A tribute to a lost side of the creative powers of the legendary Sun Ra – his work in prose and poetry, presented here on record by a variety of different voices – all in a production that features some cool electronics from Marshall Allen as well! The instrumental work of Ra and the ... (Jazz, Spoken Word)read moreCD
A tribute to a lost side of the creative powers of the legendary Sun Ra – his work in prose and poetry, presented here on record by a variety of different voices – all in a production that features some cool electronics from Marshall Allen as well! The instrumental work of Ra and the ... (Jazz, Spoken Word)read moreLP, Vinyl record album
A very cool record – the great Burt Bacharach presented in a mix of songs and music in a special package for radio! The set was a promo-only release – and if you love the man as much as we do, it's a real treasure! (Vocalists, Spoken Word)LP, Vinyl record album
A weird little record from John Barry – the soundtrack to a 1963 television special recorded by Elizabeth Taylor at the height of her early popularity, and featuring Taylor reciting a variety of poems and speeches over music by Barry! There's a relatively high concept feel to the album ... (Soundtracks, Spoken Word)read moreCD
A weird little record from John Barry – the soundtrack to a 1963 television special recorded by Elizabeth Taylor at the height of her early popularity, and featuring Taylor reciting a variety of poems and speeches over music by Barry! There's a relatively high concept feel to the album ... (Soundtracks, Spoken Word)read moreLP, Vinyl record album
An unusual album issued by Vee Jay Records – the original home of The Beatles in the US! This one doesn't have music, but interview passages from their 1964 tour – plus some scoring from Lou Adler, and percussion from Hal Blaine! (Rock, Spoken Word)LP, Vinyl record album
(Sealed – seems to be a 70s pressing. The lower corner of the cover has waviness and faint staining, with an open spot on the shrink.)
(Limited UK pressing with bonus interview disc, with obi and hype sticker. Includes the printed inner sleeve. Obi has a small piece of yellowed clear tape at the seam in back.)
From hipster comedian to schlocky roles in The Planet of The Apes, Severn Darden was one of the 60s more enigmatic performers. This early album has him doing intellectual standup and skits with the help of the Second City cast – including Alan Arkin, Paul Sand, and Barbara Harris. The stuff' ... read moreLP, Vinyl record album
(Mono pressing with deep groove. Cover has some surface wear.)
A really unique document of the struggle and story of Angela Davis – recorded in 1971 by ABC news, and packaged together here as kind of a sonic program by Folkways! The record works like a short news program – starting out with a statement by Angela, then moving to a narrated ... read moreCD
(Special limited CD – pressed up for us by the Smithsonian Folkways label. Comes with original cover artwork, and the CD also features a PDF file with the original liner notes and other materials from the original record release.)
An incredible album, and very unique! Sarah Webster Fabio was a hip 70s poet with a very righteous sound – and she's working here with funky backings by a tight group that includes family members, in a style that's similar to early 70s work by artists like Wanda Robinson and Camille ... (Soul, Spoken Word)read moreLP, Vinyl record album
(Beautiful heavy pressing – almost like the original!)
Antonio Fogazzaro —
Paesaggi E Interni ... 7-inch Istituto Internazijonale Del Disco (Italy), 1960. Very Good+ ...
$0.992.99
Readings from "Malombra", "Piccolo Mondo Antico" and "Piccolo Mondo Moderno" by Elena Da Venezia and Franco Graziosi. (Funky 45's, Spoken Word)7-inch, Vinyl record
(In the heavy frame cover, with some light wear and spotty aging.)
