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Rischkas Soul

SKU: LHC00149
Label:
Long Hair Music
Category:
Kosmigroov
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Legit reissue of this classic 1969 release by The Wolfgang Dauner Group.  Originally released as a private pressing it was repackaged and released on the Brain label a few years label.

Dauner is working with Fred Braceful and Roland Wittich on drums, Eberhard Weber on bass and cello and Siggy Schwab on guitar.  Dauner concentrates on organ and piano but also contributes flute as well.  The whole album has a bit of a psychedelic/soul jazz/Swingin' London feel.  Ripping organ breaks and wah wah laced guitar solos over a funky rhythm bed.  Siggy is killin' it on this one.  One of the great ones!!

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  • While their later Lutello album veered heavily into the fusion direction with the addition of guitar, this earlier effort from 1977 was squarely in the electric jazz/jazz rock direction.  Keyboardist Henryk Darlowski led the charge here playing off of the sax work of Wilson de Oliveira. Tasty and highly recommended kosmigroovy stuff."Darlowski had to deal with the departure of Bobby Stern and Lothar Scharf after Virgo's opening album, yet he immediately replaced them with an experienced Wilson de Oliveira on saxes and drummer Clemens Schuster, possibly the same person who provided the cello parts for Flute & Voice in early-70's.Virgo left Vertigo to meet the recording support of Bacillus Records and recorded their next album ''Four Seasons'' in December 1976 at the Tonstudio Bauer in Ludwigsburg, while the album was released at the dawn of 1977.Now, Virgo's sound was heavily relying on Darlowski's piano and the sax domination, this time of Wilson de Oliveira, playing an ethereal, almost melodic Jazz Rock, closer to Jazz than Rock, with easy-listening tunes but also plenty of impressive solos.Nothing to get excited about, still the music is nicely balanced and well-executed with shifts between fast paces and long, dreamy solos and more smooth offerings with a hypnotic, jazzy atmospherre, where solos are not absent either, yet delivered in a much more mellow manner.These got to be also the weakest parts of the album, because the most furious cuts are absolutely sufficient with both dramatic and joyful tunes and some incredible performances with the rhythm section kickin' asses.The long ''Sarah'' is the perfect example of Virgo's refined and efficiently executed Jazz Rock with some trully nice changes between the solists and monumental bass work by Reinhard Gloeder.Pretty good Jazz Rock with a welcome diversity in atmospheres and some stunning individual executions.Recommended overall." - Rate Your Music
    $15.00
  • 5CD budget priced set collects 5 of Joe Farrell's best work for CTI and is a nice complement to the Moon Germs release.  During his time with CTI Farrell explored electric jazz and early jazz rock sounds.  At the very least this is necessary for Upon This Rock and Penny Arcade which finds Joe Beck tearing it up on guitar. Overall though this is a fine collection.The set contains:Joe Farrell QuaretOutbackPenny ArcadeUpon This RockCanned Funk
    $24.00
  • "Featuring drummer extraordinaire Keith Carlock (Steely Dan, Toto, John Legend, Sting) and multi-instrumentalist Jacob Holm-Lupo (White Willow, The Opium Cartel, Donner) as well as up-and-coming guitarist Stian Larsen and keyboardists Brynjar Dambo (White Willow) and Bill Bressler, Solstein is a project that melds the groovier side of fusion with elements of prog and funk. The project was born after Holm-Lupo and Carlock collaborated with legendary guitarist Georg Wadenius on a track for Holm-Lupo’s Donner project. The collaboration worked so well that the pair decided to work together again on a whole album. Solstein is not your typical 2020s fusion affair. A lot of inspiration has been taken from the funkier, more melodic end of the spectrum, with the band name-dropping The Crusaders, Idris Muhammed, early Bob James and 70s Herbie Hancock. Given some of the member’s prog backgrounds, there are also echoes of the jazzier side of prog, like Camel, Happy the Man and some of the Canterbury scene bands. Holm-Lupo and Carlock’s shared love of Steely Dan also shines through in a number of tracks. More than anything, though, Solstein is a playground for the musicians, where everyone was given free reins to do whatever they felt the music needed. If it put a smile on everyone’s face, it was deemed right. The result is an album that is accessible yet adventurous, colourful, groovy and engaging."
