Jazzis Web Shop News 04/2008

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I interrupt the flow of the fabulous FMR releases to add an Israeli Jazz album, which unfortunately is out of print by now, but I managed to get a few copies directly from the artists:

2^nd album by Israeli saxophonist Albert Beger and his quartet with John Bostock on piano, Gabriel Meyer on bass and Asaf Sirkis on drums. As usual Beger wrote all the music on this album, which is excellently performed by the quartet members. The album marks Beger’s transition between modern Jazz and Improvised Music, which he will be involved with on his later recordings. The material on this album is still firmly based on the Jazz tradition, with melodic content and traditional harmonic structures. Beger’s solos however are mostly free form, spinning and floating above the basic chord changes. His virtuosity and flair are clearly apparent and the album established Beger as one of Israeli leading players. All the other quartet members do an excellent job, each in his respective field. Bostock is a master of harmony, supplying the main melodic structures and playing a few excellent solos. Meyer’s solid bass glues the music together and keeps the time beautifully and Sirkis, by far the best Israeli drummer, drives the music forward with his excellent feel and energy. As all Beger’s output, this album firmly confirms that although small, the Israeli Jazz scene is capable of producing recordings of the same quality as anything recorded in Europe or the US. Recommended!

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Here is an update on the latest Jazzis Web Shop News:

CATALOG EXPANSION:

I have devoted the 1^st quarter of 2008 to expanding the selection of Jazz titles offered. Returning to an old love of mine – the British Jazz of the late 1960s / 1970s, which was a period of frantic development of European Jazz. I’ve established contact with several UK labels, which specialize in reissues of that material like Vocalion, Dusk Fire, Trunk, FMR and a few others which will appear on my site soon. Collectively these labels offer a fantastic selection of the best British Jazz albums recorded during that period. Although many great recordings remain unreleased on CD, the ones already released present some of the best music ever recorded on this planet, which is exactly what I wish to offer on my site.

Browse the British Jazz albums:

I’ve also managed to replenish the fabulous Polish Jazz section, with many new additions arriving soon:

Some of the artist, who created music during this glorious period, are still active today and make wonderful music. I’ll soon introduce more recent recordings by several great British musicians like Michael Garrick and others.

As of today the catalog includes 1,755 titles, way beyond what I had in mind when I started this enterprise. If all goes well the number should reach the 2,000 goal. I have no idea if it makes sense expanding the catalog in view of the dwindling sales, but we’ll see…

Of course I keep adding Progressive Rock titles on regular basis, some old some new. There is not much interesting stuff coming out on that scene recently (unfortunately), but I keep my eyes and ears open at all times.

SALES:

Unfortunately the sales are steadily dwindling… I’m not desperate about this issue any more, sort of resigned. The music industry crumbled completely (at least in the old format) and people just don’t give a damn about music any more (the vast majority that is). I talk to hundreds of people involved in selling CDs and they all tell the same story – sales are going down and businesses are closing – it looks like a plague. Of course the tiny record collectors community still hangs on, but it is not big enough to sustain a business around it. I wander how long it will take until all this simply comes to a grinding stop…? Of course I thank of all of you for your continuous support and as always ask you to support the music.

JAZZIS WEB SHOP SITE

I keep playing around with the site all the time. I’ve recently changed the look of the home page, with now displays the latest 10 additions (instead of one) and the top bestsellers.

I also spend more time writing the album descriptions, which are linked to other albums by hyperlinks – a great feature that everybody likes. No other vendor has this feature on their site.

I also expanded the browse page, which is the heart of the site’s search facility, by adding numerous search options, including the most popular searches, another unique feature.

7^th ANNIVERSARY

The 7^th Anniversary of Jazzis Web Shop as around the corner and as usual, I’m amazed how fast the time flies. Staying alive for that long is quite remarkable.

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It’s time to return to the British Jazz albums recorded during the pivotal late 1960s / early 1970s – a favorite subject of mine as everybody knows by now. Here is the next album on the wonderful FMR label, home of great British Jazz and Improvised Music:

British violinist / composer John Mayer invented the fusion between Jazz and traditional Indian music in the 1960s, when he and the brilliant saxophonist Joe Harriott co-led an ensemble, which recorded a series of groundbreaking albums which fused the two musical genres, being one of the pioneers of Jazz-World Fusion. Unfortunately the ensemble ceased to exist when Harriott died tragically in 1973. From that time on Meyer continued his work mainly in the field of Classical music, but by the end of 1990s he formed a new ensemble called Indo-Jazz Fusions and recorded with them a series of superb albums until his death in 2004. The ensemble was a nonet and included Mayer on violin and eight young but extremely talented musicians, with his son Jonathan Mayer on sitar, Harjinda Mataru on tabla, James McDowall on flute, Carlos Lopez-Real on saxophone, David Smith on trumpet, Simon Colam on piano, David Foster on bass and Andrew Bratt on drums. Mayer wrote most of the fantastic music performed by the ensemble, but the great Kenny Wheeler composed the title track of this album. The music is a direct continuation of the stuff the Mayer-Harriott group was doing, missing of course Harriott’s virtuosity, but nevertheless still formidable. Mayer’s beautiful melodies are perfect vehicles for the improvised passages and solos by the ensemble’s members and everything falls into place just flawlessly. One can hardly imagine a better cross-pollination between cultures and we should all be grateful to Mayer for pursuing this wonderful dream. Delightful!

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Here are a few new additions on the small UK label Market Square, which are all quite rare and surprising. The first is another little known Kevin Ayers album:

This little known live recording captures the Canterbury legend Kevin Ayers in the mid 1990s, accompanied by a great British band called The Wizards Of Twiddly, who by that time established quite a following on the Acid Jazz scene. The band fits Ayers like a glove with his crossover material moving freely between Folk, Rock and Jazz. Ayers delivers a splendid set of thirteen of his songs, with the usual ironic and often bitter and sarcastic lyrics. He’s in top form and the rapport between him and the band is plainly evident. The band members supply plenty of interesting solos and the overall full sound of the band, horns included, revitalizes the music immensely. This is a must have for all Ayers fans.

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Here are a few new additions on the small UK label Market Square, which are all quite rare and surprising. The next is yet another little known album by the legendary Curved Air soloist Sonja Kristina:

Following the demise of the legendary band Curved Air in 1976, their soloist Sonja Kristina continued her career as a solo artist, with a few attempted Curved Air reunions over the years. Following her early 1980s activity and the release of her eponymous debut album, she left the scene and hibernated for a few years, concentrating on raising her children. She returned to public appearances, first on the theatre stage and later by forming a new band, which was quite a surprising direction change for her. Coming back to the roots, Kristina and her new band performed a beautiful mix of Folk-Rock and modern Psychedelics, called Acid Folk. In 1990 Kristina reunited again with the original band members of Curved Air for a tour (which is documented on the “Alive, 1990” album) and once the tour was over returned to her new band and recorded this, her second solo album. She also wrote all the songs for this album, which was another surprising and bold step forward. The result is a charmingly beautiful Folk-Rock album, one of the best there are but unfortunately little known. Her splendid voice is all there, as good as in the old Prog years, but in the mostly acoustic and serene setting it sounds even more perfect. It really great to see Kristine revitalize her career time after time and to be able to hear her superb voice again. Warmly recommended!

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