[engl] The complete session finally back on CD! Recorded in Stockholm on October 25th, 1962, this session marks one of Ayler's earliest recordings, featuring a European backing group he assembled during his brief stay there, before returning to the States in 1963 and beginning his legendary run with ESP-Disk and Impulse! Though his genius was not yet fully formed, one can easily hear he's headed that direction, and this rare and long out of print recording is an essential piece of the history of one America's most uniquely lyrical voices on the saxophone.

[engl] It is interesting how the Jazz sounds of the 1950s and early 1960s influenced later psychedelic bands and if you dig yourself through to the most influentual records of that mind expanding extraordinary wing of jazz music you will hit Art Blakey and this album directly with your nose. The title says it all and what you get to listen to here will surely take you away from the cold and grey reality and drag you onto a trip to the center of your galaxy. It starts with a haunting passage that shows roots in African and latin folk music, then explodes into a cacophony of poly rhythmical patterns. There are voices allover the place but it is not singing in the actual way. This voice howls in the more gentle parts and spits commands over the wild rhythm burst outs. Art Blakey smokes and despite his completely unleashed playing he makes his drums sound melodic if that makes sense to you. Sometimes he gets accompanied by a piano or flute but their lines will hardly show up and seem like doomed greetings from forlorn dimensions while the sheer power of the drumming becomes the true reality and tears up your mind to let it float out. And this is only the first piece called ?Buhaina chant?. ?Ya ya? as second piece is a bit more melodic and has an irresistible groovy flow, still with this melodic drumming that builds the spine of this outstanding record. German 70s project NIAGARA has recorded similar drum based music 15 years ahead of this 1957 release. The few bass lines and piano sounds and the occasional flute are nothing but tinges of colour to make this an even more exciting affair. And it really sounds like a ritual as the album title implies, a ritual as quite often indicated by H.P. Lovecraft in his haunting novels and short stories about unspeakable cults. The album gets more song oriented with the beginning of the next piece ?Toffi?. Traditional African chants on a bass, piano and drum background flow into a passage where the piano takes off for a longer solo that is rooted in blues, boogie and ragtime jazz, the flute gets a solo passage as well on a base of latin tinged drum and bass patterns and a repetitive piano chords. But again the piece gets stripped down to it's bare rhythmical spine and then Art Blakey comes to freak out on his drumkit. You can still hear the piano and bass doing the same line over and over again but your attention lies with the furious antics of Mr. Blakey while the percussive backing hypnotizes you. Again we have this cultish and ritualistic appeal. An orgy in rhythm. ?Split skins? as song title will prepare you for what comes over you. Another nine minutes of drumming power. It comes as a sheer endless drum solo and still keeps your attention going from the first to the last beat. Blakey is to the drums what Coltrane is to the tenor saxophone and what John McLaughlin is to guitar, a visionary, a traveler and searcher who pushes himself and his boundaries forward. Aged 38 by the time he recorded this album he reached his first peak. As a member of groups with Thelonius Monk and Miles Davis he certainly was a common name among jazz aficionadoes and this album showed that he actually was much more than just the drummer of some bigger leaders. A top classic and still as relevant as it was in 1957 when it got released.

[engl] Go! Bop! proudly presents it's new 'Authentic Jamaican Ska Series'. Byron Aloysius St. Elmo Lee is one of the most legendary as well as controversial figures in Jamaican music history. Though, whatever side of the fence you may fall on, it's hard to argue with his resume. He was a pro by the age of 20, in 1956, he is credited with introducing the electric bass to Jamaican popular music, he formed the Dynamic Sounds studio and label, produced classic early Maytals ska singles, and represented Jamaica at the 1964 World's Fair. Released in 1962, Come Fly With Lee is Byron Lee & the Dragonaires first long player, a classic piece of Jamaican ska that's been unavailable on for ages since recent years.

