"Let’s Get Deluxe, the third album on Basho Records from transatlantic contemporary jazz supergroup The Impossible Gentlemen, captures a substantial but organic evolution in the group’s sound. Co-leaders Mike Walker and Gwilym Simcock consciously moved to broaden the instrumental palette at the earliest stages of the writing process, using melodies and counter melodies to create an intricate narrative.

By the time the group came to recording, the music had already been thoroughly road-tested on...

“For trumpeter Ingrid Jensen and saxophonist/ clarinetist Steve Treseler, paying tribute to the late Kenny Wheeler was a calling. “Ingrid and I are both devoted Kenny fans and we both had the opportunity to work with him in person,” says Treseler. ‘Invisible Sounds’ reinterprets works from his prolific catalog.
Ingrid’s band - Geoffrey Keezer (piano), Martin Wind (bass) and Jon Wikan (drums) - was playing at the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival in Idaho, so they booked two nights at Seattle’s Royal Room...

Chris Francis – alto sax
James Dvorak - trumpet
Frank Roberts - piano
Ernest Mothle - bass
Keith Bailey – drums

Very good, Afro-jazz styled sounds from some names that Brit-jazz fans will recognize. Until this new reissue, I had never heard this cooker! You like Harry Miller’s Isipingo or Dudu Pukwana’s In The Townships? You will like this one!

“Super rare 1970s British jazz from Joy: Chris Francis, James Dvorak, Frank Roberts, Ernest Mothle, Keith Bailey reflecting the

Chris Laurence is a bassist who has appeared on many Brit-jazz classics in the past. Nice to see a new release from him. This one features Frank Ricotti-vibes, John Parricelli-electric and acoustic guitars, Martin France-drums, Chris on bass and Norma...

Sensible Shoes is the fourth album by this London quartet of dual alto saxes, Fender Rhodes & keyboards, bass and drums. It is a cataclysmic offering of jazz-rock, free-jazz, avant-skronk, funk-rock, art-noise and whatever else they can lay their hands on. A tremendously popular act at home in the UK, where they regularly play large-scale festivals and concert halls (as well as playing the typical club gigs that all musicians play), Sensible Shoes is their first recording to be released outside of the UK...

A truly great new studio release by the MIGHTY BIB, and for the first four weeks only, this is $3.00 off the regular price!

"Easily the most adventurous and audacious outfit on today’s UK jazz scene, Led Bib has built a reputation over the course of seven albums for expansive improvisations and treks into genre-defying music of throbbing intensity. All Music Guide called their singular brand of jazz “explosive enough to blow up your speakers” while The Wire weighed in with: “This is the sound....

Leon Calvert (trumpet)
Mo Foster (bass guitar)
John Girvan (guitar)
Les Hurdle (bass guitar)
Barry Morgan (drums, percussion)
Stan Reynolds (trumpet)
Ray Russell (guitar)
Barbara Thompson (saxophone, flute, clarinet)
Fiachra Trench (keyboards)
Roger Williams (trombone)

Previously unknown to me mid/late 70s Brit-jazz / jazz-rock project that is definitely in a similar vein (if a tad funkier) to others from the same era. Nice to hear this nearly 50 years l

Half-correct, pirated versions of test-pressings of this album have circulated among collectors of Brit-jazz for literally 4 decades(!) - I had a cassette of one-such 'test pressing' for over 20 years (on the other side was the unreleased session that...

Despite the fact that for some reason this album was released as being by ‘The Chris McGregor Group’, this is, in fact, the ONLY album ever made by Chris and The Blue Notes in the 1960s (there are some live recordings that were released later, but this is essentially IT!)
These is the only recordings by the band who left apartheid South Africa (McGregor, Dudu Pukwana, Mongezi Feza, Ronnie Beer, Johnny Dyani and Louis Moholo) to play at the Antibes Jazz Fest and eventually found their way to London...

Harry Beckett – trumpet
Marc Charig – trumpet
Nick Evans – trombone
Mongezi Feza – trumpet
Malcolm Griffiths – trombone
Chris McGregor – piano
Harry Miller – double bass
Louis Moholo – drums
Mike Osborne – alto sax
Evan Parker – tenor sax
Dudu Pukwana – alto sax
Gary Windo – tenor sax

South African born and raised pianist/bandleader Chris McGregor formed the racially mixed Blue Notes in the early 1960's, touring and trying to get by in extremel

Bo Meson – voice, software instruments
Wolfgang Seel – voice
Peter Rophone – choral voices
Martin Archer – Bb and bass clarinets, software instruments
Graham Clark – violin
Maja Bugge – cello

“Collaborations between poet / composer Bo Meson and composer Martin Archer tend to stray into odd places where neither of them would normally venture, and when they meet up normal rules cease to apply. Quite how the initial idea for this piece, inspired by the odd fact that Matt

Bassist Harry Miller was born in South Africa, but he was the Brit-jazz bassist throughout the 1970s, playing with John Surman, Centipede, Mike Westbrook, Keith Tippett, Mike Osborne, King Crimson, Julie Tippetts, Alan Skidmore and Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath, among many others, as well as co-founding the legendary Ogun label, which did so much to document the Brit-jazz scene in the 1970s.
Harry's group, Isipingo, which he led for a number of years, could be compared to a smaller-scale...

