Alto sax man w. The Erskine Hawkins Alumni, Haywood Henry, Bob Range, Bobby Johnson, Sammy Lowe, Julian Dash, Duke Anderson, Leroy Kirkland, Lee Stanfield, Joe Murphy +.

W. Ron Friedman & others.

Original 1951-52 United sessions.

Mike Smith (Frank Sinatra)-as, with Ron Perillo-piano, Jim Ryan-piano, John Whitfield-bass, Bob Rummage-drums.

Soulful Chicago vocalist and guitarist Byther Smith is a fighter, a scrapper, a hard worker and a survivor. As a child in Monticello, Mississippi he lost both his parents; his mother when he was one year old and his father six months later. Smitty came to Chicago in the mid-'50s and by the early '60s was playing at Theresa's Lounge, where he backed Junior Wells. He also worked with Big Mama Thornton, George "Harmonica" Smith and Otis Rush. He recorded his first LP for the Grits label in 1983, two for Bullseye in the early '90s, and this is his fourth Delmark CD and his first live album. On this recording you will hear Byther in his natural element, raw, alive and completely real.

Blues guitarist worked w. many of the greats - Otis Rush, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf & others, but it's the 12 originals here that show the world who Byther Smith really is.

(7-CD set) String Quartets Nos. 1-12 focus on Wadada Leo Smith as a composer for strings. Smith began work on his first string quartet in 1965 and has composed string quartets and other works for strings throughout his career. Smith has also featured strings on a number of his other major works, including Ten Freedom Summers in 2011, Occupy The World in 2012 (TUM CD 037-2) and Rosa Parks: Pure Love in 2016/17 (TUM CD 057).String Quartets Nos. 1-12 represent a magnificent addition not only to Smith's own recorded output but also to the literature for modern string quartet music in general. Compositions vary from relatively brief, one-part quartets of highly evocative and at times meditative soundscapes to the groundbreaking "String Quartet No. 11" that fills two discs with it's nine movements. String Quartets Nos. 1-12 were recorded by the RedKoral Quartet. The group was brought together by Smith during his tenure at CalArts and was featured on the recording of Ten Freedom Summers more than a decade ago and again on Rosa Parks: Pure Love as well as on numerous live performances of Smith's string quartets and other works over the past decade. In addition, featured soloists on the recording include harpist Alison Bjorkedal ("String Quartet No. 4"), pianist Anthony Davis ("String Quartet No. 6"), percussionist Lynn Vartan ("String Quartet No. 6"), guitarist Stuart Fox ("String Quartet No. 7") and voice artist Thomas Buckner ("String Quartet No. 8") as well as Wadada Leo Smith himself on trumpet ("String Quartet No. 6" and "String Quartet No. 8").

YEAR OF THE ELEPHANTS

(2-CD set) Occupy the World features the legendary composer and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith together with Tumo, a new improvising orchestra that is assembled specifically for each project, in it's first appearance. The 22-piece orchestra performs five extended compositions by Smith, including "Occupy the World for Life, Liberty and Justice", his most extensive recorded composition to date, that was originally inspired by the Occupy movement. The four other compositions included on this double-CD were also recorded here for the first time. TUMO is made up of leading improvisers in Finland and the Nordic region, many of whom have recorded for Tum Records with various groups before. In addition to the principal soloists, Wadada Leo Smith on four compositions and bassist John Lindberg on one, featured are trumpeter Verneri Pohjola, trombonist Jari Hongisto, saxophonists Mikko Innanen and Fredrik Ljungkvist, flutist Juhani Aaltonen, pianist Seppo Kantonen, harpist Iro Haarla, accordionist Veli Kujala, guitarists Kalle Kalima and Mikko Iivanainen as well as drummers Mika Kallio, Stefan Pasborg and Janne Tuomi, among others.

(3-CD set) Trumpet is a unique three-CD boxed set of solo trumpet music recorded over one week in the beautiful natural acoustics of St. Mary's Church, the medieval stone church in the Town of Pohja on the Southern Coast of Finland. All compositions are by Wadada Leo Smith. Trumpet represents a culmination of Smith's recorded solo trumpet work that has comprised a total of six albums before Trumpet, starting with his very first album as a leader, Creative Music - 1: Six Solo Improvisations, in 1971 and ending with his dedication to Thelonious Monk, Solo: Reflections and Meditations on Monk, in 2015.

Wadada Leo Smith's latest album features "Rosa Parks: Pure Love. An Oratorio of Seven Songs," another extended composition by Smith inspired by the civil rights movement in the United States. This new major work is composed for the iconic civil rights hero Rosa Parks (1913-2005) and performed by three vocalists, a double-quartet and a drummer with electronics. The album is released in February 2019 to celebrate Rosa Parks' birthday on February 4.

