[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] This 1965 album by free jazz master Albert Ayler and his quartet is one of the classics of their style and fetches up to 150,00 Euros for a very good copy among collectors. I have to admit that this record contains some of the most intriguing and wicked music I ever experienced. And I say that from the point of view of a John Coltrane aficionado. Well, Ayler and his mates Don Cherry on trumpet, Sonny Murray on drums and Gary Peacock on bass guitar are definitely on par with the before mentioned god of free jazz and others like Ornette Coleman. If you listen to this album from the pop music perspective you may find only screeching and overblown saxes and some non structured fiddling on drums and bass so that it's far different than the average mainstream. But if you have a fondness for soundscapes, improvisations and music that creates more of an atmosphere rather than fluffy melodies, this is just yours. We talk about a 1964 live session in a Copenhagen studio. From time to time Ayler and his band start with straight melody lines and soon let it all run free before partly returning to recognizable and memorable melodies. In this case I speak about the title track and at least Ayler returning to play some sweet and swinging sax harmonies while drums and bass still rumble and blast completely improvised lines in the back. The composition named „Vibrations“ is another of these outbursts of insanity. Ayler and Cherry duel each other who might be the most free and twisted player. Murray pounds the kettles and cymbals like a maniac and Peacock joins in on standing bass. It is an ongoing rumbling and definitely strange but if you let it take you away, you will be completely enchanted. Free jazz fanatics will surely love this to deaf. For fans of Coltrane and Coleman a must have.

[engl] finnish vocal jazz!

[engl] Arman Ratip began his piano lessons with his mother Jale Dervis at the age of five. He began composing at the age of seven and was a child prodigy. Later his musical career took off in London when he recorded two albums for EMI. After concerts in London, Vienna, Salzburg, Bucharest, Ankara International Music Festival,Istanbul, Marlborough International Music Festival, Bursa, Berlin, Islamabad, The North Cyprus International Music Festival, music critics hailed him as a brilliant virtuoso pianist- composer. He is among the top leading pianist-composers of Avant-Garde Improvisational Music and a jazz pianist of Avant-Garde Jazz and Turkish Jazz.

[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]  "Since John Coltrane and Rashied Ali created "Interstellar Space" with only sax and percussion, opening through this limited line-up new realms of expression, often raw, hard, yet incredibly direct and open, many have seen the opportunities it offered and followed their example. Playing in a trio format is for many already a tough task, but relinquishing the typical role of the bass as melodic and rhythmic anchor point, offers a total freedom of interaction, but it's like poetry without rhyme, there is no comfort zone to fall back into, no safe haven, no safety net, it's swim or drown. Without technical mastery, creativity and close listening skills, it's hard to create anything meaningful at all." -freejazzblog.org Steve and Ravi are indeed true masters of the hive minded sonic attack. Swirling madness and whispered genius. I've seen it live and I can attest, it is incredible. Like the other singles in series 3, there are 300 copies on black vinyl with hand stamped labels housed in a hand stamped j-card sleeve. A one-time pressing.

[engl] Collectively known under their production pop group moniker The Pawnshop, Italian Giallo/Spaghetti legends Alessandro Alessandroni, Giuliano Sorgini and Giulia De Mutiis (using their Giallo-psych alter egos of Braen, Raskovich and Kema) would reconvene behind the curtain in 1973 to craft this lost full-length LP as a mythical addition to their tiny group discography. Pin-pointing a bona fide crossroads between the composers’ individual library grails The Underground and Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue, this previously commercially unreleased slice of abstract Giallo stoner funk combines Alessandroni’s inimitable twang-happy growling fuzz and desperately inquisitive guitar/harp/ dulcimer manipulations (akin to his work on All The Colours Of The Dark, Marquis De Sade and Danger Diabolik) with Sorgini’s eery industrial scrapes, moaning echoes and face-slapping percussion grooves (found on his rare TV soundtracks like Zoo Folle or the undercover work he did for library labels like Leo, Leonardi, National and Lupus). The inclusion of Alessandroni’s wife Giulia De Mutiis on groaning wordless vocal duties not only completes The Pawnshop trinity but adds the essential Giallo sheen popularised by Morricone regular Edda Dell’Orso (evoking clear comparisons to that of Lizard In A Woman’s skin and Veruschka). For fans of Giulia’s work on Bruno Nicolai’s The Night Evelyn Came Out Of The Grave (dir. Jess Franco) and most notably Morricone’s Sospiri Da Una Radio Lontana (from Henri Verneuil’s The Night Caller) and Venus (on the Nereide label), the distinction glistens in the detail. These twelve tracks were circulated amongst TV and cinema production houses in the mid-70s for potential film synchronisation by library label Octopus under the title Judicial Inquiry (Inchiesta Giudiziaria) in what was perhaps an effort to capture the imagination of directors of the growing trend in Italian crime cinema. Track titles such as Abnormal Sensations and Psychic Getaway, however, indicate the trio’s natural penchant for the absurd and supernatural, rendering this particular beast quite specific and unique as its own dedicated non-release. For fans of extrovert Italian freak funk, avant garde pop and European horror sountracks this LP should sit comfortably in the company of your Bruno Nicolai and Gruppo Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza records and draw striking comparisons to international horror soundtracks by Don Gere, Pierre Raph and Andrzej Korzynski while exposing another secret hiding place for some of Italy’s finest A-List composers making rich experimental noise for B-Movie masterpieces.

