Amazing 70s work from British altoist Mike Osborne – working here with a razor sharp trio that includes Harry Miller on bass and Louis Moholo on drums. Osborne's tone is already tremendous at the start – but the added rhythmic pressure of Miller and Moholo really make the album cook – burning with more intensity than the usual Ogun session of the time, and really taking on a triple-sided sort of interplay that allows each player ample voice on the date. There's almost a late 50s Sonny Rollins Trio sort of legacy going on here – but one pushed to freer 70s dimensions at times – and the whole thing's a great testament to the hidden talents of the critically overlooked Osborne! The side-long "All Night Long" suite includes improvs on "All Night Long", "Rivers", "Round Midnight" and "Scotch Pearl", and side 2 is also taken up by "Recapulations", another suite featuring "Ken's Tune", "Country Bounce", "All Night Long" and "Trio Trio". CD also features 2 bonus tracks – "Scotch Pearl" and "Now & Then Here & Now". CD

Two rare performances from the same evening of music in 1974 – one issued briefly on the album Stan Tracey Alone, one appearing here for the first time ever! CD1 features that Tracey album – an extended solo improvisation titled "Eighty One Plus One", which has Stan really stretching out at this key point in his career – that moment when he'd moved past his more angular, Monkish modes of the 60s – into territory that was much freer, and even more captivating – as Tracey always plays with this sense of timing that holds things together, even as his hands are soaring to the farther reaches of the piano! CD 2 features a duet with alto saxophonist Mike Osborne – also from the same night, and as one extended improvisation titled "Two Part Intention" – which has Tracey building up these layers of sound on piano, while Osborne glides freely over the top in a style that's both modern and soulful at the same time. Great stuff – and a much-needed example of this key moment in British jazz! CD

One of our favorite sides of the British avant scene in the 70s – a body of work that's out, but never too out – soaring on spiritual wings one moment, and working in playful blocks of sound the next! All three artists play saxes on the album – tenor for Akan Skidmore, alto for Mike Osborne, and baritone and soprano saxes for John Surman – while Skidmore also throws in a bit of drums and percussion, and Surman a bit of electronics – making for a multi-horn approach that's got some of the same compelling elements as the Lol Coxhill albums on Virgin, but performed here with a freer sort of soul as well! There's maybe a lot more warmth here than some of Surman's colder electronics/reeds records for other labels – and titles include "Goliath", "Ist", "Calypso", "Cycle Motion", "Chordary", and "Wherever I Am". CD

A trio of amazing records from the UK jazz scene at the start of the 70s – all seminal sides from the legendary avant Turtle Records label! First up is Outback,early genius from British saxophonist Mike Osborne – his first session as a leader, recorded in the company of some of the greatest players on his scene! Osborne's got a strong vision here that's apparent from the first note of the set – a mixture of freedom and cohesive energy that resonates with the best modes of the ESP albums cut a few years before this one – stretching out with the new imagination that was setting the London jazz scene on fire at the start of the 70s. Osborne's alto is at the lead of a quintet that also includes Harry Beckett on trumpet, Chris McGregor on piano, Harry Miller on bass, and Louis Moholo on drums – and the sound is a mixture of some of the post-Blue Notes work of McGregor with bolder-blown trumpet/sax lines from Beckett and Osborne. The album features 2 long tracks – the stark, angular "So It Is", and the slower-building "Outback", which features some especially nice solos from Beckett. Next up is Flight – a complete classic from British pianist Howard Riley – exactly the sort of record that made him as important a new voice on the piano as Cecil Taylor in the US or Alexander Schlippenbach and Martial Solal on the European scene! The set's got the free, fiery vibe of some of Taylor's best work – but with even more inventive sounds from the whole trio – which also includes Barry Guy on bass and Tony Oxley on drums and amplified percussion – a tremendous lineup that's equally matched, and brilliant throughout! Riley is as wonderful as on his solo sessions – but he's almost even more incredible here for the way he balances things between all the players, and gives both Oxley and Guy some key space to make themselves known. Titles include "Cirrus", "Motion", "Flight", "For Lesley/For Sue", and "Forgotten Game". Last is Pause & Think Again – marvelous work from pianist Mike Taylor – maybe the greatest album we've ever heard from this under-recognized British genius, and a set that's got some of Taylor's most inventive writing and arrangements! The group's larger than some of Taylor's usual settings – and features John Surman on soprano sax, Stan Sulzmann on alto, Chris Pyne on trombone, and Kenny Wheeler on trumpet – all players who are arranged in this style that lets them break free in strongly voiced solos, while still also hewing to Mike's wonderful sense of color and tone – a mix of structure and individual creativity that's a bit like some of the early Surman work on Deram, or that label's music with some of his contemporaries. The group also features Chris Laurence on bass and Tony Levin on drums – and Norma Winstone adds in some heavenly vocalizations at points. Titles include "And Think Again", "White Magic", "Pause", "Interlude/Soft Winds", and "Awakening/Eye To Eye". Great package – a box with all three records in album-style covers, and a huge booklet of notes! CD

