Category Archives: Jazz

CULT CLASSIC: COUNT BASIE AND HIS ORCHESTRA-AFRIQUE.

Cult Classic: Count Basie and His Orchestra-Afrique. By 1970, sixty-six year old Count Basie was one of the most successful jazz musicians. He had achieved just about everything and had won seventeen Grammy Awards with his Orchestra.  Count Basie had come a long way since he dropped out of school to play the piano at a silent movie theatre. Soon, he …

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CULT CLASSIC: JOHN CARTER/BOBBY BRADFORD-SELF DETERMINATION MUSIC.

Cult Classic: John Carter/Bobby Bradford released Self Determination Music By 1970, when John Carter and Bobby Bradford released Self Determination Music, Bob Thiele’s Flying Dutchman Productions had established a reputation for releasing groundbreaking music. This had been  the case since Bob left Impulse Records in 1969. Impulse Records had been home for Bob Thiele since …

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CULT CLASSIC ROY HAYNES-HIP ENSEMBLE.

Cult Classic: Roy Haynes-Hip Ensemble. In the history of jazz music, Roy Haynes’ name looms large. He is one of the most recorded drummers in jazz history, and during a career that spanned sixty years, Roy Haynes worked with the great and good of jazz music. This included Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Wardell Grey, Stan …

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CULT CLASSIC: HADLEY CALIMAN-HADLEY CALIMAN.

Cult Classic: Hadley Caliman- Hadley Caliman. Although Hadley Caliman had worked as a sideman for Dexter Gordon and Art Farmer, he didn’t release his eponymous debut album until he was thirty-nine. This wasn’t down to a lack of talent. Far from it. Hadley Caliman was one of the most talented tenor saxophonists and flautists of his …

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CULT CLASSIC: BLUE MITCHELL-BLUE MITCHELL.

Cult Classic: Blue Mitchell-Blue Mitchell. Despite  a recording career that spanned twenty-nine years, and over twenty albums,  Florida born trumpeter, Blue Mitchell, never enjoyed the same critical acclaim that many of his contemporaries enjoyed. Blue wasn’t perceived as a groundbreaking musician. However, he enjoyed a successful career, touring widely and releasing a string of successful …

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CULT CLASSIC: PRETTY PURDIE-SOUL IS…PRETTY PURDIE.

Cult Classic: Pretty Purdie-Soul Is…Pretty Purdie. During a career that’s lasted over sixty years, Bernard “Pretty” Purdie has played alongside the great and good of music. This includes Steely Dan, the Rolling Stones, Jeff Beck, Cat Stevens, Aretha Franklin, King Curtis, Hall and Oates, James Brown, Isaac Hayes and Gil Scott Heron. These artists brought …

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CULT CLASSIC: RADKA TONEFF AND STEVE DOBROGOSZ-FAIRYTALES.

Cult Classic: Radka Toneff and Steve Dobrogosz-Fairytales. One of the most overused word in the English language is classic, with critics often hailing the latest book, play or album a “classic.” More often than not, this is hyperbole, and it’s only much later, that the same critics realise that they were rather fulsome in their praise …

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CULT CLASSIC: GIL SCOTT-HERON-PIECES OF A MAN.

Cult Classic: Gil Scott-Heron- Pieces Of A Man. Just a year after the release of his 1970 debut album Small Talk At 125 and Lenox, Gil Scott-Heron returned with his landmark album Pieces Of A Man which was his second collaboration with musician Brian Jackson. Together they created a fusion of jazz, blues and soul music, …

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CULT CLASSIC: LEON THOMAS-FULL CIRCLE.

Cult Classic-Leon Thomas-Full Circle. For Leon Thomas, Full Circle represented the end of an era. It was the last album Leon Thomas released on Flying Dutchman Productions, and marked the end of his “classic period.” It had started four years earlier in 1969, when Leon Thomas released his debut album Spirits Known and Unknown. Since …

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CULT CLASSIC: LONNIE LISTON SMITH AND THE COSMIC ECHOES-REFLECTIONS OF A GOLDEN DREAM.

