With the greatest love and respect I'm posted 1 LP, each day of February that exemplify in my opinion, some of that greatest creative works of all time! All wax from my personal collection, essential, all time faves that move me beyond all else...constantly learning, discovering and evolving...this is the joy of life, praise and thanks to the creators. Power through music, there is nothing better!
My good friends Brett Savage, Andy Uzzell, Christopher Laramee , Dave Cambridge, Trevor Walker and Al Blanck have some awesome recommendations at the tail end of this piece, so make sure your homework is completed! LOVE AND RESPECT. 💕👽
One of the most important records ever recorded? Pretty likely! Last Poets from Harlem created and paved the way for hip-hop. 1st LP from 1970...💕💣
https://youtu.be/W4H0rwumscA
Master drummer, the late Steve Reid played with Miles, Fela, James Brown, Sun Ra and Ornette. He spent 4 years incarcerated in the Lewisburg Penitentiary as a conscientious objector after refusing thraft in 1969 during the Vietnam War. All is recording are SUPERB!
https://youtu.be/aX-cPHlLVT8
Venerable power trio and the first album recorded in 1969. Off the rails, intense, jazz rock fusion led by the late powerhouse drummer Tony Williams! Also features John McLaughlin on guitar and Larry Young on organ. All 3 of these dudes had done time with Miles Davis so that tells ya' a lot ! 💕
https://youtu.be/Aq3LEC0T3Fw
The late alto sax player Noah Howard cut his 3rd lp at the age of 26 in 1969 Issued in '72, "The Black Ark" is a wicked hard edged free jazz monster with spiritual nuance. Howard played with Archie Sheep, Albert Ayler, Sonny Simmons and Frank Wright to name a few. His pedigree is high!
https://youtu.be/0prGG1df664
A backing band originally put together by Herbie Hancock, This debut by The Headhunters issued in 1975 is a prime floor shaker, filled with 1st rate funk, jazz and smoking instrumentation. Bennie Maupin, Blackbird McKight, Paul Jackson, Bill Summers and Mike Clark rocked the house !
The Pointer Sisters are guest vocalists on this track below!
https://youtu.be/C8hi3ZnhFac
A cosmic free jazz blast from 1967 featuring the dynamic duo John Coltrane on tenor sax and bells and Rashied Ali on the traps. A wild ride start to finish, "Interstellar Space" features 4 blistering spiritual tracks: "Mars", "Venus", "Jupiter" and "Saturn"
https://youtu.be/RyIPmmCmIb0
A true psychedelic cosmic jazz masterpiece from Todd Cochrane on Prestige Records 1973. Absolute must listen...took me awhile to find after it being common and carried in a shop I worked at in the 70's. Deep Shit album and highly recommended!
Smoke's 2nd LP "Everything", released in 1973 is mind bendingly AWESOME...progressive, tripped out, psychedelic JAZZ of a first rate variety. Inventive free style with groove galore...I never grow weary of trippin' on this baby!
I discovered Roland P. Young through my lady friend Lady Mary McKinnon and her love for Young's "Istet Serenade" in 2009, did my homework and been a fan ever since! His albums up to and including his last in 2017 are sublime. Isophonic Boogie is his first from 1980 and it's superbly out there and totally "fuk'd"! Roland grew up in St. Louis, was well schooled musically , served time in the U.S. Navy and graduated from Berkley. This album is whack, brilliant and essential...free jazz to say the least👽💕
Ornette's superb 3rd proper album as band leader from 1959. A quartet setting with Don Cherry💕, Charlie Haden and Billy Higgins....Shear firepower and simply delightful energy. Free Jazz essential and definitely a title that Coleman made good on with everything afterwards!