    $15.00
  • New reissue of one of the rarest and best titles from the Three Blind Mice catalog.  Its almost a tale of two albums as the original sides 1 and 2 are a bit different.  In case you were wondering, one of the "+2" is the great Kazumi Watanabe on guitar.  The first side is plugged in and it offers up funky jazz rock with Masaru Imada on Fender Rhodes and Kazumi on guitar.  This side is worth the price of admission.  When he's given the nod, Kazumi lets 'er rip!  The second side is more acoustic but still superb modal jazz.  Really one of the greats!
    $22.00
  • After racking up a string of classy acoustic jazz recordings on Blue Note (beginning with 1962's Takin' Off and continuing with such classics as 64's Empyrean Isle, 65's Maiden Voyage and 68's Speak Like a Child), pianist-composer-bandleader Herbie Hancock joined the Warner Bros. label and began flirting with electronics; first on 1969's jazz-funk opus Fat Albert Rotunda and in a more fullyrealized sense on his experimental sextet outings, 1970's Mwandishi and 1971's Crossings. By 1972, Hancock felt the sextet (aka the Mwandishi band) had reached a peak and he was ready to go in a different direction that connected with a larger audience.• Hancock's touring crew (reed man Benny Maupin, percussionist Bill Summers, electric bassist Paul Jackson and drummer Mike Clark) took the stage at Carnegie Hall on this July 2nd concert with all the buzz afforded a group riding high on the strength of a popular album (initially released in October, 1973) that still garnered tons of radio during the summer of '74. The crowd erupts with excited shouts to the opening strains of Summers' instantly recognizable intro to ‘Watermelon Man’ (in which he simulates the simultaneous singing/whistle playing of the Mbuti Pygmies of Northeastern Zaire). A radical reworking of a Hancock tune which originally appeared on his 1962 album Takin' Off and later that year became a hit single for Mongo Santamaria, this funky version of is fuelled by the telepathic push-and-pull of the stellar San Francisco-based rhythm tandem of Jackson and Clark.• Next up is a smoking jam on the driving ‘Sly,’ a tune dedicated to Sly & the Family Stone, whose music (and in particular the hit single, ‘Dance to the Music’) had inspired Hancock to investigate this funk-fusion crossover music. Maupin stretches heroically on soprano sax while Jackson and Clark fuel the groove with Summers' churning conga work and Hancock layers on his soulful accompaniment on electric piano.• During a spoken interlude, Hancock acknowledges his Chicago mentor Donald Byrd, who opened for Hancock with his band the Blackbyrds. Then while introducing the band, Hancock gives each member a little solo spot to shine before they collectively head into the ultra-funky, Hohner clavinet-driven ‘Spank-a-Lee,’ a tenor sax feature for Maupin which the group would record the following month for Hancock's 1974 album Thrust, his follow-up to the mega-successful Chameleon.• Hancock indulges the audience in a rap about his fear of bees as a prelude to ‘Hornets,’ a frantic romp that appeared on 2003's Sextant and features some wild blowing on soprano sax by Maupin and a solo shakere-chanting excursion by Summers against Hancock's otherworldly synth colouring. Summers' extended percussion jam segues smoothly into the familiar 12-note bass synth theme that triggers ‘Chameleon,’ Hancock's catchiest number and biggest hit. Along with some scorching tenor work by Maupin, Hancock erupts with some otherworldly synth soloing on this exhilarating set-closer.• Like his employer/mentor Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock is a musical chameleon who has continued to reinvent himself over five decades of music-making, zigzagging from acoustic jazz to avant-garde, funk-fusion, dance music, world music, hip-hop jazz and even pop.1 Watermelon Man 5:112 Sly, Part 1 5:473 Sly, Part 2 9:034 Spank-A-Lee 10:365 Herbie’s Bee Rap / Hornet 14:356 Summer Percussion Jams 1:467 Chameleon 16:07
    $15.00
  • Yuji Imamura is an excellent percussionist who popped up on a number of sessions for Three Blind Mice.  He led this quintet and it turned out to be an absolute monster of an album - perhaps the greatest album released on the label and I'll even go far enough to say it may be the best album to come out of the entire Japanese jazz scene.So why is it so great?  It consists of two side long tracks of pure electric Miles Davis inspired goodness.  Flute, sax, electric guitar, bass, drums and percussion all mix together effortlessly exploring the cosmic realms.  Sax and flute are run through pedals and the guitarwork is all Pete Cosey'ed out.  If you like the plugged in Bitches Brew and post era you must own this.  Its essential.  BUY OR DIE!