Cult Classic: Lonnie Liston Smith and The Cosmic Echoes-Reflections Of A Golden Dream. Of all the artists Bob Thiele signed to Flying Dutchman Productions, Lonnie Liston Smith and The Cosmic Echoes proved to be one the most successful. However, success didn’t come overnight for Lonnie Liston Smith and The Cosmic Echoes. Neither Lonnie Liston Smith …

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CULT CLASSIC: JOHNNY HAMMOND-GEARS.

Cult Classic: Johnny Hammond-Gears. Johnny “Hammond” Smith’s recording career began in 1958 and a year later he released his debut album Have You Heard. This was the first of two albums Johnny “Hammond” Smith released during 1959. Over the next sixteen years, Johnny “Hammond” Smith released another thirty album. His thirty-second album was Gears, which …

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CULT CLASSIC: CRAIG PEYTON GROUP-PYRAMID LOVE.

Cult Classic: Craig Peyton Group-Pyramid Love. For Craig Peyton, the founder member of Band X, 1976 was the most important year of his nascent musical career. It was the year they released their debut album The Best Of Band X. However, The Best Of Band X a private pressing, wasn’t a commercial success and instead, this innovative, …

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CULT CLASSIC: THE CONTEMPORARY JAZZ QUINTET-LOCATION.

Cult Classic: The Contemporary Jazz Quintet-Location. Many record buyers have a wish-list of albums that are their holy grail, and which they spend a lifetime searching for, in the hope that they can add these elusive albums to their lovingly curated collection that they’ve built up over several decades. For many fans of jazz music, …

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CULT CLASSIC: AIRTO FOGO-AIRTO FOGO.

Cult Classic: Airto Fogo-Airto Fogo. During the seventies, Paris born drummer and percussionist Sylvain Krief was one of France’s top musicians. He was also a talented composer, arranger and producer who founded and lead two bands. The first of these bands was Rupture, who released the spiritual jazz classic Israel Suite/Dominante En Blue in 1973.  Three …

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CULT CLASSIC: MOUVEMENTS-MOUVEMENTS.

Cult Classic: Mouvements-Mouvements. In the late-sixties, self-taught guitarist and jazz aficionado Christian Oestreicher, who was later described as: “a savage in the era of twist and free jazz,” met artist and painter Richard Reimann who was famous for his optical art, at the renowned Aurora art gallery in Geneva, Switzerland. This was the start of …

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MOVE ON UP: THE SONGS OF CURTIS MAYFIELD.

Move On Up: The Songs Of Curtis Mayfield. Label: Playback. Release Date ‘8th’ November 2019. After the demise of The Impressions in 1970 following the release of Check Out Your Mind, Curtis Mayfield embarked upon a solo career. It spanned three decades and commercial success and critical acclaim were constant companions for the Chicago-born soul …

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CULT CLASSIC: TOHRU AIZAWA QUARTET-TACHIBANA.

Cult Classic: Tohru Aizawa Quartet-Tachibana.  For many connoisseurs of jazz, especially seventies J-Jazz, one little known private pressing is their holy grail, and everywhere they go is the album they search for. There’s always the hope that in a backstreet record shop, antique centre or thrift store in a town or city somewhere in the …

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MUSIC FROM JARVIS COCKER’S SUNDAY SERVICE.

Music From Jarvis Cocker’s Sunday Service. Label: Ace Records. When it was announced in 2010, that former Pulp frontman, and songwriter-in-chief, Jarvis Cocker, was about to present a show on BBC 6 Music, his statement of intent was posted on the Corporation’s website: “It is my intention to fill these hours with as much dodgy …

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CULT CLASSIC: TIM MAIA-DISCO CLUB.

Cult Classic-Tim Maia-Disco Club. By 1978, Tim Maia had released nine albums since his 1970 eponymous debut, and although some of these album had been released to critical acclaim and were a commercial success, the charismatic Brazilian singer found himself financially embarrassed. Things had been going from bad to worse over the last few years …

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CULT CLASSIC: SUE BARKER-SUE BARKER.

Cult Classic: Sue Barker-Sue Barker. Forty-two years ago, in 1977, Adelaide-based singer Sue Barker released what’s without doubt, one of the greatest soul-jazz albums in the history of Australian music. That album was Sue Barker, which was released on Marcus Herman’s label Crest International. The release of Sue Barker should’ve been the start of a …

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