A longtime fave group led by Idris Ackamoor (Bruce Baker). This is the first Pyramids from 1973 and is a cosmic and wicked blend of eastern meets Afro, progressive free-jazz and funky psych. WOW ! to everything they did then and... Idris is still making SUBLIME new recordings to this day ! God among mere mortals ! 💕👽
https://youtu.be/9X5l_DQUGI0
Soulful, spiritual, free jazz holy grail and absolute MONSTER from 1968...gives me goosebumps every time I spin it...seriously one of the greatest jazz LPs ever! 💕💥👽
The influence of Miles Davis is more than prominent on this
killer from 1972. All of Hancock's LPs in the early 70's are
worth their weight in gold and all well deserving of attention! The players on this are beyond compare! 💕👽
I consider this to be Mile's jewel in the crown...so fucking HEAVY! I originally bought a Japanese CD issue in the late 80's for $75. and then a friend picked up this Dutch pressing for me while out of country, on wax, maybe 1997? I have played this album at least 200 times in the last few decades and it blows me away every single time ! 💣💕👽
Houston, Texas played home for The Lightmen plus One and this, their 3rd LP, released in 1972 defines them! All 4 released LPs are cherry but this is a fave! Full on spiritual, funky jazz with every track a winner! Lot's goin' on cuz the band was at times here involving 13 players...essential listens start to finish...💕💣👽
Behind every man is a GREAT Woman! Linda Sharrock...long timer and an absolute mind fucker from her incredibly deep well of wickedness...triple LP from 2016 " (In) The Abyissity Of The Grounds-Gods" 💕👽
https://youtu.be/1ocN5sanb4I 
1st Parliament LP (1970) which begat Funkadelic the same year ! George Clinton on the same pedestal as Miles! Fact is Miles, took some of George's Juju...#notfakenews 💕👽
Love, Cry Want LP...Unfucking hinged MONSTER, from the late great American organist Larry Young (Miles Davis Band/Tony Williams Lifetime and STELLAR solo LPs) with 2 pals in 1972! Ferocious blend of free jazz, funk, psych and totally an essential...in it's own category really! Absolute BLINDER !💕💣👽
No matter what way you cut it, this album is essential listening and purely transcendent ! 💕 Alice Coltrane's "Satchidananda" is truly the jewel in her large crown. Goes without saying that her combo which features Pharoah Sanders, Rashied Ali and Cecil McBee help to make this trip even deeper! 👽
A masterful MONSTER from Yusef Lateef released in 1969. A totally burnin' set of funky jazz the RAWKS ! "Detroit..." feature's a top notch cast of players; Eric Gale, Cecil McBee, Chuck Rainey, Bernard Purdie, Ray Baretto and more. No discerning music freak should be without this in any collection! 💣💕👽
A deep shit bit of wicked spiritual jazz-funk from 1972. It grooves hard into the outer space regions and is downright trippy in the very best sense ! Way cool and sizzling psychedelic guitar, wah-wah infused work from Cornell Dupree and David Spinozza, Bernard Purdie and Al Mouzon on the skins...total mantlepiece! 💣💕👽
Simply put...an intense masterful commentary on life as Mr. Johnson saw it in 1979...worth it's weight in gold and an example of the achievement of one's journey towards higher elevation...Nothing more than LOVE and RESPECT for this benchmark 💕💣👽👊
What can be said ? Godlike, heavy, funkiness from 1975. The KING is dead but never forgotten...essential highly influential vibrations! 💕💣👽
https://youtu.be/0cpkCP29Dhg
This ferocity was unleashed in 1969 and produced by Herbie Mann. Godlike string bending from the mighty Sonny Sharrock with partner Linda providing voice. Milford Graves on drums, what can go wrong? Nothing! Simply a jaw dropping slab of American free jazz.
https://youtu.be/3VrRLfskBVw
"Elevation" is a 1974 release on The Impulse record label. A massive, rhythmic, spiritual excursion exuding imagery throughout it's grooves. The percussion is sublime! The album has a distinct collision of both African and Eastern mysticism evoking a joyous sense on this journey with the Godlike Pharoah Sanders. 💕👽
Super hard grooves from the late great American (NY born) percussionist Sabu Martinez. A lost Swedish radio session from 1973,accidentally found in a box(mid-200's) while searching for something else and released for it's maiden voyage in 2008 on the Mellotronen label in 2008. Ferocious funk barn burner of an album !
Recorded in New York, 1976 "Body, Mind and Spirit" is deep dive of epic proportion into a spiritually driven funky jazz abyss. Lead by Pianist Harry Whitaker and featuring among others, Mtume, Billy Hart, Buster Williams, Woody Shaw, Azar Lawrence, this nothing short of ESSENTIAL. Original copies are worth four figures and it's a much sought after Japanese pressing.
Without a doubt, a behemoth of southern fried soul funk and a definitive holy grail ! 1969 release that has never lost either it's groove or status as essential...happiness is here! 💕👽
MY good friends; Brett Savage of Dead Sea Apes/Inner Space Records , Andy Uzzell of Misophonia Records / Dayz Of Purple And Orange, Christopher Laramee of Wasted Cathedral/ Shooting Guns / Switching Yard, Dave Cambridge of Cardinal Fuzz, Trevor Walker; longtime Ottawa DJ : CKCU-FM / Mercury Lounge and more and Al Blanck ("Big Al"/ Dee Jay Buddah) of Big Al's Records/Records On Wheels/Mad Platters/Bonehead Records, have all kicked in just a few of their faves and trust me...NONE OF THIS IS BY ACCIDENT...these dudes are all top shelf scholars...! 💕💣👽
Some of Brett's picks....
Dadawah – Peace & Love
There’s nothing better than finding an
album that is amazing on your own terms, having read nothing about it nor
having it recommended from a trusted friend. It can give you a deeply smug
feeling of achievement. I can’t tell you how much I love this darkly spiritual,
trippy longform reggae. The opener Run Come Rally will just drag you into its
gravity within seconds. Highly recommended.
Muddy Waters – Electric Mud
Laughed out of town on its release but this
has aged incredibly well (despite it for all intents and purposes being
disowned by Muddy). There is some stellar guitar work here from legends Hubert
Sumlin and Phil Upchurch, but its Pete Cosey’s hot magma guitar which really
comes to the fore here. Worth checking out The New Howlin’ Wolf Album and Bo
Diddley’s Black Gladiator that came from the same sessions also.
