[ aquarius records

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Black Jazz was a record label based out of Oakland, California in the early seventies and focused on spiritual minded jazz with a community focus, often with funk and soul jazz overtones. We recently reviewed Calvin Keys' Shawn-Neeq record from 1971 and along with some of the recent Black Jazz reissues, there have been some DJ mixes released too, all mined from the label's extensive catalog. We weren't too psyched on the first mix by Japanese DJ Mitsu, but then we got this mix from esteemed BBC radio DJ, Gilles Peterson, and our opinion 180'ed. Peterson has the same reputation in British radio of soul, funk, jazz and international sounds as John Peel did with rock, punk, and post-punk, and his taste here is impeccable. He does do some mixing between songs, but he largely lets the songs go their own lengths without unnecessary intervention. In it, he creates an arc of the label's best sounds that range from exploratory soul jazz, rare groove funk, Latin-inflected rhythms and cosmic spiritual gems. The label was formed by pianist Gene Russell as an antidote to the more skronkier vibe coming out of the east coast, so the sound on Black Jazz has a smoother more melodic quality, but still quite beautiful and engaging with its own unique sound. Definitely the sort of deep sounds our pals at Groove Merchant Records in the Haight have been cultivating and turning people onto for many years. Artists include: The Awakening, Doug Carn, Roland Haynes, Walter Bishop Jr., Kellee Paterson, and Gene Russell, among others.

MPEG stream: Black Orchid
MPEG stream: N'dugu's Prayer
MPEG stream: Higher Ground
MPEG stream: Second Wave

Our favorite Finnish hypnorock band Circle, and related offshoots, are always both doing the expected, AND the unexpected. Expected, in that in almost all cases, Circle hew to the repetitive, rhythmic, krautrock-inspired "circular" grooves from whence they get their name. Yet, while adhering to that basic concept, they've managed to put out umpteen dozen upon dozen albums that are all completely different... some spacey and pretty, some heavy and riffy, some with Gregorian style chant, some with operatic metallic vokills, and all brilliant (ask anybody, but especially us!). Pharaoh Overlord, one of the more popular and prolific Circle "side projects", with a lineup almost (exactly?) the same as Circle, has pretty much followed the same path. Originally, ostensibly a "stoner rock" version of Circle (which you can definitely hear on the live lp we recently listed), they got even more truly metal with their last album, #4, maybe the ultimate "NWOFHM" statement from the Circle camp. That said, this new, 5th album from Pharaoh Overlord is way more unexpected than the expected, content-wise!! Totally different from #4 for sure. There's three long, instrumental tracks here, and each of them is quite different too. The disc begins with the 22:33 of "Vesitorni", a seemingly improvised piece that's extremely quiet, abstract, mysterious. Sudden skitter of the drums. Chiming glimmer of the guitars. Shimmering cymbals. Pulsation of the bass. It's almost "onkyo" in its sparse, low-key, quasi-jazz loveliness. Really nice, and really not at all remotely "NWOFHM". Then, wham! Maybe we shouldn't even warn you. Track two, "Valujuhla" (12:47) erupts with a frenzy of loud, chaotic, freeform freaking-out. Here is where we wonder, is Siluurikaudella the record on which the PO/Circle guys go free jazz? Seems like it. And it kinda makes sense. Up until now, they've been famed for their motorik, locked-in, precise clockwork rhythms. With this, it's like those clockwork gears have come unsprung, gone completely haywire, and everyone's playing everything all at once, anarchy reigns! It had to happen, something had to give. But, then this track too quiets down, and we can tell Pharaoh Overlord still have it under control. Following that, the eighteen minute "Piirros" takes over the final portion of the disc. It shares some similarities with the first track, staying mostly quiet and abstract. But it's definitely got more of a propulsive groove-shuffle going on underneath. And rather than abstract jazz... it reminds us of an abstract, creaky, cavernous blues. Super moody and dark and weird. Probably our favorite of the three. So, PO definitely surprised us with this one. Took a short while to get our heads around. But now we're definitely digging it. And think that Circle, Doktor Kettu, Keiji Haino, Nels Cline, Tetuzi Akiyama, even Jandek fans will totally dig it too. Improvised, instrumental, eccentric! Oh yeah.

MPEG stream: Vesitorni
MPEG stream: Valujuhla
MPEG stream: Piirros

Japan's Imai Kazuo, an improvising guitarist/electronics experimentalist who was a member of both the legendary psych group Taj Mahal Travellers and the equally legendary free jazz unit New Direction (led by Masayuki Takayangi), teams up here with respected European double-bass improv maestro Barre Phillips, who has played with everyone from Louis Armstrong to Albert Ayler to Peter Brotzmann. Here's another great collaboration for the both of 'em.

Another excellent album from Rune G recording artist Phonophani, experimental electronica glitch n' drone that's got an edge but is very listenable. Though it's Phonophani's third (at least) for Rune G, it was actually recorded back in 1998, now released (reissued?) with bonus tracks.

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SORRY. On the second outing of San Francisco's own pickPocket Ensemble, the group makes an adjustment to its lineup, replacing percussionist / trumpet player Eric Wayne with a full-time violinist, Lila Sklar. Lineups aside, the repertoire is much the same: exceedingly well written and executed Eastern European flavored instrumentals, with maybe a tad more klezmer spicing this time round, but still almost impossible to lump into any particular genre.

Now on their fourth full length release, the Pickpocket Ensemble continue to pursue the Middle Eastern direction that they had begun to explore in their last outing If I Were A Highway (2003). The core lineup remains the same with frontman Rick Corrigan on accordion, Marguerite Ostrovski on violin, Tim Fox on guitar and assisted on a couple tracks by some additional clarinet and cello. Along with the increased concentration on pan-Mediterranean strains of music, the group has picked up a lot more confidence in their playing, taking more time to fully flesh out songs, with Corrigan, Ostrovski and Fox each taking turns with solos and building their counterpoint as they do. Further, more and more complex and interesting time signatures seem to be the order of the day on Fingerpainting In Red Wine. Interesting developments from an always interesting group.

MPEG stream: Disarray Of Roses
MPEG stream: Renee At Ocean Beach

After much too long an absence from the recording studio, San Francisco's own Pickpocket Ensemble returns with their third album and an apparently expanded line up. Listening to them on disc I still lament the loss of our beloved Radio Valencia where (how spoiled we were then) one could catch them live for free on regular basis. For those unfamiliar, the Pickpocket Ensemble play a wonderfully unselfconscious amalgamation of, for lack of a better term, folk music from around the world. The group is led by accordionist Rick Corrigan, who also writes the bulk of their material and filled out by violin, double bass, guitar and percussion. Along with both the Parisian and Eastern European influences that form the bedrock of the Pickpocket Ensemble, Corrigan has been further embracing the sounds of Klezmer music and in addition he seems to be delving into the realms of both Spanish and Nubian music. But parsing out specific influences with the Pickpocket Ensemble is a tricky thing as Corrigan's superb arrangements are knit so tightly it becomes difficult to separate the musical threads. The reason I suppose is because Corrigan and company choose to use their alembic to reinforce the commonalities of such diverse elements as much as they do to punctuate the differences. The result of course is just plain fine music that can only come from the Pickpocket Ensemble. Corrigan, an excellent accordion player, has always surrounded himself with great musicians and the recent additions of Marguerite Ostrovski on violin, Tim Fox on guitar and Will High on double bass are certainly no exceptions. Highly recommended!

