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A beautifully poetic take on the transplantation of African sounds in the US scene – played on a variety of different instruments by Bilal Abdurahman! The tracks are mostly short, percussive ones – with the strongest focus on instrumentation, but with occasional vocal refrains from Bilal – usually in wordless or chanted form, although there's a few nice spoken bits too! Instrumentation is quite diverse – and includes balafon, xalam, and even Ugandan harp – on titles that include "Spirits Of Congo Square", "Ancestral Ode", "Fusion", "Congo Square Procession", "Lament", "Blues Is Born", and "Gogi Solo". CD

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A hip batch of underground poetry tracks – collected together by the Before Columbus Foundation, a group dedicated to promoting the works of African-American and Native American artists! Despite the 1980 date, the collection has a feel that's similar to earlier righteous poetry albums on the Folkways label – proof that the flames were still burning strong in the underground, even though artists such as these weren't getting as much mainstream attention at the end of the 70s! Most readings are recorded live, with a relatively spare, stark sound – and performances include "Dope" by Amiri Baraka, "St Louis Woman" by Ishmael Reed, "For The Poets" by Jayne Cortez, "Bark Is What Us Dogs Do" by David Meltzer, "Flipochinos, Being Your Woman, & Pacific Lover" by Cyn Zarco, and "Artist/Art This" by Victor Hernandez Cruz. CD

A weird little album from the Folkways label – one that features a bunch of 50s-sounding R&B tracks, but packaged almost in an ethnographic style – as if commercial American music was being examined from an outside scientific source! Given that the date of the album is 1966, and most of the work has a sound from a decade before, the approach can be somewhat excused – but honestly, much of the material here would have done great on a commercial label as well – especially some of the more soul-based material. There's a great array of stuff here – and titles include 3 tracks by The Barons – "There's A Dream For You", "Until The End", and "I Can Jerk All Night" – plus "Don't Mistreat Me" by The Queenettes, "Baby Fat" by The Dominoes, "There Is Something About My Girl That Is Mighty Sweet" by Dave Bonds, "The Eel" by Johnny Larand & The Internes, and "A Fool In Love" by Naomi Bradley. CD

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The first album from obscure folk singer Guy Davis – a set that's got a much earthier feel than you'd expect from its late 70s release! Most tracks just feature Davis on vocals and acoustic guitar – singing in a style that's slightly blues-inflected in the vocals, but with playful themes that are definitely in the more confident territory of American folk – clearly influenced by some of the folk/soul experiments by others in the early 70s. Titles include "Nappy Hair", "Try To Catch The Colors", "Never Fart In Front Of Company", "Friendly Feet", and "When I'm Gone". CD

A pretty cool collection produced by Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee – focusing on famous speeches by important female African-Americans – mostly focusing on the civil rights era, but also featuring an early speech by Ida B Wells. Ruby reads the speeches, and works include "I Am A Black Revolutionary Woman (1971)" by Angela Davis, "The Right To A Decent Life & Human Dignity (1971)" by Coretta Scott King, "It Is Time For A Change (1969)" by Shirley Chisolm, and "Lynching, Our National Crime (1901)" by Ida B Wells. CD

An extremely righteous bit of soul jazz – originally issued in a very small pressing by Folkway Records, at a time when the label was doing some great underground recordings! The sound is loose and free – spiritually building in a manner that recalls the work of Ahmed Abdul Malik, Phil Cohran, and some of the AACM – and the album has a style that's exploratory, but never goes too far out, or loses its sense of rhythm and swing. Tracks are longish, and the core group features soprano sax and Korean reeds by Bilal Abdurahman and vibes by Ameen Nuraldeen – plus guest work on bass by James Smith, and appearances by a lot of different world percussion players. There's a nice Eastern feel to some of the tracks, and titles include "Mevlana", "Ti Ti", "Sun Flower", and "Bent El Jerusalem". CD

