Cerca:at jazz

Mancunian Hidden Spheres has showcased himself as one of the most innovative producers out there, releasing across the likes of Lobster Theremin, Rhythm Section International and his own imprint Fruit Merchant, all of which have been the perfect outlets for his inspiring blend of house and jazz. Church now features as the latest addition, who continue their stellar discography with 'Words Can't Explain', a collaborative EP which sees Hidden Spheres alongside singer-songwriter and guitarist, Oscar Jerome.

The collection begins with the original mix, lowering you into slick jazz guitar licks and echoing vocals, before Hidden Spheres provides a tight groove to lock around the melodies in fine form. The hybrid creation of jazz meets house binds perfectly as warm keys hang effortlessly in the air and popping guitar lines carry you onwards, supporting the sublime vocal from Oscar.

The dub version opens up room for the guitar licks and synth top lines to take centre stage, a real opportunity to marvel at the arrangement here.

On the flip is Yu Su's rework who ups the tempo and dims the lights for a punchier rework.. The half way point welcomes a percussive led break before the hats return and pick up the groove once again, closing the 'Words Can't Explain' EP in style.

The five-track EP by Leonid Nevermind has everything you want for your body and mind. Picturesque electronics with deep funky, jazzy and mellow Electro moods. Musically rich with a blend of attractive drifts between breezy and melodious Detroit House, dark and smooth 90s indie-house, jazzy piano flourishes, clunky broken beat, and sticky Lo-Fi House.

In 1959 Michel Giacometti moved to Portugal and dedicated the following thirty years of his life recording traditional music all over the country. In the present decade Portuguese music has been thriving and finally travelling abroad, long gone are the days those hidden gems were kept in secret in this distant corner of Europe. The discovery of current Portuguese music sparked an interest to Portuguese music, past and present.
With both of those ideas in mind, Giacometti and the interest in Portuguese music, 'Antologia de Música Atípica Portuguesa' creates an anthology of current sounds to the future. You can see it as history being made or a broad catalog of sounds that live and breathe the experimental and electronic that is happening in Portugal. The first step happened two years ago with the releasing of the first volume on this anthology, 'O Trabalho' ('The Labour') and we now move onto Vol. 2, 'Regiões' ('Regions'), with each track connecting with a different province from Portugal.
Some names return to this volume, like Live Low with the beautifully haunting 'Montemor' or Gonzo (our own Gonçalo F. Cardoso), affirming his path in building detailed and processed field recordings music. More than a list of names, or songs, this second volume of 'Antologia de Música Atípica Portuguesa' recreates a passage throughout different landscapes of Portugal, constantly leaving a trail of past, present and future. The trail doesn't limit itself to the music, but to the traditions contained in the sounds and the stories spelled by the words.
The beautifully slowed haunting-waltz 'Por Riba', by Síria (Diana Combo), sets everything in motion and builds the way to Random Gods' upbeat march 'Gazulo à Estronca da Santosa'. 'Malta Inquieta' (Ondness) embraces the most modern/contemporary side of this volume, proving that 'Regiões' goes beyond the idea of catalog or even its own concept of 'anthology' and provides music that's hard to categorize or even judge by modern standards. We are not afraid to say it: 'Malta Inquieta' is an experimental jazz-electronic modern gem.
It's followed by the guitar of Rui Carvalho, aka Filho da Mãe, with 'Manta', closing the A side with one of his enchantments. B side strikes with the aforementioned 'Montemor', setting the tone for a different trip, building up on more abstract and freeform music by Banha da Cobra ('Asylo'), Fantama ('Lamento das Beiras') and the track by Gonzo. 'Regiões' finishes with the right tone, fields recordings worked by Luís Antero, that tie the connection between Giacometti and the now - with the now still happening and building up on the story of the future 'Antologia de Música Atípica Portuguesa'.