[engl] This series of live albums comes from the KSAN radio station vaults and features material recorded and broadcasted at several occasions at either the Filmore Auditorium or the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco during the years 1966 to 1968. Some of the hottest rock bands of the era got captured there on tape. Now we move straight to ?Vol. 3? of this series and it begins with a set of three songs by none less than COUNTRY JOE & THE FISH fronted by legendary singer / songwriter and former G.I. Country Joe McDonald who created the probably most notorious Anti Vietnam War tune ever, ?I feel like I'm fixin to die? which is unfortunately not included here. Three songs build the first half of the A Side of which the first two can be located on the studio versions on the 1967 albums ?Electric music for the mind and body? and ?I-feel-like-I-m-fixin-to-die?. The ?H ? Bomb ? Song? is a cool acid-gospel tune with a pure jam around the actual song. Next come THE BYRDS with another three tunes from their ?Younger than yesterday?, ?The Notoriouos Byrd Brothers? and ?Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde?, some very stoned announcements and a little discussion if they might play another song which in the end happens to the excitement of the audience. MOBY GRAPE whose founding formation featured Alexander ?Skip? Spence, former drummer of JEFFERSON AIRPLANE rage through a set of kicking power rock, psychedelic blues and jam tunes. The last track features their friends BIG BROTHER & THE HOLDING COMPANY. This whole album perfectly aligns the spirit of the day when the world stood at the edge of the third world war which partly got fought in South East Asia already and thousands of young Americans died in the jungle while on the other side of the ocean a whole generation of youngsters stood up to free themselves and generations to move away from the strict traditions. So this album does not only guarantee musical joy in abundance but also takes you back to a time when the young minded were more determined to go new and better ways and everything seemed possible for everything was free to be tried. The music here is a proof how songs can work as a vehicle that carries your spirit everywhere. The sound once again is rough but clear, the performances of all three bands are way more loose as those on their studio tracks but this precisely is the final ingredient to make this album a memorable and well loved experience.

[engl] INCLUDES THE ORIGINAL 'HIP MANUAL'! PLUS BEATNIK-JAZZ BONUS TRACKS! Attention, this is one of the non-music cult obscurities that came out of nowhere during decades of music history. This 1961 released fictional dialogue between a moderator and somebody involved in the late 1950s hipster / beatnik movement in which both discuss the meaning of words and phrases from the youth and ?hipster? language of the 50's. It is different to the typical spoken word records where either political or philosophical pamphlets get recited. It is a dialogue, a comedic dialogue with some audience noises fadet in, some strange narrations and examples how to speak in a 1950s beatnik style. It is an interesting authentic document of its time and certainly a challenge even for those who speak English fairly well. A collectors item for fans and retro hipsters a time when a vivid counter society was pulsating beyond the idyllic world on the surface.

[engl] REPRESS! 2018 EDITION! This is a recording of a cult event, THE GRATEFUL DEAD live at the Filmore Auditorium on November 19th 1966. Recorded before their first album came out, this record features three primeval versions of tunes from their debut record and eight goodies, standards and originals, that were not featured on any official studio and live recording up to 1970?s ?Working man?s dead?. We are right there, on this magic night in November 1966 when psychedelic rock was still something fresh and exciting and the emerging hippie movement had not exploded yet. That came half a year later with the invasion of Haight-Ashbury. But these recordings are not only of historical importance, their musical value lies on an amazing level. The band smokes on stage throughout the performance. The sound is muggy for sure but each instrument comes through as it should and the simmering duels of guitar and organ make your head swirl. This album will certainly make the young generation of 60s music aficionados go crazy. A new beautiful cover artwork and some good work on the overall sound quality restoration make this album a joyful experience. And be sure, something like this 17 + minutes version of ?In the midnight hour? will have rarely hit your turntable. The overall atmosphere is just haunting. Even their official ?Live / Dead? album will never reach this intensity. The release reminds of the early DOORS or IRON BUTTERFLY live recordings released in the last few years. A band at it's prime with the world to gain and nothing to lose.

[engl] PLUS TWO BONUS TRACKS! This is an ancient Blue Note rarity recorded at Rudy Van Gelder's legendary studio in 1956 with legendary bass man Paul Chambers doing the deep notes. First press originals in adequate condition go for about 500 Euros. So what does this sextet featuring trumpeters Donald Byrd and Lee Morgan with tenor saxophone hero Hank Mobley as bandleader and piano madcap Horace Silver backing the rhythm section with his extraordinary chord progressions have to offer? The album is widely labeled as hard bop and it shows a great development from the mid to late 1940s bebop scene where John Coltrane, Charlie Parker and other now mystical protagonists brought the swinging dance music of the even older big bands to a new level of sophistication and still maintained an earthy and highly spirited atmosphere. Same goes for the hard bop and post bop scene of the later half of the 1950s from which finally modal jazz and free jazz emerged within the wink of an eye. All four lengthy compositions on this album are still one step behind the next level and show a playfully jamming band executing comprehensible harmony lines backed by tricky yet enthralling grooves that in the end move straight forward despite the rhythm section playing mostly around the pulse. The duels of both trumpets and the tenor sax heat up one?s soul as they are aligned with the racy rhythm patterns. The melodies themselves are quite cheerful and cool. When Paul Chambers takes the bow in one passage of the fourth tune Mobleymania and scratches some cool lines backed up with an everflowing drum pulse nobody may sit still. All six musicians here are fairly well connected with each other in terms of playing tightly to what the next improvises. Especially Mobley burns with every note he plays and if you bushwhack through to the core that carries the steaming dialogues between trumpets and saxophone you will find some maniacs building rhythmical patterns par excellence. This album certainly demands many spins before you will be aware of every beautiful detail. Indeed a classic of 1950s jazz aside from the greasy mainstream sound. Let's go wild with Hank Mobley, Donald Byrd and Lee Morgan.

