Bruce & Vlady - The Reality - Jazz - Vinyl

Going by the sleeve alone, it's clear that this record has all the right ingredients: hypnotic artwork, enigmatic title, unusual Hammond and drums line-up... However, the album didn't sell well upon it's original 1970 released in Sweden, and has been long-forgotten since then. This is the first ever reissue of American Hammond player Bruce Powell and Polish drummer Wladyslaw Jagiello's wonderful, unique record of hypnotic progressive jazz. It's story is also told here for the first time, thanks to Powell himself: I was introduced to trumpeter Ernie Englund. He told me he needed an organist who could read music and had his own instrument... he hired me to play with his big band at the Grande Hotel in Stockholm. That was December 1969. My Hammond B-3 was somehow damaged on the trip over and Ernie decided to send me back to the United States. My wife, however, had arrived two days after I got there, so I decided to stay in Stockholm and make a go of it on my own... I met Vlady one night at a rock club. He and I both were sitting in with another band. He liked the way I played and I liked him... We got hired for several engagements at [Klub Ernst]. A friend of Rune Wallebom [Svensk American Records co-owner] heard us one night and told him about our music... Rune came to hear us and loved it. He came up after the show and offered me a recording contract... I don't remember the name of the studio but I do remember that we did four takes. After reviewing them all, we decided upon the ones that appear on the album. There are two more takes out there somewhere. I had the tapes from the sessions but they got lost over time... Not long after, Rune came to me with a sad face and told me his wife was divorcing him. She was co-owner of Svensk American Records and was dissolving the company. This happened just after the album was released; therefore it went no further. The promotion and distribution ceased. I never received any monies or royalties for my work... When my grandmother passed, I decided to return to the United States (September 1970). I lost track of Vlady and never was able to contact Rune about what happened to the album.

• REALITY
• Jazz
• Vampisoul