    $17.00
  • Herbie Hancock The Broadcast Collection 1973-1983This eight disc box set, brings together eight legendary performances by the visionary keyboardist / composer from the vital point in this musical trajectory as he closed the Mwandishi chapter to embark on his Headhunters trip in 1973, to putting together a revised line-up of his 'Very Special One-Time Performance' band in 1983.Along the way, Hancock has collaborated with distinguished musicians such as Bennie Maupin, Jaco Pastorius, Joni Mitchell, Wynton Marsalis, Buster Williams, Tony Williams and Carlos Santana.This superb collection of live performances broadcast on Radio and TV, is presented here in superb fidelity, along with background notes and rare images.TRACKSJAZZ WORKSHOP, BOSTON, MA - 22ND MARCH 1973 WBCN-FM, SEPTETDisc One1. Hornets2. You'll Know When You Get TherePAUL'S MALL, JAZZ WORKSHOP, BOSTON, MA - 13TH NOVEMBER 1973 WBCN-FM, WITH THE HEADHUNTERSDisc Two1. WBCN Intro2. Sly3. Butterfly4. Herbie Speaks - Lost Signal5. Genesis Promo Spot6. Watermelon Man7. Herbie Speaks8. Chameleon9. Herbie Speaks - WBCN OutroOMAHA CIVIC AUDITORIUM MUSIC HALL, OMAHA, NE - 17TH NOVEMBER 1975 KJSO-FM, WITH THE HEADHUNTERSDisc Three1. Watermelon Man2. Hang Up Your Hang Ups3. Steppin' In It4. Bubbles5. Shkere6. HeartbeatIVANHOE THEATER, CHICAGO, IL - 16TH FEBRUARY 1977 WXRT-FM, WITH JACO PASTORIUSDisc Four1. DJ Introduction2. Hang Up Your Hang Ups3. Maiden Voyage4. It Remains To Be SeenBREAD & ROSES FESTIVAL, THE GREEK THEATER, BERKELEY, CA - 2ND SEPTEMBER 1978 WBUR-FM, WITH JONI MITCHELLDisc Five1. Furry Sings The Blues2. The Dry Cleaner From Des Moines3. Introduction Of Herbie Hancock4. A Chair In The Sky5. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat6. The Wolf That Lives In Lindsey7. The Dry Cleaner From Des Moines8. The Circle Game9. Radio CreditsBONUS TRACKS: SOUNDSTAGE, CHICAGO, IL - 1981 PBS-TV, QUARTET (FEATURING WYNTON MARSALIS, BUSTER WILLIAMS, TONY WILLIAMS)10. The Sorcerer11. Sister Cheryl12. Round Midnight13. Eye Of The Hurricane14. Tony Williams Drum SoloHERBIE HANCOCK AND SANTANA SPECIAL BANDLIVE UNDER THE SKY FESTIVAL, DEN-EN COLISEUM, TOKYO, JAPAN - 26TH JULY 1981 NHK-RADIODisc Six1. Watermelon Man - Evil Ways - Watermelon Man2. 'Round Midnight3. Parade4. Sorceror5. A Quick Sketch6. Love Theme From SpartacusDisc Seven1. Swapan Tari2. Song For My Brother3. Europa4. Saturday NightVSOPII, NHK HALL, TOKYO, JAPAN - 19TH MAY 1983 NHK RADIODisc Eight1. The Sorcerer2. Ringo Oiwake3. Jitterbug Waltz4. New Song No. 35. Ell You Needn't6. Arboretum7. Sister Cheryl
    $18.00
  • If you have interest in current proponents of spiritual jazz its possible you have come across the work of Muriel Grossmann.  I cam across her work about six years ago and every one of her releases is a musical event.  She has moved on from a small European label to Jack White's Third Man Records.  Hopefully she will get the exposure she deserves.Ms. Grossman is an Austrian saxophonist who studied and played with Joachim Kuhn as well as other European jazz musicians.  Her current quartet is quite kosmigroovy, featuring guitar, Hammond B3, and drums.  The music has an exploratory feel but it often grooves.  While not typical Laser's Edge fare I feel her work is so important that even if a small quantity of her work gets sold here it will help spread the word.  THIS ALBUM WILL BLOW YOU AWAY!Thom Jurek of AllMusic Guide wrote the liner notes worth reproducing here:"The word "Devotion," the title of saxophonist / composer Muriel Grossmann's new album, is defined by Websters as "religious fervor, piety," or "an act of prayer or private worship." Further, it carries "the act of dedicating something to a cause, enterprise, or activity; the fact or state of being ardently dedicated and loyal." Grossmann's music richly illustrates both shades of the word's meaning. Devotion is a dedicated aural engagement with extremely talented musicians. It reflects a deep spirituality in composition, expression discovery through kaleidoscopic, 21st century jazz.Grossmann was born in Paris, raised in Austria, and began classical flute studies at five. She didn't begin playing the saxophone until she was 21, and for years, only