On their 3rd album Casper Van De Velde and Hendrik Lasure, the two SpongeBobs of Belgian jazz, enter Cortizona and take you on board of their newly discovered musical spectrum: Rollercoastin' between extreme emotions Casper and Hendrik slide through 90's Euro-optimism on synths, frantic drum rolls, lost piano sounds and sample wizardry: blending Spanish guitars, voices of singing ladies, slow mo clarinets and the patterns of a percussion robot.

'Holiday' is the result of a residency in Ravenna, Italy in October in 2021 where musique concrète, replica sounds and frenetic hyperpop textures sneaked into the musical world of schntzl. Sculpting a world of friction, hypodermic joyful changes, sad euphoria and good old plain fun.

Riyl: Matmos in a jazz mood, free vibin PC Music, Enya on XTC, improvising Valentina Magaletti, moody Sophie, BadBadNotGood going GoodGoodNotBad and other excellent music.

"Warren 'Sonny' Sharrock died of a heart attack at the age of 53 in 1994. At the time of his death, many writers noted that he had recently landed a contract with a major label (rca) and was perhaps 'destined for big things.' In my opinion, these writers missed the point. Although Mr. Sharrock may not have been successful financially (as though that might be a primary motivating goal for any true artist), he was uncommonly successful aesthetically. Certainly, there are a few dubious moments to be found inside his oeuvre, but Mr. Sharrock produced several of the most mind-shredding avant-garde albums ever recorded. Premier among them is Black Woman.

"Originally released on the Vortex label in 1969, Black Woman may be the universe's first true statement of guitar skronk majesty. It also represents Mr. Sharrock's first date as a leader and stands as the sole documentation of a band that well-understood the essentials of energy. Besides Sharrock's explosive guitar, the band features the omni-directional percussion mastery of Milford Graves (then in the midst of recording Love Cry with Albert Ayler), the gorgeous post-tongue vocalizing of Sonny's then-wife Linda Sharrock, the sinuous bass presence of Norris Jones (later known as Sirone) and some the most explicitly abstract piano work ever recorded by Dave Burrell. That Black Woman was produced by flautist Herbie Mann, a guy not well-known for his affinity to fire music, makes it even more intriguing." – Byron Coley

The Clark Sisters' fourth album for Westbound's Sound Of Gospel label is the one that pushed them firmly towards the crossover market. Whilst there was traditional soul-based gospel fare on tracks like 'My Cup Runneth Over' they hustled onto the dance floor on disco-influenced gems like 'My Life Is Complete With Jesus' and 'Everything Is Gonna Be Alright'. The Clark Sisters were one of the great gospel groups and also part of a great gospel dynasty. Their mother was the great Mattie Moss Clark, and their uncle was Bill Moss. Written, produced and arranged by core member Elbernita "Twinkie" Clark, the album features instrumental contributions from famous Detroit soul names such as Melvin Davis and the Counts' Leroy Emmanuel. Although the Clark Sisters are one of the biggest-selling gospel groups of all time, this is the first time "He Gave Me Nothing To Lose" has been reissued since it was originally released in 1979. It's time to go back to church via the dancefloor.

A sound that defies time and spans generations The Flirts – Passion was yet another Bobby Orlando production spun in clubs around the world.

Orlando conceived the idea for the Flirts in the early 80’s, wrote the songs, played the instruments, and produced the tracks. He then auditioned girls to be the faces of the group. Orlando released six studio albums under The Flirts name from 1982–1992 and numerous singles.

What many describe as trouser opening 80’s dance this sound has a drive and power within its relative simplicity. This release has three newly remixed and mastered versions by Ben Liebrand., who needs no further introduction. The ‘Sweet-N-Simple’ & ‘Midnight’ Mixes are todays interpretation of how The Flirts will conquer the clubs again, whilst the Ben Liebrand Old School Mix is the pick of the bunch with its super phat synth work, rock-steady, and bringing that original Bobby Orlando feel back!

The VinylChill Collection is back with a new volume dedicated to Nu SoulAn elegant colllection with an original vinyl to relax in a cosy and warm musical atmosphere.Featuring Jazzanova, Quantic Soul Orchestra, Kimberose, Terry Callier...