Right from the start of his career, poet Allen Ginsberg experimented with recording and music – maybe not a surprise, because as a young beat poet, he grew up in the era when long playing records were really taking off – yet still delivered in a way that was often very different than ... read moreCD
A beautiful post-Atlantic album from Nikki Giovanni – much more intimate and personal than her better known work, with only Nikki's voice throughout the album – heard on a number of shorter poems! At some level, Giovanni seems to have left behind the more righteous themes of before, ... (Soul, Spoken Word)read moreLP, Vinyl record album
An amazing setting for the righteous words and message of Nikki Giovanni – as the set has the poet working with backing vocals by the New York Community Choir, who also recorded a great soul album on RCA around the same time – and an overall approach that elevates Nikki's poetry into a ... (Soul, Spoken Word)read moreLP, Vinyl record album
Brion Gysin with Don Cherry, Lizzy Mercier Descloux, & Others —
Junk (with bonus tracks) ... LP Mosquito/We Want Sounds (UK), 1984. New Copy (reissue)...
$31.9934.99
Really great vocal work from legendary underground figure Brion Gysin – best known as a poet, but also a key European connection for the American beats – and a frequent partner in the language experiments by William S Burroughs! Here, Gysin mixes his words in both singing and spoken ... read moreLP, Vinyl record album
A really cool little record – way more so than you might expect! Actor Laurence Harvey reads passages from the cheesy book in the title, but the set also features some cool instrumental work from Herbie Mann – with an unusual group that includes Ahmed Abdul-Malik on bass, Hagood Hardy ... read moreLP, Vinyl record album
(Green & blue label stereo pressing. Cover has light wear, with a sticker and some light stains in back.)
A landmark meeting of two talents! This rare session has the poet Langston Hughes reading his own jazz-based work, set to arrangements by Charles Mingus, with additional work by Horace Parlan. Hughes' voice is incredible – a bit frail, with a wispy integrity that really opens up his own ... (Jazz, Spoken Word)read moreLP, Vinyl record album
(Original yellow label pressing with deep groove. Vinyl is clean, but has some light marks. Cover is nice.)
Supposedly one of the first records of Dr King's speeches to be recorded – put together by Dootsie Williams in LA, and the forebearer of what would become a very popular genre in the 60s! The album was issued after King's death, but was recorded years before – and themes include the ... read moreLP, Vinyl record album
(Brown label pressing. Cover has ring and edge wear, heavy aging in back, and is bent a bit at the bottom seam.)
Features the original address from the March on Washington from August 28, 1963. Includes speeches by King, plus Whitney Young and Roy Wilkins. LP, Vinyl record album
(20th Century Fox pressing.)
Martin Luther King —
Man Of Love ... LP Black America/Buddah, Mid 60s. Near Mint- ...
$9.99
A strong, if un-dated, speech by Dr King – one that breaks down the history of integration and race relations in America – offering extreme insights on all points, of the sort that really gets at the power of his word back in the 60s. LP, Vinyl record album
(Cover has light wear and aging, some small stained spots at the bottom, frayed portion at the top seam, small dent at the opening, and some splitting in the bottom seam.)
The first album by the second group to call themselves the Last Poets – and as fierce a document of their rich talents as you'll ever find – bursting forth with anger and righteousness at a level as tight as Gil Scott-Heron's first album! The group here is the key second lineup of the ... (Soul, Spoken Word)read moreCD
One of two albums produced by Rudy Ray Moore – the other being The Sensuous Black Man – which define the art of making love from a gender-based perspective. Like Rudy's Sensuous Black Man, The Madam's version features one side of "instructional" dialogue – very XXX-rated ... (Soul, Spoken Word)read moreLP, Vinyl record album
(Original pressing. Cover has some light wear and a small bit of splitting on the spine – but this is a very nice copy.)
Haki R Madhubuti/Afrikan Liberation Arts Ensemble —
Medasi ... CD Rise/P-Vine (Japan), Late 70s. New Copy ...
$18.9924.99
The second of two spiritual classics from Haki R. Madhubuti – issued nearly a decade after the first, but still very much in a positive and righteous 70s vein! Haki's again working with arranger Agyei Akoto, a saxophonist we only know from these albums, but an extremely visionary musician ... (Jazz, Spoken Word)read moreCD
Haki R Madhubuti/Afrikan Liberation Arts Ensemble —
Rise Vision Comin ... CD Rise/P-Vine (Japan), 1976. New Copy ...
