Art Blakey's 1960 hard bop classic, The Big Beat, introduced one of the greatest line-ups of the Jazz Messengers with the legendary drummer joined by Lee Morgan, Wayne Shorter, Bobby Timmons, and Jymie Merritt. 3 of the 6 tunes were composed by Shorter, but the album is best-known for an unforgettable version of Timmons' enduring hit "Dat Dere." Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series is all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Optimal.

Limited 180gm vinyl LP pressing. On his first Blue Note date since relinquishing the Jazz Messengers moniker to Art Blakey, Horace Silver struck gold with the 1956 album, 6 Pieces of Silver, a sterling set of hard bop that introduced his indelible composition "Seor Blues." The pianist was joined by an ace quintet featuring Donald Byrd, Hank Mobley, Doug Watkins, and Louis Hayes. Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series is all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Optimal.

Donald Byrd's 1975 album, Places and Spaces, featuring the hits "Wind Parade" and "Dominoes," was the culmination of his fusion period. It was his 5th consecutive album produced by the visionary Larry Mizell, and the second to last session Byrd would cut for Blue Note, the label he had been with since 1958. Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series is all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Optimal.

Back by popular demand, the critically acclaimed release by tenor saxophone icon Charles Lloyd, is available once again as a deluxe, limited edition180g, 2LP 2nd pressing - newly remastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, cut at 33 1/3 RPM and pressed by RTI.

This album features guitarist Gábor Szábo, Ron Carter and drummer Pete La Roca captured live in 1965 at Judson Hall and Slugs in New York City. The extensive booklet includes essays and rare photos.

Disc One (Judson Hall):
Side A
1. Sweet Georgia Bright (17:49)
2. How Can I Tell You (11:57)

Side B 1. Lady Gabor (12:50)

Disc Two (Slugs’):
Side C
1. Slugs’ Blues (12:57)
2. Lady Gabor (13:53)

Side D 1. Dream Weaver (15:25)

Presented for the first time ever on vinyl! Audiophile 180g pressing of the seminal 1995 Cris Cross albums showcasing Brad Mehldau & Mark Turner. Remastered from the original tapes. "Consenting Adults" captured all of us when we were right at the beginning of developing our own voices" - Brad Mehldau

Side A:
1. Belief
2. Little Melonae I
Side B:
1. Phantasm
2. Afterglow
Side C:
1. Limbo
2. Consenting Adults
Side D:
1. From This Moment On
2. Peace
3. Little Melonae II

There's early work with Eric Dolphy and McCoy Tyner in Charles Mingus' Jazz Workshop, work with Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln, a stint in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, and also one with Miles. There's his groundbreaking and highly influential Ntu Troop albums of the early 70s and his jazz-funk work including two classic albums with the Mizell Brothers, one of which supplied A Tribe Called Quest with a sample that was smooth like butter. That's not to mention appearances on beloved albums by Pharoah Sanders, Donald Byrd, Norman Connors, Roy Ayers, Gene Ammons, Phyllis Hyman, Jackie McLean and many others. This is what Gary Bartz brings to the Jazz Is Dead project and as can be expected, his questing spirit fits the JID style like a glove and has produced an album that's a cutting-edge addition to his immense canon as he effortlessly interfaces with a new generation.

Vinyl LP pressing. With his sound and spirituality, this saxophonist from Ohio earned Coltrane comparisons-but Rudolph mixes bebop, soul-jazz and groovy funk in his own way on this 1971 LP, his first Black Jazz Records release. Follow his explorations of the upper registers and overtones of his tenor sax as he plays "Sylvia Ann," "Fonda," "Diswa," "Spring Rain" and more. His band mates here had played with everyone from Marvin Gaye to Pharoah Sanders to Bob Dylan; this is stellar, and this is a first-time vinyl reissue!

Calvin's 1971 debut for Black Jazz Records heralded the arrival of a new jazz guitar star. Already esteemed for his work with organists Jimmy Smith, Jimmy McGriff and Jack McDuff, Calvin teamed with pianist Larry Nash on this album (Larry had played with Bill Withers, Etta James and many others). Calvin went on to become a Bay Area jazz fixture; his journey started with "Criss Cross," "Gee-Gee," "B.K.," the title cut and the rest of this early-'70s gem!

Throughout the 1970s, legendary jazz pianist and composer Herbie Hancock engaged in a prolonged period of experimentation across sounds and recording formats, releasing several albums for Columbia that were only issued in Japan. 1979's Directstep was one such album, one that made use of a new form of recording technology called "Direct-To-Disc." This method recorded masters, in real time, to acetate discs, rendering incredibly high fidelity LP pressings, but sacrificing the ability to edit or overdub, a challenge Hancock and his group were more than up to.

