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Wewantsounds is honoured to announce the first-ever international release of the legendary collaboration between Abdullah Ibrahim (Dollar Brand) and Don Cherry, featuring Carlos Ward. Following Ibrahim’s recent passing, this long-awaited edition is all the more relevant. Recorded live in 1972 at Jazzhus Montmartre in Copenhagen, this highly sought-after album was originally released exclusively in Japan in 1974 on the cult jazz label Trio Records via its revered Nadja imprint. An essential chapter in the musicians’ discographies, the performance skilfully blends jazz with rich South African rhythms and global influences. This definitive reissue features fully remastered audio, the original artwork, and a booklet with new bilingual liner notes (Eng/Fr) by Jacques Denis. — (via Label)

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The set opens with "Don's Song," the only composition by the itinerant trumpeter then making his life on the European continent. Ibrahim kicks it off with a low-register rolling modal pattern that he develops alongside lyrical right-handed chords and quick single lines -- as executed here it is a modal jazz masterpiece. Cherry's high lonesome Middle Eastern-tinged solo enters at the minute mark and quickly answers Ibrahim with meaty sheets of sound as they circle one another. Ward begins dovetailing Cherry's lines, bridging the modal piano and trumpet with exploratory, abstract lyricism that emerges from the modal and becomes its own melodic voice. It's followed by Ibrahim's "Cherry," composed for the trumpeter. Joyful, folk-tinged South African jazz meets the New Orleans and gospel piano traditions on this cooker. Ward excels at inserting R&B-inflected alto saxophone lines. The piano's constant circular left-hand pattern becomes a hypnotic groove that Ward accents, appends, embraces, and extends with his canny soloing. Cherry enters last, blowing unfettered in support.

The music on Third World-Underground has been painstakingly remastered from original analog tapes and is wonderfully presented; the packaging contains a new liner essay from critic Jacques Denis. Fans of all three musicians should own this glorious outing. — (via AllMusic)

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— Highly sought-after album only released in Japan in 1974
— First ever release of the album outside of Japan and first vinyl reissue since 1974
— Remastered from the original Masters by Colorsound Studio, Paris
— Original artwork featuring new liner notes by Jacques Denis (Eng/Fr)

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Label: Wewantsounds
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Stereo
Reissued: 2026 / Originally Released: 1974
Genre: Jazz
Style: Free Jazz

File under: Avant-Garde / Free Jazz
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