Next up on LOVEiT is head honcho JK himself, presenting a fine Reminiscence to 90s french house on the A1. With his remix, italian Jo Pariota transforms the title track into a veritable detroit house groover by adding warm pads and driving hats. JKs B1 is a moody deephouse affair including jazzy keys and a thought provoking spoken word sample by a certain saturn-visiting cosmic poet. The Rare Sun Recall Mix by .WS takes you places: riding out on an uptempo tribal beat, it slowly starts to fall apart before vanishing into ambient bliss. - morri313 Early Feedback: Lay Far (Atjazz Record Company / Local Talk / 4 Lux) Congrats on the release! Loving the 'Being Neglected As An Artist

As part of their 20th Anniversary celebrations, Strut present the first new volume in their pioneering 'Nigeria 70' series for over 8 years, bringing together rare highlife, Afro-funk and juju from the '70s and early '80s. Compiled by collector and DJ Duncan Brooker, this new selection of tracks is receiving its first international release outside of Nigeria.

The compilation returns to a fertile heyday in Nigerian music when established styles like highlife and juju became infused with elements of Western jazz, soul and funk and musicians brought a proud new message post-independence. Brooker places the spotlight particularly on some of the incredible Ukwuani musicians from the Delta State region as guitarist Rogana Ottah and Steady Arobby's International Brothers Band forged their own fluid brand of highlife and soulman Don Bruce drew on the US R&B greats for a series of great albums and explosive stage shows at his residency at Hilton Hotel in Abuja.

Elsewhere, the album explores the close connection between Nigeria and Benin's music, most famously through Sir Victor Uwaifo, appearing here with a killer mid'80s ekassa jam, as well as highlife hitmaker Osayamore Joseph on 'Obonogbozu' (Joseph made headlines in Nigeria for very different reasons in 2017, surviving a one month kidnapping ordeal).

Other tracks include 'Sickness' a 1979 lament on how all countries share troubles by Prince Nico Mbarga, the Nigerian / Camerounian star behind the smash hit 'Sweet Mother'; reggae singer Felixson Ngasia switches to funk and disco for a heavy workout with potent lyrics around black identity; another major highlife great Etubom Rex Williams unleashes a punchy psych funk gem with 'Psychedelic Shoes' and Africa 70 member Pax Nicholas vocals a simmering Afrobeat groove from Jacob Lee's Saxon Lee & The Shadows International Band.

'Nigeria 70: No Wahala' iis released on 29th March 2019 on CD, 2LP and digital. All tracks have been restored by See Why Audio and mastered by The Carvery. The package features comprehensive sleeve notes including exclusive interviews with some of the original artists.

One of Brazil's most prolific artists, Eumir Deodato has participated in the creation of over 450 albums, racked up 16 platinum records, won a Grammy (and received two more nominations), and sold over 250 million records in the USA alone. Over the course of his career, he has written for, arranged music by and played with artists including Frank Sinatra, Tom Jobim, Kool & The Gang, Earth, Wind & Fire, Marcos Valle, Aretha Franklin and Bjork, among others.

At the height of Deodato's productivity in the early 70s, Os Catedraticos 73 was recorded between Rio de Janeiro and New York, featuring a Brazilian rhythm section comprising Azymuth drummer Ivan 'Mamão' Conti, percussion master Orlandivo, and Sergio Barroso on bass, while the horn section features some of the big apple's top players from the CTI in-house brass.

A firm favourite with rare-groove enthusiasts and fans of Latin jazz alike, Deodato melds the musical sensibility of post-bossa nova Brazilian jazz with North American soul & funk, and the explosive Latin influences of '70s New York. Os Catedraticos 73 certainly swings harder than some of Deodato's earlier releases and opening track 'Arranha Ceu' (Skyscrapers) is a euphoric dance floor classic, which has been lighting up clubs for years.

With the blessing of Deodato himself, this official Far Out reissue has been remastered and pressed to 180g vinyl, with replica original artwork from the OG Equipe release.

