An excellent collection of rare material by this fantastic modernist piano player! The record compiles rare recordings from the years 1951 to 1966, including a few excellent solo recordings that stand as essential gems from his underrecorded career. Titles include "Ju Ju", "Pastime", "Stretch", "Dream: Paris 1965", and "Descent Into The Maelstrom". (Great Japanese pressing!) This hard-to-find LP starts off with the utterly unique title cut. On this completely atonal track (which predates Cecil Taylor by a few years), Lennie Tristano overdubbed several pianos and created picturesque and extremely intense music.
Reissue with the latest DSD remastering. A fantastic record from vibist David Friedman – spare, hip, modern, and very moody! Friedman's playing vibes and marimba alongside David Samuels, who plays the same – and this twin-vibes approach sounds fantastic – especially as the record has no drums, just additional bass, plus flute by Hubert Laws – a very loose, open style that comes across with a completely unique sound! The approach is super-dope for any fan of laidback 70s vibes – and the tracks are never too free or way out, just gliding with this airy quality that's really wonderful – one of the best demonstrations of Friedman's great talents on record. Titles include "Truce", "Nyack", "Brite Piece", "Island", and "Saraband".
Reissue with the latest DSD remastering. A tremendous little album from pianist Don Friedman – a trio session, but one that's cut with a mixture of Fender Rhodes and electric bass, which gives the album a majestically soulful groove! Friedman's never sounded better, and the record is easily one of his best – with a sound that matches the best CTI sides of the time, colored by the freedoms of the Japanese recording scene of the 70s – territory that Don never hit this strongly again, and which makes the record a really unique outing, quite diferent than both his early work and later sides. The group features Lyn Christie on bass and Bill Goodwin on drums – and titles include "Paula's Wish", "Canvas On My Mind", "Lullaby For Lynne", "Hope For Tomorrow", and "A Place Within".
Reissue with the latest DSD remastering. Dollar Brand playing solo – but with a vibrancy that hardly makes you miss the other instruments at all! Most of the record features solo piano, but there's also a bit of bamboo flute as well – leading off the set and establishing this great organic vibe to the whole thing, which is then followed by Brand's long-spun, completely hypnotic lines on piano! The recording quality is wonderful – very clear and strong, and quite resonant too – and the set features two side-long long suites – "Africa" and "Reflection" – with shorter passages that move through the warm range of moods you'd find in Brand's other strong work from the time. Titles include "Ancient Africa", "Msunduza", "Single Petal Of A Rose", and "African Sun".
Reissue with the latest DSD remastering. This album from 1976 is widely considered as one of the best, if not THE best, four-beat jazz albums by Sadao Watanabe, the legendary Japanese saxophonist. Watanabe went to New York, met with the original Great Jazz Trio – Hank Jones, Ron Carter and Tony Williams – before the super-group became well-known for its superb recordings.
Of all Gil Evans' orchestral scores for soulmate Miles Davis, PORGY AND BESS is his richest and most ambitious–a watershed of modern jazz harmony which served to secure Davis' pop star stature and define his brooding mystique. Inevitably, even non-jazz listeners own a copy of PORGY AND BESS or SKETCHES OF SPAIN.
Cardboard sleeve reissue features remastering in 2013 and the high-fidelity Blu-spec CD2 format (compatible with standard CD players). Includes bonus tracks. Originally released in 1973 by the Soft Machine bassist shortly after the band had lost eccentric drummer/vocalist Robert Wyatt and had begun their evolution into a respectable (and somewhat predictable) jazz-rock ensemble, this was Hopper's attempt at something more experimental.