$18.9929.99
A legendary album of spoken word and spiritual jazz – put together by The Institute of Positive Education in Chicago, and featuring wisdom and knowledge from the legendary Haki R Madhubuti! The album alternates shorter vocal/musical tracks with longer ones that are pure post-Coltrane jazz ... (Jazz, Spoken Word)read moreCD
Haki R Madhubuti/Afrikan Liberation Arts Ensemble —
Rise Vision Comin ... LP Rise/P-Vine (Japan), 1976. New Copy (reissue)...
$28.9939.99
A legendary album of spoken word and spiritual jazz – put together by The Institute of Positive Education in Chicago, and featuring wisdom and knowledge from the legendary Haki R Madhubuti! The album alternates shorter vocal/musical tracks with longer ones that are pure post-Coltrane jazz ... (Jazz, Spoken Word)read moreLP, Vinyl record album
A really fantastic large project by Christian McBride – maybe one of his most ambitious records ever, and one that really lives up to its intention! The movement here is the Civil Rights movement – recalled through the words of Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Rosa Parks, and Dr Martin Luther ... (Jazz, Spoken Word)read moreCD
Marshall McLuhan/Jerome Agel —
Medium Is The Massage ... CD Columbia/Five Day Weekend, 1967. New Copy Gatefold ...
$7.9917.98
A real mind-trip – and an incredible document of the times – not just ideas floating around in the late 60s, but also new ways of making records too! The album is loosely based around ideas and writings from The Medium Is The Massage – McLuhan's important 1967 book, co-written ... read moreCD
A fantastic album – one of our favorite-ever records from Charles Mingus! The album was recorded in the same breath as his legendary works Tijuana Moods, The Clown, and Pithecanthropus Erectus – and it features the same sort of fire and emotion that made those classics so great. The ... (Jazz, Spoken Word)read moreLP, Vinyl record album
(80s Cayre pressing. Cover has a trace of a price sticker, light wear, and aging.)
A fantastic album – one of our favorite-ever records from Charles Mingus! The album was recorded in the same breath as his legendary works Tijuana Moods, The Clown, and Pithecanthropus Erectus – and it features the same sort of fire and emotion that made those classics so great. The ... (Jazz, Spoken Word)read moreCD
One of our favorite albums ever on the legendary ESP label – and a key session in the best "new thing" mode of the 60s! The New York Art Quartet were a short lived collaboration between trombonist Roswell Rudd, saxophonist John Tchicai, bassist Lewis Worrell, and percussionist ... (Jazz, Spoken Word)read moreCD
One of our favorite albums ever on the legendary ESP label – and a key session in the best "new thing" mode of the 60s! The New York Art Quartet were a short lived collaboration between trombonist Roswell Rudd, saxophonist John Tchicai, bassist Lewis Worrell, and percussionist ... (Jazz, Spoken Word)read moreCD
A pair of amazing records from a legendary group – one who didn't record much, but who really shaped the sound of the avant garde in the 60s! First up is the self-titled New York Art Quartet, one of our favorite albums ever on the legendary ESP label – and a key session in the best ... (Jazz, Spoken Word)read moreCD
(Still sealed, with a cutout notch and bumped corners.)
Ken Nordine —
Colors ... CD Philips/Ashodel, Mid 60s. Used ...
$18.99
This is Asphodel's wonderful reissue of "word jazz" maestro Ken Nordine's classic mid 60s ode to the sultry side of the common, the uncommon, and some seemingly made up colors. ("Muddy" anyone?) Billed as "A Sensuous Listening Experience" – and truly living up ... read moreCD
A long-overdue follow-up to Ken's last Word Jazz album for Dot – done for Nordine's own Snail Records label nearly 20 years after the last one! The style here is less "jazz" and more atmospheric than before – very much in the mode of Nordine's Word Jazz syndicated radio show ... read moreLP, Vinyl record album
Kenneth Patchen, like Kenneth Rexroth, was one of the few poets who really understood what it meant to read and write in a jazz idiom – as you'll hear on this excellent set of beatnik jazz tracks! The album features Patchen reading in a great style – angular, cynical, really working ... read moreCD
(Special limited CD – pressed up for us by the Smithsonian Folkways label. Comes with original cover artwork, and the CD also features a PDF file with the original liner notes and other materials from the original record release.)