Early genius from British saxophonist Mike Osborne – his first session as a leader, recorded in the company of some of the greatest players on his scene! Osborne's got a strong vision here that's apparent from the first note of the set – a mixture of freedom and cohesive energy that resonates with the best modes of the ESP albums cut a few years before this one – stretching out with the new imagination that was setting the London jazz scene on fire at the start of the 70s. Osborne's alto is at the lead of a quintet that also includes Harry Beckett on trumpet, Chris McGregor on piano, Harry Miller on bass, and Louis Moholo on drums – and the sound is a mixture of some of the post-Blue Notes work of McGregor with bolder-blown trumpet/sax lines from Beckett and Osborne. The album features 2 long tracks – the stark, angular "So It Is", and the slower-building "Outback", which features some especially nice solos from Beckett. LP, Vinyl record album

A bold early statement from British alto player Mike Osborne – a previously-unissued session from 1972, and one that burns with even more fire than his better-known albums for Ogun! The session is a nearly all-star one from the brightest years of the British jazz underground – and features Osborne alongside John Surman on soprano and baritone saxes, Alan Skidmore on tenor, Harry Miller on bass, and Louis Moholo on drums – all freely crafting sounds in space with the dynamism and energy of the Ornette Coleman group during the Dewey Redman years, but also with some of the stronger freedoms of the 70s European scene. Titles include "Shapes (parts 1 & 2)", "Staight Jack", and "Double It". CD

One of our favorite sides of the British avant scene in the 70s – a body of work that's out, but never too out – soaring on spiritual wings one moment, and working in playful blocks of sound the next! All three artists play saxes on the album – tenor for Akan Skidmore, alto for Mike Osborne, and baritone and soprano saxes for John Surman – while Skidmore also throws in a bit of drums and percussion, and Surman a bit of electronics – making for a multi-horn approach that's got some of the same compelling elements as the Lol Coxhill albums on Virgin, but performed here with a freer sort of soul as well! There's maybe a lot more warmth here than some of Surman's colder electronics/reeds records for other labels – and titles include "Goliath", "Ist", "Calypso", "Cycle Motion", "Chordary", and "Wherever I Am". CD

Amazing 70s work from British altoist Mike Osborne – working here with a razor sharp trio that includes Harry Miller on bass and Louis Moholo on drums. Osborne's tone is already tremendous at the start – but the added rhythmic pressure of Miller and Moholo really make the album cook – burning with more intensity than the usual Ogun session of the time, and really taking on a triple-sided sort of interplay that allows each player ample voice on the date. There's almost a late 50s Sonny Rollins Trio sort of legacy going on here – but one pushed to freer 70s dimensions at times – and the whole thing's a great testament to the hidden talents of the critically overlooked Osborne! The side-long "All Night Long" suite includes improvs on "All Night Long", "Rivers", "Round Midnight" and "Scotch Pearl", and side 2 is also taken up by "Recapulations", another suite featuring "Ken's Tune", "Country Bounce", "All Night Long" and "Trio Trio". CD also features 2 bonus tracks – "Scotch Pearl" and "Now & Then Here & Now". CD

Fantastic stuff! This groovy groovy record stands as one of the finest recordings ever made by 60s Brit jazz legend Mike Westbrook – a lively and rhythmic meeting of some of the best young talents on the London scene of the time, topped off with incredible vocals from the lovely Norma Winstone! The tracks all have a rolling modal-styled groove – slightly funky at the bottom, with some really offbeat horn parts that stretch into the sky, and dance alongside the vocals at a level that's never been matched on any other Westbrook album. There's a sense of joy here that's just incredible – really soaring, ebullient, and buoyant – but never cliched or overly hippy dippy! Players include Paul Rutherford, Mike Osborne, Chris Spedding, and Harry Miller – and titles include "Original Peter", "Love Song", and "Autumn King". CD features 2 bonus tracks – a single mix of "Original Peter", and the single "Magic Garden". CD