Beautiful sounds from the Entourage ensemble – a record that's got a really meditative blend of acoustic elements with a few electric touches – used in ways that start in jazz, then move way beyond! Instrumentation includes guitar, flute, keyboards, violin, and mbira – coming together with really unusual inflections that are partly borrowed from Eastern sources – like Noh theater, or Balinese music – but which unfurl with a more freewheeling, American underground vibe as well! No sounds are ever too sharp, and there's almost a hint of the instrumental experiments in the 80s underground – such as work by Penguin Cafe Orchestra or Soft Verdict – but with an earthier feel overall. Titles include "Jattle Boxes", "Giraffes", "Solo For Electric Viola", "Michael's Song", "Silver Drum", and "Percussion Dance". CD

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Features Zeke Mullins on piano, William Mckel on Guitar, Lawrence Burgan on bas, & William Hogan on drums. LP, Vinyl record album

A really wonderful record – and one that maybe brings together a few key strands of the Folkways Records magic – as the album features narration by Langston Hughes, based on his First Book Of Rhythms book – layered with sound effects, folk songs, and music from around the world – all put together in this wonderful sonic pastiche! Much as we love Langston's writings, we especially love his voice – and the record is almost like some global folk take on the area that Hughes explored in a jazz vein with Charles Mingus around the same point in his career. The set is one continuous very cool record – narrated by Langston Hughes, but featuring global music as well! There are songs at points, but the whole thing is really one continuous soundpiece, in the best Folkways tradition. CD

A great little 70s album of electric blues – a set that begins with a song about Watergate – then moves off into a whole other great range of themes too! Bob Kirkpatrick's got a vibe here that's in the better style of the small club scene of Detroit or Chicago at the time – lean, gritty, and with vocals wrapped around his guitar in a really wonderful way – getting support from a slightly unusual trio that features Jothan Callins on bass, Ron Burton on piano, and Harold White on drums – two of whom you'll know from work in spiritual jazz! Titles include "Watergate Blues", "Sweet Little Angel", "I Don't Know Why", "When The Sun Rose This Morning", "I Been Down So Long", and "I Got Love". CD

A beautiful little record – one that features cascading tones from the strings of the kora, mixed with occasional vocal moments too! The album was recorded in Dakar and Brikama in the mid 70s – and is maybe the start of a great run of later sessions that found a way of taking this amazing instrument to a wider audience – opening up the ringing, many-stringed tones of the kora with fidelity that really lives up to the tonal complexities of well-played performances like these. Some of the songs are quite long, and have a very hypnotic vibe – and titles include "Tutu Jara", "Sutukung Kumbu Sora & Solo", "Darisalami Amad Fal", and "Yeyengo High Life Tune". CD

A beautiful little record – one that features cascading tones from the strings of the kora, mixed with occasional vocal moments too! The album was recorded in Dakar and Brikama in the mid 70s – and is maybe the start of a great run of later sessions that found a way of taking this amazing instrument to a wider audience – opening up the ringing, many-stringed tones of the kora with fidelity that really lives up to the tonal complexities of well-played performances like these. Some of the songs are quite long, and have a very hypnotic vibe – and titles include "Tutu Jara", "Sutukung Kumbu Sora & Solo", "Darisalami Amad Fal", and "Yeyengo High Life Tune". LP, Vinyl record album

Beautiful sounds from the overlooked minimalist composer Craig Kupka – a set that features two very different tracks, each issued by Folkways Records – with a presentation that's both far away from the more academic records of the time, and some of the self-released work of the growing New Age underground! Side one features the long "Trombones Of Lithia" – piece that's heavy on the resonant sound of the trombone, but stretched out in this really longform way – nicely meditative, and clearly processed with a bit of electronics, but still with a warmly acoustic core. Side two features "Crystals" – a tune that has more keys, but a mix of 70s analogue and early 80s digital – again given some elements in the background that make the whole thing feel a lot warmer than you might expect, yet still with some of the experimental elements of earlier electronic composition. CD