- 180 GRAM AUDIOPHILE VINYL
- BRAND NEW 2019 NEO-CLASSICAL ALBUM
- PRINTED INNERSLEEVE
- LIMITED EDITION OF 500 INDIVIDUALLY NUMBERED COPIES ON TRANSPARENT VINYL

Fermata, Pieter de Graaf's debut project and the birth of a new talent in the neo-classical world. 'Filmic,' he replies when asked about the direction he had in his head, and there's an epic grandeur to many of the tracks. 'I have always written music' de Graaf explains, 'but with Fermata I felt that I could do so much more than just being a pianist, so I thought: 'Why shouldn't I try' The songs aren't 'written' in any traditional sense; instead he plays and improvise segments, records them, and listens back over and over before deciding what to use, what to discard, and what to embellish. No stone is left unturned in being guided by what the song requires - he has travelled North to record a church organ, wrote a score for a choir of four sopranos, and enlisted the help of friends and colleagues at Kytopia, the music collective in Utrecht that houses his studio.

It can take a while for an artist to find their true calling. For Pieter de Graaf, he's been searching since he sat next to his father, aged five, and watched him play the classics and the classical. He later immersed himself in the world of jazz, dedicating hours to practice, and studying at the Conservatory of Rotterdam. Several years spent touring with various bands, friends, and hip hop groups including The Kyteman Orchestra taught him an invaluable lesson, something that has informed his new project right from the start. His influences - Miles Davis, Nils Frahm, Rachmaninov, Bach, Herbie Hancock, and above all Keith Jarrett - allowed him to combine easy melodies with more virtuoso passages without losing the meaning, or the essence, of each song.

Fermata is available as a limited edition of 500 individually numbered copies on transparent vinyl.

**UNRELEASED AFRO-CUBAN JAZZ**

Afro-Cuban Jazz of the highest orderl! And even better, these two songs have remained UNRELEASED for the past 52 years! Vibraphonist, flutist, and band leader Ulysses Crockett was a big name on the Bay Area latin-jazz scene of the 1960s. He started out with his own group Afro Blue Persuasion which included a very young Paul Jackson on bass who later became famous as a member of Herbie Hankock's fusion-jazz masters The Headhunters.

"Cuban Fantasy" and "Poinciana" were both recorded live in 1967 but remained unreleased until now. Both songs are taken from the soon to be released 33rpm record titled "Live at Haight Levels" which includes more unreleased material as well as the full length version of both of these two edited tunes.

This 7" runs at 33rpm to provide the best sound quality possible.

Record Kicks presents a limited edition 45 with two deep soul winners from the enfant prodige Alexis Evans. On the A side the northern soul cut "She Took Me Back". On the flipside the rnb/soul floorshaker "It's All Over Now".

Heading from Bordeaux, the Anglo-French Alexis Evans is not a newcomer in the music scene. He discovered Afro-American music as a child and learnt to play guitar thanks to his father, an English musician. At the age of 17 he debuted with his first project "Jumping to the Westside", with which he was awarded the "Cognac Blues Passion" prize and flew to the "International Blues Challenge" in Memphis, Tennessee. Soon after in 2016 he exploded onto the French scene with "Girl Bait", his astonishing debut album that hit the airwaves of FIP, France Bleu, and Jazz Radio amongst the others. Despite his young age Alexis Evans has already built a household name, touring extensively his country with explosive live sets at RDV Erdre Nantes, Rhino Jazz St-Etienne, Lyon Ninkasi, Club Nubia Paris, Festivals Relâche Bordeaux, Jazz à Vienne as well as Festivals in England, Estonia, Switzerland and Wales.

A must have 45 for every soul djs and lovers. Watch out the 45 is limited to 500 copies worldwide.

On March 15th Erased Tapes presents the invigorating and powerful debut solo album Lines of Sight by Australian-born, Liverpool-based composer, saxophonist and founder of Immix Ensemble, Daniel Thorne. Deeply moving, full of otherworldly beauty and rapture, the album is alive, throbbing like a circulatory system, colourful and glowing. It literally dazzles - effectively capturing what the birth (or death) of a planet might sound like.

In Daniel's own words, 'Thematically, this music was inspired by birds-eye aerial images and the idea of perspective - how something incredibly complex like a river or the surface of the ocean is reduced to a simple line or shape when viewed from the heavens. The line between natural and man-made becomes increasingly blurred.'

Every strand is fresh, vital and purposeful. The description 'seamless' might suggest a smooth, bland fusion, but here elements overlap in intermittent, undulating layers of mesh. Avant-garde, noise, electronics, ecclesiastical, classical, a touch of jazz and traces of Wyatt-style contemporary folk come together, each occupying their own space while acquiescing with the whole.

