During an 18-year period, fan Mike Harris went to the Village Vanguard whenever pianist Bill Evans appeared and privately taped his performances. More than a decade after Evans' death, Harris made all the proper legal arrangements and producer Orrin Keepnews released music from 26 different occasions on this eight-CD box set, 104 selections in all. With the exception of the first date (and to a lesser extent the last one), the recording quality is surprisingly good, making this a real bonanza for Bill Evans' other fans.
The colossally popular Zatoichi films make up the longest-running action series in Japanese history and created one of the screen’s great heroes: an itinerant blind masseur who also happens to be a lightning-fast swordsman. As this iconic figure, the charismatic and earthy Shintaro Katsu became an instant superstar, lending a larger-than-life presence to the thrilling adventures of a man who lives staunchly by a code of honor and delivers justice in every town and village he enters. The films that feature him are variously pulse-pounding, hilarious, stirring, and completely off-the-wall. This deluxe set features the string of twenty-five Zatoichi films made between 1962 and 1973, collected in one package for the first time.
The albums packaged in this Impulse two-fer – Village of the Pharoahs and Wisdom Through Music – were both released in 1973, but only the latter was recorded as an album. They share the same basic personnel – pianist Joe Bonner, bassist Cecil McBee, drummer Norman Connors, and percussionist Lawrence Killian – while Village, because it was recorded at three different sessions over three years, also contains numerous other players, including vocalist Sedatrius Brown, bassists Stanley Clarke, Jimmy Hopps, and Calvin Hill, percussionists Hannibal Peterson and Kenneth Nash, and flutist Art Webb. Wisdom Through Music simply adds Mtume and Badal Roy to the percussion section, with Killian and flutist James "Plunky" Branch (founder of spiritual jazz-funk pioneers Oneness of Juju).
Zappa Records presents The Roxy Performances. A 7-Disc Box Set that contains the MOTHERLODE of all things Roxy. All 4 public shows from December 9 & 10 1973, remixed in 2016 and presented in their entirety for the first time. Also included is the sound check from December 8th and bonus content that features rehearsal nuggets and unreleased tracks along with highlights from the recording session at Bolic Studios that took place in conjunction with the filming dates. Recording Medium: #M Scotch 2inch 16 Track Analog Tape @ 30ips.
Frank Zappa’s two complete Halloween shows in Chicago, recorded on 31 October 1973, are out now as Halloween 73, via Zappa Records/UMe.
The photo of Sanders in lotus position, generously collared psychedelic shirt poking out from under his white robes, says it all. Having abandoned the Ayler-influenced sound of Pharoah's First, released almost a decade previously, by Village Of The Pharoahs the saxophonist had jumped with both feet into the soaring and the spiritual. The album is a slightly mixed bag, with material from the main San Francisco sessions bulked out with tracks recorded in New Jersey and New York. It's also unusual in that Sanders plays tenor on just one track, the rest of the time contributing a combination of soprano, bells, percussion and vocals.