RealAudio clip: Prague
RealAudio clip: The Gift of Water
RealAudio clip: Remember the Moon

Great local group that plays original numbers with an authentic Eastern European flavor. Accordion, trumpet, stand-up bass, snare drum & the occasional violin -- that's it.

We've long known that the veteran San Francisco acoustic group Pickpocket Ensemble never fail to deliver the goods, and their sixth cd reaffirms this. Those of you outside the Bay Area might already be familiar with them and this album from their airplay on NPR. It's sure to please old fans as well as attract plenty of new ones. Always rich in mood and atmosphere, they deftly meld inspirations and instrumentation from around the globe. Some are fleeting like single threads in their lustrous tapestry, while others (such as the Appalachian folk and Balkan gypsy influences) appear more solidly, forming artfully arranged patches of the PPE musical quilt. Along the mesmerizing way, they visit and revisit the twist and turns of jazz, flamenco, tango and chamber music. Equally at home in a sunny sidewalk cafe or a vivacious cabaret, Memory is a dark and sultry album that captures the flair and charm of a bygone era.

MPEG stream: Bird In A Web
MPEG stream: Memory

SF's pickPocket Ensemble follow up their fine fourth album Fingerpainting In Red Wine with Soul Cafe, an ep of seven songs drawn from an intimate live performance at a venue called Strings. As always Rick Corrigan and co. conjure somber, slinky atmospheres from their ensemble of violin, double bass, guitar, accordion, and percussion. Although we file their cds in the jazz section of aQ, their sound is far-reaching, stretching across genre and regional borders to incorporate elements of Klezmer, swing jazz, Balkan gypsy folk, classical chamber, Asian and African rhythms. Terrific!

MPEG stream: Nowhere Else
MPEG stream: Dark Roads

Raucous, wild n' wooly noisy jazz jamming in collision with an equally noisy indie rock aesthetic... a heavy and freaky blowout with squealing horns, hard frenetic drumming, all manner of electric guitar and analog synth keyboard textures, droning violin, and sometimes some hoarse, throwaway vocals. It's all massively chaotic but, perhaps, carefully composed and even catchy at times. What the heck is this? It's Sam Coomes of Quasi getting his "jazz" on, sorta, in cahoots with a bunch of accomplished Bay Area improvisors -- Kyle Bruckmann, Gino Robair, Scott Rosenberg, and John Shiruba -- who, conversely, all take this as a chance to seriously rock out. The demented, diverse results sound something like Italy's Zu meeting up with Captain Beefheart in Tom Waits' junkyard. With both John Zorn and Melvins on the sidelines, getting drunk and cheering them on. It sounds like they're having that sort of fun. Kinda crazy and pretty darn cool. Note: not to be confused with the similarly-named Pink MountainTOPS... that's a totally different band. We hear though that the two groups have been in correspondence and are even planning a split single maybe. Note also: Pink Mountain will in fact be playing a show with Zu (and Citay) in SF pretty soon, Monday June 19th at the Bottom Of The Hill.

MPEG stream: On A Persian Rug
MPEG stream: Antigravity

From the depths of the Impulse label's more "psychsploitaton" side of jazz comes this exotic East-meets-West rarity from 1968. And if you dug Gabor Szabo's Jazz Raga, any of the John Berberian electric oud albums, the Indo-jazz of Joe Harriott, or the even more authentically "Indo" Indo-jazz of T.K. Ramamoorthy recently reissued by EM, this will be right up your alley. You might have second thoughts seeing the buttoned-down suit and tie wearing bass player Plummer seemingly taking the piss out of the sitar jazz craze of the mid-to-late Sixties, but this record's musical qualities far outweigh any trendy novelty or gimmicks. The opening track, "Journey to The East", is a groovy pop number with spoken singing (the only track with vocals) but the flute, tabla and sitar interplay is pretty far out. Things get further out on the sinewy free jazz of "Arc 294" and the quiet intensity of "Antares". Even covers like "The Look of Love" and The Byrds' "Lady Friend" have charms beyond what those songs normally have to offer. A cultish obscurity for years, it's awesome to see this one-off album reissued again!

MPEG stream: Journey To The East
MPEG stream: Arc 294
MPEG stream: Antares

The Finnish avant-classical duo of pianist Eva Polgar and visual artist Sandor Valy are back with a brilliant postmodern musical reimagining of one of the oldest surviving pieces of literature, The Epic of Gilgamesh. This is the duo's third collaboration together and unlike the first two, The Bruegel Variations and The Mondrian Variations, where the scores were defined by visual elements found in the paintings of Breugel and Mondrian respectively, Gilgamesh was conceptualized in a completely different way. The Epic of Gilgamesh was an epic poem from Mesopotamia dating back to the 18th century BC, and chronicles the mythic life and adventures of Gilgamesh, king of Uruk and his companion Enkidu, a wild man created by the gods to distract Gilgamesh from oppressing his people. Together they fight monstrous mountain guardians, giant bulls, battle jealous Ishtar, and in the end after Enkidu's violent death, the story chronicles Gilgamesh's desperate search for Immortality and the meaning of life beyond death. The epic was originally discovered carved on twelve stone tablets, and here lovingly reproduced as 12 QRC codes (when scanned, each brings up part of the poem), the duo of Polgar and Valy have created a 12 part musical piece that doesn't seek to illustrate the text as much as to compartmentalize the story into the moods of its integrated characters and the ancient civilization they inhabited. Valy began creating key melody lines for each part which Polgar would elaborate on then give back to him and slowly, through an exchange of female and male composed tropes echoing the back and forth male and female interchanges of Gilgamesh and Ishtar, the piece came to fruition. Gilgamesh finds in itself a companion to their earlier work, in the duo's penchant for minimalist composition and complex rhythmic structures, this time adding instrumentation of clarinets and violins, zithers, kettle drums and chaotic horns to the fray, channeling not only Philip Glass, but John Zorn at times as well. Epic indeed!

