Buscar:fred davis

For Fans Of... Magic Sam, Otis Rush, GA-20, Albert King, Elmore James. Never before heard blues from 1969! The 2023 RSD release is now also available on black vinyl and CD! Pressed right in Cleveland, Ohio at Gotta Groove Records. On Remined Records, Colemine's re-issue imprint. Produced by Eli 'Paperboy' Reed. Recorded by Eli's father in 1969. Tapes have been hidden for over 50 years, now being released for the first time ever. "Fred Davis was a legend, but only in my living room. As a teenager, I started digging deeper and deeper into the blues records in my Dad’s collection. That was when I started to get the Fred Davis story in fits and starts. Fred could play like T-Bone Walker and had a keen voice like J.B. Lenoir, he said. He used to front a jump band in Kansas City, before something went down that sent him to prison at Leavenworth. In the summer of 1967, he ended up working alongside my Dad at Harco, the Cleveland factory where my grandfather was an executive. They became friends, bonding over the B.B. King and Bobby Bland records blaring from the AM radio on the factory floor. Fred taught my Dad the rudiments of blues guitar, but his style. Instead of barring with his first finger, he wrapped his thumb around the back of the neck. That left his other fingers free to create big, ringing voicings that imitated the Kansas City horn sections he heard in his youth. Fred could play up and down the neck and, even when he played and sang just by himself, he sounded like a full band. Or, at least, so the legend went. These were only foggy memories from thirty years previous, passed down from a father to a son. But then we found the tape. A quarter inch reel in a plain white cardboard box, hiding on a shelf in the attic. My Dad explained how it came to exist: He found some friends (acquaintances really) who had a band and some equipment. They setup in my grandparents living room where the upright piano was, and he invited Fred over to record some of his songs with the band backing him up. We found a place nearby that could dub the tape and put it on a CD for us. When we finally got the transfer back, the legend became real. With this music now professionally transferred and remastered, I can only hope that Fred Davis can finally receive the acclaim that he deserves; that he never received in his lifetime. The legend can finally go behind the confines of my living room and, with any luck, to the whole world." Eli 'Paperboy'

The combination of their musicianship and the cutting-edge technology at the studio resulted in a masterpiece of pure, state-of-the-art funk and boogie. The album features all the hallmarks of great 80s music: fresh synths, drum machines, and powerful lead vocals from John Davis. Upbeat tracks like "The Cat (Puma)" and the title track sit comfortably alongside more soulful songs like "Tears" and "Hearts of Gold," while "Dancing Shoes" remains one of the era's catchiest dance tracks.

Still, Shake It - Make It Loose holds a few mysteries. Why was it released under the unusual name J.D. (Puma) Lewis? And what's the story behind tracks like "The Cat"? While J.D. Lewis stood for John Davis Lewis's full legal name, Hudson sheds light on the "Puma" connection: "At the time, I was working as a promotions manager for Puma sportswear. Jörg Dassler, son of Puma founder Rudolf Dassler, was a friend of mine and financed our studio sessions." As said, these sessions took place at Hartmann Digital, a state-of-the-art studio in Untertrubach, Bavaria, where iconic artists like Nena, Yello, Visage, DAF, and Soft Cell recorded.

The use of such an expensive studio would have been out of reach for the two musicians without Puma's backing, which also explains why there is a title like "Dancing Shoes." When we had licensed the track for the Boogie On The Mainline compilation in 2018, we had the chance to speak with John Davis (who sadly passed away in May 2021 due to COVID-19). Davis revealed that there were plans to make a video for the song in collaboration with Puma, but those plans fell through. In the end, the album was signed to the Deggendorf-based Metrovynil label.

Interestingly, the original contract reveals that the first version of the album only contained six tracks. Metrovynil added two more: "Sexy Highschool Lady," a track Davis recorded solo, and "Party Rap" by The Dynamite Two, which had no connection to Davis or Hudson at all. The album's credits also list a "Fred Fiore" as the person "who made all of this possible." Hudson, who sees himself as the producer, has no idea who Fiore was - likely another fabrication from the label. "That's just the kind of thing Metrovynil did," Hudson comments with some regret.

