Recorded in St. Edmund’s Church, Oslo, on 13 December 2017.
Compositions by James Weldon Johnson and Thelonious Monk; also originals, including a tribute to Don Cherry.
Another humdinger in the Actions For Free Jazz series supervised by Smalltown Supersound.
Vinyl only, no digital. 500 copies, that’s it.
The great Earth Wind & Fire singer with Robert Glasper, Christian McBride, Kamasi Washington and co. Kicks off with Curtis’ mighty Billy Jack.
‘Verve By Request.’
Masterly Barry White production from 1974, the same year Brock handed Gloria Scott his killer song A Case Of Too Much Love Makin’. The title track is the business.
Plundered by Jay Z, Mos Def and Pete Rock.
‘First vinyl release of the breathtaking songs Patty Waters recorded in 1970 at the Coast Recordings studio, together with the unreleased single My One And Only Love, and a live session recorded at Lone Mountain College in 1974.
‘Here is the missing link between the two groundbreaking ESP LPs from the end of the 60s and the late-90s releases. Whereas PW’s debut album Sings concerned itself with themes of heartbreak, loneliness, and yearning, You Loved Me is abundant with love, joy, and togetherness. Whilst Patti’s songs cross spiritual jazz and US folk revivalism, Touched By Rodin is a brilliant extended showcase for the uneasy Cageian minimalism of her piano playing.’
Patty Waters… admired by Albert Ayler, Miles, Patti Smith, Yoko Ono…
Dark, hypnotic, tripping nyabinghi from 1974.
Led by Ras Michael over four extended excursions, the music is organic, sublime and expansive, grounation-drums and bass heavy (with no rhythm guitar, rather Willie Lindo brilliantly improvising a kind of dazed, harmolodic blues).
Lloyd Charmers and Federal engineer George Raymond stayed up all night after the session, to mix the recording, opening out the enraptured mood into echoing space, adding sparse, startling effects to the keyboards.
At no cost to its deep spirituality, this is the closest reggae comes to psychedelia.