Browse by Label: IKEF

Artist:	REDMOND, EUGENE B.
Title:	Blood Links And Sacred Places
Label:	IKEF
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	IKEF 001CD

"Brother Eugene B. Redmond is the poet Laureate of East St. Louis. A principal architect of the black cultural arts movement of the 60s, a teacher and acclaimed writer of countless volumes of poetry, Redmond has been called 'the preacher of poetic rhythm' by Maya Angelou, 'a carver of high song magic' by Quincy Troupe and a worker and healer by Ishmael Reed. On this spirited, funky, streetwise collection of 12 vintage cuts recorded live in the studio in Sacramento in 1973, Redmond raps with characteristic braggadocio and bravado accompanied by friends Jimmy Daniels on guitar, Ed Jefferson on percussion and Ike Paggett on sax with the raucous adulations of a roaring in the groove crowd of friends and fans. Blood Links And Sacred Places is the first of several forthcoming vintage collections by the poet."

Artist:	SUN RA/HENRY DUMAS
Title:	The Ark And The Ankh
Label:	IKEF
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	IKEF 002CD

"In the culturally turbulent mid-1960s, the visionary, otherworldly musical being we have all come to know as Sun Ra formed a brief but tight bond with the late storyteller, activist and poet Henry Dumas. The Ark and the Ankh is a vintage 1966 document of dialogues and meditations between the poet and the musician set to the fervent musical experiments of the Arkestra recorded live at the legendary downtown New York club and haven for the insurgent black music scene, Slug's Saloon. The Ark and the Ankh offers an essential insight into the quirkily brilliant, totally controversial and completely inimitable thought of Sun Ra candidly shared with one of his most adoring disciples. Sun Ra needs little introduction to the legion of fans his great body of work continues to accumulate. Henry Dumas has gained cult-like status as one of this centuries most important black writers. His work, which has been collected in such anthologies as Goodbye Sweetwater, has been labelled genius and brilliant by the likes of Amiri Baraka and Toni Morrison. On May 23, 1968, after leaving a rehearsal at Sun Ra's practice space, Henry Dumas's life was tragically cut short when he was shot to death in a Harlem Subway station by a New York City transit cop. This is the first of two intended volumes from the private tapes of Henry Dumas."

Artist:	BROTHER AH
Title:	Sound Awareness
Label:	IKEF
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	IKEF 003CD

"Originally released in the early 1970s on the coveted Strata-East label (at the peak of the label's creative energy), Sound Awareness was the first of a handful of recordings led by celebrated multi instrumentalist and former member of Sun Ra's Arkestra that combine heavily delayed free form Afropsychedelic sound forms, extended meditative soul jazz workouts with seriously deep ritualized love chants and raps. Brother Ah is joined by an impressive cast of figures including Max Roach rapping with his M'Boom Re:Percussion Ensemble, the 90 Voice Sound Awareness ensemble, Howard Johnson, Barbara Grant, Pat Dixon and Barbara Burton. This is the first in an ongoing series from the archives of Brother Ah's Sound Awareness recordings presented by Ikef. Remastered with Brother Ah from the original tapes. Deluxe packaging."

Artist:	BROTHER AH
Title:	Move Ever Onward
Label:	IKEF
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	IKEF 004CD

"The second in Ikef's series of Brother Ah's Sound Awareness releases, Move Ever Onward finds Brother Ah and family embracing the song form and extending his Afrophonic take on world music, funky kozmic groove, black psychedelia and soul music that is at once urgent and meditative. Originally released in 1975 privately on Brother Ah's own Divine Records label, Move Ever Onward feature his 25 piece sound awareness ensemble on an exotic array of instruments (sitar, tabla, koto, pan flute, Shahuhachi, African percussions, kora, etc.) improvising and backing some of the choicest transcendental, funky vocal cuts you're ever likely to hear. This 8 track CD is a must for fans of Sun Ra, Phil Cohran, Alice Coltrane, John Berberian and the Black Jazz and Tribe Record labels."