[engl] Here we go with some awesome underground live material from one of the most important psychedelic rock pioneers in history of mankind. JEFFERSON AIRPLANE, ladies and gentlemen, in a very early incarnation when Skip Spence and Signe Anderson had just made way for the goddess of psyche Grace Slick on vocals and Spencer Dryden on drums to form what should become the classic line up leading this band to their huge success. Four of nine songs also appear from their cult album ?Surrealistic pillow? released in 1967, two more have appeared as part of ?Jefferson Airplane takes off? in 1966. There are later live versions of ?Fat angel? and ?Other side of life? on the 1969 live album ?Bless it's pointed little head? but these are the earlier, more rough edged and insane psyche out recordings of both beautiful pieces. Well, you get JEFFERSON AIRPLANE on this record, bare naked and honest to the bone. Just as they had been when they plugged in and played. The sound is amazing, raw and wild but clean and powerful enough to give every instrument and voice enough room to unfold. Technically not overwhelming but with a feeling of passion and dedication that only a true live recording can capture. And from every note that is played here you can feel the breath of the era where the cold war nearly turned into a very hot one and the world stood on the edge of a nuclear war while down in Vietnam ... well you all know the story. It was a time when the people freed themselves from the frowst of the past and lived a self destined life. This recording is an eye witness on historical developments. But however you behold it, it's awesome music by awesome people. This is indeed a little masterpiece and will please any fans of late 60s psychedelic sounds, die hard JEFFERSON AIRPLANE freaks and whoever cares for the best ever period in music. A must have!

[engl] This is the reissue of the second album by JOHNNY GUITAR WATSON originally released on Chess in 1963. Johnny was already a well praised musician in the field of jazz, rhythm & blues and a popular sidekick for early rock'n'roll heroes such as LITTLE RICHARD when he recorded this beautiful album. Despite the title of the album it mostly contains a swinging and accessible vocal jazz with an irresistible groove and instrumental passages. JOHNNY GUITAR WATSON does not even play guitar on this record but gets ballistic on the piano and lays down some striking vocals with his distinctive voice. The overall pace is relaxed and so is the music that has a bit of a retro feeling already being steadily rooted in the 40s and 50s swing and vocal jazz but JOHNNY GUITAR WATSON and his mates on drums and bass really pull it off with a fresh and exciting edge. A steaming song like “I'll remember April” might be an exception. But this is an instrumental with furious piano lines and a nearly Latin beat that recalls a bossa nova dance tune just played in a more hot blooded style. The overall performance is top notch and so is the clear and sappy sound. Even a creamy ballad like “Polka dots and moonbeams” has its relevance in the entire musical picture. These two songs may show the edges of his style for “The blues soul of...”. They present an inspired bandleader and musician anyway. No wonder he reinvented his own style a decade later when funk and soul started to dominate the black music scene. Still the music sounds and feels like the cover of the album shows it. Here you can see a very well dressed and styled young man playing chess alone in front of the fireplace. And the album really turns this picture into music. Well executed, well produced, perfectly styled but still spirited and passionate. Mr. Watson managed to live in both parallel worlds. The mansions and the backstreets echo his melodies. He was a visionary at each stage of his career. If you love the outstanding 1950s and 1960s vocal jazz, this will be the thing for you!