Beautiful sounds from the overlooked minimalist composer Craig Kupka – a set that features two very different tracks, each issued by Folkways Records – with a presentation that's both far away from the more academic records of the time, and some of the self-released work of the growing New Age underground! Side one features the long "Trombones Of Lithia" – piece that's heavy on the resonant sound of the trombone, but stretched out in this really longform way – nicely meditative, and clearly processed with a bit of electronics, but still with a warmly acoustic core. Side two features "Crystals" – a tune that has more keys, but a mix of 70s analogue and early 80s digital – again given some elements in the background that make the whole thing feel a lot warmer than you might expect, yet still with some of the experimental elements of earlier electronic composition. LP, Vinyl record album

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The last album ever recorded by Trinidad calypso legend Lord Invader – and a set that really sums up all the genius he brought to his too-short career! At a time when the music was really entering the mainstream in commercial ways, Invader keeps things very spare, stark, and basic here – reminding us that at the core, calypso was not only a really revolutionary musical style in the Caribbean – but also a way for under-represented cultures to really get a chance to speak out! Lord Invader does plenty of that here – mixing social commentary with a fair bit of wit, all while the percussion is going crazy at the core – on titles that include "Cat O Nine Tails", "Crisis In Arkansas", "Fidel Castro", "My Experience In The Reeperbahn", "Me One Alone", "As Long As It Born In My House", and "Steel Band War". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Drummer Jaimeo Brown returns to the territory of his previous well-received Transcendence album – but shifts the sound slightly here – by mixing in inspiration from older work songs, instead of the gospel elements of the previous set – while creating music that's equally powerful overall! The album features older snippets of sound from Parchman Farm, mixed with some other recordings from Folkways – augmented by contemporary jazz performances by the group – in a way that fits with the mix of eras presented with the image on the cover. Some times are very strongly structured around the older work songs, others bring in new vocal performances, and electrify things a bit more – as Brown plays a bit of electronics, and the group also features Big Yuki and James Francies on keyboards, and Chris Sholar on guitar and more electronics. There's a few ultra-cool tracks that use older Japanese vocals – kind of a shift stylistically, but very compelling – and the rest of the group features JD Allen on tenor, Marcia Miget on flute, and Jaleel Shaw on alto. Titles include "Lazarus", "Mississippi", "Hidden Angel", "Safflower", "For Mama Lucy", "Paterson", "Stonemason", and "The Valley". CD

Great work from the legendary Cook label – a full album that combines two earlier 10" albums of experimental sounds! First up is Speed The Parting Guest, a wonderful combination of music and sound effects – very similar to some of the bigger label work from artists like Jack Fascinato or Dean Elliott over at Capitol Records in the late 50s, but an even more sonically-sensitive session done for the smaller Cook imprint! Jimmy Carroll leads an assortment of vibes, bells, harps, toys, percussion, and other odd instruments – all in a weird and playful mix of melodies that almost come across like mini-cartoons in sound! There's not much in the way of larger or conventional instrumentation – which makes Jimmy's work even different than bigger label experiments like this – and the recording quality from Cook really makes all the odd sounds come through with great clarity! Titles include "Happy Little Woodpile", "Tinkle Tinkle Little Bell", "Speed The Parting Guest", and "Hong Kong Local". Next up is The Hot Tempered Clavichord – a session that features mostly clavichord musings from Red Camp – more of a rootsy pianist on other records, but working here on an electrified clavichord – which is a bit like an electric harpsichord in sound, only rougher! The tracks are these cool electric boogie-woogie numbers – and include "Ragout", "Blues In Minore", and "The One I Love". CD

Nothing primitif about this jazz, because the music has a really haunting feel – one that's filled with sophisticated changes and compelling instrumentation – served up in ways that are unlike anything else we can think of! Side one of the record features the combo of percussionist Rupert Clemendore, who also plays vibes on the record – with Bert Innis on piano, Frankie Francis on sax, and Les Sargeant on guitar – all in a set of tunes that skittishly groove on angular rhythms, yet also have a sense of warmth as well. Titles include "Bongo Mood", "We Mambo", "Princess Charming", and "The Fly". Side two features equally amazing music from the group of bassist John Buddy Williams – a combo with lots of heavy percussion and a definite Latin bent in the rhythms, plus "doublers" who play either sax or clarinet at the same time – making for a really wide, spread-apart sound as they snake through the melodies! These tracks were all recorded live, with a really festive feel – and titles include "Alma Llanera", "She Pon Top", "Shoemaker Shop", "Man In Dey", and "Last Night The Landlord Nearly Killed Me". CD