[engl] First ever vinyl reissue of this Spiritual / Modal Jazz private album from 1980, originally released on the RPC custom label from the US. Including top modal tracks like “Do Dat” or “Circles”, the terrific jazz-funk of “Unicorn” and more. "For The Children" was written and produced by Anthony "Tony" Branker while he was a senior in the Princeton University Department of Music in 1980. It features Branker on trumpet, a young Stanley Jordan on guitar (this is his earliest recorded work), Glenn Cashman on alto, soprano and tenor sax, Gary Monhein on piano, Dan Krimm on bass and Jeff Penney on drums. Remastered sound, original artwork.

[engl] After Ananda Shankar there are very few other Indian jazzmen that can be named to have spanned the continental musical barriers of East and West. Those who have studied our 'Spiritual Jazz' series will no doubt have noticed one such on Vol 5 - Braz Gonsalves and his shining example 'Raga Rock'. Here's an 8 track 10" showcasing even more of his unique Indian take on Western soul & jazz; amongst which there's the heavy modal cut 'Impulse', the Indian jazz gem 'Soul Raag' and the jazzy vocal of 'Compared to What' as sung by Pam Crain. All recorded in the early 70s and released in small quanities on Indian-only 7"s, you can forget about attempting to find original copies. All you need is right here, with the blessing of Braz Gonsalves himself!

[engl] First ever vinyl reissue in original artwork of this fabulous kraut, jazz–funk / fusion / rare grove / library album from 1972, originally released on the budget Tempo label from Germany. Lots of fuzzy distorted organ & Fender Rhodes courtesy of Kristian Schultze (pre–Passport) plus the mighty Pawel Jazerbski on bass and Joe Nay (Tete Montoliu, Roland Klirk, Blue Note Club...) on drums.

[engl] Another small piece of the Lowland jazz puzzle put into place at a reasonable price The lesser-spotted jazz atoms that formed the fusion of Futurist Flanders! It might sound like an ambitious claim but having been a firm fixture at the top of many European jazz collector want lists over the past decade Finders Keepers wouldn’t be alone when proclaiming this extremely rare, lesser-known two-track 7? from 1969 as one of the best jazz 45s of all time! Alongside Polish pianist Krzysztof Komeda’s soundtrack 7? for the film Cul-De-Sac and ranking closely with François Tusques’ commemorative Le Corbusier exhibition 45 (featuring Don Cherry) this format-specific release known only as Brussels Art Quintet might well sit at the top of the podium while striking similarities and arguably combining the best stylistic traits of both aforementioned contenders. This is all speculative and clearly a matter of individual opinion but it’s not often that one should find a recording from this era, comprising such high production qualities, keen compositional values and robust craftsmanship spread across two equally spellbinding individual tracks, all of which awards this record justified hyperbole albeit subject to a 50 year delay. It is safe to say that this unique release is “rare” on many levels. Like all privately pressed art projects this 45 comprises some serious outsider art trappings. However, on closer inspection it also stands as a pivotal record in the micro-genre of Belgian jazz, pin-pointing an early axis for some vital progressive jazz players who went on to become sturdy pillars of the central European happening. Essentially as a five-piece, the short-lived Brussels Art Quintet neatly combines members of both the mythical Babs Robert Quartet (early exponents of Belgian spiritual jazz) and key players from the leading progressive jazz/rock/funk unit known as COS (formally Classroom) who would stand as close affiliates of the likes of Marc Moulin, Kiosk and Placebo through the 1970s. Reproduced in close collaboration with COS leader Daniel Schell, who, under the early guise of Daniel “Max” Schellekens, authored both tracks that make up this facsimile 45 single, this one-off single includes the only known output by the Brussels Art Quintet thus marking the essential in-road to instantly start and complete your entire BAQ collection not without reliving the early germination of the froward-thinking jazz fusion that came to shape Belgium’s truly unique movement.