Despite the behind-the-scenes confusion, the music spoke for itself. The original pressing looked and sounded fantastic, featuring a stylish cover shot of John Davis in a sharp suit. Now, with this first-ever vinyl reissue, we're thrilled to include additional photos and more background information in a deluxe gatefold sleeve.

This reissue includes all six tracks from the original Hartmann Digital sessions, plus two bonus tracks. From the original reel tapes, we unearthed additional material that Hudson and Davis produced together in the early to mid-80s. We're excited to share the previously unreleased tracks "Life's A Party," and "Walk Out On Me." The digital version of the reissue will also feature two more songs: "Red Drops" and "Pick It Up Off The Ground."

Shake It - Make It Loose is a classic boogie-funk album that belongs in every serious funk and disco collection. It showcases the undeniable talent of two true musicians and stands as a testament to the friendship between Reg Hudson and John Davis.

Buster Williams is a man with a strong sense of purpose and a very clear sense of his musical direction. He is also a musician of prodigious gifts - which is implicit in the fact that his years of professional bass playing have included work with Miles Davis, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Rollins, Art Blakey, Sarah Vaughan, Nancy Wilson, Betty Carter, Freddie Hubbard, Herbie Hancock, Chet Baker, Woody Shaw and McCoy Tyner. He is unquestionably one of the giants of the double bass, and his status is a product not only of his natural aptitude, but also of his natural attitude - because Buster Williams is a man who believes in setting himself the highest creative goals. Williams composed five of the seven pieces and wrote all the arrangements. To bring the music to life he had the services of some most distinguished associates. It would be redundant to recite the credentials of Herbie Hancock , Wayne Shorter and Al Foster. This is a most refreshing and exhilarating album to which Buster Williams has brought a high level of creativity and total integrity.

Reggae music in many ways reminds us of America’s Motown records. The music comes out of its stable fast and furious we tend to know the songs, the artists, the
studio but who? are the players. The unsung heroes that in many cases, cut most of our favourite tracks One such band this applies to in the Reggae field is the Soul Syndicate Band.

Each Jamaican record producer would have their favourite set of musicians they would use, availability permitting. Although several musicians crossed over into different named bands. For example, a set of players working with Producer Bunny 'Striker' Lee would go under the guise of The Aggrovators. The same group working with Producer Joe Gibbs would work under the name The Professionals. Soul Syndicate were the band of choice for Producer Niney the Observer, who used them for his own recordings and when you put that aside the other artists Niney produced, Dennis Brown, Max Romeo, Michael Rose, I Roy, The Ethiopians, Barry Brown, Gregory Issacs and Freddie McGregor.  To name a few and not necessary all, you begin to see the amount of material this set of musicians played on.

Built around the rhythm section of Calton 'Santa' Davis and George 'Fully' Fullwood, drums and bass respectfully. They were usually accompanied by Earl 'Chinna' Smith, Tony Chin on guitars, Keith Sterling, Gladstone 'Gladdy' Anderstone, Bernard 'Touter' Harvey, organ/keyboards and Noel 'Skully' Simms, percussion. Niney's tracks tended to be rhythm heavy and thus Sound System favourites.But when brass was needed/called for ,this was provided by the likes of Tommy McCook, Bobby Ellis, Felix ' Deadley Headley' Bennett. Niney not having a studio of his own at the time used most of Kingston's studios, again availability and money providing. But most of these cuts
selected for this release were cut at Channel 1 and a few exceptions at Randy's Studio 17 and at Joe Gibbs studio at Burns Avenue.

Niney also worked closely with King Tubby on his dub plates, so tracks after the recording sessions were taken to King Tubbys for reconstruction and sometimes
re-voicing over an existing rhythm. These were then used as version sides to the vocal cuts, but most importantly used to nice up the dances, being played out on King Tubbys Hometown Hi-Fi Sound System. We have pulled together a selection of such dub plate specials cut by the Soul Syndicate band for this release. Dub sides that emphasise how well the band worked together, and with Niney at the reigns and the added bonus of some Tubby magic sprinkled on top. Please see our Niney the Observer at King Tubbys 1973-1975 (JRO11) for further examples of this work.

