Home » Jazz Musicians » Jazz Sabbath

Jazz Sabbath

Jazz Sabbath were considered by many to be at the forefront of the new UK jazz movement in the late Sixties. They were recording two albums in 1969, but both seemed destined never to be released. Until now.

Due to legal disputes with a session player the recording of the second album had to be abandoned and never to be mentioned again. Their first album was finished, but when news broke that band leader Milton Keanes had suffered a massive heart attack and was hospitalised, the record label cancelled the release. They didn't want to risk releasing an album from a band that might lose its musical leader.

When Milton was finally released from hospital in September 1970, he found out that a band from Birmingham, had since released two albums containing metal versions of his songs.

Milton tried to contact his record label, only to find out it didn’t exist anymore and the label owner was in jail. All recalled Jazz Sabbath albums had been destroyed when the warehouse burned down in June 1970; which turned out to be a case of insurance fraud by the label owner.

Without any physical proof that he wrote the songs, Milton was powerless to do anything. Even more frustrating: that Birmingham band had named itself after one of his songs; only adding insult to injury. With the other band continuously releasing more albums of Milton’s songs, the three members of Jazz Sabbath decided to part ways.

The discovery of the debut album’s master tapes in 2019 and the following re-release of the album in 2020 has changed everything. With the theft by the band from Birmingham exposed, Jazz Sabbath have reunited and finally finished recording their second album.

They can now present their songs in their original form, proving that the heavy metal band worshipped by millions around the world are in fact nothing more than musical charlatans, thieving the music from a bedridden, hospitalised genius.


Tags

1
Radio & Podcasts

Roy Ayers, John Ellis, Ben Markley & Jazz Sabbath

Read "Roy Ayers, John Ellis, Ben Markley & Jazz Sabbath" reviewed by Joe Dimino


Welcome to the 898th episode of Neon Jazz, where we dive deep into the heartbeat of jazz--past, present, and future. We kick things off with the legendary Jazz Sabbath, helmed by the seasoned Adam Wakeman, bringing their signature blend of jazz-infused reinvention. Then, we take a moment of reverence for the late, great Roy Ayers, a jazz-funk pioneer whose influence will forever echo in the genre. From there, we set our sights on the cutting edge of jazz, spinning brand-new ...

18
Album Review

Jazz Sabbath: The 1968 Tapes

Read "The 1968 Tapes" reviewed by Geno Thackara


The story continues: Jazz Sabbath's eponymous debut (Blacklake, 2020) introduced the premise of a progressive-minded late-'60s piano trio whose unreleased material was plagiarized and adapted in heavy blues style by those young upstarts Black Sabbath. The catalog got an even more fun horn-drenched expansion with 2022's Vol. 2 (Blacklake). The mysterious pianist Milton Keanes (da-dum) and friends commit to the mythology more than ever with The 1968 Tapes, complete with cover in classic Blue Note Records style and a mini-documentary ...

14
Album Review

Jazz Sabbath: Vol. 2

Read "Vol. 2" reviewed by Geno Thackara


The story is almost worthy of the Onion: it turns out that Black Sabbath, the legendary outfit which practically invented heavy metal, was really a bunch of impostors who stole their early material. Iconic pieces such as “Iron Man" really came from a brilliant forward-thinking jazz combo which disappeared in the late '60s before they could make their stamp on the world, and the first of their long-lost albums only surfaced with the release of Jazz Sabbath (Blacklake) in 2020. ...

Read more articles

An original concept and great musicianship - Jazz Journal Jazz Sabbath’s music delivers - NYC Jazz Record Never has Heavy Metal been so groovy - MetalTalk A roaring succes - Jazzwise

Concerts

Sep 5 Fri
Jazz Sabbath
Musis Arnhem
Arnhem, Netherlands

Tickets

Nov 1 Sat

Tickets

Nov 7 Fri

Tickets

Sep 5 Sat
Jazz Sabbath
Musis Arnhem
Arnhem, Netherlands

Tickets

Sep 6 Sun
Jazz Sabbath
De Oosterpoort
Groningen, Netherlands

Tickets

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

The 1968 Tapes

Blacklake
2024

buy

Vol. 2

Blacklake
2022

buy

Jazz Sabbath

Blacklake
2020

buy

Supernaut

From: The 1968 Tapes
By Jazz Sabbath

Black Sabbath

From: Vol. 2
By Jazz Sabbath

Videos

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.