A core member of the circle around Horace Tapscott, pianist Nate Morgan was a key member of the Pan Afrikan People’s Arkestra, known as The Ark.
Here is the second of his two LPs for Nimbus West. His first, Journey Into Nigritia had been a declaration of arrival laced with energies drawn from Cecil Taylor and Coltrane. One year later, in 1984, with nods to Herbie Hancock (One Finger Snap) and Ellington (Come Sunday), Retribution, Reparation was a confident statement of purpose. Politically charged with pan-Africanist Black nationalism, and titled with uncompromising directness, the album focusses the soundworld of the Ark into a surging, restless masterpiece of spiritualised modal jazz.
Danny Cortez on trumpet and Jesse Sharps on saxophones comprise an explosive frontline. Fritz Wise and Ark regular Joel Ector hold down the rhythm section. Morgan’s forceful, Tyner-like chords and virtuosic solos bind the music together.
From the poised drama of the opening dedication to Tapscott’s U.G.M.A.A. organisation, through the propulsive militancy of the title track, Retribution, Reparation spreads the word: ‘Advance to Victory, Let Nigritia Be Free!’

The pianist James Edward Manuel’s only release is one of the deepest custom-press jazz recordings of them all.
Jaman studied under greats like Earl Bostic and Horace Parlan. Gigging on the Buffalo club scene, one of his early trios included the renowned bassist John Heard and drummer Clarence Becton, till both were poached one night by a visiting Jon Hendricks. Other sidemen include Sun Ra Arkestra bassist Juini Booth and Ahmad Jamal regular Sabu Adeyola (also of Kamal & The Brothers).
Pressed in tiny quantities by the Mark Records custom service in 1974, and issued with a stock landscape cover, Sweet Heritage presents a soulful mixture of covers and originals. In particular the flying, spiritual sound of Free Will and the upful, Latin-tinged In The Fall Of The Year — both Jaman compositions — have turned the LP into a legendary collector’s classic.

‘Classic Vinyl’ series.

Top-quality, all-analogue reissue by Speakers Corner.

His first session for Blue Note, with a killer lineup: Sonny Clark, Lee Morgan (just nineteen), Doug Watkins and Art Blakey.
The bluesy Nutville and latinized Minor Move are Brooks originals. He takes a jacking reading of Jerome Kern’s The Way You Look Tonight for his own. Star Eyes is borrowed from Bird, showing off Lee Morgan, with a magical, inimitable solo by Sonny Clark.

A five-star hard-bop Blue Note. The CD is in the Connoisseur Edition.

Kind of a dry run for Blue Trane, a couple of months later: with JC, Byrd, Curtis Fuller, Paul Chambers, Art Taylor; a latinized Speak Low, and SC’s own, wicked News For Lulu.
‘Classic Vinyl.’

Our favourite of all his records.
From 1984, inspired by a Kenneth Patchen chapbook, it favours tenderness, lyricism and expressivity, but without foregoing Brötzmann’s characteristic squalling ferocity and angst. It never drags: he plays baritone, tenor and alto saxes, different clarinets including bass clarinet, and tarogato, bringing every trick and technique to bear on a whirl of feelings and emotions, in pieces nearly all less than five minutes. Bar the gorgeous opening reading of Lonely Woman, it’s all improvised, but utterly compelling, reflective, melodious, ravishing and rawly personal.
Beautiful music; hotly recommended.

We love this LP; it’s an old favourite. You can hear Teddy adjusting the influences of Hawk and Bird to meet the challenge of Rollins and Coltrane. You can’t go wrong with any of his West Coast albums from 1960-67, for Pacific, Contemporary and Prestige. Classy, bluesy, no frills West Coast jazz; cultured but tasty and with-it. This one has the warmth, purposefulness and swing of a classic Blue Note. Phineas Newborn plays a blinder, too.
Here’s the Penguin Guide: ‘One of the best mainstream albums of its day… beautifully and almost effortlessly crafted.’

A precious glimpse of his undocumented New Jazzmen lineup, with Freddie Hubbard, Jaki Byard, Reggie Workman and Nathan Davis.
“Everywhere we’d go people would say, this is the best Jazz Messengers we’ve heard,” remembers Davis. “And because of the way Jaki would play and Reggie would go, it was like a semi-freedom thing… with Messengers heads, you know… but when we got to soloing…!”
It’s easy to take Freddie Hubbard for granted. One of the very greatest jazz trumpeters of all time; he kills it here. Check him on Blue Moon and the twenty-four-minute rendition of his own composition Crisis.

Slammed at the time as a sell-out, and what a joke that is. Brimming with raw physical emotion, but reaching out — in the revolutionary year of 1968 —  to soul, rock and gospel.

Also the blues. When he was still at Cleveland High School, Albert spent two summers touring with none other than Little Walter. “The manner of living was quite different for me — drinking real heavy and playing real hard. We’d travel all day, finally arrive, take out our horns and play.”

The 1982 NYC-post-punk classic, bundling together Can, DAF, PIL and Joy Division.
The sole album released by Factory US.

A 1976 recording by this mainstay of the San Francisco jazz scene across the decades, who played with everyone from Sonny Stitt to Pharoah Sanders.

A message from Eddie Henderson…
‘It’s time. It’s time for all to hear the Bishop proclaim spiritual truths in his church, the One Mind Temple, dedicated to the spirit of John Coltrane. The time is also overdue for all to hear the Bishop proclaim musical truths through the medium of his alto saxophone. My first few gigs in 1962 were with the Bishop’s band. I’ll never forget what an inspiration it was for me learning how to play while standing next to the Bishop, who already had it together. I’m sure after hearing the Bishop, you will also agree that his time has come.’