Browse by Label: ATLANTIC

Artist:	MINGUS, CHARLES
Title:	Pithecanthropus Erectus
Label:	ATLANTIC
Format:	LP
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	ATL 1237HLP

180 gram exact repro reissue, manufactured by Rhino. Originally released in 1956, featuring Charles Mingus (bass), Jackie McLean (alto sax), J. R. Monterose (tenor sax), Mal Waldron (piano) and Willie Jones (drums). "Pithecanthropus Erectus was Charles Mingus' breakthrough as a leader, the album where he established himself as a composer of boundless imagination and a fresh new voice that, despite his ambitiously modern concepts, was firmly grounded in jazz tradition. Mingus truly discovered himself after mastering the vocabularies of bop and swing, and with Pithecanthropus Erectus he began seeking new ways to increase the evocative power of the art form and challenge his musicians (who here include altoist Jackie McLean and pianist Mal Waldron) to work outside of convention. The title cut is one of his greatest masterpieces: a four-movement tone poem depicting man's evolution from pride and accomplishment to hubris and slavery and finally to ultimate destruction. The piece is held together by a haunting, repeated theme and broken up by frenetic, sound-effect-filled interludes that grow darker as man's spirit sinks lower. It can be a little hard to follow the story line, but the whole thing seethes with a brooding intensity that comes from the soloist's extraordinary focus on the mood, rather than simply flashing their chops. Mingus' playful side surfaces on 'A Foggy Day (In San Francisco),' which crams numerous sound effects (all from actual instruments) into a highly visual portrait, complete with honking cars, ringing trolleys, sirens, police whistles, change clinking on the sidewalk, and more. This was the first album where Mingus tailored his arrangements to the personalities of his musicians, teaching the pieces by ear instead of writing everything out. Perhaps that's why Pithecanthropus Erectus resembles paintings in sound -- full of sumptuous tone colors learned through Duke Ellington, but also rich in sonic details that only could have come from an adventurous modernist. And Mingus plays with the sort of raw passion that comes with the first flush of mastery. Still one of his greatest." -- All Music Guide

Artist:	MINGUS, CHARLES
Title:	The Clown
Label:	ATLANTIC
Format:	LP
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	ATL 1260HLP

180 gram exact repro reissue, manufactured by Rhino. Featuring the original freakish cover art, as originally released in 1957. Featuring Charles Mingus (bass), Curtis Porter (alto & tenor saxes), Jimmy Knepper (trombone), Wade Legge (piano) and Dannie Richmond (drums). "The Clown was Charles Mingus' second masterpiece in a row, upping the already intense emotional commitment of Pithecanthropus Erectus and burning with righteous anger and frustration. With Pithecanthropus, Mingus displayed a gift for airtight, focused arrangements that nonetheless allowed his players great freedom to add to the established mood of each piece. The Clown refines and heightens that gift; instead of just writing heads that provide launch points for solos, Mingus tries to evoke something specific with every piece, and even his most impressionistic forays have a strong storytelling quality. In fact, The Clown's title cut makes that explicit with a story verbally improvised by Jean Shepherd (yes, the same Jean Shepherd responsible for A Christmas Story) from a predetermined narrative. There are obvious jazz parallels in the clown's descent into bitterness with every unresponsive, mean-spirited audience, but the track is even more interesting for the free improvisations led by trombonist Jimmy Knepper, as the group responds to Shepherd's story and paints an aural backdrop. It's evidence that Mingus' compositional palette was growing more determinedly modern, much like his increasing use of dissonance, sudden tempo changes, and multiple sections. The Clown introduced two of Mingus' finest compositions in the driving, determined 'Haitian Fight Song' and the '40s-flavored 'Reincarnation of a Lovebird,' a peaceful but melancholy tribute to Charlie Parker; Mingus would return to both throughout his career. And, more than just composing and arranging, Mingus also begins to take more of the spotlight as a soloist; in particular, his unaccompanied sections on 'Haitian Fight Song' make it one of his fieriest moments ever. Mingus may have matched the urgency of The Clown on later albums, but he never quite exceeded it." -- All Music Guide