The legendary first album by The Fugs – a set that was first issued on Folkways Records, then later on ESP – and which is maybe a perfect bridge between these different underground worlds in the 60s! Ed Sanders, Tuli Kupferberg, Peter Stampfel, and the others are clearly budding hippies – but there's also a quality here that's different than the scene a few years later – maybe pulled equally from the late beat world, and the underground film world – no surprise, as Harry Smith produced the record for the group, and really has a great ear for their rootsier elements on acoustic instruments. The whole thing was recorded in two afternoon sessions in 1965, and still remains a record with surprising power after all these years – on titles that include "Slum Goddess", "Swinburn Stomp", "Supergirl", "Boobs A Lot", "My Baby Done Left Me", and "I Couldn't Get High". LP, Vinyl record album

A really unique little record – an album of original songs based on older tradition, and one that interweaves elements of Portuguese culture with deeper roots of Angolan music! Lilly Tchiumba penned all the tracks herself, and sings in the Angolan language of Kimbundu – but there's a mix of percussion, guitar, and soaring vocals that echoes strongly with rootsier Brazilian, Cuban, and Haitian styles too – maybe in part because the Monitor label did such a wonderful job of recording the songs, and giving them this righteous, powerful vibe that still holds up strongly over the years! And by all of that, we almost mean that there's this sort of trans-global power to the whole record – one that moves beyond just a regional expression of culture, and past any sort of basic ethnographic mode – a lot like the Songs Of Protest album by Zelia Barbosa, also on the Monitor label. Titles include "Manazinha", "Gilagi Bu Kanga", "N'Zambi", "Mona Ki N'Gui Xissa", "Luanda M'Bolo", and "Kubata Di Rosinha". CD

Nothing too dirty about this jazz – especially considering that the "south" in the title is actually the Caribbean – an overlooked hotbed of creative improvisational activity! The album's similar to some of the other Caribbean jazz recorded by Cook Records at the time – highly rhythmic, with a somewhat exotic feel – but the music here is also a bit more conventionally jazz-based at times, with echoes of older swing and trad modes mixed in with rougher percussion on the bottom. There's some great sax parts at times – nice and snakey – and titles include "Serenade", "Kiss Me In the Country", and "Mme Kilio" by Cyril Diaz; "Vicki" and "Cook's Cooking" by Johnny Gomez, "My Salty Sin" and "Choro" by John Buddy Williams, "All Of Me" by Conrad Jones, and "Jungle Blues" by Lorna Pierre. CD

A wealth of recent recordings from the SWP label – an ethnographic powerhouse who are really furthering the sorts of material initially captured by earlier labels like Folkways or Ocora! The style here is very much like the latter – very faithful to the presentation, and very well-recorded – and there's also a clear social mission to really push deeper and farther – in this case well into the eastern side of Zambia's Luangwa province, which includes some musical styles and cultures that have never been recorded before! The set is huge – 4CDs with a tremendous amount of music – presented in a very cool book-styled cover, with copious notes – and separately themed CDs, with titles that include Southern Province Mix, Leya Ceremony & Songs, The Complete Kalonda Band Recordings, and Chikunda Nsenga Soli Cewa. CD

A landmark album – and one of the best records you'll ever find by Mary Lou Williams! The record's a mixture of jazz and spiritual themes, and it features Mary Lou's piano set in some super-hip jazz arrangements that include players like Grant Green, Budd Johnson, Larry Gales, Melba Liston, Ben Tucker, and Percy Heath. The bass and piano work is amazing, and many tracks have a dark groove that's very subtle, but very compelling. About half the tunes feature hip choral vocalizing – in the mode of some of the Donald Byrd or Max Roach albums from the same time – mostly handled by the group of Howard Roberts. Includes the classic groover "A Grand Nite For Swinging", plus "A Fungus Amongus", "Anima Christi", "Miss DD", "The Devil", "It Ain't Necessarily So", and "My Blue Heaven". Great stuff all around – and even better than we're describing it! This CD issue features the original Mary Records cover art – different than the Saba/MPS or later Smithsonian CD versions. CD

