Record Store Day Delivers Black Friday Releases!

News, Dave Douglas, Bill Evans, Jimi Hendrix, Al Jarreau, Julian Lage, Tony Levin, Joni Mitchell, Max Roach, Sun Ra, McCoy Tyner, Joe Henderson

By Frank Alkyer I Nov. 26, 2024

Looking for a great gift for your vinyl-loving loved one (or yourself)? Record Store Day’s Black Friday releases offer a slew of great options. Here’s what’s droppin’ in jazz, blues and musically adjacent worlds on Friday, Nov. 29. Check out all the special releases at RSD Black Friday.

Dave Douglas, Gifts (Greenleaf)
A two-LP set of vinyl limited to 800 copies, this is Douglas’ first new album in almost two years. He’s joined by Ian Chang and Rafiq Bhatia (members of Son Lux and Oscar-nominated for the score of Everything Everywhere All At Once), as well as saxophonist James Brandon Lewis. The album features four Billy Strayhorn compositions along with six originals. It’s an RSD First release.

Bill Evans, In Norway: The Kongsberg Concert (Elemental)
This two-LP set is limited to 4,500 copies in a never-before-released performance by the Bill Evans Trio. It’s been remastered from stereo reels recently discovered in the Kongsberg Jazz Festival Archives. It’s an RSD Exclusive release.

Big Freedia, Hitz, Vol. 2: 2010–2020, (Queen Diva)
This single LP release is limited to 1,000 copies from the New Orleans party starter as a collection of Freedia’s biggest hits pressed on pink vinyl. It’s an RSD First release

David Grisman, Dawg ’90, Deluxe Edition (Org Music)
This two-LP release is limited to 1,300 copies. This is the debut of Grisman’s Acoustic Disc label, originally released in 1990 on cassette and CD. The album features the David Grisman Quintet and special guests Mark O’Connor and Matt Glaser on fiddle. It was nominated for a Grammy in the Country Instrumental category. This is its first-ever vinyl pressing.

Jimi Hendrix, Songs For Groovy Children: The Fillmore East Concerts (Legacy)
An RSD Exclucsive, this two-album set is limited to 4,500 copies presenting highlights from the historic debut concerts by Jimi Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys (Jimi Hendrix, Billy Cox, Buddy Miles) at New York’s Fillmore East on New Year’s Eve 1969 and New Year’s Day 1970.

John Lee Hooker, Don’t Turn Me From Your Door (Rhino Atlantic)
Originally released in 1963, this LP features rare tracks from the early career of John Lee Hooker, printed with the French cover and pressed on yellow vinyl. It’s an RSD Exclusive limited to 2,000 copies.

Al Jarreau, Wow! (Resonance)
An RSD First release limited to 1,300 copies, Wow! brings back a live performance by the legendary singer and songwriter Al Jarreau, captured at his first appearance in Washington, D.C., in August of 1976.

Jazz Sabbath, The 1968 Tapes (Blacklake)
Longtime Black Sabbath/Ozzy Osbourne keyboards and guitar player Adam Wakeman (as Milton Keanes) is back with Jazz Sabbath–The 1968 Tapes. This RSD Black Friday exclusive mono edition features eight Black Sabbath songs re-imagined as classic jazz tracks. It’s a limited, 2,500-copy pressing.

Julian Lage, Live In Los Angeles (Mack Avenue)
Guitar virtuoso Julian Lage blends classic melodic styles and avant garde experimentation for Live In Los Angeles. Lage brought his acclaimed trio featuring bassist Scott Colley and drummer Kenny Wollesen to the Blue Whale for this intimate performance. The EP is Lage’s only live recording to date, and the vinyl edition is an RSD Exclusive with a limited 2,500-copy pressing.

Tony Levin, Bringing It Down To The Bass (Flatiron Recordings)
The legendary bass (and Chapman Stick) artist releases his first solo album since 2007. It’s a two-LP set pressed on Espresso-colored vinyl and includes a 24-page booklet. It’s an RSD First with a pressing of 2,800 copies.

