Bumptious sauce recorded for Paramount in 1929 by different lineups including Leroy Carr, Scrapper Blackwell, Tampa Red and Blind Blake, and Bob Robinson on banjo and clarinet. Archetypal Crumb; 180g.
Fiery, bluesy, gospelized post-Coltrane bebop; blowing in from Texas, massive like Rollins. From 1975, this is one of the outstanding jazz records of that decade, and Harper’s best, with trumpeter Virgil Jones (who you know from sessions with Roland Kirk, Charles Tolliver and McCoy Tyner), pianist Joe Bonner (Pharoah Sanders, Harold Vick, Khan Jamal), David Friesen on bass and Malcolm Pinson on drums.
‘With just four long, leisurely, percussion-drenched tracks, it’s a latin-jazz jam-band dream, with none other than Joe Henderson adding smoky tenor that ratchets up the intensity and mystery, and fusion avatars Stanley Clark and Lenny White super-charging the grooves. Think of it as a direct descendant of In A Silent Way, but with a lysergic twist and Miles’s tentative phrases replaced by Gasca’s brash, sassy blasts.’ (Jazzwise)
180g.
‘The first collaborative release by Pretty Sneaky and long-time friend and co-conspirator Koldd, aka Norman Levy.
‘Seven themes lysergically weave field recordings of bird calls and wind/water together with pastoral synth lines and resonating modular patches on occasion sideswiped with a bass-heavy thump and stripped back percussion.
‘A mysterious offering for outward-bound heads with lodgings on the dance floor. The sort of thing you might play for your friends after a night out, which blows them to smithereens.’
His first LP, from 1980. Al Campbell productions recorded with Sly & Robbie at Channel One; mixed by the hubristic teenager at King Tubby’s. Great stuff… but a non-scientific title.
‘Sublime. The romping High Life, which opens, establishes the album’s mood, which is upbeat and celebratory. Sanders’ vocalized saxophones are at their most vibrant (standouts are his tenor on High Life and soprano on Selflessness); in addition to Norman Connors on drums, there are three percussionists, including Mtume and Badal Roy; James Branch adds some pretty flute; and someone is playing, it sounds like, a sitar in tamboura-style (or a tamboura in sitar-style, it is hard to tell which) on the title track and The Golden Lamp’ (Chris May, AllAboutJazz).
With Alice Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Gary Bartz, Ron Carter, Elvin Jones.
The illustrious saxophonist’s 1971 recording was his debut as leader, originally released five years later by Arista-Freedom. With Joseph Bowie, Don Moye and Charles Bobo Shaw. Grooving, spiritual; great stuff.
The second of two records issuing from 1962 sessions with Big Joe Williams, Memphis Slim, Roosevelt Sykes, and Lonnie Johnson (and Bob Dylan on harmonica). Originally released on VS’s own Spivey imprint.
Classic big-band Puente from 1962, including the indomitable scorcher Oye Como Va.