Great, live sound and also a great performance. Last time ever on this wonderful release from the wonderful, now gone, Reel Recordings label.

"Pianist Steve Miller (1943-1998) formed his trio in the mid-eighties after a lengthy hiatus for...

Subtitled "Louis Moholo-Moholo meets Mervyn Africa - Pule Pheto - Keith Tippett", this is over 75' of drum and piano duets with Mervyn Africa (14'), Pule Pheto (17') and 45' - a full album in other words - of his work with long time partner and pal Kei...

Three well known British players(Moholo-drums, Parker-saxes & Guy-bass) + African newcomers Pule Pheto-piano & Gibo Phetond bass. Variations of solos, duo, trios, quartet, & over 45 minutes by the full five piece band.

Alexander Hawkins-piano, John Edwards-bass, Louis Moholo-Moholo-drums, Jason Yarde-saxes.

"It’s the feeling that differentiates free jazz and its offshoots from every other species of contemporary western music: the sensation that the body and...

This is definitely one of Louis' strongest efforts as a leader and features a fine cast:
Louis Moholo-Moholo-drums
Jason Yarde & Ntshuks Bonga-saxophones
Henry Lowther-trumpet
Alan Tomlinson-trombone
Francine Luce-voice...

Jason Yarde - saxes
Shabaka Hutchings - saxes
Alexander Hawkins - piano
John Edwards - bass
Louis Moholo-Moholo - drums

. "Well over 50 years after leaving apartheid South Africa behind and traveling to Europe with his Blue Notes bandmates, ALL of whom are gone, drummer Moholo-Moholo is still leading great bands with great players, some known to me and some not.
Somehow, all these years later and with a crew of native-born Brits, Louis and the crew manage to dig into and gi

Out of print for several years and not coming back. Last chance/very few!

Since Mujician formed in England in 1988 as an improvising collective, the band has released 5 CDs on Cuneiform, who, in the words of The Wire, perform "...measured &...

Frank van der Kooij - tenor & soprano saxophone / bass clarinet
Hugh Hopper - bass
Robert Jarvis - trombone
Paul Maassen - synths & piano
Kim Weemhoff - drums
Niels Brouwer - guitar
Henk de Laat - double bass (on 'The City')

This is quite a treat to see come out 15 years after the band originally ended! This is a professional sounding live recording of what both Frank and Hugh remembered as being one of the band’s best gigs! Plus Ravel, which is quietly impressive (ju

Mastered from the original Vertigo tapes.

“Another thrilling, funky-prog jazzy-rock fusion beauty from Ian Carr's Nucleus. Genius trumpeter and visionary composer Ian Carr was one of the most respected British musicians of his era. In late 1969, following the demise of the Rendell-Carr quintet, and tiring of British jazz, Carr assembled the legendary Nucleus. Under bandleader Carr, Nucleus existed as a fluid line-up of inventive, skilled musicians.
Alleycat was the last Nucleus album...

This was issued on CD in 2006 as “Hemispheres” and is high quality soundboard tapes of the original line-up in March 1970 & February 1971.

“The outstanding Solar Plexus, the much-loved third album from Ian Carr and Nucleus, was first released on Vertigo in 1971. Genius trumpeter and visionary composer Ian Carr was one of the most respected British musicians of his era.
Ian Carr describes Solar Plexus: "I wrote Solar Plexus last year with the help of an Arts Council grant. It is based on two short themes which are stated at the beginning ('Elements I' and 'II'). The first theme is angular and has a slow, crab-like movement: the second...

Ian Carr-trumpet
Karl Jenkins-oboe, baritone sax & piano
Brian Smith-tenor, soprano and flute
Chris Spedding-guitar
Jeff Clyne-bass & electric bass
John Marshall-drums

“Their second album and very impressive musically and personnel wise for 1970! Taken from the original Vertigo masters!

With breaks for days and an almost ambient, heavy jazz atmosphere throughout, this is the apex of British jazz-rock fusion. We'll Talk About It Later was first released on Vertigo i

“From the wild cover to the iconic breakbeats, Roots is thick, funky-prog jazz-rock heaven. Originally released on Vertigo in 1973. , genius trumpeter and visionary composer Ian Carr was a true pioneer and saw the potential in fusing the worlds of jazz with rock, just as Miles Davis and The Tony Williams Lifetime did in the US. In late 1969, following the demise of the Rendell-Carr quintet, and tiring of British jazz, Carr assembled the legendary Nucleus. Under bandleader Carr, Nucleus existed as a...