We at Jamaican Recordings hope we are not alone in saluting the musicians, that played such a big part in producing many of our favourite Reggae Sounds. Having released titles by The Revolutionaries (JR003), The Aggrovators (JR005), Sly and Robbie (JR006), we are now pleased to release a selection of rare Dub cuts by another one of Jamaica's finest, the Soul Syndicate band to our catalogue...

Respect Jah Floyd.

With simpatico support from double bassist Drew Gress and drummer Tom Rainey, Hersch presented fresh interpretations of tunes by his favourite jazz composers, which included Miles Davis ('Milestones'), Wayne Shorter ('Iris'), Thelonious Monk ('Played Twice'), Dizzy Gillespie ('Con Alma'), and Herbie Hancock (Speak Like A Child). The album also includes an original number, 'Evanessence,' which Hersch composed as a salute to pianist Bill Evans. The Fred Hersch Trio Plays is a remarkable collection of performances affirming that jazz is about exploration, constant reinvention, and selfless teamwork.

For All The World, the black watch's twenty-fifth (and first double) album is a darkly poppy, brightly moody, many-splendored take on a number of the great themes: Death and Sex, Memory and Lament and Hope and Love. And it is, arguably, this heralded Los Angeles band's most sonically ambitious and moving record yet, since front man/novelist/ex-English professor John Andrew Fredrick formed the group in 1988 in Santa Barbara after he'd seen a London-by-way-of-Canada band called The Lucy Show play to twelve-or-so people in his hometown.

Having recorded 2024's Weird Rooms with producer Misha Bullock and Fredrick's son Chandler at Bullock's studio in Austin, TX, the TBW founder was keen to repeat the experience with, he says, more straightforward, classic psych/jangle/shoegaze songs. The result, though artistically satisfying, spurred a yen in John to write more songs as a sort of reaction against the batch he'd carried with him from LA to Texas. "We had such a productive time recording ‘Weird Rooms’ that I wanted to repeat the experience... without repeating the experience. And once it was over and I left Misha to do what he pleased with respect to mixing and overdubbing, all I could think was 'I need to write another album now.'" So Fredrick brought longstanding producer/engineer and TBW-associate Scott Campbell (Stevie Nicks, Acetone) along this time to help out with engineering and good cheer.

Fredrick, who has been "accused" of being "astonishingly prolific," learned that bandmate Andy Creighton had recently become unemployed, seized the opportunity to have yet another multi-instrumentalist flesh out the new songs he quickly wrote after he came back from Austin. “Achilles Past,” the first single, is in fact a song that John wrote when the production team thought the album was done—and the front man avers that it’s often the case that a very strong song comes to him, as it were, in the eleventh hour. The same could be said for “Listen You Wait”—another number that came late to the Austin sessions.

Nevertheless, the recording of the first half of For All The World has Creighton's signature indelibly stamped on it - especially on such tracks as “Fainting” and “Surely You Rally”- just as the latter half highlights Bullock's formidable talents. "They're both not just brilliant musicians and they understand my aesthetic and bring their own sensibilities to bear on my stuff. Our respective tastes meet in, you guessed it, The Beatles' realm - the great shadow that hangs over all I do, at least."

"There's A Place," the final song on side two, serves in fact as a distinct homage that's been a long time coming for a band that included a cover of "It's All Too Much" as a bonus track and that release a quite punkish, uptempo version of "Eleanor Rigby" on a 7".

