The Pyramids
Birth / Speed / Merging

Originally released as an obscure private-press LP by the Florida trio of Ben Champion, Ken Burkhart and Danny Burger.Special guest on this super rare funky jazz outing is Mike Longo who says a few words on behalf of the group on the back cover, and sure enough he contributes scorching Rhodes in the style of his early 70s Greasy Groove sides for Groove Merchant and Mainstream. Also on board are Kelton Champion on guitar, Gary Champion on Bass, Mickey McGann on keys and David Winters on Congas and Percussion.

With Panorama, Frank Maston pays homage to the classic era of library records and Italian soundtracks of the 70s. A blissed-out, grooving collection of filmic cues, it continues the unique brilliance of Tulips and Darkland. Elegant and easy, subtle and stylish, breezy and beautiful; this is his Maston-piece. Commissioned by legendary label KPM, Panorama cements Maston as a master of modern classics and the most mesmeric of contemporary composers.

Composer and saxophonist Brian Brown produced some of the most refined Australian jazz recordings during the 1970s. A versatile musician whose distinct impressionist music melded modern jazz with the outer limits of free experimentation. Considered to be his greatest work was the 1975 concept album Carlton Streets, an ambitious recording that romanticised the sights, sounds and the nostalgia of this once-bohemian Melbourne neighbourhood. Differing from his eco-jazz composition Wildflowers heard on the recent Roundtable compilation Pyramid Pieces, Carlton Streets explores the polar opposite, offering jazz impressions of the urban environment. Comparable to other pioneering jazz-rock groups such as Ian Carr's Nucleus and mid-period Soft Machine, the album is a mosaic of ecstatic jazz-rock groove, spirited free improvisation and expanded experimental textures. A potent fusion that owes as much to Australian 20th-century avant-garde composers as it does to the influence of the electric jazz innovators, specifically early Weather Report and Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi. The Roundtable are pleased to showcase this important artist and offer a new edition of this landmark Australian jazz recording. Restored from the original master tapes and presented in a gatefold sleeve including liner notes and rare photos.

After more than 45 years forgotten in the personal archives of Jean Schwarz, Transversales Disques is very happy to release this previously unpublished recording which brings together the great Don Cherry and his friend, composer Jean Schwarz, pioneer in electro-acoustic music and member of G.R.M.This concert was recorded in 1977 at the Paris MIX festival (Théatre Récamier) organised by G.R.M and hosted by director François Bayle. An elegant mix of spiritual jazz and electronic sounds around this astounding quintet made up of JF Jenny Clark, Nana Vasconcelos and Michel Portal.Remastered from the original master tapes. Exclusive pictures and liner notes

Kwiatostan by Błoto≤br≥The streets of Warsaw in the first half of 2020 smelled of rain, disinfectant and electrical tension, caused by storms that broke out repeatedly. The black door of the elevator leading to the newly opening Jassmine club was reflected in the puddles. The faces of people passing by were covered with masks, and in street noise, one could hear the soft pulse of bass coming from somewhere below the ground... Two floors below, four musicians known from the EABS group met for the first time since the global pandemic began.Based on the collective improvisation, they recorded their new material for three days. Despite their previous success, the team did not try to recreate proven patents from ‘Erozje’, but rather treated them as a starting point. We can still hear the influence of the golden era’s hip-hop, but this time the inspiration goes deeper to the connotations with club music (house, juke), and everything, as usual, is based on jazz music. Anthony Mills' unexpected cameo in his rap incarnation as Toni Sauna completes the album entitled ‘Kwiatostan’.It cannot be ignored that the entire globe at the beginning of the 21st century stinks of smog, tear gas used to break up protests, and the sour sweat of politicians. The earth is eroding not only due to water, wind, sun or gravity, but mainly as a result of human activity. The Błoto quartet communicated these problems on their first album. It turned out that we operate in a world in which the cover of ‘Erosion' quickly turned out to be prophetic. Inflorescence grows on the ruins of a world devastated by erosion - a new system of branching shoots ending with flowers. In 2020, most of the petals, pistils and stamens are surprisingly pale as they are constantly suppressed by the system in which they thrive, preventing flowers their lush colours and right to diversity. Just like police states that keep an eye on society. ‘System’ is a keyword around which Błoto’s second album revolves.