SATURN CONJUNCT THE GRAND CANYON

ORGANIC RESONANCE

(5-CD set) The Emerald Duets is a crowning achievement among Wadada Leo Smith's many recorded duo collaborations with drummers/percussionists that have previously featured such creative giants as Ed Blackwell, Jack DeJohnette, Milford Graves (TUM BOX 003), Louis Moholo-Moholo (TUM CD 029) and G�nter Sommer, among others. The Emerald Duets features four master drummers who have each, in their own unique fashion, contributed to the way modern drumming has developed in the past six decades and how it is now perceived. Pheeroan akLaff, Andrew Cyrille and Han Bennink are each featured on one disc and Jack DeJohnette on two discs, including Smith's five-part composition "Paradise: The Gardens and Fountains" that fills the fifth disc of this boxed set in it's entirety. The sessions with akLaff, Cyrille and DeJohnette mostly feature compositions by Wadada Leo Smith, including three very different versions of Smith's powerful statement for the protection of freedom and democracy, "The Patriot Act, Unconstitutional and a Force that Destroys Democracy." The session with Bennink includes a combination of Smith's compositions and collectively created tracks.

Limited 180gm vinyl LP pressing in gatefold jacket. Jimmy Smith revolutionized the use of a Hammond B-3 organ. Arguably his finest moments, the sessions with Stanley Turrentine (tenor sax) helped define jazz. Prayer Meetin' is brimming with the bluesy grooves that made their collaborations classics. Highlights include "Red Top" and the title track's incredible interplay, while Stanley delivers a ballad tour-de-force on "I Almost Lost My Mind." Blue Note Tone Poet Series features all-analog, remastered 180-gram vinyl in deluxe gatefold packaging.

Limited 180gm vinyl LP pressing in deluxe gatefold jacket. Root Down was Hammond B-3 jazz legend Jimmy Smith's 1972 live album for Verve. Recorded in Los Angeles in 1972, it features a young band that were very influenced by the funk and rock scenes of the time. The album's title track was famously sampled by the Beastie Boys for their 1995 recording of the same name. Verve Acoustic Sounds Series features transfers from analog tapes and remastered.

Limited 180gm vinyl LP pressing in deluxe gatefold jacket. The Cat is jazz organist Jimmy Smith's 1964 album, a notable release that reached No. 12 on the Billboard 200. Featuring Smith on the Hammond B-3, this set has some tasteful big band arrangements by Lalo Schifrin and some other-worldly playing by the great organist on a variety of other blues-oriented material. Verve Acoustic Sounds Series features transfers from analog tapes and remastered.

Lonnie Smith -"Drives (Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series)" Lonnie Smith's 1970 album, Drives, was a showcase of the organist's sense of adventure and indomitable groove. With Dave Hubbard on tenor sax, Ronnie Cuber on bari sax, Larry McGee on guitar and Joe Dukes on drums, Smith delivers funky takes on hits "Twenty-Five Miles" and "Spinning Wheel," plus a fleet version of Miles Davis' "Seven Steps to Heaven." This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is stereo, all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal. [180g Heavy Vinyl LP]

One of the funkiest and most creative organists of all time, Dr. Lonnie Smith was first brought into the Blue Note fold by alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson who featured the B3 virtuoso on late-1960s soul jazz classics including Alligator Bogaloo, Mr. Shing-a-Ling, and Midnight Creeper. Smith went on to sign with Blue Note and lead his own dates beginning with his excellent 1968 label debut Think! In January 1969 Smith returned to Van Gelder Studio to record the follow-up Turning Point with a dynamic 6-piece band that packed a punch with a 3-horn frontline featuring Lee Morgan on trumpet, Julian Priester on trombone, and Bennie Maupin on tenor saxophone. The rhythm section featured guitarist Melvin Sparks and was anchored by the propulsive drumming of Leo Morris (aka Idris Muhammad). The 5-song set produced by Francis Wolff opens with a hard-grooving take on Don Covay's "See Saw," which was a hit for Aretha Franklin the year before. Other choice covers include a laid-back version of "People Sure Act Funny" by Titus Turner and Bobby Robinson and an inventive reworking of The Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby" that injects the Lennon-McCartney gem with a healthy dose of soul. Two Smith originals round out the album including the smoldering "Slow High" and the expansive album-closing title piece which kicks into high gear after a rubato introduction by Smith. (his Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is stereo, all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180 gram vinyl at Optimal.)

Classical Music

Classical Music