Joni Mitchell, Hejira Demos (Rhino)
An RSD Exclusive, this vinyl breakout comes straight from the Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 4 boxed set, pressed on 180-gram black vinyl and featuring Mitchell’s March 1976 solo demos for one of her most acclaimed albums. It’s limited to 5,000 copies.

Morphine, B-Sides And Otherwise (Ryko/Rhino)
Available for the first time on vinyl, Morphine’s first rarities collection features B-Sides and other rare tracks recorded between 1993 and 1997 and never released on their studio albums. An RSD Exclusive, it’s limited to 3,000 copies.

Max Roach, Deeds, Not Words (Craft)
Here’s a mono mix of drummer Max Roach’s 1958 album featuring Booker Little on trumpet, Ray Draper on tuba, George Coleman on tenor saxophone and Art Davis on bass. The limited-edition, 2,500-copy pressing uses (AAA) lacquers cut from the original master tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio pressed on 180-gram black vinyl at Fidelity Record Pressing. It’s an RSD Exclusive.

Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson, From South Africa To South Carolina (Culture Factory USA)
A1975 studio album by the vocalist Gil Scott-Heron and keyboardist Brian Jackson, this album includes the hits “Johannesburg” and “A Lovely Day” and has been out-of-print until this RSD Black Friday release. It has a limited pressing of 3,000 and adds four bonus tracks to this two-LP set.

Sahib Shihab, Sahib’s Jazz Party & After Hours (Org Music)
Saxophonist/flutist Sahib Shihab delivers this live album recorded at the Jazzhus Montmartre in Copenhagen around the same time that he relocated there in 1963. The two-LP set showcases Sahab’s openness to the avant-garde, expanding on the bop-centric playing. It’s a limited pressing of 1,250 copies and an RSD Exclusive.

Sun Ra, Lights On A Satelite: Live At The Left Bank 1978 (Resonance)
This RSD Exclusive release is available for the very first time, highlighting Sun Ra and his Arkestra recorded on July 23, 1978, at the Famous Ballroom in Baltimore, Maryland, by the Left Bank Jazz Society. The deluxe package includes liner notes by J.D. Considine, plus interviews with the centenarian Arkestra saxophonist Marshall Allen, NEA Jazz Master saxophonist Gary Bartz and pianist Craig Taborn. It’s a two-LP set with a limited pressing of 1,500 copies.

Cecil Taylor, Live At The Cafe Montmartre (Org Music)
This recording has been lauded by critics as a landmark performance, “among the greatest live recordings in jazz” (Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings). An RSD Exclusive limited to 1,500 copies, it captures Taylor in peak form, supported by Sunny Murray on drums and Jimmy Lyons on alto saxophone on Nov. 23, 1962.

McCoy Tyner & Joe Henderson, Forces Of Nature: Live At Sluggs’ (Blue Note)
This never-before-issued, two-LP recording places the legendary pianist and tenor saxophonist in one of the great 1960s jazz haunts of New York City, backed by Jack DeJohnette on drums and Henry Grimes on bass. The recording was produced by Zev Feldman, DeJohnette and Lydia DeJohnette, complete with rare photos and detailed liner notes.

Various Artists, Jazz Dispensary: The Golden Hour (Craft)
The cratediggers of Jazz Dispensary present a new stash that evokes the feeling of floating on a cool, lone wave while soaking in the last sunbeams of the day. Featuring the groove of renown artists like Johnny Hammond, Sonny Rollins, Chico Hamilton and Vince Guaraldi, the set includes artwork by acclaimed visual artist Kamil Czapiga, who filmed special color inks reacting to songs from the album with microscopic cameras to create the cover art. Pressed on Golden Wave Swirl vinyl, the set is an RSD Exclusive limited to 4,000 copies. DB