Jazz

Vinyl LP pressing. 2022 release. With his first new album in 36 years, Reboot, Ronnie Foster returns to Blue Note Records 50 years after releasing his debut album, Two Headed Freap, on the label in 1972. Reboot is a collection of originals and covers that mark a fresh start for Foster who has whipped up an omnidirectional brew of Hammond Organ grooves that pay homage to the past but more often reflect Ronnie's restlessness for ushering in the new. The album is dedicated to the memory of his longtime friend Dr. Lonnie Smith.

• 1 Reboot
• 2 Sultry Song II
• 3 Swingin'
• 4 J's Dream
• 5 Isn't She Lovely
• 6 Carlos
• 7 Hey Good Lookin' Woman
• 8 After Chicago
• 9 After Conversation with Nadia

To celebrate the 45th anniversary of iconic Dutch jazz label Timeless Records, Music On Vinyl is releasing a series that features albums that are part of the Timeless Records legacy and will be released mainly throughout 2022.

Part of this series is Pharoah Sanders' Moon Child from 1990, which bookended a decade of musical soul searching for Sanders. The acclaimed free jazz player is known to have a raw and abrasive sound, but reinvented himself on this album as a more traditional improviser capable of thoughtful deliberations. Moon Child is a grand old time throughout, and Sanders has never been more eminently sing-along-able as he is on it's title track. The record was co-written with Horace Silver, George Gershwin and Abdullah Ibrahim and recorded with William Henderson, Stafford James, Eddie Moore and Cheikh Tidiane Fall. Moon Child is available on black vinyl.

• 1 Moon Child
• 2 Moon Rays
• 3 The Night Has a Thousand Eyes
• 4 All or Nothing at All
• 5 Soon
• 6 Moniebah

All-Analog 180g Vinyl LP of Sonny Clark's My Conception Mastered from the Original Master Tapes by Kevin Gray & Pressed at RTI: Reference-Caliber Blue Note Reissue Helmed by Music Matters' Joe Harley

The soulful and elegant pianist Sonny Clark brings his A-game to My Conception, a program of all-Clark originals recorded in 1959 but not released until 1979. Joining the pianist are a cast of hard bop masters including Hank Mobley on tenor saxophone, Donald Byrd on trumpet, Paul Chambers on bass, and Art Blakey on drums. Highlights from this session include the lead-off track "Junka," the fiery brilliance of "Minor Meeting," and Mobley's sublime soloing on "Royal Flush.

Blue Note Records' acclaimed Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series continues in 2021. Launched in 2019 in honor of the label's 80th Anniversary, the Tone Poet series is produced by Joe Harley (from Music Matters) and features all-analog, 180g audiophile vinyl reissues that are mastered from the original master tapes by Kevin Gray of Cohearent Audio. Tone Poet vinyl is manufactured at RTI in Camarillo, CA, and packaged in deluxe Stoughton Printing "Old Style" gatefold Tip-On jackets. The titles were once again handpicked by Harley and cover the crème de la crème of the Blue Note catalog along with underrated classics, modern era standouts, and albums from other labels under the Blue Note umbrella including Pacific Jazz and United Artists Records. Every aspect of these Blue Note/Tone Poet releases is done to the highest-possible standard. It means that you will never find a superior version.

"The LPs are mastered directly from the original analog master tapes by Kevin at his incredible facility called Cohearent Mastering. We go about it in the exact same way that we did for so many years for the Music Matters Blue Note reissues. We do not roll off the low end, boost the top or do any limiting of any kind. We allow the full glory of the original Blue Note masters to come though unimpeded! Short of having an actual time machine, this is as close as you can get to going back and being a fly on the wall for an original Blue Note recording session."
- Joe Harley

Musicians:
Sonny Clark, piano
Hank Mobley, tenor saxophone
Donald Byrd, trumpet
Paul Chambers, bass
Art Blakey, drums

Features:
• Blue Note Tone Poet Series
• Curated by Music Matters co-founder Joe Harley
• Audiophile-quality 180g vinyl LP
• All-analog mastering (direct from the master tapes) by Kevin Gray
• Manufactured at Record Technology Incorporated
• Deluxe gatefold jacket packaging

1. Junka
2. Blues Blue
3. Minor Meeting
4. Royal Flush
5. Some Clark Bars
6. My Conception

Over the past decade, the harpist Brandee Younger has been at the center of music's celebrated work, even if you didn't know she was there. Be it her output with the soul singer John Legend or the rapper Common, she's always put her stamp on the music in question, all while setting a new course for what classical music can entail. But with her major-label debut, Somewhere Different, she's pushing her artistry to the foreground. By her own admission, Younger would've stepped back in years past to let others shine; the harp would've been mixed behind layers of woodwind instruments. Now she's putting her instrument first.