The brilliant third album from Mike Westbrook – a sharp-edged, two volume set with a scathing anti-war theme! The work is Westbrook's first total-concept album, and it's still one of his best – written with an edge that's free from some of the more whimsical touches that showed up in Mike's later years, and played by a core group of British avant soloists with searing intensity! You've never heard large group scoring like this – bold, ambitious, and quite different than most of what's come before. And although the whole thing sounds as if it's going to fall apart at any moment, it always snaps back into a sharp focus just in the nick of time – with brilliant results that bring the same sense of surprise that you might get from, say, a classic album from Charles Mingus or Archie Shepp! Players include Kenny Wheeler and Henry Lowther on trumpets, Mike Gibbs and Paul Rutherford on trombones, John Surman on baritone and soprano sax, Mike Osborne on alto and clarinet, Alan Skidmore on tenor and flute, Brian Smith on tenor, and Harry Miller and Barre Phillips on bass. This set features both volumes of the recording – with titles that include "Landscape", "Hooray", "Other World", "Marching Song", "Transition", "Rosie", "Tension", "Ballad", "Conflict", and "Requiem". Great 3CD set features a full bonus disc of rare material – including the 7" single of "Original Peter" and "Magic Garden" – 1970 recordings of "But It Must Get Better & It Will Get Better" and "When Young" by The Mike Westbrook Quartet, and a 1966 recording of "Marching Song" by the Mike Westbrook Sextet – the last three of which have never been released! CD

A previously unissued performance by the Brotherhood Of Breath – recorded at a time when the group was at the height of their early powers! Some of the styles here are in the straighter, South African-inspired jazz of pianist Chris McGregor's roots – but other tracks get far more experimental, and show the new ideas and levels of expression that some of the players were adopting at the time – a great criss-crossing of cultural modes as the London jazz scene absorbed ex-colonial artists from South Africa and the West Indies. The lineup here includes Dudu Puckwana and Mike Osborne on altos, Alan Skidmore and Gary Windo on tenor, Harry Beckett and Marc Charig on trumpet, Nick Evans and Malcolm Griffiths on trombone, Harry Miller on bass, and Louis Moholo on drums – all coming together with a sense of magical creativity that we'd reserve for a rare few groups – like the Sun Ra Arkestra! Titles include "Nick Tete", "Restless", "Do It", "Eclipse At Dawn", "The Bride", and "Funky Boots March". CD

Incredible work from Harry Miller's Isipingo – a group that was a contemporary of Chris McGregor's Brotherhood Of Breath – and which had a similar blend of free-thinking jazz and South African roots! The performance here is a beautifully recorded one – done live for radio in the mid 70s, and featuring 4 extended tracks that really showcase the group at their best. Despite the length of the tracks, there's no sense of self-indulgence at all – and most numbers have a pulsating, rhythmic energy that drives all players along strongly. The sextet features Miller on bass, Mongezi Feza on trumpet, Nick Evans on trombone, Louis Moholo on drums, Mike Osborne on alto, and Keith Tippett on piano – and titles include "Eli's Song", "Which Way Now", "Family Affair", and "Children At Play". CD

An essential lost bit of British jazz – and the first record ever released by avant reed player John Surman! The album's an interesting mix of styles, with a split that runs right down the middle. The first 4 tracks on the record reflect a distinct Carribean style, and are a good indication of the strong West Indian influence on the British jazz tradition. Surman's playing pretty straight on those tracks, and he's joined by Mike Osborne on alto, Harry Miller on bass, and Russell Henderson on piano. The other 3 tracks on the album comprise one long suite, and the style is a much better indication of Surman's avant garde leanings, and of the larger ensemble style of the Brit jazz scene of the late 60's. He plays on those with Dave Holland, Kenny Wheeler, Harry Beckett, Paul Rutherford, and others – and the titles include "Incantation", "Episode", and "Dance". CD

One of the freest sessions of jazz recorded in the UK during the 1960s – the only album ever as a leader from South African drummer Selwyn Lissack – recorded in a style that's quite similar to some of the best avant sets from Paris at the end of the decade! The title track is an homage to Kenneth Terroade's "Love Rejoice" – one of the key BYG/Actuel recordings of the late 60s, and an obvious inspiration to Selwyn here. Terroade actually plays both tenor and flute on the record, alongside Mongezi Feza on trumpet, Mike Osborne on alto, Harry Miller on bass, Earl Freeman on piano, and Louis Moholo on percussion – all in an unbridled, open, side-long jam that easily matches the energy of Terroade's date as a leader. Side two features "Facets Of The Universe" – an equally great track, but somewhat more spiritual – with a great spoken bit by Freeman at the beginning, and a slow-building sound that's almost like work from the AACM! CD reissue features a bonus extended take on "Friendship Next Of Kin" – with a drum passage that was edited from the original. CD