A fantastic document of the first-ever Ann Arbor Blues Festival – the start of a great event that would blossom into other styles of music in the 70s, but which stood as a strong blues-based event in its initial year of 1969! In some ways, the three day series of concerts is a roots answer to Woodstock – which took place just a few weeks before – as the festival featured a great scope of blues talents, from the rootsier sort of artists who were recording for labels like Folkways or Arhoolie, to some of the sharper modern talents rising to the top on Chess or Delmark! The package alone is almost worth the price of admission – beautiful photographs of the event, detailed notes, and the first-ever release of this music – which has sat in the vaults for decades, finally to see the light of day. Titles include "Dirty Mother For You" by Roosevelt Sykes, "So Glad You're Mine" by Arthur Big Boy Crudup, "Everybody Must Suffer/Stone Crazy" by Luther Allison & The Blue Nebulae, "Help Me" by Junior Wells, "I Wonder Why" by Jimmy Dawkins, "Too Much Alcohol" by JB Hutto & His Hawks, "So Many Roads So Many Trains" by Otis Rush, "Long Distance Call" by Muddy Waters, "Off The Wall" by James Cotton Band, "Juanita" by Big Joe Williams, "Jelly Jelly Blues" by Shirley Griffin, "I Feel So Good" by Magic Sam, "Call It Stormy Monday" by T-Bone Walker, "Death Letter Blues" by Son House, "Key To The Highway" by Sam Lay, and "Mojo Hand" by Lightnin Hopkins. CD

An amazing 3CD set, put together from mid 50s recordings by Unesco – and featuring one of the richest looks at Indian music we've ever heard! The collection is much more ethnographic than the better-circulated Indian recordings of the time – and although the word "classical" is used in the title, the overall feel is often quite rootsy – filled with earthy percussion, raw vocal passages, and some especially captivating use of flute! Original material was issued by the Ducretet Thomson label in 1955 – but this set features a full 3CDs' worth of titles – 33 tracks in all, with a great sense of variety. CD

An amazing collection – and one that really lives up to the genius of the original Anthology Of American Folk Music put together by Harry Smith for Folkways Records! That groundbreaking set is the stuff of legend – a package that collected rare blues, folk, string band, hillbilly, and other styles from Smith's own collection of 78rpm singles – then brought together by Folkways with copious notes and a huge amount of detail that opened the door to this lost world of music for listeners over many decades. Here, the collection goes back to further Smith's choices – by offering up the flipside of all the records included in the original set – tracks that are almost always as great as the other sides, given that so many of these artists were getting a brief time in the studio, and really gave their all during the recordings. The package is one of the nicest we've ever seen on Dust To Digital – done with more than enough notes and packaging detail to live up to the spirit of the original – in a set of 84 tracks, with work by Dick Justice, Clarence Ashley, Coley Jones, Bill & Belle Reed, Buell Kazee, Buster Carter & Preston Young, Williamson Brothers & Curry, The Masked Marvel, William & Versey Smith, Carter Family, GB Grayson, Mississippi John Hurt, Uncle Eck Dunford, Uncle Bunt Stephens, Carolina Tar Heels, Furry Lewis, Ernest Phipps, Cannon's Jug Stompers, Richard Rabbit Brown, Rev Moses Mason, Alabama Sacred Harp Singers, Cincinnati Jug Band, Rev JM Gates, Jim Jackson, Breaux Freres, Blind Willie Johnson, Dock Boggs, Bascom Lamar Lunsford, Julius Daniels, Ramblin Thomas, Sleepy John Estes, and many others! CD