Artist:	LYLE & JULIUS HEMPHILL, K. CURTIS
Title:	The Collected Poem For Blind Lemon Jefferson
Label:	IKEF
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	IKEF 005CD

"Ikef continues to mine the extraordinary musical territory of St. Louis's fervent '60s musical innovators with the reissue of the impossibly rare Collected Poem For Blind Lemon Jefferson. Originally released on the late, brilliant saxophonist Julius Hemphill's artist run Mbari label in 1971, Blind Lemon is a highly energetic, raw and primitive avant-garde take on the Blues Mythos. Hemphill, named 'one of free jazz's most visionary composers' (Chris Kelsey, All Music Guide) is in full form as he wiggles and buckles sound around the extended, wild and fully unbridled narrative rap by celebrated Watts Writers Workshop poet K. Curtis Lyle. Fans of the Last Poets, Gil Scott Heron, The Watts Prophets take note! This is a matchless document of searing black rap: beautiful, schizoid and nasty as it gets. Features additional vocals by Malinke Kenyatta."

Artist:	MONTGOMERY EXPRESS, THE
Title:	Does 'Party Fever' & other songs of the Montgomery Movement
Label:	IKEF
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	IKEF 006CD

"The music of the Montgomery Express is a buried homegrown funk classic that always pulls in triple bills when original copies pop up on the fanatical circuit of DJs, vinyl freaks and wayward souls looking for the perfect groove. This is all for a damned good reason. This 1973/74 album was cut by a group formed almost overnight in an obscure pocket of Florida called Indiantown. Led by two blind guys in their 20s (Paul Montgomery & Charles Atkins) with the aid of a couple of teenage groovemasters, The Montgomery Express spent just two short years together on the regional circuit. They played before regularly packed audiences on a stage lined with hip shaking go-go girls at Indiantown's Cadillac Club before slipping into obscurity. Their were no bitter disputes, no creative rivalries, other obligations came up and the party came to an end. As Paul Montgomery put it to us, 'If we could find one another right now, it would be like a family reunion and we'd just start playing again.' Thankfully for us, until that day comes, we've got this joint to get our daily fix. Party Fever is a record of smooth but lackadaisical funk, peppered with sweet soul, tight grooves, shuffle tunes and outright panty dropping music! Highlights include a stunning version of Eddie Floyd's yearning 'Gotta Make a Comeback' that won't leave a dry eye on the checkerboard floor and the deeply soulful tune 'Precious Wings'."

Artist:	EAST NEW YORK ENSEMBLE DE MUSIC, THE
Title:	At the Helm
Label:	IKEF
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	IKEF 007CD

"Bilal Abdurahman's East New York Ensemble de Music emerged out of the fertile, cross-fertilizing community of Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, where African, West Indian & black American cultures converged. This rare 1974 disc, originally issued on Folkways, is back in print for the first time in nearly 30 years and what a gem it is! At The Helm is a gorgeously careening collection of Indo-jazz that draws heavily on the near and far eastern sounds of Turkey, Korea, North Africa, India and China and threads them into a distinctively forceful Black Jazz idiom. In his lifetime, Bilal had always referred to this meld as a kind of 'Black Magical Music' and the tight, energetic compositions on this unsung masterpiece only supports the elevated, otherworldly claims. Take one listen to their rendition of Freddie Hubbard's beautiful 13 minute epic, 'Sun Flower', and you'll hear why this is a must for fans of rare groove & spiritual black jazz."

Artist:	BROTHER AH & THE SOUNDS OF AWARENESS
Title:	Key To Nowhere
Label:	IKEF
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	IKEF 008CD

"The third in Ikef's series of Brother Ah re-releases brings his privately issued LP Key To Nowhere back to center stage. Like our previous two titles, Sound Awareness and Move Ever Onward, Key To Nowhere continues the musical search through global rhythms, tight grooves and an absolutely brilliant rendition of the traditional 'Motherless Child' that has had DJs and Jazz fanatics alike climbing the walls to obtain a copy of this gem."

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