Reissue with the latest remastering. Comes with liner notes. A month after losing Wayne Shorter to the beginnings of Weather Report, Miles Davis added young saxophonist Steve Grossman to the fold that included drummer Jack DeJohnette, bassist Dave Holland, electric pianist Chick Corea, and percussionist Airto Moreira. Just in time, too, since Bitches Brew had just been released. What is most interesting about this performance is how abstract it is, even by the standards exacted on In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew.
Special priced-down reissue available only for a limited period of time until December 21, 2015. Comes with liner notes. Finally, a non-bootleg issue of one of Miles Davis' greatest electric performances ever. In fact this is the very first of the Miles Davis Quintet's electric gigs – it was also one of the last four performances of this great band. Not just recorded, but performed. The band, consisting of Davis, Wayne Shorter on soprano and tenor, Chick Corea on Fender Rhodes, Dave Holland on both acoustic and electric bass, and Jack DeJohnette on drums. With percussionist Airto Moreira providing color and texture, the band became a sextet.
Special priced-down reissue available only for a limited period of time until December 21, 2015. Comes with liner notes. This stunning live set has been hailed by many as one of the finest moments of Miles' mid 60s career – music played with a frenetic energy that even blows away the famous studio sessions of the time! The group here is a landmark lineup – young modernists Wayne Shorter on tenor, Herbie Hancock on piano, and Tony Williams on drums – all reaching out to really increase their craft, and work through new ideas alongside Miles' trumpet.
Reissue with the latest 2014 DSD remastering. Comes with liner notes. Nirvana is lovely work from Charles Lloyd – recorded at the point when he was just pushing off from Chico Hamilton's group, and before he got too noodly for his own good! Side one of the record features Lloyd with his own group – jazzing it up in a mix of flute, guitar, and percussion on a number of short tracks that have a light and breezy feel. There's a nice dose of bossa in the set, plus some of the other freer rhythmic styles that Lloyd and Hamilton experimented with together at the time – but all of the tracks have a strong rhythmic pulse, and never lose their groove for too much experimentation. Side two features two wonderful tracks with Hamilton's group at a point when Lloyd was still working with the ensemble – both long tracks with a modal pulse and a great deal of spirituality – again free, but never too much so! A nice little album – with tracks that include "Island Blues", "Carcara", "Long Time Baby", "One For Joan", and "Freedom Traveler".
Reissue with the latest 2014 remastering. Comes with liner notes. Available as CD for the first time in the world. Overlooked solo work from John Lewis – a lesser-known, Japanese-only session that features the pianist in a relaxed trio setting! The mode here is as spacious as some of Lewis' more contemplative records – still very much wrapped up in that careful sense of tone and timing – but the overall feel is maybe more personal and spontaneous, as John takes the lead in the company of Connie Kay on drums and Michael Moore on bass. There's a nicely mature feel to the music – but mature in a way that gets past some of Lewis' too-serious modes of a decade or two previous – and titles include "Lela", "Sacha's March", "Visitor From Mars", "Natural Affection", and "Monday In Milan".
Reissue with the latest remastering. Comes with liner notes. Miles Davis at Carnegie Hall is a live album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, recorded on May 19, 1961, at Carnegie Hall and released by Columbia Records. Davis is captured with his transitional small combo featuring Hank Mobley, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, and Jimmy Cobb, as well as with the Gil Evans Orchestra. It was one of only two concerts Davis and Evans performed together, and that alone makes the album necessary for collectors, but the music itself is terrific. Neither the small group nor large band performances offer any new revelations, but they both showcase a strong, powerful Davis, and the music is quite enjoyable.
Reissue with DSD remastering. Comes with liner notes. A Japanese-only album from Weather Report – recorded early in the group's career, and with some of the same sort of freedoms that Miles Davis was getting on his own double-length dates from Japan! The tracks here are quite stretched out, and often adventurous – showing a marked ability to jam heavily at one moment, get contemplative the next, and continually explore sounds on the frontiers of fusion in the 70s. The group's the "second chapter" Weather Report – with Wayne Shorter on reeds, Joe Zawinul on keyboards, Miroslav Vitous on bass, Eric Gravatt on drums, and Dom Um Romao on percussion – and titles include "Orange Lady", "Vertical Invader/Seventh Arrow/TH", "Surucucu/Lost/Early Minor/Direction", and "Tears/Umbrellas".
Reissue. Comes with new liner notes. A sweet session of 70s electric jazz – recorded as a unique live all-star outing by a group of Arista's best jazz players at the time! The group's an octet, but plays together in differing formations throughout the record – with Warren Bernhardt on keyboards, Michael Brecker on saxes, Randy Brecker on trumpet, Steve Jordan on drums, Steve Khan and Larry Coryell on guitars, Tony Levin on bass, and Mike Maineri on vibes – the last of which really make for some of the best numbers on the album! Bernhardt's keyboards are pretty good too – stepping out with a spacious, fluid feel that's never jamming – and more in the open-ended Bob James side of the spectrum, although his overall sound is a lot different than Bob's! Titles include "Blue Montreux", "Rocks", "I'm Sorry", "Floating".
Reissue with latest remastering. Comes with liner notes. Some of the best modern jazz Italy had to offer in the postwar years – and a record that's gone onto be the blueprint for countless recent work from groups on labels like Schema and Deja Vu! Tracks are short, but very groove-centered – often mixing modal jazz rhythms with hardbop solo energy – served up beautifully through the tenor of Gianni Basso and the trumpet of Oscar Valdambrini! The pair are hardly a household name on this side of the Atlantic, but their interplay here matches the best on Blue Note from the same time – and gets some great rhythm support from the trio of Renato Sellani on piano, Giorgio Azzolini on bass, and Gianni Carzola on drums. Most tracks here are originals by members of the group, and titles include "Lotar", "Time Was", "Bashfully", "Tea Time", "Mitigati", "Renee", "Dialogo", and "Ricordando Lester".
Reissue with latest remastering. Comes with liner notes. Shorty Rogers courts Count Basie – but he does so in a way that's definitely all his own! The material may have Basie roots, but the overall execution is Shorty at his early 50s best – in a way that makes the album one of his strongest for RCA at the time – and that's saying a heck of a lot, given the great run of records! The lineup is filled with well-chosen players who fall together wonderfully under Shorty's leadership – Buck Clayton, Pete Candoli, and Harry Edison on trumpets – and reed work from Jimmy Giuffre, Bob Cooper, and Bud Shank. The set swings with all the power of the Basie band, yet has all the wonderful arrangements we love from Rogers – and titles include "Basie Eyes", "Doggin Around", "Jump For Me", "Over & Out", and "Walk, Don't Run".