[engl] If you are curious how Japanese pop music sounded in the early 60s, here is one of the most popular examples. So this reissue will hopefully open new channels for fans of abundantly orchestrated 60s pop to listen to Kyu Sakamoto, who sadly perished in an aircraft accident in 1985, which is up to now the biggest event of its kind in flight history. Anyway, what do we get to hear from this man, very young but already experienced at the time? Mysterious, soulful songs with big orchestral arrangements, tunes that show elements of latin music such as bossa nova, typical elegant Doo Wop and pop ballads of the day with a heartwarming melodies, some exotic tunes that draw influence from what western people might consider Japanese music, real or fictional. The most popular tune that became a hit all over the world is certainly ?Sukiyaki?, which was a big success in a German language version by THE BLUE DIAMONDS, a Dutch band of Indonesian origin. He did not spare any style popular in the 50s up to the early 60s. You'll hear elements of chanson among many others. The whole album is relaxed and beautiful with a friendly expression. The orchestra, the big band, whoever accompanies Kyu Sakamoto dresses all the compositions sung with passion and a pliable voice into a garment of absolute elegance. This album definitely gets you to feel great and joyful and fluffy. The use of Japanese language for the lyrics might more appeal to native speakers and those with a fondness for exotic aspects coming with albums but it just makes this record even more outstanding. It's a colorful and memorable effort.

[engl] Even half a Mal is more greatness than many people out there could take. Mel Waldron was another 1950s master of hard bop jazz and finds himself in illustrious company on his 1957 debut album. John Coltrane and Sahib Shihab are masters of tenor and alto saxophone and jazz freaks break into a sweat of joy when they hear these names. Coltrane alone could be a reason to fall in love with this record. You can always hear his very original kind of playing the tenor. No wonder that first pressings of this gem of an album go for 250 USD and even more in fine conditions. It might be a lesser known participation of the great John Coltrane with another bandleader but as he glows permanently on this album the rest of the musicians do the same. The band goes full throttle when needed but there are also thought provoking slow tunes generating an atmosphere of melancholy when Waldron makes his piano sing a dark ballad while the drummer barely stands out and just backs up the whole composition with a low key beat linked to the equally reluctant bass line. Trumpet and tenor come in play after a while to moan wearily on top of that reduced rhythmical pattern. Dark and smoke filled bars in a nameless American metropolis are exactly, what associate with these haunting melodies. And out of a sudden the band gains pace and the whole atmosphere becomes more and more cheerful. The grooves are swinging and good for a dance or two. The leading instruments alto sax, tenor sax and trumpet chatter frolicsome like a bunch of youngsters on a night out in town. These changes of atmosphere are one of the strong points of this record. Another is the overall tight interplay of all instruments. These cats were hard-nosed veterans of the jazz genre taking the 1940s dance club sounds to another level. Bebop turns into hard bop and this album shows the dignity in such a crystal clear way.

[engl] Incl. 4 Bonus Tracks. Go! Bop! proudly presents it's new 'Authentic Jamaican Ska Series". The Maytals, or better known as "Toots And The Maytals" where one of the pioneers of Ska. This 1962/63 recorded album is an aural illustration of the euphoric ska spirit and the promising mood that occurred in Jamaica those days. Whose familiar with the bands' later releases will also hear some Rocksteady elements on this early recording, but which are still far away of Reggae hits like "54-46 Was My Number". A joyful recording to ska your sorrows away!

[engl] Go! Bop! proudly presents it's new 'Authentic Jamaican Ska Series'. Derrick Morgan's debut album "Forward March!" is another smasher from the early Jamaican 60's. Better known for his later much compiled hits like his classic "The Conqueror", Derrick Morgan startet with the sound of the day, which could not be any other than Ska.

[engl] While in 1963 Beat and Rock'n'Roll ruled the charts and airwaves at full throttle, there still was a scene for more gentle and lightweight music out there to get you into a joyful mood right when you put the vinyl onto your turntable. Swinging jazz and latin dance music of the popular kind combined as a force of light if you want to say so. And grand master Stan Getz, a very prolific and renowned saxophone player since the late 1940s joined in with Luiz Bonfá for a record. The latter one was a legend in Brazil as a jazz guitarist and composer. And both as a musical unit produced one of the greatest ever paths crossing record in the field of merely acoustic latin pop. A few well placed vocal lines flanked by Mr. Getz' utterly sensual saxophone playing and restrained yet very intense guitar lines on a groundwork of poly rhythmical grooves make you want to get up and dance. The majority of the tunes on this album is all instrumental and both leaders of the project shine here as the brightest stars of the scene. If you close your eyes you will find yourself in some open and sun flushed Brazilian venue where waiters with white jackets serve drinks and a well dressed ladies with a certain mysterious charisma try to catch your eye while you zip on your bourbon and let your mind float away to the slightly melancholic but still vital melodies. A gentle record for gentle hours and a legend on it's own. Still as fresh and exciting as it has been in 1963 and highly sought after by fans of jazzy latin sounds from those days. You wait for Astrud Gilberto to set in each second and sing about the girl of Epanema, no joke. Sound and performance are as expected. Clear and always beneficial to the song itself but adorned with the most passionate solos you could find on such a record. Sheer joy pressed on vinyl!