MPEG stream: Gilgamesh - The City
MPEG stream: Shamhat
MPEG stream: Death of Enkidu
MPEG stream: Close To Immortality

Using visual artworks as a means of musical composition often sounds better in theory than in practice. Take the recent book and cd of Baudouin de Jaer's solo violin interpretations of the musical motifs in Adolf Wolfli's cosmological drawings where the audible results were less dazzling than the images would suggest. But not so in this latest experiment from conceptual composers Eve Polgar and Sandor Valy who turn the nonrepresentational paintings of Dutch modernist Piet Mondrian into beautifully vibrant minimalist scores. Mondrian, who started out as a representational painter, became increasingly interested in a process of reduction from nature into essential forms that soon evolved away from any overt natural reference. Most famous for his painting of bold black lines on white grounds and geometric forms in primary colors, and their perhaps musically influenced titles (Broadway Boogie Woogie!), it's not hard to see a correlation of sound and vision in his work. There is an interesting booklet that comes in the slipcase with this, detailing the process of how the pieces were composed to which paintings, where we also learned that this is not the first time the composers have worked in this manner. They previously worked out scores based on paintings by Breugel and there are cool pictures of how they designed scores based on how the orientation of the heads of peasants in Breugel's paintings followed a kind of musical order. Would like to see how that turned out musically, but getting back to the Mondrian Variations, the music starts out with repetitive solo piano figures that have a simple but idiosyncratic repetitive quality with sudden pauses that seem to follow a precise structure. With each composition, we're introduced to something new sonically through computer programs and samplers: an organ, pitched string modulations, then some minimal percussive rhythms until the pieces grow more epic in scope with choral like sounds, vocal counting of the odd tempos and blocks of interweaving rhythms. Of course, the musical corollary of this is Steve Reich and Philip Glass, but the music feels somehow different as if Polgar and Valy were reaching the same place through a completely different approach. Regardless of the process, the music is engaging and a delight to listen to. An extraordinary release on Circle's Ektro label that comes highly recommended! Please note: these cds have cardboard slipcases that arrived in somewhat less than pristine condition due to shipping, so persnickety collector types be warned. And, like most Ektro titles, these aren't limited but might take a longer time to restock, once we're out, since they come all the way from Finland.

MPEG stream: Composition With Lines 1917 Part 1
MPEG stream: Broadway Boogie Woogie 1942-43
MPEG stream: Composition with Yellow Blue Black and Grey 1921
MPEG stream: New York City 1 1941

Oluyemi Thomas: Bass clarinet, C-melody, soprano saxophones, bamboo flute & percussion. Ijeoma Thomas: Poetic vocals and percussion. Roberto de Haven: Percussion.

Another European free jazz obscurity unearthed by Atavistic's Unheard Music Series. This disc was originally released in 1967 and is the work of a Danish quartet lead by pianist Tom Prehn. Abstract, advanced stuff.

MPEG stream: Behind Kungstradgarden
MPEG stream: Toward Brazil

Long overdue reissue of this lost jazz classic from Texas saxophonist Prince Lasha, who recorded with Dolphy, Sonny Simmons, Elvin Jones, and was a contemporary of Ornette Coleman. Recorded in the mid sixties, Insight is notable for its strange lineup:TWO bass players and a harpist (a la Dorothy Ashby), plus Lasha traded his sax for flute, and in fact played both the wooden flute and the plastic alto flute, and you know how we feel about flutes! Thee's also trumpet, trombone and piano of course, the sound lush and shimmery and skittery, and soulful, so fantastic, the harp especially adding a totally different vibe to the proceedings, the horns get all gloriously intertwined, the dueling basses makes the sound thick and more busy, the record is split pretty evenly between deep soulful jazz ballads and full on bop workouts. It's not super weird, or far out, or skronky or free, instead this is just perfectly played, classic sounding jazz, with a tinge of the out of the ordinary, the solos inspired, the arrangements divine, the playing fantastic, one of our favorite jazz reissues of the last few years along with the recent Record Of The Week, A Lifetime In Oriental Jazz by Lloyd Miller. And like that one, this too is VERY recommended. Includes original liner notes as well as photos of the original labels and inside sleeves...

MPEG stream: Nuttin' Out Jones
MPEG stream: Out Of Nowhere
MPEG stream: Impressions Of Eric Dolphy

Just in case you were wondering, there IS a universe. A universe in which a band from Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley released a privately-pressed lp in 1975 containing some crazy sci-fi jazz fusion prog rock jams. You may not have heard that record yet, but you live in that universe, too. That band was called Probe 10, and that lp was called There Is A Universe. Imagine an underground hippie space rock band, with plenty of acid rock guitar and fuzz bass, teaming up with a groovy trumpet playing jazz cat who wandered in from some '60s nightclub. It's like Herb Alpert, smoking a lot of herb (ha). Usually when obscure private press reissues are billed as long lost psych/fuzz gems, especially when there's any sort of 'jazz' component, you have to be skeptical. But, in this case, it's actually pretty cool artifact. Super over the top with chops, and with the fuzz. The band, obsessed with the likes of Return To Forever, get busy with hectic tempo changes and rollercoaster song structures, brassy attacks, and flute too, lots of flute. And there's a big drum solo on here as well, part C of the five part suite "Invasion Of The Malladroids". Just ridiculous, really. And when they aren't conjuring jazzy sci-fi space battles with their instruments, they get all new agey, check out the babbling brook and spiritual spoken word on "To Improvise A Dream", and then there's the very first song, the title track, the only one with singing on it (courtesy guest vocalist Susan Rudelich), shrill and sweet at the same time, misleadingly melodic and hippified though, setting you up for a surprise as the band kicks into the first of the Malladroid invasion cuts immediately afterwards, some of the fuzziest, freakiest prog fusion absurdity we've ever heard. Nicely packaged in a miniature lp sleeve, the cd booklet featuring personal liner notes from two of the band members, Jim McGee and Barry "Buzz" Bachman. Also, there's five unreleased bonus tracks on the cd (a vinyl version of this reissue is forthcoming too, btw).

MPEG stream: Invasion Of The Malladroids: A. Invasions
MPEG stream: Intergalactic Crossfire
MPEG stream: Solar Winds

Ripping jazzed-up proggery here from this new SoCal band, featuring members of Radio Moscow and Astra. As big fans of Astra's already impressive authentic '70s style spacerock we were intrigued, and Psicomagia are right on the money, with their early '70s sounding blend of organ/synth wig outs, heavy bass grooves, propulsive prog drumming (which never lets up!), and energetic saxophone eruptions - with plenty of psychedelic, esoteric atmosphere as well, thanks to ritual bells and gongs and occasional dramatically chanted lyrics in Spanish (though this is, appropriately, mostly instrumental). The four long tracks find the band constantly hurtling forward, the rhythm section in particular always on the boil. Imagine Acid Mothers Temple, with horns, on speed! Or, likewise, a prog version of Earthless, with sax and keys instead of guitar. Definitely AMT and/or Earthless aficionados open to the endless jams of another band, and who like a little bit of free jazz freakout, should give this a whirl (or let it give you one). Obviously influenced by such vintage '70s jazz meets prog and acid rock greats as Magma, Soft Machine, Out Of Focus, Tony Williams Lifetime, and electric Miles Davis, Psicomagia successfully bring all that together in a compellingly badass yet quasi-mystical way. Bravo! NB. There's a vinyl version too, we should be listing next time.