'Several compositions are derived from ratios and processes, and are highly calculated, while others evolved in a much more organic way. I wanted to create music that blurred lines between acoustic and electronic, organic and synthetic, composition and improvisation.
I've long been a fan of studio-based composition, but have always found the infinite possibilities on offer daunting and, often, a stumbling block. To get around this I set myself a challenge of limiting myself to the physical instruments in my possession - a few different saxophones and a bass synth, with no more than four tracks to record them,' he adds.

Lines of Sight follows Thorne's work as artistic director of the acclaimed, collaboration-focussed group Immix Ensemble. Together with experimental electronic artist Vessel, he co-wrote Transition released on Erased Tapes in 2016, described by BBC Radio 6's Mary Anne Hobbs as 'a remarkable new piece of music'. More recently, he worked with acclaimed modular synth wizard Luke Abbott, to create a four-part suite, which was premiered live in June 2017. Immix Ensemble have also performed special live commissions with Kelly Lee Owens, Dialect, Jane Weaver and Bill Ryder-Jones, among others.

Prior to leaving Australia, Daniel was fortunate to work with some of the country's leading new music ensembles as both a composer and performer, receiving commissions from the TURA New Music Festival and the Australia Council, as well as being appointed as Composer in Residence at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. In the UK he was the recipient of the prestigious Dankworth Prize for Jazz Composition, and also undertook a residency at Metal Liverpool, which provided him with the time and space to create Immix.

As the first track under Thorne's own name, 'Iroise' was recorded for the Erased Tapes 10th anniversary release 1+1=X, alongside works by Nils Frahm, Penguin Cafe, A Winged Victory For The Sullen and Rival Consoles. He also recently remixed Manu Delago, known as the live percussionist for Björk and Ólafur Arnalds. After a first solo performance at Sea Change Festival 2018, the new year will see Daniel tour across Europe, promoting the forthcoming release of Lines of Sight.

Recorded Between The Release Of Sand (1977) And Lost Secrets(1981), Symphonic Songs Is A Formerly Unreleased Work That Chronicles The Dynamic Shift And Development In Experimental Swedish Composer Ragnar Grippe's Canon.

Following His Seminal Release Sandin 1977, Swedish Experimental Composer Ragnar Grippe Worked On Various Art And Performance Commissions, Often Returning To Stockholm During The Summer Months To Focus His Efforts On His Compositional Practice. It Was There At The Famed Ems Studioswhere He Began Employing The Buchla Synthesizer And The Facilities Multi-tracking Capabilities As New Instruments To Map His Mining Of Sound And Movement.

During The Late 1970's, Grippe Formed A Creative Collaboration With Choreographer Susan Buirge, Specifically Writing Compositions For Her Works restes And tamis, Thus Pushing Grippe To Start Working In A More Intricate Studio Environment. These Passages Inspired Grippe Into A More Complex Layering Process That Focused More On Placement And Structure, Rather Than The Aural Floods And Flourishes Of His Previous Sand Album, Eventually Germinating In His First Full 24-track Composition Entitled orchestra.

After Debuting orchestra In 1980 At The Electronic Music Festival In Stockholm, Grippe Holed Up At Ems Studios With Those Lessons And The Fussy Buchla Synthesizer, In Which Grippe Affectionately Recalls needed To Be Tuned And Calibrated Every 20-30 Minutes. He Emerged With A New Commission For Susan Buirge Later Formally Titled Symphonic Songs And Used In Her Avant-garde Theater Piece ci-déla Which Debuted In Paris In 1981.symphonic Songsshowcased Grippe's Sound Au Courant, Pushing Dense Against Sparse, Calm Into Cacophonous, Using Each Track As Its Own Intersecting Plane. Using The Machinations Of Studio And Structure To Drive Symphonic Songs' Voice, Grippe Culled A Haunting, Often Cinematic Electronic Work That Dots And Darts Into Unexpected Corners With Curious Aplomb.

