Midweek Mixdown: Nat Birchall's Sounds From the Ancient Archive

Listen to Nat Birchall's latest mix of spiritual jazz and roots reggae on Sounds From The Ancient Archive right here.  

Nat Birchall's Sounds From The Ancient Archive – April 17, 2021 Tracklist 

1. "Powerful Paul Robeson" (vocal version) - Clifford Jordan, from the LP Remembering Me-Me (Muse)

2. "Throw It Away" - Abbey Lincoln, from the LP Golden Lady (Marge, France/Inner City USA)

3. "Burundi Pose" - Big Black, from the LP Elements Of Now (UNI Records)

4. "Gbogbo Omo Ibile" - Solomon Ilori, 12" (Blue Note/Honest Jon's)

5. "Tenor On The Call" - Tommy McCook & The Discosonics, 12" (Studio 1)

6. Untitled (Version of "Jah Jah Way" - Yabby You) - Tommy McCook (Dubplate)

7. "Sunshine Fly Away" - Larry Young, from the LP Lawrence Of Newark (Perception Records)

8. "Black Butterfly" - Salah Ragab & The Cairo Jazz Band, from the LP Egyptian Jazz (Art Yard)

9. "Pan Afro" - Sun Ra & His Astro Intergalactic Infinity Arkestra, from the LP Discipline 27-II (Strut/Art Yard)

10. "Necaumung-Us" - Beaver Harris, from the the LP Beaver Is My Name (Timeless)

11. "Peace In Essaouria" - Pharoah Sanders/Maleem Mahmmod Ghania, from the LP Trance Of The Seven Colors (Zehra)

12. "Sahara Samba" - Olatunji, from the LP Drums! Drums! Drums! (Roulette)

13. "Jah Jah Skanking" - The Natty Locks 7" (Fay Music Inc)

14. "Black Skin Vinration" - Dubwise 7" (Cry Tuff/Black Skin The Prophet)

15. "Your Teacher" a.k.a. "Black Skin" - Black Skin The Prophet 7" (Cry Tuff/Black Skin The Prophet)

16. "African Cookbook" - Randy Weston, from the LP African Cookbook (Atlantic)

17. "Civilisation" - The Classics 7" 

Resonance to issue Larry Young's "lost" Paris sessions for Record Store Day

Titled “Selections from Larry Young In Paris - The ORTF Recordings”,  the Resonance Records 10-inch album represents just a sampling of Larry Young's previously unissued live and studio recordings cut while the jazz pianist/keyboardist was living in Paris back in 1964-65.

The tapes were discovered by Resonance's executive vice president and general manager Zev Feldman back in 2012 while rooting around the archives of France's National Audiovisual Institute (INA) where they'd been collecting dust in the vault of the Office of Radio and Television (ORTF) for almost 50 years.

On the four tracks included on the Selections sampler, namely Beyond All Limits, Luny Tune, Frame of Thought and Larry’s Blues, Young is joined by a stellar group with Woody Shaw on trumpet, Billy Brooks on drums and the enormously underrated Nathan Davis on saxophone.

Resonance's release of the 140-gram Selections from Larry Young In Paris - The ORTF Recordings 10-inch (cut at 33 1/3 RPM by Erika Records) is limited to 1500 copies available on Record Store Day April 18 which will eventually be followed by an expanded 2 CD and 3 LP full-length edition at a later date.

What may be just as exciting to spiritual jazz fans around the globe is the news that Feldman's vault dig also turned up some Nathan Davis Quartet recordings from the same period. Hopefully they will be released in full by Resonance or another reissue operation like say Jazzman Records which appreciates their historical importance.

While were on the subject of archival jazz projects, Resonance is releasing a 26-track collection of rare early recordings (1948-53) by guitar great Wes Montgomery called In The Beginning as 2 CD or 3 LP package on May 12. Along with newly discovered 78 sides Montgomery cut as a sideman for Spire Records in 1949, the set will include Montgomery's complete 1955 session for Epic produced by Quincy Jones along with live recordings made at the Turf Club (1956), Missile Lounge (1958) in Indianapolis and C&C Music Lounge (1957) in Chicago.

Here's Feldman discussing Resonance's promising addition to Wes Montgomery's recorded legacy:

Happy 75th Birthday James "Blood" Ulmer!

Here are a couple of lesser known James "Blood" Ulmer performances worth checking.     Photo: Per Folkver