MPEG stream: El Memorioso
MPEG stream: El Congreso Pt. 2
MPEG stream: Simplon

Hot on the heels of German label Disko B's release of Otherworldly, the first lp in 35 years from the incredible cosmic Afro-jazz-funk ensemble The Pyramids, comes this, a triple cd box set containing all three of The Pyramids original '70s albums - King Of Kings, Lalibela, and Birth/Speed/Merging. All are fantastic! Birth/Speed/Merging is the only one to have previously been released on cd, back in 2006 by Japan's EM Records, who can take credit for turning us on to the music of The Pyramids and their bandleader, Idris Acakamoor - a great guy who turns out to be a neighbor of ours here in San Francisco! We've reviewed each album separately in the past, as the other two, while never on cd, were eventually reissued on vinyl. So, here's what we wrote (a lot!) about each album, in chronological order: Lalibela from 1973 was the first recording by this previously little known spiritually tribal free jazz unit, The Pyramids. Originally formed in Europe by students from Antioch College, The Pyramids were based in Yellow Springs, Ohio, before moving to Oakland, California around 1975. The Pyramids were led by Irdris on saxophone and his then wife Margo on flute and piccolo, backed by four other musicians using an arsenal of African tribal instruments such as clay and talking drums, Ugandan harp, bailofone, and masenqo. That presence of ethnic instrumentation makes itself felt right away. The nearly thirty minute title track (comprising a side and a half of the original lp) begins with some raucous Morroccan-style funk rhythm with horns and piccolos swirling over the top before some soft chanting and Ackamoor's sax lay down the key melodic figure. Then everything sets in at once, hectic sax skronk, the percussive rhythms undulating at times claustrophobic and intense filling the space then gradually separating, becoming airier, sparse and placid before laying down a more martial rhythm that once again collides into a cascade of bamboo flutes and chants, and cymbal washes that becomes a serene idyllic pool of intense calm. The second track,"Indigo" is more lyrical, though it begins with some powerfully heavy drum fills, with lilting flute, melodic sax laying on top of lurching bass rhythm and percussion. The vibe is more majestic and pulsating then "Lalibela", with a lone shaker being the wildcard instrument for a bit as slow dramatic drums build, offset by metallic bowls and noises before the wooly skronk of the horns and woodwinds sets in and all the players ride that manic torrent before finally settling into a more subdued ending of call and response between Margo's flute and Idris's saxophone. It's that intuitive dynamic between the players, how they stay afloat through recurring periods of noise and calm that make listening to The Pyramids such an enjoyable and worthy experience! Then, released in 1974, came King Of Kings, which opens with "Mogho Naba", featuring some mantra-like chanting over a frenetic groove straight out of something on one of the Ethiopiques comps while the lead flute and saxophone played by husband and wife leaders Idris and Margo Ackamoor duel it out in a sort of ritualized frenzy, the saxophone becoming more smeary and free, ending with the reemergence of different kind of flutes playing around the same tone like a busted calliope, before that riff comes back and takes us out to the next track, "Queen of the Spirits". Leading with a beautiful lilting flute melody that gains energy and dynamics with lots of ethnic percussion. But being about the Queen, this is Margo's track with the sax kept at bay except for some key transition moments, merging into a Brazilian carnival percussive breakdown and ending with beautiful languid flute and Ethiopian harps. Side Two has the record's shortest and longest tracks. The first one is the 18 minute "Nsorama (The Stars)" that leads with Margo's intoning the word over a piano and a soft percussive riff, sounding like a more tribal version of a Doug Carn or Alice Coltrane track full of brooding majesty as the horns and flutes come in all plaintive and slow that keep this pace for awhile before the flutes let loose over the calm, but the frenzy on this track is minimal, in fact it becomes really minimal in parts with just a sole percussive rhythm taking the space for a few minutes before the key elements slowly reemerge. Definitely, one of their loveliest tracks! The final number, "My Africa" is more call and response mystical chanting over a repetitive piano and bass riff. This is the most vocal-centric track and in its listing of African homelands suggests a settling peace as it fades out. Such a beautiful record!! Finally, their third album (and the first we heard), 1976's Birth/Speed/Merging is definitely one of the most amazing rediscovered free jazz gems we've ever come across. And it's not just free jazz, all wild swirl and skronk. Instead it's an exotic blend of Don Cherry's Orient, Funkadelic's Maggot Brain, some Art Ensemble Of Chicago, with wild Eastern sounding tribal rhythms, shuffling jazzy post bop, fluttering flutes and skronking horns, chanted vocals, droning buzzing ragas, seventies psychedelic free folk, propulsive krautfunk jams, some totally chaotic free jazz here and there, octopoidal drumming and wild shrieking sax, haunting percussive soundscapes, replete with strange creaks and whistles, and then before you know it transforming before your ears into what sounds like traditional African music with warm muted thumb piano melodies, chanted harmonies, bird calls, and sweetly melodic flute, rollicking bass heavy grooves under wild hand drums and carnivalesquee noisemaking. The final track, the 16 minute long "Black Man And Woman Of The Nile", is a mellow slow burning groove, with a throbbing bass riff, warm rich sax runs, shuffling percussion, the whole thing a laidback, sun drenched, barefoot funkjazz jam, warm and dreamy and hypnotic, with a short break in the middle for a brief skronky freakout, and then straight back into it, eventually drifting off into abstract ambience, softly moaning horns, dreamy melodies and barely there percussive chatter. Awesome! These three albums, on 3 remastered cds, come in a handsome little box, with a 44 page booklet. And, on one of the discs you'll find a video for your computer, of The Pyramids live on San Francisco's KQED TV, from 1975!

MPEG stream: Aomawa
MPEG stream: Birth Speed Merging
MPEG stream: Lalibela

We're getting to the point now where EM Records could sell us pretty much anything. We've come to trust them that much. Whether it's singing saws, some lost psych oddity, sixties symphonies made entirely from bird calls, space age bachelor pad music, or lost jazz funk artifacts, they have such a knack for unearthing true gems, and then lovingly compiling liner notes and photos and extra track so that the final product is almost as impressive an -object- as it is a piece of music. The newset mysterious missive from EM is this long lost mysterious jazz record, originally released in 1976. We haven't been able to glean too much about The Pyramids, there are no liner notes (if that tells you how obscure this recording was/is) and a Google search turned up almost exclusively Japanese language sites. But don't let the lack of background keep you from enjoying this record, cuz it's definitely one of the most amazing rediscovered free jazz gems we've heard in ages. And it's not just free jazz, all wild swirl and skronk. Instead it's an exotic blend of Don Cherry's Orient, Funkadelic's Maggot Brian, some Art Ensemble Of Chicago, with wild Eastern sounding tribal rhythms, shuffling jazzy post bop, fluttering flutes and skronking horns, chanted vocals, droning buzzing ragas, seventies psychedelic free folk, propulsive krautfunk jams, some totally chaotic free jazz here and there, octopoidal drumming and wild shrieking sax, haunting percussive soundscapes, replete with strange creaks and whistles, and then before you know it transforming before your ears into what sounds like traditional African music with warm muted thumb piano melodies, chanted harmonies, bird calls, and sweetly melodic flute, rollicking bass heavy grooves under wild hand drums and carnivalesquee noisemaking. The final track, the 16 minute long "Black Man And Woman Of The Nile", is a mellow slow burning groove, with a throbbing bass riff, warm rich sax runs, shuffling percussion, the whole thing a laidback, sun drenched, barefoot funkjazz jam, warm and dreamy and hypnotic, with a short break in the middle for a brief skronky freakout, and then straight back into it, eventually drifting off into abstract ambience, softly moaning horns, dreamy melodies and barely there percussive chatter. Awesome!