The long-rumored, sweat-soaked live album from the night Bill Davis (Dash Rip Rock) and Fred Le Blanc (Cowboy Mouth) dared Jello Biafra to join them during Jazzfest and sing all classic New Orleans soul, rhythm and blues, and (at Jello's request) garage songs! Joining in were piano Wildman Pete Wet Dawg' Gordon (Mojo Nixon), Pepper Keenan (Down, Corrosion of Conformity) and a wacky horn section from Egg Yolk Jubilee and Morning 40 Federation that even includes a sousaphone! You want loose We got loose! You want crazy That's here, too. Walk on Jindal's Splinters is one of the all-time great you are there' high-energy live albums—audience participation galore, plenty of trademark Jello banter, and full-on soul / trash / frat / garage gumbo from eleven of New Orleans' finest, just playing their asses off and having a good time doing it. The album also showcases a whole 'nother side of Jello Biafra: his deep, pre-punk roots known only to a handful of vinyl junkies and anyone lucky enough to catch his DJ gigs. For all those whose interest in Jello goes beyond the punk persona to Jello Biafra, the singer, this is for you. Maximum trash appeal! Southern roadhouse debauchery at its finest! Calls to mind those sing-along, clap-along frat-rock platters from The Premiers to The Kingsman to Geno Washington's Hipsters, Flipsters... series, Swingin' Medallions, or even Slade Alive! You can almost feel the grease and voodoo dripping from the walls!" Showcases a rarely seen side of Jello—his pre-punk roots. Personnel includes members of Dash Rip Rock, Cowboy Mouth, Mojo Nixon, Corrosion of Conformity, etc. Vinyl includes digital download card

The long-rumored, sweat-soaked live album from the night Bill Davis (Dash Rip Rock) and Fred Le Blanc (Cowboy Mouth) dared Jello Biafra to join them during Jazzfest and sing all classic New Orleans soul, rhythm and blues, and (at Jello's request) garage songs! Joining in were piano Wildman Pete Wet Dawg' Gordon (Mojo Nixon), Pepper Keenan (Down, Corrosion of Conformity) and a wacky horn section from Egg Yolk Jubilee and Morning 40 Federation that even includes a sousaphone! You want loose We got loose! You want crazy That's here, too. Walk on Jindal's Splinters is one of the all-time great you are there' high-energy live albums—audience participation galore, plenty of trademark Jello banter, and full-on soul / trash / frat / garage gumbo from eleven of New Orleans' finest, just playing their asses off and having a good time doing it. The album also showcases a whole 'nother side of Jello Biafra: his deep, pre-punk roots known only to a handful of vinyl junkies and anyone lucky enough to catch his DJ gigs. For all those whose interest in Jello goes beyond the punk persona to Jello Biafra, the singer, this is for you. Maximum trash appeal! Southern roadhouse debauchery at its finest! Calls to mind those sing-along, clap-along frat-rock platters from The Premiers to The Kingsman to Geno Washington's Hipsters, Flipsters... series, Swingin' Medallions, or even Slade Alive! You can almost feel the grease and voodoo dripping from the walls!" Showcases a rarely seen side of Jello—his pre-punk roots. Personnel includes members of Dash Rip Rock, Cowboy Mouth, Mojo Nixon, Corrosion of Conformity, etc. Vinyl includes digital download card

REPRESS!

Gatefold with session photos. Hype sticker = The Classic 1959 Jazz Album. Also featuring John Coltrane, Bill Evans Cannonball Adderly

The jazz saxophonist Wayne Shorter, released this "Wayning Moments” LP in 1962. It was recorded earlier, in 1961 during Shorter's early years as a
bandleader before his tenure with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and later Miles Davis' Second Great Quintet. This album showcases Shorter's early
compositional voice, blending intricate harmonies with expressive improvisation. His playing is energetic, and the interplay with Freddie Hubbard
creates a rich and engaging dialogue.

2-LP GATEFOLD SPECIAL EDITION - 180-GRAM VIRGIN VINYL - “KIND OF BLUE - THE MONO & STEREO VERSIONS” - LIMITED EDITION

The complete iconic 1959 Miles Davis album Kind of Blue, one of the most influential LPs in modern jazz, featuring Miles Davis on trumpet, John Coltrane on tenor sax, Cannonball Adderley on alto sax, Bill Evans and Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Jimmy Cobb on drums. It is presented here both in its original Stereo and Mono versions

"Keep Your Soul Together"" (1973) is Freddie Hubbard’s fifth studio album released on Creed Taylor's CTI label. The album features Hubbard alongside an ensemble that includes Junior Cook on tenor sax, George Cables on keyboards, Aurell Ray on guitar, Kent Brinkley or Ron Carter on bass, Ralph Penland on drums, and Juno Lewis on percussion. The album’s sound, though occasionally funky, is rooted in creative jazz, showcasing Hubbard in peak form across four of his original compositions.