the alto and soprano. She taught herself by playing along with records by Charlie Parker, Cannonball Adderley and Gerry Mulligan. After picking up the tenor years later she immersed herself into the music of Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Stanley Turrentine and Illinois Jacquet, all of whom influenced the soul jazz era. She embodied those influences as signifiers for one of the most identifying aspects of Grossmann's sound: The reliance on groove. After completing formal music studies, she played and toured with various funk, R&B, world music, and jazz groups. Grossmann moved to Spain in 2002, and began leading her own bands. Two years later she relocated to Ibiza, her base ever since. The atmosphere of the tropical island locale and its multivalent culture influenced her journey as an artist. Her debut as a leader in 2008 with the record Quartet appeared on her own Dreamlandrecords. Then, as now, Grossmann's deeply committed DIY aesthetic supervises every aspect of recording, production and presentation including painting her record covers. She cut it with a quartet that included Belgrade-born guitarist Radomir Milojkovic, her constant collaborator ever since and the rhythm section composed of Marko Jelaca on drums and David Marroquin on bass. An exercise in crystalline, swinging post bop, it drew positive notice from the European music press and resulted in her playing more gigs. 2010's Birth of the Mystery moved outside musically, without sacrificing the trademark welcoming harmonic sensibility. 2016's Natural Time with Milojkovic, double bassist Gina Schwarz and drummer Uros Stamenkovic, offered an airy, open, engagement with drones and endlessly circular rhythms. 2017's Momentum, with its flourishes of spiritual soul jazz, bluesy guitars and extended compositions, was regarded by some critics as a modern jazz masterpiece. 2018's Golden Rule reached a new watermark. Grossmann played tenor and soprano saxophone; its music was dedicated to the influences of John Coltrane – check the stunning soprano vehicle, "Traneing In." Several critics remarked on her ability to make seriously sophisticated jazz sound fun. Her quartet's disciplined collaboration resulted from playing in front of very diverse audiences, especially at home. They offered audiences a testifying, polyrhythmic, and dramatically explosive brand of spiritual jazz. 2019's album Reverence added Hammond B-3 organist Lorenç Barcelo to excellent effect. The bubbling grooves generated by guitar and organ were employed with layers of percussion and droning basslines, updating the astral jazz of Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders and Alice Coltrane. She continued reconsidering her earlier music with this approach too. 2020's Quiet Earth included four long compositions, two of which were substantially revisioned versions of tunes that originally appeared on the 2013 album Awakening. 2021's Union – sans Schwarz – offered more substantially reworked versions of earlier compositions that had evolved from having been performed live for years. 2022's Universal Code, found Schwarz rejoining the group for three tracks. Throughout the band seamlessly wed spiritual and modal modern jazz explorations to deep, often blues-tinged, airy grooves.Devotion, Grossmann's debut for Jack White's U.S.-based Third Man Records label, continues her musical evolution, arriving at a sound that wears inspirations transparently, but in practice, is markedly original holistic work. It is titled after Grossmann's experience of a natural sense of devotion that arose from her Buddhist meditation practice. She says, "noticing that sounds are dissolving into the vast empty space, the true nature of reality. Just as thoughts are always dissolving into the stillness of our mind, we slowly realize that the essence of our mind is clarity . . . This realization puts us on the path to confidence; it and trust are the basis of devotion."Musically, these works represent a new sonic and aesthetic outpost for Grossmann's quartet, now introducing Abel Boquera on Hammond B-3 as a new member of the Muriel Grossmann Quartet. Totaling over 90 minutes, these seven works are long and