With Orlando Valentini and Andreas Vollenweider on instrumentation and Rene Bardet reading the works of Heinrich Heine. (Folk/Country, Spoken Word)LP, Vinyl record album
If you've ever doubted that Vincent Price was a creepy guy, you've got to hear this album! The 2LP set is a mad exploration into the world of the supernatural – with Vincent speaking on topics that include "Witch Tortures", "How To Communicate With The Spirits", "The ... read moreLP, Vinyl record album
(Cover has light surface wear and a small split on one corner.)
An incredible album from Arthur Prysock – an amazing set of mature love modes, set to beautiful backings by Mort Garson! The album's easily Prysock at the height of his 60s sophistication – a complete reworking of the This Is My Beloved modes away from more mainstream readings, in ways ... (Vocalists, Spoken Word)read moreCD
A late-life interview with Sun Ra – one recorded in the studio of composer Charlie Morrow, who is wise enough to let Ra open up and speak his mind! There's no music at all on the record – which is great, as you get to hear the wisdom of Sun Ra in a very different way than when he's ... (Jazz, Spoken Word)read moreLP, Vinyl record album
(Includes booklet with rare photos, a transcription of the interview, and a cool poster!)
A really unique little record – this amazing mix of keyboard jazz and spoken word – and unlike anything else we can think of! We might be tempted to think of the set as a more spiritual journey into territory that Rick Holmes explored with Roy Ayers – but the record is much more ... (Jazz, Spoken Word)read moreCD
Jorge Lopez Ruiz & Jose Tcherkaski —
Coraje Buenos Aires ... CD RGS (Argentina), 1973. New Copy ...
$13.9916.99
A stunningly expansive project from Argentine jazz genius Jorge Lopez Ruiz – one that takes off in even more ambitious territory than his Bronca Buenos Aires album from a few years before! Ruiz plays all sorts of great Fender Rhodes throughout, leading a larger group that mixes tenor, alto, ... (Jazz, Spoken Word)read moreCD
Jorge Lopez Ruiz & Jose Tcherkaski —
Coraje Buenos Aires ... LP RGS (Argentina), 1973. New Copy ...
$29.9934.99
A stunningly expansive project from Argentine jazz genius Jorge Lopez Ruiz – one that takes off in even more ambitious territory than his Bronca Buenos Aires album from a few years before! Ruiz plays all sorts of great Fender Rhodes throughout, leading a larger group that mixes tenor, alto, ... (Jazz, Spoken Word)read moreLP, Vinyl record album
Steve Swallow & Robert Creeley —
So There ... CD Watt, 2001/2005. Used ...
Just Sold Out!
Poems by Robert Creeley, performed by the author alongside Steve Swallow on bass and Steve Kuhn on piano, accompanied by a small string quartet! (Jazz, Spoken Word)CD
A 60s party record – hidden under the guise of an historical album about Cleopatra! The back describes her as "wicked, wanton, and all woman" – and the record within tells the tale! LP, Vinyl record album
(Still sealed.)
Johnny Van Zant/Mother's Finest —
BBC Rock Hour #232 ... LP London Wavelength, 1981. Near Mint- ...
$9.99
A rare bit of hardcore poetry by the Watts Prophets – the legendary LA group who were kind of a west coast answer to the Last Poets! The group have a sound that's as striking as the best early work by The Last Poets – a hard-hitting blend of poetry, rhythms, and righteous energy – ... (Soul, Spoken Word)read moreLP, Vinyl record album
A well-recorded set from the 60s, done with a very rootsy vibe – with some guest work from Big Willie on washboard, and some spoken material on side two! (Blues, Spoken Word)LP, Vinyl record album
(Original red & black label pressing without side notations. Cover has light ringwear, half split top seam, and some splitting in the bottom seam.)