Though some writers have often underrated Hubbard’s CTI recordings, mistaking them for his later, more commercial output on Columbia, this particular album stands out as a testament to his ingenuity. Hubbard’s blend of bravado and subtlety shines through, as does his ability to fuse technical mastery with emotional depth. His ability to maintain a consistent, rich tone across both slow and fast passages placed him among the greatest trumpeters in jazz history.

Influenced by legends such as Miles Davis and Clifford Brown, Hubbard nonetheless crafted a sound entirely his own, becoming one of the boldest and most inventive trumpeters of the bop, hard-bop, and post-bop eras. His impact on jazz extended far beyond his solo recordings, as he collaborated with many of the genre's greats, leaving behind a powerful legacy. Down Beat magazine described Hubbard as “the most powerful and prolific trumpeter in jazz” shortly after his passing in 2008. His influence continues to shape the world of jazz, inspiring generations of trumpeters and musicians alike. "

Re-mastered from the original Mono Master Tapes. Limited repress 1000 copies.

180 gr vinyl pressed by Pallas in Germany.

Deluxe high-gloss flipback album jacket.

Essay written by Brian Priestley.

Double insert using an original photo by JP Leloir from the concert.

Artwork by Jean-Louis Duralek.

Each record has been visually checked to prevent defects.

A never-before released Art Blakey 1965 live recordings.

First official release with the full permission and cooperation of the Art Blakey Estate & INA (Institut National de l’Audiovisuel).

Art Blakey, Live in ’65 boasts an exceptional one-hour concert from Paris in 1965. This performance showcases one of the few undocumented Blakey bands, the New Jazzmen, featuring Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Jaki Byard on piano, Reggie Workman on bass, Nathan Davis on sax, and, of course, Blakey on drums.
Freddie Hubbard’s incendiary playing on “Blue Moon” and the blistering 24-minute version of his own “Crisis” shows that he was one of the most innovative trumpeters in jazz history.

On this live session, the audiences seem to have been enthusiastic and appreciative. “Everywhere we’d go people would say, This is the best Jazz Messengers we’ve heard!”, according to Davis. “And because of the way Jaki would play and Reggie would go, it was like a semi-freedom thing – with Messengers heads, you know, but when we got to soloing…! And Blakey was ridin’ and floatin’ the time…but he would always be loose enough to follow, to keep it going. He’s one helluva musician.”

Recorded at Palais de la Mutualité, Paris, France, November 3, 1965.

Freddie Hubbard (Trumpet)
Nathan Davis (Tenor saxophone)
Jacki Byard (Piano)
Reggie Workman (Bass)
Art Blakey (Drums)