investigative. Opener "Absolute Truth,” spends the first two of its nearly 22 minutes with abstract slide guitar, hovering B-3 ellipses, and a pulse of softly generated, pulsing rimshots. When Grossmann enters on tenor, she is playing a hard bop vamp that resembles a late 1950s Blue Note date. Boquera lays down a supporting pattern that Milojkovic appends empathetically. The drums begin driving, as the band emerges with a circular groove that touches on rock, modal and soul jazz formalism, with advanced rhythmic syncopation. Its various stages find the saxophonist and her bandmates – particularly Milojkovic – soloing with abandon, even as they reinforce a trance-inducing groove. "Calm" is introduced in quiet abstraction from guitar and organic percussion before Boquera, Milojkovic, and Grossmann assert a dynamic vamp. An edgy blues-tinged rock guitar riff prods organ and tenor sax in a slowly unfurling meditation on soulful funk. "Care" is organ-fueled soul jazz, an excellent showcase for Boquera's advanced playing as Stamenkovic's slippery, fluid, snare and hi-hat breaks urge him on. When Grossmann joins to solo, she moves across the R&B of her early influences, Sonny Rollins assertive, raw lyricism, and her own post bop vocabulary."Knowledge and Wisdom" is kissed by psychedelia, Indian music (Grossmann plays tamboura and drones). Opening with spectral percussion, B-3 and fingerpicked electric guitars, its bluesy rock frame breathes its pulse as Grossmann's lithe flute and soprano horn find and elucidate a contemplative lyrical progression. In "All Heart" Latin and African polyrhythms collide, swirl and combine in forceful, righteously funky, hard swinging post bop. The title track's flute, martial snare, and organic hand percussion recall the Rising Sun Fife and Drum Ensemble (originally led by early blues innovator Otha Turner, and currently by granddaughter Sharde Thomas) in evoking the spirit of field hollers that evolved into the Delta blues. Milojkovic honors the tradition with a winding slide blues investigation buoyed by Stamenkovic's punchy drums and Boquera's edgy B-3. Grossmann's alto wanders across terrain combining modal jazz, funk, and soul jazz, as the quartet begin to open the mode and journey with her – check Milojkovic's spacey slide runs before Grossmann returns to the jaunty theme before fading it out.Closer "Mother of All" is introduced by the group's modal crescendo led by the tenor. Grossmann is a devoted mother, and her vocation has certainly influenced her music. In Buddhist thought, because of reincarnation, we have all been mothers to virtually every being across limitless time, and consequently been mothered by them too. The lyric line, carried by sax and organ is framed in illustrative chord voicings from Milojkovic and almost constantly rolling drums that never lose the rhythmic thread. Milojkovic solos first, offering knotty arpeggios in a punchy run that accents the changes – one can hear the influences of Grant Green and Pat Martino in his playing. Grossmann's adventurous tenor solo weds forceful yet intricate post bop with modal Eastern jazz and mutant hard bop – ala Sonny Rollins – while the band swings like mad around her. Devotion is the sound of this group's seemingly limitless brand of sonic inquiry through Grossmann’s compositions. This album simultaneously offers the sound of an ensemble that has perfected the collaborative process. They chart initially amorphous sonic terrains to establish a union between the process of creative inquiry and discovery to deliver transcendence across the universe of music itself."
    $16.00
  • Legit reissue of this classic 1969 release by The Wolfgang Dauner Group.  Originally released as a private pressing it was repackaged and released on the Brain label a few years label.Dauner is working with Fred Braceful and Roland Wittich on drums, Eberhard Weber on bass and cello and Siggy Schwab on guitar.  Dauner concentrates on organ and piano but also contributes flute as well.  The whole album has a bit of a psychedelic/soul jazz/Swingin' London feel.  Ripping organ breaks and wah wah laced guitar solos over a funky rhythm bed.  Siggy is killin' it on this one.  One of the great ones!!
