Free Jazz / Spiritual Jazz 1980
Horace Tapscott, Everett Brown Jr.
At The Crossroads
via UOU Records
View post →
Monday, May 25, 2026 • Vinyl Finds from Around the World
Sharps And Flats
Jesse Sharps was a saxophonist in Horace Tapscott's Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra; this 1985 session sat in the vault for decades before Nimbus West finally pressed it. An overlooked gem in the West Coast spiritual-jazz lineage.
Awofofora
Recorded in Japan for Discomate's Vista Series, Awofofora reaches from free jazz into spiritually charged improvisation with African and Asian textures. Brown's alto remains warm and incisive throughout.
Urge
Trumpeter Ted Curson's 1966 Fontana quartet date, representative of his post-Mingus European period. The multi-face cover design has become one of the most recognizable visuals in 60s jazz packaging.
Cherry Jam
Four tracks Don Cherry recorded for Danmarks Radio in Copenhagen in 1965, unearthed by Gearbox Records for Record Store Day 2020. A rare side-document from his immediate post-Ornette Coleman, early-Europe years.
Consequences
The New York Contemporary Five — Archie Shepp, Don Cherry, John Tchicai at its core — captured on their 1963 European tour and issued by Fontana in 1966. One of the foundational collaborations of early free jazz.
A duo live recording between pianist Horace Tapscott and drummer Everett Brown Jr., issued on Nimbus West in 1980. The piano-drum conversation breathes with space — a pivotal pivot from Tapscott's large-ensemble Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra work into intimate chamber territory.