MPEG stream: Aomawa
MPEG stream: Birth Speed Merging

Finally available on vinyl! This amazing slice of majestic tribal funk free jazz was briefly reissued on cd from Japan's EM Records a couple of years back, but due to legal disputes became quickly unavailable. We've been waiting patiently now for the proper reissues of this and the two other full lengths from this previously little known group, The Pyramids, biding the time by listening over and over again to the awesome 2cd set of The Pyramid's main founder Idris Ackamoor's solo output (also reissued on EM) ...and now finally they have reappeared in beautiful vinyl format (a long ago promised cd box set has yet to materialize!). Here's what we said about the cd reissue back when: Originally released in 1976, we haven't been able to glean too much about The Pyramids, there are no liner notes (if that tells you how obscure this recording was/is) and a Google search turned up almost exclusively Japanese language sites. But don't let the lack of background keep you from enjoying this record, cuz it's definitely one of the most amazing rediscovered free jazz gems we've heard in ages. And it's not just free jazz, all wild swirl and skronk. Instead it's an exotic blend of Don Cherry's Orient, Funkadelic's Maggot Brian, some Art Ensemble Of Chicago, with wild Eastern sounding tribal rhythms, shuffling jazzy post bop, fluttering flutes and skronking horns, chanted vocals, droning buzzing ragas, seventies psychedelic free folk, propulsive krautfunk jams, some totally chaotic free jazz here and there, octopoidal drumming and wild shrieking sax, haunting percussive soundscapes, replete with strange creaks and whistles, and then before you know it transforming before your ears into what sounds like traditional African music with warm muted thumb piano melodies, chanted harmonies, bird calls, and sweetly melodic flute, rollicking bass heavy grooves under wild hand drums and carnivalesquee noisemaking. The final track, the 16 minute long "Black Man And Woman Of The Nile", is a mellow slow burning groove, with a throbbing bass riff, warm rich sax runs, shuffling percussion, the whole thing a laidback, sun drenched, barefoot funkjazz jam, warm and dreamy and hypnotic, with a short break in the middle for a brief skronky freakout, and then straight back into it, eventually drifting off into abstract ambience, softly moaning horns, dreamy melodies and barely there percussive chatter. Awesome!

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This is the reissue of the second album from The Pyramids, whose other two records we raved about last list. Released in 1974, it opens with "Mogho Naba" with some mantra-like chanting over a frenetic groove straight out of something on one of the Ethiopiques comps while the lead flute and saxophone played by husband and wife leaders Idris and Margo Ackamoor duel it out in a sort of ritualized frenzy, the saxophone becoming more smeary and free, ending with the reemergence of different kind of flutes playing around the same tone like a busted calliope, before that riff comes back and takes us out to the next track, "Queen of the Spirits". Leading with a beautiful lilting flute melody that gains energy and dynamics with lots of ethnic percussion. But being about the Queen, this is Margo's track with the sax kept at bay except for some key transition moments, merging into a Brazilian carnival percussive breakdown and ending with beautiful languid flute and Ethiopian harps. Side Two has the record's shortest and longest tracks. The first one is the 18 minute "Nsorama (The Stars)" that leads with Margo's intoning the word over a piano and a soft percussive riff, sounding like a more tribal version of a Doug Carn or Alice Coltrane track full of brooding majesty as the horns and flutes come in all plaintive and slow that keep this pace for awhile before the flutes let loose over the calm, but the frenzy on this track is minimal, in fact it becomes really minimal in parts with just a sole percussive rhythm taking the space for a few minutes before the key elements slowly reemerge. Definitely, one of their loveliest tracks! The final number, "My Africa" is more call and response mystical chanting over a repetitive piano and bass riff. This is the most vocal-centric track and in its listing of African homelands suggests a settling peace as it fades out. Such a beautiful record!!

We're super psyched to finally see these rare Pyramids LPs available once again! (Note, the there's a third one, King Of Kings, that we and suppliers have already run out of, but we should be listing it eventually). Lalibela from 1973 is the first recording by this previously little known spiritually tribal free jazz unit, The Pyramids. Based in Yellow Springs, Ohio, before moving to Oakland, CA by 1975, The Pyramids were led by Idris Ackamoor on saxophone and his then wife Margo on flute and piccolo backed by four other musicians using an arsenal of African tribal instruments such as Clay and Talking drums, Ugandan Harp, Bailofone, and Masenqo. That presence of ethnic instrumentation makes itself felt right away. The nearly thirty minute title track (comprising a side and a half of the lp) begins with some raucous Morroccan-style funk rhythm with horns and piccolos swirling over the top before some soft chanting and Ackamoor's sax lay down the key melodic figure. Then everything sets in at once, hectic sax skronk, the percussive rhythms undulating at times claustrophobic and intense filling the space then gradually separating, becoming airier, sparse and placid before laying down a more martial rhythm that once again collides into a cascade of bamboo flutes and chants, and cymbal washes that becomes a serene idyllic pool of intense calm. The second track,"Indigo" is more lyrical, though it begins with some powerfully heavy drum fills, with lilting flute, melodic sax laying on top of lurching bass rhythm and percussion. The vibe is more majestic and pulsating then "Lalibela", with a lone shaker being the wildcard instrument for a bit as slow dramatic drums build, offset by metallic bowls and noises before the wooly skronk of the horns and woodwinds sets in and all the players ride that manic torrent before finally settling into a more subdued ending of call and response between Margo's flute and Idris's saxophone. It's that intuitive dynamic between the players, how they stay afloat through recurring periods of noise and calm that make listening to The Pyramids such an enjoyable and worthy experience!