Directstep utilized other technological advancements as well, incorporating brand new electronic instrument technology such as the electronic wind instrument the Lyricon, the freshly released Propet-5 synthesizer, and of course the Sennheiser Vocoder which would become a key part of the artist’s arsenal during his electro-funk period in the 1980s.

Beyond all that, Directstep is an incredibly solid collection of Herbie Hancock material, featuring stirring remakes of Hancock staples "Butterfly" and "I Thought It Was You" as well as brand new track "Shiftless Shuffle." Get On Down is proud to present this reissue of Directstep, a gem of jazz-fusion, available on vinyl for the first time in 30 years for RSD Black Friday!

A Side: “Butterfly”
B Side : “Shiftless Shuffle”, “I Thought It Was You”

Vinyl LP pressing. The first release on Black Jazz was by pianist and label producer Gene Russell; for the label's second release, Russell chose another piano man of impeccable taste, Walter Bishop, Jr. But while much of Russell's record consisted of songs composed by others, Bishop's record features all originals, most notably 'Soul Turn Around,' a groover that later turned up on Freddie Hubbard's 1969 LP A Soul Experiment. Bishop had helmed several releases before this one, including dates with John Coltrane bassist Jimmy Garrison and Miles Davis drummer Jimmy Cobb among others, so it's not surprising he assembled a heavy hitting line-up for Coral Keys, including Woody Shaw on trumpet, Reggie Jackson on bass, Idris Muhammad on drums, and Harold Vick on flute, tenor, and soprano sax. Think Herbie Hancock's '60s Blue Note recordings gently polished with a soul jazz sheen; this is some tasty stuff that's been hard to find for way too long. Remastered by Mike Milchner at Sonic Vision, this long-awaited release includes notes by Pat Thomas, author of Listen, Whitey! The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975, which place both the Black Jazz label and this album in a broader musical and societal context. Produced for reissue by Real Gone Music's own Gordon Anderson and decorated jazz archivist Zev Feldman.

Vinyl LP pressing. The Awakening were the only 'group' recorded by Black Jazz, for which they made two albums; those two releases happen to be among the most collectible in the label's entire catalog, which, given the value Black Jazz titles command in the open market, gives one an idea just how sought-after these records are. Recorded in 1972, Hear, Sense, and Feel marked the band's debut, and featured the same line-up that played on next year's Mirage. Being from Chicago, The Awakening's line-up unsurprisingly boasts a heavy connection to the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians) collective that claimed The Art Ensemble of Chicago among it's most esteemed artists; in fact, both bassist Reggie Willis and tenor saxman/flautist Ari Brown were AACM members and appeared on albums with Muhal Richard Abrams, Lester Bowie, and Anthony Braxton among others. The other members of The Awakening, on the other hand, hailed from the city's soul jazz scene, specifically Young Holt Unlimited, for whom co-leaders trumpeter Frank Gordon and keyboardist Ken Chaney played (trombonist Steve Galloway played on Melvin Jackson's soul jazz classic Funky Skull). And it is that sweet spot, somewhere between the free jazz and Afrocentric explorations of the Art Ensemble and the rhythm-heavy soul jazz sound being recorded at Chicago-based labels like Brunswick and Cadet, that Hear, Sense and Feel lands. Which explains why this album sells for hundreds of dollars online if you can find it at all. Real Gone Music's first-ever LP reissue is pressed on black vinyl at Gotta Groove Records with lacquer cutting by Clint Holley and Dave Polster at Well Made Music. Mike Milchner at Sonic Vision Mastering has remastered the album for both CD and vinyl, and both formats feature liner notes by Pat Thomas, author of Listen, Whitey! The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975, that set the scene for both the label and the band. A lost gem worthy of all the attention we think this reissue is going to get!

As purportedly the first Black-owned jazz imprint since the '20s, the Black Jazz label had it's roots in the Black Power movement of the late '60s and early '70s. But not every album on the label had a social message. Kellee Patterson's Maiden Voyage was simply an extremely tasteful, mellow jazz vocal album, recorded with the top-notch sidemen that characterized Black Jazz sessions. Patterson first gained fame as the first Black woman (entered under her real name Pat Patterson) to win the Miss Indiana contest, culminating in a performance of 'My Funny Valentine' at the Miss America pageant. Her success led to some acting gigs (the TV shows The Streets of San Francisco and The Dukes of Hazzard, and the movie Demolition Man), a brief brush with Hollywood fame (she was briefly linked romantically to talk show host Johnny Carson), and her signing with Gene Russell for her recording debut on Black Jazz (Russell went on to produce subsequent LPs for Patterson on the Shadybrook label). 1973's Maiden Voyage is highlighted by a beautiful vocal performance by Patterson of Herbie Hancock's title tune, backed with such premium players as long-time George Duke sideman John Heard on acoustic bass and Ray Charles touring band member George Harper on flute. Our Real Gone reissue is remastered for CD by Mike Milchner at Sonic Vision, and features new liner notes by Pat Thomas, author of Listen, Whitey! The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975. An essential, though uncharacteristic, entry in the Black Jazz catalog!

