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Clifford Jarvis
Johnny M. Dyani: African Bass

by Alberto Bazzurro
Inciso allo studio Barigozzi nel novembre 1979 e uscito su LP di lì a pochi mesi, rivede oggi la luce, ancora su LP nonché su CD, questo singolare album di Johnny M. Dyani (la M. sta per Mbizo), esponente di punta di quella colonia di jazzmen sudafricani emigrati in Inghilterra (tendenzialmente a Londra) e diventati ben presto un autentico punto di riferimento (e di supporto, di affiancamento, costante) per i musicisti locali che stavano all'epoca (anni Sessanta e dintorni) proponendo ...
Continue ReadingAlice Coltrane: The Carnegie Hall Concert

by Mike Jurkovic
The most perfect of time machines, with no errant destinations and no abrupt landings, The Carnegie Hall Concert transports one to a time when artists took their art seriously, when it was sacrosanct. Alice Coltrane's harp comes on like the siren lure of angels, like a missionary, calling all to stop their labor. It seems to say, Come to listen, come to wonder, come to rest, don't be afraid." And Coltrane wasn't, not ever. Here she was with ...
Continue ReadingPharoah Sanders: Pharoah (Box Set)

by Chris May
With the passing of Pharoah Sanders in September 2022, almost a year ago at the time of writing, and bearing in mind advances in sound-restoration technology, we can anticipate a stream of previously unissued Sanders recordings being released in the years ahead. If this outstanding 2-CD / 2-LP box set is anything to go by, bring it on. Disc One is a straight reissue of Sanders' oft pirated 1977 album Pharoah (India Navigation), albeit with much improved ...
Continue ReadingSun Ra Arkestra: Nothing Is... Completed & Revisited

by Maurizio Comandini
L'etichetta svizzera Ezz-thetics sta facendo un lavoro eccellente con capolavori degli anni sessanta riproposti in edizione da loro stessi definita 'revisited' che cerca di fare ordine e chiarezza anche su momenti un po' dimenticati che meritano di essere riscoperti e pienamente apprezzati. Tutto questo è ancora più necessario quando ci troviamo alle prese con la discografia di Sun Ra, uno dei primi artisti a scegliere di auto-prodursi con la mitica etichetta Saturn, piena di episodi memorabili ma ...
Continue ReadingSun Ra Arkestra: Nothing Is... Completed & Revisited

by Chris May
The 1966 concert recording which comprises this album--here in a new, audio-improved edition--has travelled the discographical spaceways in what, when it comes to Sun Ra, is properly circuitous and confusing fashion. Eight tracks from it were scheduled for release by ESP-Disk in 1967 or 1968 as The Heliocentric Worlds Of Sun Ra Volume III, complete with a catalogue number (ESP 1046), but the release never happened. The same tracks were then issued by ESP as the LP Nothing Is in ...
Continue ReadingFreddie Hubbard: Open Sesame

by Chris May
Blue Note's two 180gm vinyl-reissue series--Blue Note 80 and Tone Poet--continue on their enigmatic going on erratic, but mostly magnificent paths. Tone Poet is billed as the audiophile option but, on a fairly limited sampling of both series, there seems to be little, if anything at all, separating the two in audio terms. The key difference is that Tone Poet has the more luxurious, heavyweight packaging. Whatever. It is the music that countsand 22-year old Freddie Hubbard's 1960 label debut ...
Continue ReadingFreddie Hubbard: Open Sesame

by Craig Jolley
Open Sesame (1960) was Freddie Hubbard’s first record as a leader. If it was his only record it would be legendary, but within two years he had recorded four better ones. What raised the other records above Open Sesame was the drummers: Philly Joe Jones, Elvin Jones, and Louis Hayes. There is nothing wrong with Clifford Jarvis—he swings, he interacts with the other players, and he fits the band’s conservative concept. But on his best records Hubbard fed off his ...
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