A fantastic document of the first-ever Ann Arbor Blues Festival – the start of a great event that would blossom into other styles of music in the 70s, but which stood as a strong blues-based event in its initial year of 1969! In some ways, the three day series of concerts is a roots answer to Woodstock – which took place just a few weeks before – as the festival featured a great scope of blues talents, from the rootsier sort of artists who were recording for labels like Folkways or Arhoolie, to some of the sharper modern talents rising to the top on Chess or Delmark! The package alone is almost worth the price of admission – beautiful photographs of the event, detailed notes, and the first-ever release of this music – which has sat in the vaults for decades, finally to see the light of day. Titles on this first volume include "Dirty Mother For You" by Roosevelt Sykes, "So Glad You're Mine" by Arthur Big Boy Crudup, "Everybody Must Suffer/Stone Crazy" by Luther Allison & The Blue Nebulae, "Help Me" by Junior Wells, "I Wonder Why" by Jimmy Dawkins, "Too Much Alcohol" by JB Hutto & His Hawks, and "So Many Roads So Many Trains" by Otis Rush. LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic document of the first-ever Ann Arbor Blues Festival – the start of a great event that would blossom into other styles of music in the 70s, but which stood as a strong blues-based event in its initial year of 1969! In some ways, the three day series of concerts is a roots answer to Woodstock – which took place just a few weeks before – as the festival featured a great scope of blues talents, from the rootsier sort of artists who were recording for labels like Folkways or Arhoolie, to some of the sharper modern talents rising to the top on Chess or Delmark! The package alone is almost worth the price of admission – beautiful photographs of the event, detailed notes, and the first-ever release of this music – which has sat in the vaults for decades, finally to see the light of day. Titles on this second volume include "Long Distance Call" by Muddy Waters, "Off The Wall" by James Cotton Band, "Juanita" by Big Joe Williams, "Jelly Jelly Blues" by Shirley Griffin, "I Feel So Good" by Magic Sam, "Call It Stormy Monday" by T-Bone Walker, "Death Letter Blues" by Son House, "Key To The Highway" by Sam Lay, and "Mojo Hand" by Lightnin Hopkins. LP, Vinyl record album

Sublime solo guitar work from Wall Matthews – a musician who's maybe best known for his work in the group Entourage, who issued two 70s albums on Folkways – although that group is also pretty darn obscure too! Matthews has a great sound here – a solo acoustic mode that's filled with experimental elements, but also very down to earth – part of the 60s legacy of Robbie Basho and John Fahey, but also graced with a chromatic sensibility that points the way towards the direction of William Ackerman. Those references are all pretty huge in our mind, and very well-attached here – on a beautiful set of tracks that should get Wall a much larger place in the acoustic underground. Titles include "Spine River", "The Doves Of Venus", "Wendy's Piece", "The Dance In Your Eye", "Roping", "Kotokes", and "Walk In A Country Rain". LP, Vinyl record album

A really great set of Italian electronics – a set that's maybe known better to Americans than most of the generation, due to a surprising 70s release on Folkways Records! Yet this set is quite different than the more academic electronics that usually grace that label – and echo more that shift towards moogier modes that would really crest in the Italian clubs of the next decade – still here more in a sound library mode, but turned towards nice little tunes that move between spacey instrumentals and keyboard groovers! Gianni Safred plays a range of different instruments – minimoog, polymoog, Arp Odyssey, Fender Rhodes, and Roland keyboards – layering the electronics in a way that's nice and warm, and surprisingly soulful at most moments too. Tracks include "Jazz Computer", "Future City Traffic", "Electronic Brain", "Supermind", "The Life To Come", "Disco Satellite", "Autumn 2001", and "Robot Party". LP, Vinyl record album

An insane album of keyboard tracks – almost as if Sun Ra was taking on an electrified version of boogie woogie! Pianist Red Camp's been recorded by the Cook label before, but this set features Red handling the clavichord – an instrument that's like a harpsichord, with a similar metallic sound overall! The approach is very odd – as Camp's work on the keys is quite dynamic and jamming, hardly the sort of take on the instrument you might expect, and one that really pushes its tones into weirdly distorted range – almost like Ra's use of the rocksichord on some of his 70s albums. The sound is amazing, and the record's unlike anything else we've heard from the time – and titles include "The Bluesando", "Nagasaki", "Alma Llanera", "Slow Slow Blues", "Prelude For Twelve Fingers", and "Twofer Atonement". CD