Listen To The Words, Both Terms Have Their Root In Classical Music, But Not In Its Form But Because Now I Had So Many More Stems Or Voices That Could Be Played Simultaneously Compared To My Earlier Pieces. Coming From A Classical Background, But With Big Nostrils For Pop And Jazz Music, I Can Now See A Thread In Which Classical Got A New Costume, Dressed Up In Buchla Synthesizer And Real Bass Sounds Grippe Says. Since Its Live Theater Debut Over 37 Years Ago, Dais Records Releases For The First Time Symphonic Songs, One Of Grippe's Most Ambitious Compositions, As A Deluxe Double Vinyl Lp (with Limited Edition Color Variants) And On Digital Formats. Artwork Packaging By Artist J.s. Aurelius (ascetic House) With Reflective Linear Notes By Ragnar Grippe.

Fresh of their most busy year actively djing in Milan and across Europe, Ayce Bio, Turenne and Borbo are ready to launch a new Ep: One track each + a Remix by Bologna's finest producer and vinyl collector DJ Rou.

Mixed and mastered by Reel Mastering, distributed by Rubadub Uk.

Funclab records runs a monthly show on Rocket Radio and a club night at Apollo club, inviting al- ways different dj's and producers to share the decks with them, among others they played with San Proper, Boo Williams, Eclair Fifi and Pangea.

After the first release 'House al dente', they spent one month during the summer touring with a van around Europe to promote the vinyl, going to their favourite radios and vinyl stores to bring it personally, ending at Barrakud festival in Croatia in front of two thousand people with a dj set and set design.

The collective is the real strength behind the newborn record label, collaborating with a lot of local producers they're always working on new things, in the next few months they are going to release also a various and other two eps.


A1 AYCE BIO - COME IN TO GET HER

909 patterns and jazz funk chops with crispy bass cuts, let your children know who play funk.

A2 AYCE BIO - COME IN TO GET HER (DJ ROU REMIX)

Bass infused remix from Bolo's finest producer and collector.

B1 BORBO - STUNTMAN MIKE

Deep atmosphere, '70s hypnotic rhodes with lofi-esque drums and vocal cuts from Grindhouse.

B2 TURENNE - REALLY COOL

Funk/Soul samples with groovy drums and a really cool vocal.

Born in Cagliari (Sardinia, Italy) in 1975, Irene Nonis started playing the guitar at the age of 13 and wrote her first songs at 17. Her influences come from the American soul, with variations towards jazz and bossa (Sade, Paul Weller, Astrud Gilberto, Johnny Marr). Her voice shines in the two new tracks included in this 7'': "This Love" is a blue-eyed soul track that moves between Northern Soul and Motown, while "Night Stuff" has more of a 70's London nocturnal atmosphere, with a great bass line.

Hot on the heels of the Jaxx Madicine remix of Kyoto Jazz Sextet on Local Talk, Tommy 'Tubojazz' Garofalo - goes on a solo adventure once again.

His previous EP "Unbreakable" had equal parts of soul, jazz and funk blended together with a house twist.
The follow-up "Night Colors EP" shows both that and a deeper electronic side.
Opening track 'Two' is a clever number with its changes & sonic wizardry throughout.
Turbojazz makes the perfect blend between house and techno dipped into one big pot of deep Detroit vibes.

Next up is 'The Joint', a track that wears the distinct Turbojazz trademark throughout with its playful keys and sequenced drum programming at full tilt.

Johnny's disk record is an independent jazz label run by the owner of jazz cafe kaiunbashi no johnny located in rikuzentakata city in iwate prefecture, japan.

the legendary label released a string of albums of high quality but down-to-earth music, spanning from modern jazz, avant-garde jazz to left-field pop. albums such as 'farewell my johnny / left alone' and 'aya's samba' has reached cult status among fans as some of the best works to come out of the japanese jazz scene.

following a cult classic jazz fusion album on bourbon records, king kong paradise delivered an album of alternative, left-field balearic rock that was way ahead of its time.

an anomaly that sticks out in johnny's disk's catalogue, the rare record may appeal more to new wave, reggae and rock fans than jazz heads—in fact, i wouldn't be surprised if people like dj harvey or theo parrish dropped this oddity in their sets.

if you dig the kind of weirdness that's being reissued by music from memory, you might find this record intriguing.