Some years back, in 2006, the Japanese label EM - one of the most eccentric reissue specialists in the world, and just about our favorite - introduced us to the works of a mysterious, long lost '70s cosmic jazz ensemble called Pyramids (not to be confused with the post-rock/black metal act of the same name). They reissued The Pyramids' 1976 record Birth/Speed/Merging on cd, then a double-cd anthology of music by Pyramids bandleader, saxophonist Idris Ackamoor, including more Pyramids material, some of it previously unreleased. We were pretty taken with Ackamoor & Pyramids, calling 'em "amazing, and revolutionary and so brilliantly far out", and comparing 'em to such current underground ensembles as the No Neck Blues Band and Avarus, among others. Birth/Speed/Merging we said was an "amazing slice of majestic tribal funk free jazz" that made references to both Egypt and Jamaica, and the same goes for their other records too. Then, a little later, the Ikef label reissued all three of The Pyramids' rare albums on vinyl - the ones which we just got back in stock, and relisted a few weeks ago, you may recall. We relisted 'em because none other than Idris Ackamoor himself happens to live here in SF, in our neighborhood in fact, and he brought copies by! As always, we were happy to see him, and happier still when he told us the news that Pyramids had recently reunited with several of the original members, and had recorded a new album, their first in the 35 years since Birth/Speed/Merging - that's this, now out on the German label Disko B. Recorded at Faust Studio - that's right, the studio run by Hans Joachim Irmler of krautrockers Faust, in Scheer, Germany - it maintains and expands the Pyramids' spiritual, ethnic, cosmic, funky '70s jazz vibe perfectly. Otherworldly (so aptly titled) still holds echoes of their contemporaries the Art Ensemble Of Chicago, Sun Ra's Arkestra, Alice Coltrane, Don Cherry, Pharoah Sanders, etc. It's Afro-centric, with some further Far Eastern inflections... Universal sounds, universal consciousness. Both free and freaky but also totally soulful and gentle and groovy too. Definitely worthy of The Pyramids' now much less obscure legacy. The ancient/modern, multicultural connection Pyramids make is quite evident, resonating on tracks "Reincarnation" (which relates the royal drummers of Mali to kids dancing in the streets of New Orleans) and of course "Ancient Funk!". Tracks that find mantric group chant and masterful hand percussion alongside lovely whistling reeds and echoing electronics, both electric and acoustic bass parts intertwined, and plenty of other "otherworldly" sounds. Now we're really looking forward to seeing 'em live, as Idris told us they'd be playing shows soon, here in San Francisco as well as over in Europe (where they got their start, in France back in '72). In fact, he just dropped off some flyers, The Pyramids are playing 3 nights, November 1st-3rd, at the Buriel Clay Theater on Fulton! Compact disc version packaged in a nice gatefold sleeve with large fold out insert of lyrics and color photos. The vinyl is similarly presented.

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When it comes to specific musical instruments it's definitely tough for us to be won over by the alto sax. It's an instrument that all too often employed by those who have no business using it (think Kenny G, bad '80s pop rock, etc.) It's questionable use has made it so that even in respected jazz we almost cringe at its use unless its by one of the very few sax masters. So we knew immediately that this record by Carnatic player Prasant Radhakrishnan was something very special when it began with the sounds of alto sax. Part of it was the fact that the sax was being played in a way we had never really heard the instrument used before. Radhakrishnan's ability to bring together the disciplines of Classical South Indian music with Jazz is something he does grace and style. Equally influenced by John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins as much as D.K. Jayaraman and his guru Kadri Gopalnath, Radhakrishnan essentially uses the Sax to play ragas while his group adds violin and traditional Carnatic percussion to round out the sound. Now living right here in San Francisco, Radhakrishnan has found a perfect place to share his transcendent sounds with lots of open minds and ears.

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THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SORRY. REPRESSED, BACK IN STOCK! Wow! What an artifact. Here's some Egyptian jazz from the late '60s-early '70s courtesy of of the man who founded the first jazz big band in Egypt and later accompanied Sun Ra on tour in Egypt, Greece, France and Spain. We're pretty sure you must be damn curious by now, so we should tell you that beyond those enticing facts this is some seriously fine jazz played by a band made up of some of the best musicians in Egypt during that era. Five saxophones, four trumpets, four trombones, piano, bass, drums and percussion all coming together to form a super rich and tasty sound. Incorporating Middle Eastern melodies and mystique into its sound, this is the kind of jazz that's pretty impossible not to fall for. Like the best instrumental Ethiopiques tracks, Sun Ra's big-band era and Randy Weston's multicultural approach to hard bop. Incredibly pleasing!

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As much as we love the Beatles (and we do), we don't really find ourselves putting on Rubber Soul or Revolver on a daily basis. No, if we're gonna listen to Lennon/McCartney compositions, we'd rather hear 'em done a bit differently, like for instance rearranged by an obscure psychedelic orchestral jazz-rock ensemble from Norway, as found here. Recorded circa 1969-70, Rain's album features epic covers of Beatles classics "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "A Day In The Life", as well as John Lennon's own "Isolation", amidst a bunch of impressive progged-out originals, all heavy on the sweeping Hammond organ, fuzz guitar, horn arrangements, and grand Nordic vocals. The ambitious musicians in Rain shift from jazzy grooves to delicate '60s psych to electro-acoustic avant-classical experimentation (as on the stark and strange "Norsk Suite"), all except the latter staying nicely melodic as well as quite technically complex. George Martin & the Beatles were an inspiration of course, but also apparently Varese, Stravinsky, and Vanilla Fudge too! This Shadoks release includes a 20 minute bonus track of free improvisation, as well as extensive liner notes in the form of an interview with Rain's guitarist/violinist, and plenty of vintage photos.

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What awesomeness has EM for us this time? The Japanese reissue label rarely lets us down, digging up only the most interesting and unusual gems from long ago and far away. Recently they've brought us the "modernized" Thai music of Son Of P.M., and the spiritual bamboo flute playing of T.R. Mahalingam. Like the latter, this release is also from India, and furthermore ostensibly in the Carnatic (Southern Indian classical music) tradition, as per its truly fabulous title... but liberally mixed with Western jazz! Pretty neat, since we've heard plenty of albums doing the "jazz raga" or "Indo-jazz" thing (Don Ellis, Alice Coltrane, Joe Harriott/John Mayer, Gabor Szabo, etc.) but those are all by Western musicians looking to the East for inspiration, not the other way around. Whereas what we have here is a bit different in origin. This album, from 1969, is an utterly gorgeous set of exotic, melodic Indo-jazz fusion masterminded by one T. K. Ramamoorthy, a prolific film composer and director. According to EM, it's the first recorded instance where serious Indian musicians delved into jazz territory, juxtaposing traditional Indian instruments and musical structures with those from jazz tradition too. Improvisation being a significant element of both styles, it was doubtless an interesting and exciting session for these musicians. It certainly is for the listener. There's ten tracks here, and listening it's fascinating how it seems to subtly shift from the Indian and "exotic" to more familiar feeling jazz sounds, depending on what you listen for. The drummer lets loose on the traps one moment, while the zing of the strings of a sitar is heard at another, and it all works together so pleasingly, for fans of both Bollywood and Brubeck. Quite wonderful!