Beautifully electrified work from trumpeter Harry Beckett – a set that's done in a free-flowing, open-ended sort of style – one that owes plenty to the changes at the time in the work of Miles Davis and Donald Byrd! The group here is probably a bit more modern than those references might imply – with John Taylor on electric piano, Mike Osborne on alto and soprano sax, and Frank Ricotti on percussion and vibes – all flowing together beautifully under the leadership of Beckett's trumpet – which certainly rings with the "warm smiles" sound you might guess from the title. The style's sometimes a bit tender, but never too sleepy or laidback – and the mix of electric piano and trumpet is especially great on the more far-reaching numbers! Titles include "Harambee", "To Me, For Me", "Tomorrow Morning Early", and "Tender Is The Sky". LP, Vinyl record album

Amazing music from Chris McGregor and his legendary Brotherhood Of Breath ensemble – easily one of the most exciting forces in British jazz in the 70s, and one fo the few who was still sounding their best in the latter half of the decade! McGregor's got as much bite and burn here as with his famous earlier combo, The Blue Notes – and the lineup here boasts ex-members of that group – Dudu Pukwana on alto, Johnny Dyani on bass, and Louis Moholo on drums – all joining together perfectly with McGregor's long-spun piano lines. The ensemble also features other key British players – Mike Osborne on alto, Evan Parker on tenor, Harry Beckett and Mark Charig on trumpets, and Radu Malfatti on trombone – creating this bold horn section that stretches to the skies on waves of soul! Two lengthy pieces "Sunrise On The Sun" and "Kwaholo" bookend the shorter piece "Sonia". CD features three more tracks not on the original album – "TBS", "Andromeda", and "You Ain't Gonna Know Me Cos You Think You Know Me". CD

Sublime sounds from the late Harry Miller – material never issued during the course of his too-short life, but a great illustration of his really unique contribution to British jazz at the time! Miller's work on bass is wonderful throughout – very rich in feeling, and with a grounded organic quality that brings some especially spiritual sounds out of the players on the album's two different sessions – the first a 1973 date with Louis Moholo on drums, Chris McGregor on piano, Nick Evans on trombone, and Mike Osborne on alto sax. The style of the set is very much in the best post-South Africa spirit of McGregor's work of the time – rolling lines that Miller contributes to strongly, spinning out with a rhythmic pulse on long tracks with lots of open space for solos. Titles from this date include "Touch Hungry", "Quandry", and "Bloomfield". The second set of material is equally nice – a 1976 live date with Moholo on drums and Osborne on alto, plus Keith Tippett on piano, Mark Charig on trumpet, and Malcolm Griffiths on trombone. The long-flowing lines of the music are strongly in place again, but the performance also has some freer elements from the horns at various points – but always comes back to the energy of the core. Titles include "Eli's Song", "Mofolo", "Something Like This", and another version of "Touch Hungry". CD

Very rare work from this legendary improvising orchestra – two different recordings from the first decade or so of the group's existence, at a time when they were hardly making any records at all! The first two long tracks are from a 1972 performances in Germany – and feature an early version of the group conducted by Buxton Orr, but with leader Barry Guy in strong formation – in a very large lineup that includes saxes from Evan Parker, Mike Osborne, Trevor Watts, and Alan Wakeman; trumpets from Kenny Wheeler, Harry Beckett, Mark Charig, and Dave Holdsworth; trombones from Paul Rutherford, Mike Gibbs, and Paul Nieman; guitar from Derek Bailey; piano from Howard Riley; percussion and drums from Paul Lytton and Tony Oxley; and more bass from Jeff Clyne and Chris Laurence. The players' ability to move in ways that are both cohesive and individual is breathtaking – on the long selections "Watts Parker Beckett To Me Mr Riley" and "Statements III". Next are two more tracks recorded in London in 1980 – one live, one studio – with some of the same players, but also the addition of Peter Brotzmann and Tony Coe on saxes, Philipp Wachsmann on violin, and John Stevens on percussion – on the tracks "Quasimode III" and "Appolysian". CD