Stone Cold White – S/T
Can’t stop waxing lyrical about this
unearthed gem. I came across this on the ace Function Underground comp on Now
Again and was totally blown away. Lo-Fi greatness that centres the amazingly
warped guitar sound and pulls you in from there. Like nothing else I’ve ever
heard.
Alice Coltrane – Journey In Satchidananda
Yep – its
totally newb stuff, and you could probably point to other Alice Coltrane albums
– but this is a classic for good reason. As soon as that tambura fires up, it
sounds like a dimensional wormhole is opening right up in front of you. Once
your inside, Alice’s harp and Pharoah Sanders’ horn are like friendly guides taking
you on a voyage across a foreign land. Breathtaking
Marvin Gaye - More Trouble
Hard to argue with the greatness of What’s
Going On, Let’s Get It On and even Here, My Dear – all great albums, but my
favourite Marvin Gaye album is Trouble Man. You get to see whole different side
to Marvin on this album. This comp is made from offcuts and extra tracks from
the soundtrack (which nicely rounded out the Deluxe Edition CD from a few years
ago). I only got hold of this recently – but what a beauty!
Andy's Top 10 and in no particular order....
Miles
Davis – Bitches Brew (could be any of his really!)
Louis Maholo– Spirits Rejoice!
Abdullah Sami – Peace
Of Time
Sounds Of Liberartion– Unreleased
Ahmed Abdul-Malik – East Meets West: Musique Of
Don Cherry & The Jazz Composer's – Relativity Suite
Charles Earland – Black
Talk!
Archie Shepp– The
Magic Of Ju-Ju
Nicole Mitchell - Mandorla Awakening II: Emerging Worlds
Upsetters- Super Ape
Mentioned in dispatches
– Sun Ra (of course), Alice Coltrane, King Tubby, Stevie Wonder, Bad Brains,
Last Poets, Pharoah Sanders, Lee Morgan, Wayne Shorter and of course John Coltrane.
Choice platters from Christopher...
New Kingdom/ Paradise Don't Come Cheap/ Gee Street 1996
Billie Holiday/ The Original Recordings/ Columbia 1973 (Compilation)
J Dilla/ Donuts/ Stones Throw Recordings 2006
Alice Coltrane/ Lord Of Lords/ Impulse! Records 1972
Bohannon/ Dance Your Ass Off/ Dakar 1976
Frank Hatchett/ Sensational/ Telephone Explosion 2021 (Compilation)
Funkadelic/ Live At Meadowbrook 1971/ Westbound
Miles Davis/ Get Up With It/ Columbia/ 1974
Eric B and Rakim/ Paid In Full/ 4th & B'way/ 1987
Dexter Gordon/ Clubhouse/ Blue Note/ (Recorded 1965, released 1979)
Dave Cambridge of Cardinal Fuzz Records as he was off on vacation, sent this killer jam from 1972 by Khan Jamal Creative Arts Ensemble.....
Trevor 's FAVE 25 and in no particular order...
1. Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation Of Millions
2. Gary Bartz NTU Troop - Harlem Bush Music - Uhuru
3. Pharaoh Sanders - Karma
4. Herbie Hancock - Head Hunters
5. A Tribe Called Quest - People’s Instinctive Travels
6. De La Soul - 3 Feet High & Rising
7. Black Renaissance - Body, Mind And Spirit
8. James Brown - Reality
9. John Coltrane - love Supreme
10. Soul II Soul - Club Classics Vol. One
11. Lil’ Louis & The World - From the Mind Of Lil Louis
12. Aretha Franklin - Young, Gifted And Black
13. Bob Marley - Survival
14. Peter Tosh - Equal Rights
15. Sun Ra - Space Is The Place
16. Fertile Ground - Seasons Change
17. Young Disciples - Road to Freedom
18. Jorge Ben - self titled
19. The Meters - Rejuvenation
20. Fela Kuti - Expensive Shit/ Water Get No Enemy
21. Tony Allen - Home Cooking
22. Last Poets - Chastisement
23. Miles Davis - On The Corner
24. Curtis Mayfield - Curtis
25. Nina Simone - High Priestess of Soul
Big Al's fave picks...
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson: The First Minute of a New Day (1975)
Miles Davis: Pangaea (1975)
Aretha Franklin: Lady Soul (1968)
Jimi Hendrix: Band Of Gypsys (1970)
Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong: Ella And Louis (1956)
Muddy Waters: Muddy Waters At Newport (1960)
Nina Simone: Sings The Blues (1967)
Lee Perry & The Upsetters: Super Ape (1976)
Fela Kuti & Afrika 70: Sorrow Tears And Blood (1977)
Funkadelic: Maggot Brain (1970)
As with most of these chosen artists, could’ve picked any one of 15 other Fela titles! Observations: Interesting to see how most of these were 70s titles, no doubt a function of my formative listening years, where I sucked up anything & everything that was good. And so much of it was...A few titles here due to my folks interests & tastes—there were always records in our house growing up—not a lot, but always jazz titles, both 78s and LPs..my folks had seen the likes of Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, & others in Montreal niteclubs when they were dating in the 50s..It must’ve rubbed off subconsciously, tho’ my jazz infatuation wouldn’t come till many years later..
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