    $22.00
  • "This album is one of the reasons that Idris Muhammad is regarded as the drumming king of groove. Featuring the arrangements and keyboards of Bob James, the saxophone punch of Grover Washington, Jr., guitarist Joe Beck, trumpeter Randy Brecker, percussionist Ralph MacDonald, and the knife-edge slick production of Creed Taylor, this 1974 issue is a burning piece of deep, jazzy soul and grooved-out bliss. The funk flies fast and heavy, particularly on the title track (Jimi Hendrix's tune), with soaring solos by Grover and James, who fall down in the groove to Muhammad's powerful pace, setting from the heart of the pocket. Beck's own solo is special in that he moves against the tempo just a bit, but that only increases the listener's dependence on the groove of Muhammad. Clocking in at only 34 minutes it's a perfect slice of the raw-onion emotion Muhammad was pulling down at the time. While there isn't a weak track in the four, it's Washington's "Loran's Dance" that takes the cake, even over Hendrix. While the former is dark and heavy, and the immediately preceding tracks by James and Beck, respectively, are light, fancy, free nods to Creed Taylor's hoping for a jazz radio single, it's "Loran's Dance" that showcases not only Washington as an aspiring writer in his own right (this is only a year before Feels So Good and Mr. Magic appeared), but also as a talented interpreter of the edges where jazz and soul come together. James' arrangements are tight, and everybody gets to solo with a little more freedom and grace. Muhammad keeps the pocket wide and Brecker and Washington dance all around in it as James plays the accents furtively. This is some easy-moving, yet musically complex jazz. There is great power in these four tracks to make you move or reflect or just tap your foot while nodding "yeah" at your speakers imperceptibly." - Allmusic
    $7.50
  • Japan has produced some exceptionally talented jazz drummers and among them is Tatsuya Nakamura, who joins the BBE Music J Jazz Masterclass Series with his album ‘Locus’ from 1984, a session covering several bases, from heavy percussive samba to meditative avant-ambient. This is the album’s first ever reissue, although a track from ‘Locus’, ‘1⁄4 Samba’, was included on J Jazz vol. 3.Nakamura began his drumming career as a teenager, inspired after seeing the documentary film “Jazz on A Summer’s Day” and listening to his idols Art Blakey and Miles Davis. By his early twenties, Nakamura was working with such luminaries as free jazz guitarist Masayuki Takayanagi, pianist Masaru Imada and band leader & composer Mitsuaki Kanno. In the mid-70s, like several other Japanese jazz players, Nakamura decided to make the move to New York where he studied drumming with Roy Haynes, and performed with members of the AACM and players from the loft and free jazz scenes including Richard Davis, George Adams, John Hicks, and Pharaoh Sanders. Returning to Japan, Nakamura continued playing as leader of his Japanese band The Jazz Fellows and in 1979, he went into the studio as leader for the classic “Where Is The Quarter” session featuring Masaru Imada, Hideto Kanai and Kenji Mori. This session includes the original percussion heavy version of ‘1⁄4 Samba’ and was followed by a period back in NYC during which he recorded the funky/free session ‘Rip Off’ in 1980. 1984 saw Nakamura working as leader of a heavy-duty fusion septet and in February of that year he led them in a performance at Audio Technica Hall. The album ‘Locus’ on Sea Horse Records is the label’s one and only release.On ‘Locus’, Nakamura is joined by a stellar line-up. On trumpet is Shinobu Fujimoto and he’s joined by seasoned bass player Hideto Kanai (1931 -2011) who began playing in the mid- 1950s, appearing on King Recs All-Star Jazz Series before going on to be a regular fixture on the legendary Three Blind Mice (TBM) label, backing many of its leading artists. He even released his own album on TBM, ‘Ode to Birds’ in 1975. On guitar is Kazumasa Akiyama. Born in Tokyo in 1955, he taught himself guitar at 10 years old and was influenced initially by The Beatles and Ray Charles, and later Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Chicago Blues, and jazz. When he was a student, he got a chance to appear on Sadao Watanabe’s radio program ‘My Dear Life’, which led him to join the Isao Suzuki Group and Mikio Masuda Group. Akiyama released his first leader album ‘Dig My Style’ in 1978 and is still an active musician. On keys is the incredible Jun Fukamachi (1946-2010). Born in Harajuku, Tokyo, Fukamachi started playing the piano at the age of three, showing an extraordinary talent, recognised as a child prodigy. He became a professional musician while still in school and released his first album ‘Portrait of a Young Man’ on Polydor in 1971. A pioneer of synthesizer, and among the first to popularise fusion in Japan, Fukamachi has composed and produced numerous recordings embracing jazz, fusion, funk, rock, and classical. An internationally recognised figure, Fukamachi worked with Anthony Jackson, David Sanborn, Randy and Michael Brecker, Mike Mainieri, Steve Gadd, and Richard Tee. Percussionist Tatsuji Yokoyama has worked across Japanese jazz and fusion since the 1970s appearing on albums from the likes of Masahiko Togashi, Takao Uematsu, Mikio Masuda, Toshiyuki Honda, Yuji Ohno and Shigeharu Mukai.Tatsuya Nakamura continues to record and play live with many musicians including The New York Unit, and has toured extensively across Africa, Senegal, Morocco, Turkey, Australia and Indonesia. He remains active to this day, recording and touring with his band Japan Jazz Unit.