[engl] Plus 6 Bonus Tracks! Some acts have a cult reputation such as THE CENTURIANS or THE CENTURIONS as they were originally called. In 1967 they changed their name to THE CENTURIANS due to legal reasons. It only matters on a minor base for the main point of interest is, that this killer tunes were originally released in 1963. Originals fetch prices of 200 US$ in semi-nice condition and due to their appearance in the classic 90s Tarantino movie ?Pulp fiction? this band gained a cult following of younger people who kept their legacy alive and even brought them to reform for a second career which lasts until today. You can definitely hear that this is a Californian band. But they seem to come from the darker, windier and dirtier part of the beach where only overly tattooed bikers get their willing victims laid and the rough sea craves for the lives of daring surf maniacs. The music is surf rock'n'roll but different to most of the fluffy good time party bands. The bass guitar plays a mean line with all the tunes to give 'em a bent out of shape spine at which the beats of the drum, the desperately howling saxophone and the gloomy twangy guitarmony get tightened with rusty wire. The performance here is excellent, the musicians belong to the best of their genre. The atmosphere is just utterly mysterious, dark and dusty and the steaming hot melodies and the fuzzed out bass and saxophone lines let you grasp for air. Most popular tracks here are for certain their PULP FICTION hit ?Bullwinkle Pt. II? and ?Comanche? which is a famous tune from back in the day (also included on the PULP FICTION OST in a ravaging version by THE REVELS). The whole record has this desperate expression, the hunger for life and love young fellows from the darker side of town had back then and still have. A proper reissue of this long lost classic was long overdue.

[engl] Includes a "How to dance the Ska Manual". Go! Bop! proudly presents it's new 'Authentic Jamaican Ska Series'. "Jump Jamaica Way" feat. the hottest bands of the early 60's Ska scene on the jolly isle. Among them The Maytals, Tommy McCook and D. Drummond to create joyful rhythms.

[engl] First time since decades reissued on vinyl! 1957 was a year when jazz music faced another renewal from the already traditional bebop style towards more progressive territories with mystical melodies and more playful structures. Free jazz was already in sight but nobody could name it yet. The post bop movement and modal jazz came up and somewhere in between lies this record by cult saxophonist Yusef Lateef who had already released quite a few records by the time ?Jazz mood? came to birth. Some more adventurous and mystical melodies go hand in hand with relaxed and groovy classic bebop excursions from the schoolbook of modern jazz after 1950. But there is a certain dynamic coming with the music. Something that shows you the hunger for progression and the craving for new ground to explore. So you will find well familiar melodylines here played by a saxophone that is always close to break out of the standards. And the interplay of all instruments is just fantastic, right on the spot, tight and still free in certain moments. Yusef Lateef and his band paint pictures and tear your mind open to blow magic into your soul. There are passages here and there that go beyond the standard phrases and deprive you of your breath due to the passionate and lusty performance. All in all ?Jazz mood? is a melodic album and creates a dim and thought provoking atmosphere. Another killer true jazz album from the 1950s before the great freakout began, still easy to consume for mainstream listeners but also inspiring enough for the hipsters.

[engl] This record has first been released in 1956 as ?Byrd jazz? with Donald Byrd as declared band leader but there were several versions of it over the years. The last reissue has been about three decades ago and so it is more than time to go for another fresh print of this back row classic of the 1950s jazz scene. On these recordings we get some floating and grooving hard bop with an ever pulsating rhythm section, dueling tenor sax by Lateef and trumpet by Byrd plus solo slots for bass, drums and piano. The leading instruments generate a cheerful atmosphere and make this live album a blissful experience for every lover of the mid 50s hard bop sound. The passion of the musicians grabs the audience immediately and when the melodies pour out of your speakers you will be captured as well by this pure essence of jazz. Far from later modal and even free jazz monoliths these catchy tunes are quite easy to follow. The band is tight and this is a great advantage. Every note, every beat of the drums sits in the right place as if they have always been there and just had to be made audible by the band. It is indeed like the sculptor who already sees the glyph within the block of marble and just sets it free. The music plays itself through the instruments. Haunting and relaxed passages, cool melodies put into memorable structures. A classic among the hipsters and beatniks with their goatbeards, metal-rimmed glasses and berets drinking, tripping and philosophizing to the sound of this and many other albums that were made from jazz aficionados for their kind.