The Buddy Rich Big Band - The New One! (Liberty 1967)

I can't really call myself a hardcore big band fan, but this album really grows on me for every time i listen to it! This is Buddy Rich Big Band's "The New One!" on the Liberty label from 1967. Whole album is great but one track really stands out on this one and it's the closer of the album entitled "Diabolus". Fans of The Cinematic Orchestra will certainly recognize the beautiful part at 03.40, sampled for the tune with the same name from the album "Motion" on the classic Ninja Tune label. If you listen closely on the rest of the album, you'll also find out that the Swedish jazz-duo "Koop" has found some good stuff on it too...

Check out the whole album with alternate takes on spotify!

Manfred Schoof Quintet - Light Lines (JAPO 1978)

Back to Europe again with this post and a fantastic quintet led by the German trumpet player Manfred Schoof. Probably most known for his recording "European Echoes" from 1969, the first album to be released on the FMP label which featured heavyweight names such as Peter Brötzmann, Enrico Rava and Evan Parker. This 70's quintet though is a whole different thing...
It's not hard not to believe that Manfred was probably inspired by Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi group at the time, according to the the lineup that both features electric keyboards run through various effects and the use of bass clarinet along with the trumpet and flugelhorn. The songs have the kind of ECM melancholy feel that you might expect and I really love the tracks "Resonance" and "Lonesome Defender". Both of the songs is built up around repeating ostinatos in the rhythm section, making up a nice foundation which the soloists really stretches out on.

Vinyl rip @ 192 kbit/s this time!

Only thing that confuses me is if Manfred Schoof really is the pseudonym of Charles Bronson switching to a career in jazz.......let the pictures speak for themselves.....

Manfred Schoof?

Charles Bronson?

Well...maybe not....but anyway, check out the videos below, a performance of the group from German television in the late 70's. Creds to orangefunk who uploaded the videos and made me discover this great group!

The Sound Of Feeling - Spleen (Limelight 1967)

Probably one of the scariest records I own....and best!

The whole set is a strange mix of psychadelic 60's dreamy pop vocals, sung and spoken, along with elements of free jazz and modal grooves. The group is fronted by the vocal trio of Gary David and the sisters Alyce and Rhae Andrece who all together handle the vocal-arrangements on the album. The backing instrumention is a cool mix of drums, harp, flute, soprano and alto saxophone, moog, cello and undoubtly the most unusual of them all; the microtonal-vibraphone (!). It is made up of twelve tones out of a 20 tone group and gives some really wierd quarter-tone intervals. (Music-theory class stops here...)
Whole album is fantastic but the standout tracks for me is "Hurdy Gurdy Man" and "Along Came Sam", slow & lazy grooves that is litteraly made for sampling. Check out the spoken word parts in the second one, it dosen't get better than that. Also contains a nice version of Simon and Garfunkels all time classic "The Sound Of Silence".
Is this what Portishead would have sounded in the 60's?

The Andrece sisters

Here's what dustygroove has to say:

An incredible record from this enigmatic vocal group! Sound Of Feeling were an ultra hip trio (2 gals, 1 guy) who recorded under the aegis of Leonard Feather at the end of the 60s -- and who worked in a mode that combined sweet harmony vocals, sunshine pop, and some surprisingly experimental touches! The tunes on this set are a weird blend of dreamy numbers and other tunes that really push the boundaries of vocal expression -- very tripped-out numbers that are a bit like some of the later experimental work by the Swingle II ensemble.

Original vinyl rip @ 320 kbit/s

Grupa Organova Krzysztofa Sadowskiego - Na Kosmodromie (Pronil 1971)

First post here is a nice little find i did on a recent trip to Poland. This is Krzysztof Sadowskiego's group "Grupa Organova" with the LP entitled "Na Kosmodromie" from 1971.
Heavy spaced out cosmo-jazz on the title track that stretches over 20 minutes and occupies the whole A-side. The piece starts out with dreamy, haunting vocals, flutes and some really nice hammond playing from Krzysztof himself and when you least expect it, the whole thing burst out in a heavy jazz-funk jam. The B-side kick off with another killer tune entitled "Alfa Centaura", heavy backbeat driven funk with trumpet, sax and hammond solos and the psyched out high pitched vocals adds a nice vibe to the theme. Rest of the B-side is more straight jazz style but there's no really weak tracks on this LP.
No reissuies as far as I've seen. Highly recommended!

Wykonawcy:

Krzysztof Sadowski - Hammond organ
Liliana Urbanska - vocal, flute
Eddie Engels - trumpet
Wlodzimerz Nahorny - alto sax, piano
Pawel Dabrowski - bass guitar
Josef Gawrych - conga
Tomasz Butowtt - drums



Here's Krzysztofs own words about the LP from the back sleeve:

The title piece of this album is a 20-minute long suite dedicated to the Earth and to the Cosmos. It consists of six parts, each one having no beginning and no end; but all of them make a homogeneous whole. The mighty and still so mysterious Universe is illustrated by the melody full of peace, inner order and dignity. The opening of the piece brings the dreams and endeavours of a contemporary human being; dreams of escaping the earth. The middle part of the composion is dedicated to the Earth that keeps us all together with our troubles, anxiety and ignorance, with our life full of questions, strain and tragedies. Our Earth is a Cosmodrome from wich we will take off to search for new worlds and better future...
Every one of the soloist participating in this session aimed to express his own ideas. I belive we got on quite well. Therefore Liliana Urbanska's flute part displays a strong feeling of lyricism; the solo of the Dutch reumpeter Eddie Engels is loaded with stormy dynamics, and Wlodzimierz Nahorny's improvisations reveal that the absurdity and sort of aimless of our attempts to escape from the Earth to the Cosmos, wich is stillunknown, but..could it really be better than the Earth?
This cosmos is also illustrated in my improvisations in wich I utilize all the sound possibilities offered by my Hammond organ. The bridge between the first part of the and its B-side is a tune entitled "Alpha Centauri", a "cosmic" piece - both in its title and character. Then follows Wlodzimierz Nahorny's "You Feel Like Laughing But I Don't", a number known from the Jazz Jamboree '70. The next piece is a composition by our Dutch guest Eddie Engels entitled "Straight Life". The two final tracks of the record were composed by me: "Dalarna" (Dalarna is the name of the Norwegian (Swedish; editors note) province wich brings us a lot of memories), and well known "Blues X" in a new arrangement with all the sound tricks of Hammons organ and miscellaneous electronic devices. So here is my new record.

Original vinyl rip @ 320 kbit/s

Up and running!

Inspired by all the great music-blogs out there, here's my own contribution to the blogland! Big up to all the bloggers that has inspired me and shared so much great music.

Enjoy!