Digitally remastered edition. Of all the artists who recorded for the Black Jazz label, keyboardist and composer Doug Carn was the most prolific, releasing four albums for the imprint. 1972's Spirit of the New Land was his second Black Jazz release, but the first one (of two) to co-feature his wife, vocalist Jean Carn, in the album title; we've chosen to lead with this record from Carn's catalog not only because it's the most collectible of the bunch, but also because it showcases his innovative approach of adding lyrics to jazz standards. Thus, both Miles Davis' 'Blue in Green' and Lee Morgan's 'Search for the New Land' are blessed with spellbinding vocals from Jean Carn set to her husband's words, while Doug Carn originals like 'Arise and Shine' and 'My Spirit' soar with spiritual fervor on the wings of his wife's five-octave range. Along for the ride are a stellar cast of players, including trumpeter Charles Tolliver, co-founder of the Strata-East label; saxophonist George Harper, who played with Herbie Hancock and Jimmy Smith among others; trombonist Garnett Brown, who appears on albums by Roland Kirk, Albert Ayler, and Art Blakey among his hundreds of album credits; tuba player Earl McIntyre, whose discography spans from Carla Bley to the Band; and drummer Alphonse Mouzon, founding member of Weather Report.

Double vinyl LP pressing. 2020 release, the debut recording of guitarist Bill Frisell's trio with bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Rudy Royston is a wide-ranging 13-song set that mixes Frisell originals new & old, jazz standards, traditional songs, and covers. Valentine explores the creative freedom of the trio format and the profound musical relationship between these three musicians after years of touring.

Two CD set. The company that brought you the #1 jazz album Miles Davis: The Lost Quintet is delighted to release this follow up album; the second in an amazing trilogy. "If you are going to change your music, you gotta change your band," Miles Davis said. And he never stood still. The incredible seven-piece band, The Lost Septet, never recorded in the studio but we are lucky that they did a European tour in October / November 1971. This double album captures one of the best performances on that tour, only previously broadcast on radio, at the Wiener Konzerthaus, in Vienna on 5th November. The line-up for this incredible show features: Miles Davis - trumpet, Gary Bartz - soprano & alto sax, Keith Jarrett - electric piano, organ, Michael Henderson - electric bass, Ndugu Leon Chancler - drums, Charles Don Alias - percussion, James Mtume Foreman - percussion. Miles Davis' last recording in the studio was the Jack Johnston album although he was still going through more changes in music, slowly moving on to more of a rock sound than jazz (his friendship with Jimi Hendrix was a big in?uence). "We were as intense as any rock band and just as loud," remembers Gary Bartz. Miles showcased music on this tour from various albums such as In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew also Jack Johnston and also Live Evil. The Lost Septet were informed by this increasingly Rock background and Miles himself was playing with a wah-wah pedal, which made him sound more like a guitar. In the older days, Miles Davis played in the middle register, but now with The Lost Septet he produced more high notes, and his playing style and that of the band would re?ect that new style delivery. Unmissable.

The members of the original Joshua Redman Quartet—Redman(saxophone), Brad Mehldau(piano), Christian McBride(bass), and Brian Blade (drums)—reunite with the July 10, 2020 release of RoundAgain,the group’s first recording since 1994’s MoodSwing.The album features seven newly composed songs: three from Redman, two from Mehldau, and one each from McBride and Blade. 