The great second album from Chris McGregor's Brotherhood Of Breath – a record that's much more obscure than the group's debut, and which has them moving into even deeper territory! As before, there's a wonderful post-colonial groove going on here – one that builds from McGregor's roots in South African jazz, but inflects it with some of the bolder, more modern modes of the London jazz scene in Chris worked after leaving Africa in 1964. But unlike before, some of the more free-thinking London styles take even stronger roles here – stretching out in solos that are a bit looser and more exploratory, and which point the way towards the more avant-oriented direction that McGregor and contemporaries would take in the Ogun years – yet not in ways that leave behind the inherent sense of rhythm in the music. The album starts out with rolling South African jazz piano lines that are quite familiar – but then soon opens up into much less structured territory, with solo work from players who include Mongezi Feza, Harry Beckett, Alan Skidmore, Mike Osborne, Harry Miller, Gary Windo, Dudu Pukwana, and Nick Evans. Most tracks are long – and titles include "Think Of Something", "Joyful Noises", "Nick Tete", "Do It", and "Funky Boots March". CD

3 sets of recordings from Chris McGregor's legendary Brotherhood Of Breath ensemble of the 70s – live dates from Bremen, Germany and Bridgwater, UK – hence the title! The style here is a looser extrapolation of the Brotherhood Of Breath sound heard on the group's studio LPs – and a fair bit of these tunes are arguably more outside, and more experimental – especially in the horn work, which opens up with plenty of sharp edges! Players include Harry Beckett, Mongezi Feza, and Marc Charig on trumpets; Elton Dean, Dudu Pukwana, and Mike Osborne on alto saxes; Evan Parker, Alan Skidmore, and Gary Windo on tenors; Radu Malfatti and Malcolm Griffiths on trombones; Harry Miller on bass, Chris McGregor on piano, and either Louis Moholo or Keith Bailey on drums. 2CD set features 8 numbers from 1971 in Bremen, and 8 more from 1975 in Bridgwater. Titles include "Do It", "Kongi's Theme", "Now", "The Bride", "Funky Boots March", "Think Of Something", "Sonia", "Untitled Original", "Kwhalo", "Yes Please", and "Restless". CD

A rare 1972 album that brings together (then) previously-unissued material from the cutting edge of the late 60s British jazz scene – five longish tracks that feature different and unique groupings of musicians that include John Surman, Alan Skidmore, Mike Osborne, Harry Miller, Kenny Wheeler, and John Taylor! The work is all at the level of the best recordings by all players for Deram and other labels at the time – and while you might expect that such unreleased recordings might be rougher-edged, or more experimental, most of the tracks on the set have a relatively straightforward sound – modern to be sure, but mostly not-outside, and filled with the best sense of color, tone, and searching energy that we love in the UK scene of the time! One track, "Bouquet Garni", is a bit out – as it features a spare three sax lineup of Surman on baritone, Skidmore on tenor, and Osborne on alto – but the others are more tightly structured group affairs, titles that include "Circles On Ice", "Winter Song", "Bessie", and "Shepherd Oak". LP, Vinyl record album

A beautiful lost slice of British jazz, recorded during the crucial period before some of the scene's players went too far off the deep end! John Surman partners here with composer/leader John Warren, for a large group recording that sounds similar to some of the best early Mike Westbrook recordings. The album's comprised of a suite of 5 tracks, all played by a large group in a style that shows the best British modernist tradition of the 60's. The ensemble playing is dark and moody – but always tight at all moments. The group's soloists – like Surman, Mike Osborne, Barre Phillips, Kenny Wheeler, and others – soar out of the arrangements in tightly constructed, brilliantly realized solos that stand as some of their best work. Titles include "With Terry's Help", "We'll Make It", "The Dandelion", "The Picture Tree", and the "Tales Of The Algonquin" suite. CD

Wonderful lost work from John Surman – some of his most beautiful, most lyrical music ever – a great companion to his late 60s albums for Deram – and served up here with a similar balance in sound! Most tracks hang nicely on the inside of the spectrum – never going too far out, and mostly moving in these modal rhythms and gentle grooves that are totally great – although there are two numbers here that are much freer overall – the kind of wild improvisation that was gripping the European scene at the end of the 60s! Players are all top-shelf – some Brits and Germans working together beautifully, in a lineup that includes Surman on soprano and baritone sax, Alan Skidmore on tenor and flute, Ronnie Scott on tenor, Mike Osborne on alto, Malcolm Griffiths and Erich Kleinschuster on trombones, Kenny Wheeler on trumpet, Fritz Pauer on piano, Harry Miller on bass, and Alan Jackson on drums. Titles include "Mayflower", "Once Upon A Time", "Gratuliere", and "Puzzle". Package also features a bonus DVD of the performance! CD