A selection of demos, remixes, bonus tracks and practice sessions (including revealing recordings of the very first band rehearsal) from Corduroy. Some thought lost, some over-looked but all very rare.

The Indigenous - A Minimal Jazz House Track With A Climax. Perfect For Starting Out Or Finishing Off A Set.

Stand Alone - A Driving Track With Chaotic Vibe That Fits Nicely In An Up Tempo House Set

Adrift - Minimal Techno That Builds Into An Atmospheric Groove.

Red & Black Flowers - Some Call This Chicago House And Others Say It Leans More To Techno. A Stormer With A Detroit Chord And Vocal Samples From the Warning'.

These Tracks Were Recorded At The Vibenotic Recording Studio With The Following Instruments: Clavia Nord Lead 3, Korg Minilogue, Elektron Monomachine Sfx-60, Machinedrum Sps 1uw Mk Ii, Analog Keys And Digitakt.

" I used to live in rue de Clignancourt, and remember as a kid going to the 14th of July West Indian ball organized by my father rue André Del Sartre in Montmartre every year. There I would meet, among others, saxophonist Robert Mavounzy. Sticking to the area, my older brother had a band and often played at the famous venue La Cigale, where even Henri Salvador joined him for a jam from time to time."Since childhood Serge Fabriano bathed in music, to-ing and fro-ing between his native Guadeloupe and Paris where he grew up. He attended the music conservatory, learnt how to play bass, met and played with many musicians and was ultimately angling for a career as a music teacher. But Serge had wanderlust; he lived to meet new people and was passionate about travel.Thus, it was in a squat located rue de Flandres in the 19th district of Paris that Serge Fabriano met by chance zarb player Djamchid Chemirami, one of Iran's greatest percussionists, who invited him to the Arts Festival of Shiraz-Persepolis. After a month-long motorcycle journey, he and his guitar teacher, Roger Bénichou, arrived in Tehran. Sadly their guitars didn't survive the journey. It was there that he met, among others, Woody Shaw, Max Roach and his wife Abbey Lincoln. Serge also formed a friendship with saxophonist Gary Bartz and stayed on a month playing with the cream of the musicians who'd attended to the Festival.During the mid-70's, he alternated between teaching classes and live gigs, and performed in Germany with a funk band comprised of ex-GIs from the US Army. He also met the members of Chick Corea's group, Return to Forever, and especially Stanley Clarke who became a great source of inspiration to him.From 1978 onwards, Serge Fabriano put aside teaching and devoted more time to music. He became a musician's musician, doing studio recordings with rock bands. He also played with members of the Caribbean diaspora, which included the great drummer Marcel Lollia (known as Velo), Patrick Jean-Marie, Guy Conquette, Winston Berkley, Mino CineluDuring the "Ayatollah Comédie" musical comedy tour organized by the Journal Liberation, Serge met actor Pierre Clémenti (Il Gattopardo, Belle De Jour, The Conformist). This was a game-changer : "I was trying to record my first record. Clémenti suggested the Studio Beaubourg in Paris. "The group Fabriano Fuzion - Fabriano Unit Zion - was born.The band brought together some of the Caribbean's most inspired musicians: Martinican-born Mario Canonge on the piano (his first appearance on an album), Alain-Jean Marie on the synthesizer, Edouard and Pierre Labor on saxophones, Claude Vamur (Kassav ') on the drums, singer/percussionists Marie-Reine Lamoureux and Marie-Céline Lafontaine, percussionists Roger Raspail, Sully Cally and Hector Ficadière (Tumblack, Vent Levé) on Ka percussions.It is precisely the Gwo Ka - this ancestral 'root' music deeply embedded in the heart of the Guadeloupe musician - which constitutes the rhythmic backbone of this first opus. The Gwo Ka, the jazz, the poetry and the spiritual vibe are gathered here to form a splendid album; one of the true masterpieces to emerge from the French West Indies.Rarely will a band have borne its name so well than Fabriano Fuzion - its music is a multiple and collective work in which each element brings its identity and its richness, conferring to this major work a truly fusional dimension.