Albert Ayler's 1969 album New Grass has been misunderstood from the day of it's release. The album finds Ayler experimenting with soul music and digging back into his R&B roots (he started his career playing saxophone with Chicago bluesman Little Walter), fusing it with the avant-garde free jazz (the one element of the record which garnered consistent praise) and adding the vocals of Rose Marie McCoy, The Soul Singers and Ayler himself. As if predicting the divisiveness of the record to follow, Ayler speaks directly to the listener and explains that New Grass is nothing like his albums before - that it is of 'a different dimension of his life' - in the album opener 'Message from Albert.'New Grass deserves reconsideration, if not for the heavy grooves and surprising arrangements, then for it's bravery in challenging norms of the time; by the '60s, jazz was well-accepted as a uniquely American art form, while soul as a genre was very much still seen as primitive. Ayler melds them together and creates something novel, adventurous, and completely his own. At the time of it's release, despite it's divisive reception, New Grass helped break down the unnecessary walls dividing genres and revealed music's potential freedoms. The album has gone on to influence generations of Jazz, R&B, Funk, Hip Hop, Post Punk, No Wave and unshrinking artists like Pharaoh Sanders, Alice Coltrane, Funkadelic, Jungle Brothers, Red Krayola, Sonic Youth and Mark E. Smith.Third Man Records can't recommend this record highly enough. We are confident that it won't take but one listen for you to understand New Grass is an undeniable healing force.

2020 release. The first-time teaming of Poland's dynamic Marcin Wasilewski Trio and big-toned US tenorist Joe Lovano brings forth special music of concentrated, deep feeling, in which lyricism and strength seem ideally balanced. The alliance plays four new tunes by Marcin and one by Joe, as well as Carla Bley's classic "Vashkar" plus collective improvisations with strong input from all four players; Slawomir Kurkiewicz's bass skills are particularly well-deployed in the spontaneous piece "Arco".

The project was formed in early 2016, leading to their debut album later that year `Wisdom of Elders'; a document of sessions combining Hutchings with a group of South African jazz musicians he'd long admired.

The project was formed in early 2016, leading to their debut album later that year `Wisdom of Elders'; a document of sessions combining Hutchings with a group of South African jazz musicians he'd long admired.

To mark the tenth anniversary of the release of I'm New Here , the thirteenth - and last - studio album from the legendary US musician, poet and author Gil Scott-Heron, XL Recordings will release a unique reinterpretation of the album by acclaimed US jazz musician Makaya McCraven. Titled We're New Again, the album will be released on 7th February 2020; exactly a decade after the release of Scott-Heron's original Richard Russell-produced recording. It's set to follow in the footsteps of Jamie xx's highly acclaimed 2011 remix album We're New Here and will be McCraven's first release of 2020, following the huge global acclaim heaped upon his 2018 album Universal Beings. One of the most vital new voices in modern jazz, McCraven is described by the New York Times as a Chicago-based drummer, producer and beat maker, [who] has quietly become one of the best arguments for jazz's vitality.

The Spiritual, a free jazz album recorded by The Art Ensemble of Chicago in 1974, finds the group of stellar musicians at their creative peak. With various types of percussion, though the absence of a traditional drummer, the ensemble is able to create vivid, freeing compositions without the confines of conventional structure. The quartet, consisting of Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell, Lester Bowie, and Malachi Favors, explore the depths of Avant-Garde Jazz through a means that has yet to be touched on in a comparable capacity. Previously released on red color vinyl exclusively for Record Store Day, The Spiritual will now be widely available on 180gram black vinyl.

Limited 180gm audiophile vinyl repressing of this Jazz classic. Wax Time.

Limited 180gm audiophile vinyl repressing of this Jazz classic. Now cited as one of his best albums, Waltz for Debby was a live album from Bill Evans' trio and was the companion release to the critically acclaimed Sunday at the Village Vanguard. Wax Time.

2018 release. After Bach comprises Brad Mehldau's recordings of four preludes and one fugue from J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, each followed by an After Bach piece written by Mehldau and inspired by it's WTC mate. "There have always been elements of Mehldau's style that recall Bach," writes Timo Andres in the liner note. "After Bach surveys their shared ground as keyboardists, improvisers, and composers, making implicit parallels explicit."

Nonesuch Records releases the Brad Mehldau Trio’s Blues and Ballads, the trio’s first new release since 2012’s Where Do You Start, on June 3, 2016. The previous release received critical acclaim, with the Financial Times saying, “Mehldau never lets his peerless technique and meticulous timing interrupt the narrative flow of a well-told tale. Here, the pianist and his trio burrow deep into left-field pop and the American songbook, and give an adventurous sheen to modern jazz.” Blues and Ballads similarly comprises interpretations of songs by other composers, this time with the focus on blues and ballads implied by the album’s title. The Brad Mehldau Trio is Mehldau on piano, Larry Grenadier on bass, and Jeff Ballard on drums.

Limited Edition classic LP's. Limited quantities available! High-definition premium vinyl pressing for super fidelity. 180 gram vinyl -audiophile pressing. Wax time records.