Artist:	MINGUS, CHARLES
Title:	Blues & Roots
Label:	ATLANTIC
Format:	LP
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SD 1305HLP

180 gram exact repro reissue, manufactured by Rhino. Originally released in 1959, featuring Charles Mingus (bass), Jackie McLean & John Handy (alto saxes), Booker Ervin (tenor sax), Pepper Adams (baritone sax), Jimmy Knepper & Willie Dennis (trombones), Horace Parlan & Mal Waldron (piano) and Dannie Richmond (drums). "In response to critical carping that his ambitious, evocative music somehow didn't swing enough, Charles Mingus returned to the earthiest and earliest sources of black musical expression, namely the blues, gospel, and old-time New Orleans jazz. The resulting LP, Blues and Roots, isn't quite as wildly eclectic as usual, but it ranks as arguably Mingus' most joyously swinging outing. Working with simple forms, Mingus boosts the complexity of the music by assembling a nine-piece outfit and arranging multiple lines to be played simultaneously -- somewhat akin to the Dixieland ensembles of old, but with an acutely modern flavor. Anyone who had heard 'Haitian Fight Song' shouldn't have been surprised that such an album was well within Mingus' range, but jazz's self-appointed guardians have long greeted innovation with reactionary distaste. After Blues and Roots, there could be no question of Mingus' firm grounding in the basics, nor of his deeply felt affinity with them. Whether the music is explicitly gospel-based -- like the groundbreaking classic 'Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting' -- or not, the whole album is performed with a churchy fervor that rips through both the exuberant swingers and the aching, mournful slow blues. Still, it's the blues that most prominently inform the feeling of the album, aside from the aforementioned 'Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting' and the Jelly Roll Morton tribute 'My Jelly Roll Soul.' The recording session was reportedly very disorganized, but perhaps that actually helped give the performances the proper feel, since they wound up so loose and free-swinging. With a lineup including John Handy and Jackie McLean on alto, Booker Ervin on tenor, frequent anchor Pepper Adams on baritone, and Jimmy Knepper and Willie Dennis on trombones, among others, Blues and Roots isn't hurting for fiery soloists, and they help make the album perhaps the most soulful in Mingus' discography." -- All Music Guide

Artist:	MINGUS, CHARLES
Title:	Tonight At Noon
Label:	ATLANTIC
Format:	LP
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SD 1416HLP

180 gram exact repro reissue, manufactured by Rhino. Originally released in 1965, featuring Charles Mingus (bass), Jimmie Knepper (trombone), Shafi Hadi (alto sax), Wade Legge (piano) and Dannie Richmond (drums). "Tonight at Noon is, essentially, a compilation album -- although not in the usual sense. There are two distinct sessions that make up its contents: a 1957 date with Jimmy Knepper on trombone, drummer Dannie Richmond, saxophonist Shafi Hadi, and pianist Wade Legge, and a 1960 session with Booker Ervin, Roland Kirk on saxes, Knepper, bassist Doug Watkins, Mingus on piano, and Richmond. The feel of the two sets is different to be sure, but this is far from throwaway material; the tunes here are actually studio outtakes from the recordings for The Clown and Oh Yeah. While the former session features Mingus going for the blues via European harmonics and melodic approaches with hard bop tempos (particularly on the title track), the latter session with its nocturnal elegance and spatial irregularities comes off more as some kind of exercise in vanguard Ellington with sophisticated harmonies that give way to languid marches and gospel-tinged blues. Kirk and Ervin are particularly suited to one another, because they both swing hard as well as reach for the fences. Mingus' pianism is deeply rooted in blues, and that sense of pace and easiness informs these three tracks, particularly 'Old' Blue for Walt's Torin.' Hints of the material Mingus would record for Columbia on Ah Um are in these compositions. The most beautiful piece is from the 1957 session and closes the album: 'Passions of a Woman Loved' is a nearly ten-minute workout that feels like an Ellington suite. Despite the fact that this is an assembled album, it holds plenty of magic nonetheless." -- All Music Guide

