It's been a couple of weeks since I last posted in here so there's a few arrivals to get through including an excellent delivery from Japan which came through with no customs charges to my delight. I'm still waiting on one more nice package from right here in the UK but it's been in the wind for over a week at the moment and the post is still squirly here so I don't know when that will arrive.
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First up, my bunch from Sam Records in France. Not quite as impressive a haul as
@Selaws' but some nice bits here nonetheless.
Top L-R: I already have a lovely Japanese press of
Byrd in Paris Vol.2 so just
Vol.1 here and a
Chet Baker title that I picked up on eBay. I didn't have any Chet so I thought I'd give him a try with this Sam release.
Bottom L-R: The
Nathan Davis and
Art Blakey are Sam's latest releases.
Byrd Jazz is the first in their Artisan series. Very nicely done by the looks of things. The record is housed in the plain white sleeve. The jacket and booklet are housed separately in a different bag. Both sleeves are hand numbered as you can see in the insert. I'm guessing for collectors/archivists, this is like a dream but, for shit collectors like myself, its a bit frustrating. My instinct is to shove the record in the proper jacket and chuck the plain white sleeve but I know I'll regret that if I were to ever sell it on.
Mid: A lovely replica 10"
Miles Davis - Ascenseur Pour L'Échafaud soundtrack.
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Next up, a bunch of Blueys. Mainly from the recent BN80s but a couple from Japan there too.
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Top L-R: A couple of excellent Fontana releases.
Marion Brown - Juba-Lee is a Japanese reissue (look at the players in that septet!);
Cecil Taylor- Nefertiti is an original '65er; Actuel had some phenomenal releases, this
Kenneth Terroade one was previously unknown to me but I love what I've sampled; And the
John Tchicai - Afrodisiaca is simply outstanding. I paid a fair bit for this but it's great and in stunning condition.
Bottom L-R: 3 from ESP-Disk,
Sonny Simmons - Music From The Spheres (Japan);
Charles Tyler Ensemble - S/T (US OG '66er); and
Revolutionary Ensemble - Vietnam (Japan); Muhal Richard Abrams finishes the row with a lovely '68 Delmark OG (Promo stamped).
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Top L-R: Hannibal Marvin Peterson - In Antibes (a nice live set on Enja, Japan);
Stanley Cowell - Brilliant Circles (Japan); UK issue of
Dewey Redman's fantastic
Tarik; and
Archie Shepp finishing off the row with a Japan issue of the Horo release,
The Tradition.
Bottom L-R: Excellent '83 release from
Joe McPhee (not all '80s jazz sounded like soft porn soundtracks, lol); a Japan issue of this
Sunny Murray - S/T; an OJC
Ezz-thetics with Dolphy in support; and
Fred Houn on the Italian Soul Note label, purveyor of great jazz in the '80s.
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Some stellar reissue work here.
Top L-R: Alexander von Sclippenbach - Pakistani Pomade (one of the more Avant releases of this bunch but still wonderfully musical);
Elvin Jones - Midnight Walk (Speakers Corner);
Harold Johnson - House on Elm Street (Australian label Survival Research brought life back to this funky little '67 soul jazzer);
Barney McCall - Mother of Dreams and Secrets (more Australian label work here on this reissue of the 2005 Australian pianist's album with the wonderful
Billy Harper appearing on tenor too).
Bottom L-R: Chicago Odense Ensemble - S/T (I love this, a pair of Danes joined some of Chicago's finest (Jeff Parker, Matt Lux, Rob Mazurek) to create this awesome album. Originals still available but pricey, this reissue is welcome);
Théâtre Du Chêne Noir - Aurora (the ever dependable French label SouffleContinu continue to unearth great stuff I've never heard of);
The Master Musicians of Jajouka feat. Bachir Attar - Apocalypse Across the Sky (sophomore release on Germany's Zehra label. I let their reissue of Maleem and Pharoah Sanders slide and it's quickly become quite difficult to get at retail price. Not doing the same with this Bill Laswell produced masterpiece of Moroccan music. Liner notes by Brion Gysin and William S. Burroughs);
Albert Ayler - New Grass (Honest Jons had a couple of the coloured vinyl version of this in stock which is really unusual here in the UK so I was lucky to grab one of those).
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Top L-R: A pair from uber-talented South African multi-instrumentalist,
Cara Stacey. The first, 2015's
Things That Grow features Shabaka Hutchings on clarinet and tenor and Seb Rochford on drums. Cara on traditional African bows. Brilliant stuff; The second, 2018's
Cedar has Cara largely on piano with
Camilo Ángeles on various flutes and whistles including the creepy Death Whistle!); Next, a pair from
Vibration Black Finger. This month's Jazzman release,
Can You See What I'm Trying to Say and their 2017 debut,
Blackism).
Bottom L-R: A pair from the Love Records Stores campaign. There really wasn't much I wanted but I did want to offer some support so I picked up these two that I'd let slide on initial release.
Moses Boyd - Dark Matter and
Floating Points - Elaenia.; Next, the magnificent
EarthSeed from
Nicole Mitchell and Lisa E. Harris. Tomeka Reid and Ben Lamar in support, it's a really superb album; And finally on this row, I really dig this new release from South African drummer
Asher Gamedze - Dialectic Soul. Asher appeared on the Capetown track from Angel Bat Dawid's Oracle album.
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Top L-R: Daniel Carter et al on this brilliant new release from NY's 577 Records,
Welcome Adventure! Vol.1; Jamael Dean - Black Space Tapes; Lemon Quartet - Crestless (I stumbled on this trying to hunt down Aqueduct Ensemble's Improvisations On An Apricot that
@Rip_City introduced me to. I can't find that at retail anymore but this equally fruity release from same label, Last Resort is very good indeed);
JAF Trio - S/T (another solid release from Finnish label We Jazz).
Bottom - L-R: Horace Tapscott - Live At LACMA; more out of Finland with this funky soul-jazzer,
Ernie Hawks And The Soul Investigators – Scorpio Man; the brilliant but oh so expensive over here, Firehouse 12 Records continue to impress with this
Tomas Fujiwara release,
Triple Double; and finally on this pic,
Joshua Redman Quartet - Come What May.
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And finally, some odds and sods.
Top L-R: Lounge Lizards - S/T;
The Leaders - Unforeseen Blessings (Italy's Black Saint with this 1989 release featuring Arthur Blythe, Cecil McBee, Don Moye, Chico Freeman and Lester Bowie!);
Matana Roberts - The Chicago Project (her debut album release. I ended up paying a lot for this but I've fallen in love with her playing and writing since hearing the Coin Coin chapters and I don't see this getting a reissue soon so it is what it is).
Bottom L-R: Keleketla! - S/T (Some talented people involved in this Coldcut project),
Jazz N' Palms - S/T (promo. Some of you will know, I have a soft spot for the chilled out dance sounds of the Balearics as well as jazz and this 6 track EP fits both bills very nicely); and to wrap up, this
Michael Franti album,
Stay Human has long been a favourite of mine and Mrs Moore's. I kind of put off even looking for it on record because it was frequently priced high but when I saw
@scotthilk spinning it last week I took a sneaky look on eBay and found this for a decent price in excellent condition, kismet.
I've run out of previously new stuff to listen to so now I can start on this lot.
Below are some of the highlights, many of which are originals. (As a point of interest, Oregon is barely out of lockdown mode--wise!!--and only 1 person is allowed into the Archives record room every fourth day! Felt pretty safe, aside from the typical toxins that go along with old records! The mask serves multiple purposes haha.)