Fifth part of the Strata-East Dolphy Series, Glass Bead Games is arguably the crown jewel of the Strata East movement, an amorphous genre that treads an unusual path between post-bop, 70's avant-garde and spiritual jazz, with a groove.

Glass Bead Games is full of revelations at many levels. First, the decade of the 1970s did produce genuinely creative, "human" new music flowing from the jazz mainstream; second, Bill Lee was more than Spike's dad: he was a superlative bassist, a team player of the first order, a powerful catalyst who, if anything, deserves to be better known than his son; third, Billy Higgins was, as so many musicians insist, a once-in-a-lifetime drummer—the bellows inspiriting the collective flame.

Most importantly, Clifford Jordan was an artist of the first order, his playing so effortless and unforced, unselfconscious and focused, mature and wise that, at a time when altissimo fury was all the rage, it's small wonder his authentic voice frequently went unheard. His musical rhetoric is so personally expressive, its substance so compelling, the listener couldn't care less about the extraordinary technique required to convey its captivating message. Compared to some of his more acclaimed peers he's a less aggressive yet paradoxically more directive and shaping influence. The climaxes, rather than spelled out, are merely suggested, registering with deep and lasting impact on the listener. It all comes down to learning the language, those precious little beads. Not every player, including Jordan or the listener, can use it like Shakespeare, but all can learn to read Shakespeare and understand its principles of arbitrariness and serendipity, of invariance and transformation.

Jordan, no less than Shakespeare, requires a like-minded cast of players—in this case four musicians of such redoubtable proficiency that each remains committed to keeping the beads in play. He's not a man content with a mere musical "dialogue" with his fellow musicians nor is he about to take the initiative in pulling his troops up to his level. Instead he begins to tell a musical story that's so compelling his three comrades are inspired equally to contribute to a collaborative narrative. This is brilliant music-making by a Coltrane- influenced successor who feels no obligation to mime the predecessor. It may be the most significant saxophone performance on record since Coltrane and, providing the listener stays with it for any length of time, the most deeply satisfying. Jordan's game—so effortless, unforced, and "level"—erases distinctions between composed and improvised, soloist and ensemble, narrator and narrative, the dancer and the dance. It seems incapable of wearing out its welcome.

By Samuel Chell/All About Jazz

This was Charles Tolliver's first album as a leader. The setting is unique only because his second Freedom-Black Lion album 'The Ringer' and all of his subsequent albums on Strata-East featured his quartet Music Inc. with pianist Stanley Cowell. Here he is surrounded in quartet and quintet formats with a truly stellar cast of the leading players on the New York jazz scene.

Charles plays the role of leader, composer and trumpeter. But it is surely that last role that deserves the most attention. The trumpet is a brass instrument that leans toward a hard sound and staccato phrasing. Yet Tolliver is the quintessence of fluidity. While it may be undeniable that he has learned from his musical heritage and past trumpet masters, a trumpeter of such flow, tone, control, lyricism and creativity is, by definition, a major musician.

Charles Tolliver first came to the professional jazz scene in the mid-sixties, when he first met Jackie McLean. Under McLean's leadership, he played on a number of Blue Note record sessions, some of which have yet to be released. He contributed original tunes to many of those sessions.

Within a couple of years, Tolliver was a well known figure in New York circles, playing and/or recording with Booker Ervin, Archie Shepp, Andrew Hill, Roy Ayers, Art Blakey, Sonny Rollins, Willie Bobo, Gerald Wilson, McCoy Tyner, Hank Mobley, and many others. His compositions were getting recorded by many artists. He gained his greatest recognition during a two year stint with the Max Roach quintet that also included Gary Bartz and Stanley Cowell.

There is also a previously unreleased bonus track of the song, "Repetition", recorded by Charles for this LP which will be included on this new release of the album. This song was originally made famous by Charlie Parker's LP With Strings.

This album is certainly an important and lasting document in light of the musicians involved and in light of its unique context for Charles Tolliver. But basically, it is just a great album to listen to. Michael Cuscuna