"It was important for me to thrust the harp forward in a non-traditional setting," Younger says of her new album. "I made a conscious effort to make sure that the harp was a bit more present in this recording. It's important for the instrument." Indeed, the first sound heard on Somewhere Different is the harp, a gorgeous, tone-setting solo that ushers in "Love & Struggle," the album's meditative opener. It also sets the mission for the music that follows: Younger has spent her career breaking down the barriers between classical music and contemporary forms of R&B, hip-hop, and funk. This album synthesizes her work while forging new ground. "I started recording music that wasn't common on harp in 2006," she says. This is my way of combining all the worlds I have into one. This is me doing my own thing completely."

Listeners will hear this creative freedom throughout the LP, from the introspective tenor of "Olivia Benson," "Beautiful Is Black" and "Pretend," featuring Tarriona "Tank" Ball of the breakout New Orleans band Tank and the Bangas, to the vibrant rock and bounce-infused sounds of "Reclamation" and the title track, respectively. In that way, Younger pays homage to the pioneering harpists Alice Coltrane and Dorothy Ashby, both of whom merged the instrument with jazz, funk and soul at a time when such ingenuity wasn't commonplace. Somewhere Different is not only the realization of Younger's musical journey, it channels the spirit of a deserving performer whose life merits deeper examination. 

1. Love & Struggle
2. Olivia Benson
3. Beautiful Is Black
4. Pretend
5. Reclamation
6. Somewhere Different
7. Spirit U Will
8. Tickled Pink

Knitting Factory Records reissues Fela Kuti's Army Arrangement on vinyl LP, previously only available as part of the Box Set series. Army Arrangement is about Nigeria's attempt at ‘democracy' in 1979 after more than a decade of military rule. The audio has been restored and remastered from Fela's original Nigerian recordings. The artwork has been meticulously recreated from original album artwork. 

Tracks

1. Army Arrangement (Part 1)
2. Army Arrangement (Part 2)

Vinyl LP pressing. Damon Locks & Black Monument Ensemble's previous album, their 2018 debut Where Future Unfolds, had a best new music in Pitchfork, was a Top 50 Album of the Year in Wire Magazine, and was BBC DJ Gilles Peterson's unequivocal Favorite Album of the Year. NOW is the band's much anticipated follow-up, which carries on their unique brand of Choir-fronted Hip-Hop-meets-Gospel/Jazz Liberation Music ' very much a modern day echo of the Harlem Freedom Singers and/or Eddie Gale's Black Rhythm Happening. This new one is a bit heavier on the beats and drum machines, sounding almost like Public Enemy/Bomb Squad working with ESG. Clarinetist Angel Bat Dawid and cornet player Ben LaMar Gay are heavily featured on this album.

Tracks

1. Now (Forever Momentary Space)
2. The People vs The Rest of Us
3. Keep Your Mind Free
4. Barbara Jones-Hogu and Elizabeth Catlett Discuss Liberation
5. Movement And You
6. The Body Is Electric

Limited vinyl LP repressing of this classic Jazz release. This album is a Blue Note essential and is part of the Blue Note 75 anniversary LP reissue campaign. At the Half Note Cafe is a live album by American trumpeter Donald Byrd recorded in 1960 at the Half Note in Manhattan and released on the Blue Note label originally as two single LP issues. Trumpeter Byrd is joined on this recording by Pepper Adams, Duke Pearson, Laymon Jackson and Lex Humphries. This first volume includes "Intro/My Girl Shirl', "Soulful Kiddy", "A Portrait Of Jennie", "Cecile", " and "Theme: Pure D. Funk".