Ava Mendoza has never made an album quite as personal as her second solo full-length, The Circular Train. Through her decades of collaborations with Nels Cline, Carla Bozulich, William Parker, Fred Frith, Matana Roberts, and Mick Barr—plus years leading her power trio Unnatural Ways and playing in Bill Orcutt’s quartet—the guitarist’s name has become synonymous with virtuoso technique, raw passion, and visceral resonance, a player pushing the edges of the guitar’s possibilities. Along the way, from 2007 to 2023, Mendoza was writing these slow-burning, incandescent songs. The Circular Train is comprised solely of her single-tracked guitar playing and, on two songs, her corporeal singing. Her first solo LP of original material since relocating from California to New York City a decade ago, much of The Circular Train was honed amid pandemic years that clarified the virtues of slowing down. This expressive avant-rock is a definitive introduction to one of the most uncompromising and inquisitive visions in creative music. Mendoza’s thrilling melange of free jazz, blues, noise, classical training, and blazing experimental rock’n’roll all coheres with ecstatic feedback, with picking and solos that crest with shimmer. Sometimes she sounds like a one-woman Sonic Youth with guttural and poised vocals that equally evoke Patti Smith and blues greats like Jessie Mae Hemphill. Conceptually, The Circular Train is presented as a psychogeographical train ride through certain of Mendoza’s musical homelands. The songs draw on ancestral and recent familial memories, notably of her parents’ roots in mining towns—in her father’s home country of Bolivia and mother’s hometown of Butte, Montana, each country with its own history of colonialism, racism, forced labor, the eradication of culture and the subsequent excavation of it. These adventurous songs were composed in cars and planes, in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, in Los Angeles and upstate New York—which is to say in motion. “Ride to Cerro Rico,” named for the mountain and silver mine at the center of Potosi, Bolivia, was inspired by Mendoza’s great grandmother’s life there in a Quechua mining family. “Dust From the Mines” drew from that history as well as Mendoza’s familial lineage of miners in Montana, building up to stunning swaths of shredded iridescence. “Pink River Dolphins” was inspired by a visit to the Amazon rainforest, swimming with dolphins alongside her father—the pink bufeos that inhabit both Bolivia and Columbia—and the song is dedicated to the memory of Mendoza’s late friend, the Colombian-American trumpeter jaimie branch. They shared a fascination with those intelligent and agile creatures who often communicate by echolocation. “Make a sound, it comes back around,” Mendoza sings, and later, “Echo, echo/The answer in a sound,” evoking what branch knew well: through music we navigate life. The Circular Train contains one cover, “Irene, Goodnight,” composed by Gussie Lord Davis and popularized by Leadbelly; Mendoza has been performing it for over 20 years. Almost as deeply embedded in her repertoire is the penultimate track, “The Shadow Song.” “Treat your shadow kind and it might treat you good,” Mendoza sings on this song that she’s been reworking for over a decade, an emblem of devotion. “Treat your shadow kind and it might treat you right,” she repeats, becoming a blues mantra. What is a shadow self if not one’s secret world, which, once laid bare, awaits an echo, a return?

2024 Repress

Re-mastered from the original Mono Master Tapes. Limited repress 1000 copies.

180 gr vinyl pressed by Pallas in Germany.

Deluxe high-gloss flipback album jacket.

Essay written by Brian Priestley.

Double insert using an original photo by JP Leloir from the concert.

Artwork by Jean-Louis Duralek.

Each record has been visually checked to prevent defects.

A never-before released Art Blakey 1965 live recordings.

First official release with the full permission and cooperation of the Art Blakey Estate & INA (Institut National de l’Audiovisuel).

Art Blakey, Live in ’65 boasts an exceptional one-hour concert from Paris in 1965. This performance showcases one of the few undocumented Blakey bands, the New Jazzmen, featuring Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Jaki Byard on piano, Reggie Workman on bass, Nathan Davis on sax, and, of course, Blakey on drums.
Freddie Hubbard’s incendiary playing on “Blue Moon” and the blistering 24-minute version of his own “Crisis” shows that he was one of the most innovative trumpeters in jazz history.

On this live session, the audiences seem to have been enthusiastic and appreciative. “Everywhere we’d go people would say, This is the best Jazz Messengers we’ve heard!”, according to Davis. “And because of the way Jaki would play and Reggie would go, it was like a semi-freedom thing – with Messengers heads, you know, but when we got to soloing…! And Blakey was ridin’ and floatin’ the time…but he would always be loose enough to follow, to keep it going. He’s one helluva musician.”

Recorded at Palais de la Mutualité, Paris, France, November 3, 1965.

Freddie Hubbard (Trumpet)
Nathan Davis (Tenor saxophone)
Jacki Byard (Piano)
Reggie Workman (Bass)
Art Blakey (Drums)

"Even by the high-water marks set by Herbie Hancock’s tremendous 1960s Blue Note output, 1965’s Maiden Voyage remains one of the pinnacle artistic achievements of the great pianist’s career. Hancock is joined here by his Miles Davis Quintet bandmates Ron Carter on bass and Tony Williams on drums, along with Freddie Hubbard on trumpet and George Coleman on tenor saxophone. The quintet embarks on an oceanic exploration of five original Hancock compositions, several of which have since become enduring standards of the jazz lexicon including the title track, “Eye of the Hurricane,” and “Dolphin Dance.”
"