Artist:	COLTRANE, JOHN
Title:	Coltrane's Sound
Label:	ATLANTIC
Format:	LP
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SD 1419HLP

180 gram vinyl exact repro reissue, manufactured by Rhino. Featuring McCoy Tyner (piano), Steve Davis (bass) and Elvin Jones (drums), captured here are the most extraordinary moments of Coltrane's Atlantic period, recorded in 1960 but not released until 1966. "What John Coltrane has 'gotten in' on this album, into the music that is, strikes me as an accurate cross-section of his musical capabilities. He is heard on a lovely ballad, 'The Night Has A Thousand Eyes' as though to refute those who claim he will not play ballads (his hard-edged approach to the ballad is intriguing); he is heard in numerous examples of the jet speed runs and explosions of notes contrasted to and intertwined with the similar eruptions from Elvin Jones' drums ('sometimes he's too much for me!' John has said of Elvin); he is heard in reflective moments, in intense moments and in lyric moments. In fact, almost all the facets of Coltrane are displayed here, including his ventures into the language of the soprano saxophone." -- Ralph J. Gleason, from the back cover.

Artist:	COLEMAN, ORNETTE
Title:	Twins
Label:	ATLANTIC
Format:	LP
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	SD 1588HLP

180 gram vinyl, manufactured by Rhino. Recorded between 1959 and 1961, but originally released in 1971. Performers: Ornette Coleman (alto sax), Don Cherry (pocket trumpet), Scott LaFaro (bass), Billy Higgins (drums), Eric Dolphy (bass clarinet), Freddie Hubbard (trumpet), Charlie Haden (bass) and Ed Blackwell (drums). "Ornette Coleman's music has always shown an expressive feel for the playful, the joyful, the whimsical side of human nature. And I'd say it's often there, deep down, in things he plays or writes in quite different moods." -- Martin Williams

Artist:	WESTON, RANDY
Title:	African Cookbook
Label:	ATLANTIC
Format:	LP
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	SD 1609LP

Exact repro LP. "This fine, long out-of-print album by jazz pianist/composer Randy Weston is available again. Long one of jazz's best (and most underrated) composers, Weston was one of the first American jazz musicians to investigate and embrace the African influences in jazz. (He lived in Africa for a time in the 1970s.) A spare yet melodic, Thelonious Monk-influenced pianist, Weston led a great band in 1964 -- when African Cookbook was recorded -- featuring the big Texas tenor sax of the late Booker Ervin. The rest of the band plays with inspiration and restraint. Weston weaves the African influence subtly into his inviting compositions -- though the influence, Weston might say, was there all along. His tunes are warm, catchy, rich with the flavors of Monk, Duke Ellington and African music. Listening to this album is like sitting down to a sumptuous meal, one you wish to savor." Personnel: Randy Weston (piano, celesta); Big Black (vocals); Booker Ervin (tenor saxophone); Ray Copeland (trumpet, flugelhorn); Vishnu Wood, Lenny McBrowne (bass instrument); Harrold Murray (percussion).

Artist:	MCDANIELS, EUGENE
Title:	Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse
Label:	ATLANTIC
Format:	LP
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	SD 8281LP

Exact repro, manufactured by Rhino under license from Atlantic Records. Originally released in 1971, supposedly shortly after which then-Vice President Spiro Agnew demanded the album be shelved for its content. Heavily sampled freak-funk-jazz classic (J Dilla once hid a copy in some bushes) with a Last Poets lyrical bent. "Sampled to death by the '90s hip-hop elite, including Beastie Boys, Pete Rock & CL Smooth, and A Tribe Called Quest, this administration-upsetting LP showcases this former 'jazz freak' as a slightly less cerebral Gil Scott-Heron, with his direct, socially-conscious lyrics laid over some of the funkiest soul-jazz of the early '70s. A ridiculously rare-groove find for years, the influence of the LP is incalculable, forging a path for hip-hop and soul that would continue to keep the music and message of the album relevant to this day. The man would later produce hit records for Roberta Flack, Gladys Night, and Nancy Wilson, but for for a time Eugene was not trying to please anyone, but just kicking back at The Man a little."

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