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Some "supergroups" ARE indeed super... some not so. (Zwan? The Firm?) But lately there's been some good ones. (Twilight, Shrinebuilder!) Here's another, Rangda, named after a Balinese child-eating deity... and with these guys, we weren't too worried about 'em not living up to expectations. Probably just telling you who they are will be enough for a lot of you to wanna pick this up (and we say, do it!): "Sir" Richard Bishop of the Sun City Girls, Ben Chasny of Six Organs Of Admittance, and Chris Corsano of heck lots of things. Geez, we'd probably be interested even if this turned out to be a recording of the three of them having conversation over lunch, or playing Rock Band together, or something equally ridiculous. But, even better, this instrumental guitar/guitar/drums trio does pretty much exactly what we'd want 'em to do on this recording, mixing far out free improv with gorgeous psychedelic daydream meanderings, making for a satisfying variety of moods (melodic, mayhemic, mesmerizing) across this disc's six tracks... It opens with "Waldorf Hysteria", an all guns blazing, room-clearing furore, but that's just a 2 minute warm-up, and not what you get for the whole disc, never fear (though some would be happy with that, and they do return to these levels of "Hysteria" at times later on the album, though there's no more bad puns attached). Track two, "Bull Lore" shows some more restraint, it's a noirish, jazzish, ominously cinematic rumble, with martial drumming underpinning the unleashing of an electric guitar solo that's equal parts beauty and terror, worth the price of admission alone if you're into this sort of outward bound six-string wrangling (which you should be, if you're interested in this group at all, this definitely for fans of the likes of Sonny Sharrock and Nels Cline). Not quite sure if that's Bishop or Chasny or a tag-team approach, both men are quite capable of sublime soling, and reality-ripping distorted skree as well, we know. And, when the two of 'em want to amp it up and bash it out, drummer Corsano is right there with them. The sheer monomaniacal intensity of the very next noisy track, "First Family", attests to this. It sounds like Yoshi Wada sitting in on one of Masayuki Takayanagi's Mass Projections! But then that's followed by the wistful loveliness of "Sarcophagi", which itself is quite different from what comes next, the aptly titled "Serrated Edges", gettin' stop-start hectic and tangled like something Mick Barr might dig his talons into. And then, False Flag's finale "Plain Of Jars" brings things down again, for a 15 minute, slow-building epic of gentleness, with Bishop trinkling into the track some delicious piano plinkings... Leaving us wanting more, we hope Rangda is one of those supergroups that's a real group, and keeps on goin'. The way these three seemingly embrace spirituality and chaos together, sound-wise, seems like it must be a good thing for them as well as us. Definitely, their debut gets our recommendation, combining as it does so potently the SCGs' unfettered exoticism and the most Freely Agitated krauty bliss ever conjured by Six Organs, not to mention summoning storms as strong as any previously navigated by Corsano's drumkit.

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We discovered this strange split lp via the always amazing WFMU in New Jersey, a freeform radio station we've collaborated with on numerous occasions in the past, most notably we shared a couple showcases at the South By Southwest music conference in Texas, which by the way was no coincidence, and it wasn't just because we're pals, it's also because WFMU constantly and consistently play the most amazing shit. We think we know about the craziest, most underground music, and then we tune into WFMU and routinely have our minds blown. And yeah, we blow their minds once in a while too, with stuff we recommend on our list, but pretty much every time we listen to WFMU, we have to have a pen and paper handy to jot down all the amazing things we need to track down, which happened recently with this here record. One track was all it took to know this was some serious aQ-worthy weirdness, dark and psychedelic, tripped out and bizarre and beautiful, on a label we love too, with a background story as cool and weird as the music itself. So we got as many as we could (it's limited to 300 copies!) but odds are they won't last, so grab one of these quick cuz once we describe it to you, we're pretty sure you're not gonna be able to live without one... The oddly named Razen are a duo, who grew tired of the traditional rock band instrumentation, and decided to each pick a new instrument, one they had no idea how to play, which is how they ended up with a detuned santoor (like an Indian hammered dulcimer) and a drumset assembled from metal plates. And thus was born Razen. They've expanded their instrumentation to include still more instruments they don't know how to play (bouzouki, keyboards, horns), and have invited a handful of guests to contribute an even more impressive and bizarre arsenal of noisemakers, including bagpipe, chalumeau (a classical style recorder), sopranino (one of the smallest horns in the saxophone family), bass recorder, duduk (a Middle Eastern woodwind) and shenai (a North Indian oboe), and this is the result: a glorious, mysterious take on world music, dark and haunting, heavily percussive, cinematic, abstract and dramatic, the label mentions Moondog and Bohren & Der Club Of Gore and David Lynch, but we also hear some Sun City Girls, some martial industrial music, while at the same time the sounds dip into African folk music and Indian style ragas, all rife with drone and buzz and strange melodies, lush textures, frantic rhythms, all filtered through Razen's distinctively non-world music perspective. "Rammelaargong" begins with hypnotic tribal hand drumming, deep low end thrum, fluttering woodwinds, and haunting steel string shimmer, eventually building to a frenzy of howling horns, and frantic drumming, infused with plenty of drone and buzz, and a strangely motorik rhythmic pulse, with everything eventually dropping out, finishing off with a brief flurry of lo-fi percussion. "Razen Zand" begins with a thick undulating raga like drone, rendered in glitchy electronics, before the drums kick in, and then the horns, and the sound is almost like a marching band playing some abstract African folk music, the drums and horns locked into staccato bursts, while in between those bursts, wild melodies are unfurled from buzzing steel strings, the sound manages to be epic, and majestic and HEAVY. "Richel" is all low end blur, and woozy snake charmer melodies, shimmery spidery buzzing strings, a sun baked sprawling raga-like drift, the vibe dark and emotional and intense, very cinematic, wild fluttering woodwinds flit above that mournful snake charmer cry, the track laced with sharp percussive strikes, and thick low end thrums, hummed chantlike vox, and swirls of metallic shimmer. "Rode Hond" too, begins with a deep metallic buzz, layered and lush, and those exotic intense snake charmer melodies, the percussion, spare and skeletal, but propulsive and rhythmic, the song growing more and more intense the drums more frenetic, the horns and woodwinds more tense, soaring and singing out, all the instruments slipping into a hypnotic groove, that we could listen to forever, and fades out way too soon. So incredible, it's only 4 tracks, but they're so intense and detailed and blossom a little more with every listen, you might as well set your turntable to send the needle right back to the beginning, and let it play all night. And that's just the Razen side. The flipside is taken up entirely by a single track from Sheldon Siegel, which is not in fact a person, but rather a group, a Belgian abstract free jazz outfit, made up of cello, drums, percussion, sax, vocals, tapes and music box, and don't be expecting regular old free jazz, they are after all teamed up with Razen for a reason, and not because they're both from Belgium, it's more likely, that like Razen, the guys in Sheldon Siegel approach their music similarly, looking to subvert the old, and invent something new, to create a music that while made up of free jazz elements, is more than free jazz, and what they've come up with does definitely strike out from the confines of free jazz, sure, a quick listen will sound like free jazz on the surface, but as you dig deeper, and the song develops, thick grinding cello drones ground the sound, a thick undulating textural buzz, underpinning, stuttery skronk and little flurries of percussive skitter, beneath clouds of cymbal shimmer. Over the course of the side's 25 minutes, the group shift gears dramatically, slipping into a seriously twisted dirge, with the horns super processed and sounding almost electronic, blissing out, and letting blurts of feedback and spurts of rhythmic sputter spar over mournful cello melodies, sounding super dramatic and intense, after some bursts of almost traditional sounding avant jazz, the sound winds way down, the tapes warble and whir, the other instruments are muffled and muted, a strange landscape of scrapes and thumps, of fragmented melodies, and abstract ambience, before finishing off with a strange stretch of stumbling loping jazz flecked skitter, and swirling droned out weirdness. LIMITED TO 300 COPIES!!