The legendary saxophonist, composer, and jazz mystic Charles Lloyd celebrated his 80th birthday on March 15, 2018, at his hometown venue, Santa Barbara’s Lobero Theatre, with an unprecedented grouping of musical friends including guitarist Julian Lage, pianist Gerald Clayton, bassist Reuben Rogers, and drummer Eric Harland, with special guests organist Booker T. Jones and bassist Don Was joining the ensemble midway.

Limited edition 180 gram vinyl pressing of the classic Jazz album that brought Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong together for the first as they recorded their version of extraordinary standards.

"After his six years with the seminal John Coltrane Quartet, the mighty drummer Elvin Jones signed with Blue Note Records in 1968 and made a series of 10 fantastic albums including 1972's Mr. Jones, produced by Francis Wolff and George Butler, and featuring saxophonists Dave Liebman, Steve Grossman, and Pepper Adams, Thad Jones on flugelhorn, pianist Jan Hammer, bassist Gene Perla, and percussionists Carlos "Patato" Valdes, Frank Ippolito, and Albert Duffy. The music delves into expansive post-b

Head Hunters was a pivotal point in Herbie Hancock's career, bringing him into the vanguard of jazz fusion. Hancock had pushed avant-garde boundaries on his own albums and with Miles Davis, but he had never devoted himself to the groove as he did on Head Hunters. Drawing heavily from Sly Stone, Curtis Mayfield, and James Brown, Hancock developed deeply funky, even gritty, rhythms over which he soloed on electric synthesizers, bringing the instrument to the forefront in jazz. It had all of the sensibilities of jazz, particularly in the way it wound off into long improvisations, but it's rhythms were firmly planted in funk, soul, and R&B, giving it a mass appeal that made it the biggest-selling jazz album of all time (a record which was later broken). Jazz purists, of course, decried the experiments at the time, but Head Hunters still sounds fresh and vital decades after it's initial release, and it's genre-bending proved vastly influential on not only jazz, but funk, soul, and hip-hop. Track listing: Chameleon, Watermelon Man, Sly, Vein Melter.

Though he invited in collaborators for this project, Parker is very much a solo artist on Suite for Max Brown. He constructs a digital bed of beats and samples; lays down tracks of his own on guitar, keyboards, bass, percussion, and occasionally voice; then invites musician friends to play and improvise over his melodies. But unlike a traditional jazz session, Parker doesn’t assemble a full band in the studio for a day or two of live takes. His accompanists are often working alone with Parker, reacting to what Parker has provided them, and then Parker uses those individual parts to layer and assemble into his final tracks. The process may be relatively solitary and cerebral, but the results feel like in-the-moment jams—warm-hearted, human, alive. Suite for Max Brown brims with personality, boasting the rhythmic flow of hip hop and the soulful swing of jazz.

Recorded at Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, New Jersey, John Coltrane's Blue Train is a hard bob jazz album released on Blue Note in 1957. Certified Gold, Blue Train is Coltrane's second solo album and the only one he recorded for Blue Note as a leader although he was never formally signed to the label. Featured on the album are Coltrane on tenor sax with Lee Morgan on trumpet, Curtis Fuller on trombone, Kenny Drew on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums. Blue Train will be reissued on vinyl as part of an overall Blue Note 75th anniversary vinyl reissue campaign spearheaded by current Blue Note Records President, Don Was.

180 gram VINYL AUDIOPHILE PRESSING.

The band are all from Los Angeles, mostly South Central, and its members - who call themselves variously “The Next Step” and the “The West Coast Get Down” - have been congregating since they were barely teenagers in a backyard shack in Inglewood. Washington, 32, has known Bruner since he was two. The rest met, at various stages, by the time they were in high school. The hours they have put into the music, playing together and practicing alone, total cumulatively in the tens of thousands. “Nothing compares to these guys,” says Barbara Sealy, the former West Coast director of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jass, who has championed Kamasi and his compatriots from the beginning. “I challenge any group to go out on stage with them and see if they can keep up with it... Kamasi is at the top of his game, and only getting better.” “ These young guys,” the rapper Common says, “remind me of why I love music.” And the story The Epic tells, without words but rather through some combination of magic, mastery, and sheer force of imagination, is the story of Kamasi Washington and the Next Step and their collective mission: to remove jazz from the shelf of relics and make it new, unexpected, and dangerous again. 3 x black 180g 12" in artworked 3mm spined sleeves all housed in a rigid board outer slipcase. Half speed cut by Matt Colton at Alchemy Mastering. - Includes 2 x 12" poster inserts featuring exclusive artwork by KC Woolf Haxton and MP3 download code.