../images/Emo32.gif חדשים על המדף!
We are proud to introduce a new reissues label from UK - Gott Discs. Owned by Mike Gott, who for many years was the person behind BGO (another very important reissues label from the UK), the new label started in 2004 and so far released 20 excellent reissues. Beautiffly remastered and packaged, they are all brilliant. Of course they do cover a wide range of styles, so every music fan should be able to find something for himself there. We start with the following 4 albums: PONTY, JEAN-LUC ~ ELECTRIC CONNECTION / KING KONG 1969 & 1970 albums by the phenomenal French violin virtuoso. Ponty`s violin playing comes from a long and distinguished line of great jazz violinists, starting with Stephane Grapelli. After several years of playing jazz with the top players in his native France, Ponty arrived in the US first in 1967 for the Monterey Jazz Festival workshop, where his incredible talent was spotted immediately. He was invited to the US to record a series of albums with the collaboration of the (then) young pianist George Duke and arranger / bandleader Gerald Wilson. Leter he was to meet and play with Frank Zappa. Ponty`s visionary use of the electric violin, which was one of the earliest and formative factors in the development of Jazz / Rock Fusion, is beautifully documented here. The first album finds Ponty in the familiar jazz environment, where he is accompanied by a Big Band, but the fresh approach and use of electric instuments is Fusion at birth. The second album however, arranged especially for Ponty by the Master Frank Zappa himself, is revolutionary in every sense. The compositions (5 by Zappa and 1 by Ponty), the arrangements and the brilliant performances are years ahead of their time and pure musical brilliance. Absolute masterpiece! CRESSIDA ~ CRESSIDA / ASYLUM Only 2 albums from 1970 & 1971 by this UK band. Considered by many as superb examples of early Prog, with lots of Hammond and Mellotron and a typical sound of the era. The 1st album is more song oriented, with some great, very melodic tunes. The 2nd is geared more towards longer instrumental passages. The excellent keyboards work was done by Peter Jennings. The 2nd album also features some phenomenal flute work by the sadly little know, brilliant Harold McNair. Surely a must in every serious Prog record collection. THIRD EAR BAND ~ ALCHEMY / ELEMENTS 1st & 2nd albums from 1969 & 1970 by this UK band. Although part of the Prog genre, they were certainly a class in themselves. Using only accoustic instruments (violin, viola, oboe, cello, hand percussion, etc.) and combining ethnic motiffs from the Middle and Far East, they sounded nothing like your average Prog group. The music is instrumental, mostly improvisational in nature and quite dark. The 1st album consists of 8 shorter pieces but the 2nd includes only 4 long raga-like extended soundscapes. They reached only very limited audiences with their visionary music at the time and the albums sold poorly, but they were asked to write and perform the soundtrack to Roman Polanski`s film version of Macbeth (their 3rd album). In retrospect this sounds today every bit as good as it did then, which should be a good enough reason to re-discover them. BELEW, ADRIAN ~ LONE RHINO / TWANG BAR KING 1st and 2nd albums from 1982 & 1983 by one of the most underrated and overlooked guitarists of recent times. Although a member of legendary groups such as the Frank Zappa band and King Crimson, Belew somehow always remains overshadowed by other band members and therefore his solo albums are a great opportunity to inject some pure Belew genius. A brilliant player, with distinct and unique sound and style, Belew delivers some superb music on those 2 albums, with enough interest and variety to keep the listener messmerized. His compositional skills are not to be taken lightly as well - ergo this is really hot stuff and something that gives a pleasure to return to every time. ====================== More of this great stuff soon! ====================== Have Fun! Adam Baruch Jazzis Web Shop https://www.jazzis.com/shop/