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MPEG stream: Drie Mannen Stappen Aan Boord... (excerpt 1)
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Soul Jazz has started to release the original albums from whence the tracks came for their excellent cosmic jazz/funk comp "Universal Sounds of America" from a few years back. The Art Ensemble's magnificent "Les Stances A Sophie" was the first, now

RealAudio clip: Lions of Judah
RealAudio clip: Sixth House

Steve Reid is a free jazz legend, his resume, musical and otherwise, is mindblowing, he played in Sun Ra's Arkestra, was a Motown session drummer, was in James Brown's band and played at the Apollo, he lived in Africa, was jailed for opposing the Vietnam War, was a Black Panther, lived in a loft with Meryl Streep and her brother, put on shows and performances there, and played with Fela Kuti, Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, Lester Bowie, about a million others, including more recently Four Tet's Kieran Hebden, which resulted in three amazing albums, all big time aQ faves. Odyssey Of The Oblong Square is one of Reid's first records, released originally over 30 years ago, was extremely limited even at the time, and is some serious left field, out-funk free jazz genius. Reid was featured recently in Soul Jazz's Freedom Rhythm & Sound: Revolutionary Jazz & The Civil Rights Movement 1963-82 collection, and this record was definitely a musical cornerstone of the rapidly developing free jazz underground in the seventies. Listening to this now, it still sounds as powerful and radical and emotional as it must have nearly 4 decades ago. Wild horns, dense skittery rhythms, sprawling clouds of constantly shifting tempos and timbres, super melodic, but also wild and chaotic, and most importantly FUNKY. The bass is the standout, which is saying something when all the players are so incredible, but it's like a living thing, throbbing and undulating, flurries of rapid fire notes, long languorous tones, even one long stretch where the bass just seems to buzz and hum, transforming the sound into something much more dark and intense, a solid anchor to allow the drums and horns to explore and expand. The two longest tracks here are epic, the band so tight, but simultaneously so loose and expressive, the final track "Ginsamseng" at one point finds the horns playing super loooong tones, layered and shifting, almost sounding like free jazz composed by Phill Niblock. Wow. So intense, and definitely spiritual and utterly transcendent, more than music, this is musical expression, the soul made sound, and that sound lives on, and continues to inspire. Way recommended. The reissue features the original super striking yellow and black Masonic album artwork, as well as new liner notes, detailing Reid's life and musical exploits. Another fantastic reissue from Universal Sound / Soul Jazz.

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A while back we were quite pleased by Soul Jazz / Universal Sound's reissue of jazz drummer Steve Reid's kosmigroove classic Nova. Now comes another reish of more of Reid's "deep spiritual jazz" in the guise of Rhythmatism, an LP originally released in 1976 on Reid's own Mustevic label. Here Reid (who has played with such legends as Sun Ra, Miles Davis, and James Brown among many others) leads a five-piece band that includes Les Walker on piano and Arthur Blythe on saxophone, with saxophonist Charles Tyler also guesting one one cut. Pianist Walker actually wrote almost all the tunes on here, but it's Reid's energy -- his Rhythmatism -- that propels this tight, groovy, not-too-in, not-too-out set.

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In recent years there's been a plethora of attempts at merging free jazz with an updated often electronic sound. The results of this merging have often been quite lackluster and disappointing. There has always been something that seems so forced in those unions. So when we heard that legendary and way too underrated jazz percussionist Steve Reid had enlisted the electronic hands of Kieran Hebden of Fridge and Four Tet fame we were both interested yet cautious not to get our hopes to high because of how past collaborations like this have turned out. Luckily our fear was immediately squashed as we put this on. The sounds of vintage prime-time-soul-infused-forward-thinking-jazz a la Art Ensemble of Chicago were coming out our speakers and it was a sound that we know we could rejoice in. The electronics are very subtle and add a nice texture in the moments they appear. This is not some sloppy throw in some samples and clicks and cuts under sax kind of affair. Reid oozes with confidence and a presence that marches with groove and flare. This is for sure one of the best new jazz albums to grace AQ in quite a while. Highly recommended!

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Steve Reid's resume speaks for itself. Over the last four decades his drumming has pretty much done it all! Mentored by with John Coltrane, playing in ensembles with Sun Ra and Fela Kuti, laying down the beats for Motown hits from Martha Reeves & The Vandellas to his own avant outings and recent collaborations with Kieren Hebden of Four Tet fame. Daxaar was recorded in Senegal with a large ensemble including Hebden on electronics, Khadim Badji on percussion and Jimi Mbaye on guitar. This was by no means Reid's first time in Africa, as he made the pilgrimage there very early in his musical career inspired by the visits to Africa that had such a strong impact on many of his musical heroes like Don Cherry and Art Blakey. Daxaar opens with a welcoming track played by Isa Kouyate on korah and vocals and the rest of the record finds Reid leading his ensemble through some really nice cosmic afro-jazz. There are a few moments that sound a little more fusiony then we usually expect from Reid, whose taste is for the most part always spot on. Not quite as out as some of his recent offerings but just as skilled, flawlessly executed and another bit of proof as to why he's one of the greatest jazz musicians still going strong!

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Collection of recordings from the career of tenor sax-player, Robert Reigle, includes his "Marriage of Heaven and Earth" which, coincidently, contains the same tone cluster as the last movement of Scelsi's "Pfhat." Here, the two are paired in a continuous piece. "The Marriage of Heaven and Earth" reappears at the end of the disc where Reigle has edited the improv out of the cluster and placed them into the left and right channels so that the listener can adjust the relative volume of the constituent parts of the cluster. Reigle's ensemble's version of Albert Ayler's "Bells" features AQ fave Eyvind Kang on violin and electronics.

[ aquarius records — Jazz ]