2021 archive release. Alice Coltrane is the undeniable godmother of spiritual jazz and an acknowledged influence on everyone from Flying Lotus and Kamasi Washington to Solange and Radiohead. Kirtan: Turiya Sings features Alice Coltrane at peak spirituality and is presented in this arrangement for the first time. Turyia Sings was originally released in 1982 on cassette as a collection of devotional songs including vocals, organ, strings, and synthesizers available only at Alice's Sai Anantam Ashram.
Digitally remastered. This special 60th-anniversary reissue of groundbreaking jazz artist Sun Ra's iconic 1962 album, The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra, features all analog remastering by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio. The package includes Tom Wilson's original liner notes, plus insightful new essays by jazz historian Ben Young and the journalist, radio personality and author Irwin Chusid
Life Enigma, originally released in 2001, stands as a testament to the genius of the French violinist, Jean-Luc Ponty. This groundbreaking album seamlessly blends jazz, fusion, and world music, showcasing Ponty's virtuosity and innovative spirit. Seven years after his previous studio album No Absolute Time, Life Enigma showed that Ponty was "up to the task of carrying the spirit of fusion into the new millennium instead of just mining the same old spent lodes" (All About Jazz). - The compositions on Life Enigma transcend genres, creating an immersive sonic experience that has captivated audiences worldwide. "This was a very special project because of the work I did with sound colors and atmospheres in addition to the spontaneity of our improvised solos", says Ponty about the album. - Besides his amazing band he also plays a great number of instruments himself experimenting with a multi-layered electronic approach that includes synthesizers and an electronic MIDI violin.
Recorded in Oslo in September 1970, Afric Pepperbird was released on New Year's Day in 1971. Half a century later, it still conveys the freshness and excitement of discoveries being made. The album signaled the arrival of four Norwegian improvisers - Jan Garbarek, Terje Rypdal, Arild Andersen and Jon Christensen - at the fledgling ECM label. It was the start of a lifelong association with each of the musicians, whose influence was soon to reach far beyond the borders of their homeland.
Vinyl LP pressing. Space Is The Place - highlighted by the rousing 21-minute title track - is both an essential album and a great onramp for new listeners to travel the spaceways of Sun Ra's other-worldly blend of avant-garde jazz, experimental rock, and Afrofuturism. The Verve By Request Series features 180-gram vinyl, pressed at Third Man in Detroit.
One of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, Alice Coltrane's 4th Impulse! Album finds her on piano and harp in the company of saxophonist Pharoah Sanders. "Almost 50 years after [it] was released, the album remains a vision of universal healing, spiritual self-preservation in times of trouble and the god that appears when you seek her out." (NPR). Verve's Acoustic Sounds Series features transfers from analog tapes and remastered 180-gram vinyl in deluxe gatefold packaging.
Though the musical universe of guitarist Ben Monder is vast, the paths to his aural galaxies are rather solitary and arduous. It takes considerable time for Monder to create his unique, mind-bending recordings, as the practice, sculpting, and arranging can take years. His latest recording, Planetarium, is a prodigious piece of art that showcases the widest breadth of his vision as a composer and craftsman. Monder is well known for his tremendous guitar contributions to a wide range of artists, including David Bowie, Maria Schneider, Guillermo Klein, and, most recently, as a member of The Bad Plus. Though he may be most celebrated for these contributions, his own projects deserve equal attention, as they are personal, large-scale works utilizing a select coterie of trusted associates. Planetarium's inception began in 2014 when Monder was awarded a grant from The Shifting Foundation to write and record an album. While that project ultimately took a different direction, work on this one would continue for the next ten years. The effort was thrust into high gear when the pandemic hit, as there were few distractions to composing and practicing. During this time, Monder also received a commission to compose what would become the ambitious piece, "Ataraxia." A most helpful association for Monder has been with engineer and producer Joseph Branciforte, whose Greyfade Studio in Mount Vernon, New York became a sort of second home for him during the recording process. Beginning in December of 2020, the two began to meet frequently at the studio, setting down ideas and inviting collaborators to add their unique contributions. These integral guests included drummers Ted Poor and Satoshi Takeishi, bassist Chris Tordini, and vocalists Theo Bleckmann, Charlotte Mundy, and Emily Hurst. After three years of recording, Monder produced his grandest statement yet as a composer and conceptualist. This three-disc set features vast, highly wrought sound poems as well as spontaneous moments of improvisational brilliance.
Klein has made a name for himself as an expert composer, who finds ingenious ways to make the complicated feel natural and evolve. Many of his pieces over the past decade have evolved out of strict studies of musical phenomena that Klein was able to exercise and mold into highly rhythmic and inviting pieces for Los Guachos and other notable ensembles. These endeavors include delivering highly wrought compositions that require time for construction and preparation from the ensembles. A break from these procedures would be a liberating experience for Klein, so when playing at New York's legendary Village Vanguard jazz club during the summer of 2022, Klein recruited old friends and a newcomer to the fold to play a collection of tunes that provides plenty of avenues for expressive dimensions provided by individual decisions on the bandstand.
Guitarist Ben Monder set out with the intent of recording a studio album with longtime collaborators, saxophonist Tony Malaby and drummer Tom Rainey, but circumstances led to a more informal situation, providing a visceral glimpse of these stellar musicians' rapport. // The performance world was on the brink of shutting down in early March 2020 due to the appearance of COVID-19. Monder decided to take the opportunity provided by his monthly Tuesday residency at New York City's stalwart jazz club, The 55 Bar, to present a recurring project with Malaby, a bass-less trio with drums. Rainey commanded the revolving drum chair on March 3rd and the two sets were recorded as a remarkable live document of fully improvised music making from three masters, released now as Live at The 55 Bar. // Three long improvisations were recorded that night, each piece unfolding organically. The ebb and flow and the building of tension to release demonstrate just how confident these musicians are in their craft of composing on the fly, in full control of their musical choices. The recording was made by the brilliant producer Joseph Branciforte, who was able to provide gorgeous studio quality sound and help with the narrative arc for the completed recording.
Grammy winner Luciana Souza was raised in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where she grew up in a family of Bossa Nova composers. A respected composer and vocalist, she defies categories bringing her outstanding musicianship and unique sound to any project. Whether performing works by Osvaldo Golijov, Paul Simon, or Herbie Hancock, singing with the big bands with Maria Schneider and Kenny Wheeler, or performing in small jazz groups, Souza brings something to the music that has been called "transcendental." Her new CD, Duos III closes the trilogy, while the simultaneously released the Book of Chet is Luciana's highly introspective exploration of the singing of Chet Baker. Both records are to be released on August 28th, 2012, on Sunnyside Records.
Young Brazilian-born composer/vocalist now living in New York, and is fluent in both the jazz idiom & Brazilian music; this album highlights her compositional skills in the form of songs made mainly to Bishop's poems - Souza's singing is reminiscent of the late Ellis Regina & Joni Mitchell
Argentinian keyboardist/vocalist, who studied at the Berklee School of Music, presents world/jazz music that blends the Latin influences of North & South America; of the 11 tracks, 4 have vocals - guest soloist include Chris Cheek, Tony Malaby, Ben Monder, Juan Cruz & many others
(2-CD set) “Grappelli told me that Django and Joseph were gypsies. Django had wounded his left hand when he was very young and could only use three fingers, but when he played it was if he had ten on one hand!” Bill COLEMAN. Includes a 40 page booklet with both French and English notes.
