Nimbus West US Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Creative Art Ensemble's 1981 record One Step Out remains a highly sought after jazz gem. It came direct from the radical jazz underground of LA and with its spiritual overtones and Arkestra regulars including reedsman Dadisi Komolafe, drummer Woody 'Sonship' Theus and altoist Gary Bias, it is a true tour de force. The frenzied drumming, the freeform vocal work and wild, wandering solos all make for a truly intense record.

Review: Nimbus West Records is an independent US jazz record label, founded by Tom Albach in 1979. We have a repress of Horace Tapscott Sextet's one and only release from 1981 for the label: Dial B for Barbra. Comprised of Everett Brown Jr., Gary Bias, Reggie Bullen, Roberto Miranda, Sabir Mateen with Tapscott - who many probably know from his work as The Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra - at the helm. This gem of the post bop/avant-garde jazz style fetches exorbitant prices on the secondhand market, so here's your chance to get your hands on a right classic.

Review: It would be fair to say that Dadisi Komolafe is not one of American jazz's better-known flautists, having appeared on just a handful of records in the early to mid 1980s. However, his sole album on Nimbus West Records, 1983's "Hassan's Walk", has long been a collector's item amongst serious jazz heads. Happily it has now been given the reissue treatment, with a re-mastering job that guarantees exquisite sound quality throughout. The album's standout moment is undoubtedly the 15-minute title track, where Komolafe's breezy, life-affirming and occasionally powerful flute solos rise above jaunty pianos, loose-limbed drums and memorable double bass. There's plenty to set the pulse racing elsewhere, though, with the vibraphone-sporting "Calvary" and Thelonious Monk cover "Round Midnight" standing out.

Review: Nate Morgan's 1983 album Journey Into Nigritia will cost you well over 300 quid on second hand markets, assuming you can even find a copy. It came on the American label Nimbus West Records, which was one of the quieter labels of the time but sure served up some classics. Pianist Nate Morgan wears his influences on his sleeve - Thelonious Monk, McCoy Tyner - but even so to have laid this one down age just 20 is impressive indeed thanks to the way it combines afro-centric jazz, post-modernism and free improv.

Review: Horace Tapscott founded the Pan African Peoples Arkestra in Los Angeles in 1961, foregrounding community and expressions for Black people and their arts. Across their considerable legacy, this live album is one of the Arkestra's standout moments and now it's finally being repressed. Scott's leadership guides the Arkestra on a journey through the most life-affirming spiritual jazz, fuelled by Afro-centric rhythms, meandering basslines and soaring flute and horn arrangements. Recorded at the Immanuel United Church of Christ in LA in 1979, this double album is a stunning document of Tapscott's project during a golden era for underground jazz.