    $17.00
  • First time on CD for this killer slice of kosmigroov.  Michael Naura is a jazz pianist who recorded for MPS and ECM in the 70s.  Call was originally released on MPS back in 1970.  MPS was a very eclectic label.  They touched on electric jazz rock, free jazz, straight up jazz and pure schlock.  It was a very hard label to pin down and there is a voluminous amount of releases on the label.  Collectors have finally focused on digging through the MPS catalogue and prices are starting to soar.  I recently picked up a vinyl copy of Call and it cost me a cool $100.  Ownership of the MPS catalog has bounced around a bit and now Edel is beginning a large reissue campaign.  We hope to cherry pick through the catalog and pick up titles we think would be of interest to our customers.The Michael Naura Quartett consisted of Michael Naura (Fender Rhodes), Wolfgang Schluter (vibes), Eberhard Weber (bass), and Joe Nay (drums).  If you like vibes Mr. Schluter is your guy - he's all over this album.  He seamlessly integrates with Naura's electric piano.  The rhythm section is amazing. Eberhard Weber's bass will rock your house and Nay is very creative.  All together the music has a phenomenal flow to it that will suck you in.  While it never crosses over into rock it perfectly captures that time period in the late 60s/early 70s when jazz musicians were beginning to experiment with electric instruments.I was never much of a vibes guy but Schluter's playing really grabbed my attention.  Add in the killer sounds of that Rhodes and you've won me over.  For the jazz converted this is a BUY OR DIE disc."“The new pieces have little in common with the bebop and cool jazz influences of the old Naura quintet.” So wrote journalist Siegfried Schmidt-Joos in his 1970 liner notes to pianist and bandleader Michael Naura’s album Call. Joos went on to say that Naura had assimilated “the contemporary sounds of free jazz and rock” as well as “the collective playing styles of the younger generation of musicians.” His first album in eight years definitely showed Naura in a new light. Two members of his old quintet, vibraphonist Wolfgang Schlüter and drummer Joe Nay were still in on it, and both had effortlessly mastered – as had Naura – the new rock and blues-oriented styles. With the addition of Eberhard Weber, a jazz-rock trendsetter had stepped into the band. “This musician from Swabia with the face of an old Botticelli angel,” as Nauradescribed the electric bassist, had a substantial impact on the new quartet’s sound. The pieces on this MPS recording are all written by Naura. Born in 1934, Naura broke off his journalism studies in Berlin to become a musician. Vibraphonist Schlüter was with him when Naura formed a band in the 1950’s. This first band was heavily influenced by pianist George Shearing’s style. Naura and Schlüter have continued to play together on into the new century. Drummer Joe Nay, who Naura prized as “the perfect incendiary”, died in 1990."
    $13.00
  • Essential third album from the Mwandishi band. A pure kosmigroov classic in which the ensemble touches on African based rhythms and electric fusion. Hancock and Patrick Gleeson somehow integrate a battery of electric keyboards into the jazz realm but in a way that was organic and seems just about right. A must own.
    $7.50
  • Sonny Greenwich is a Canadian guitarist not too well known outside of his home country.  That's a shame as he is a world class cutting edge musician who's limited output would surely be of interest to fans of electric jazz and jazz rock.  Sun Song is his masterpiece of spiritual jazz.  It was recorded in 1974 for Radio Canada International and didn't see much exposure outside of Canada.  The music is highly influenced by John Coltrane.  Sonny lays down treacherous guitar leads through out.  Heavy but spiritually uplifting.  Originals go for over $100 and its been climbing.  This is a fully licensed numbered edition of 500 copies.  Don't sleep on it!!  BUY OR DIE!!"With a very personal, powerful style and a sound that always seemed ready to explode, Sonny Greenwich is probably Canada’s most unique jazzman. For his first full album (originally released in 1974), backed by a top-flight Toronto rhythm section (including longtime associate Don Thompson on piano), the Canadian Coltrane of the guitar creates an undeniable spiritual jazz classic."
    $20.00