VA - Astral Traveling, Psychedelic Jazz Performances Vol. 2 (A Butterboy Compilation) (4 x CDs)

PSYCHEDELIC JAZZ

VA - Astral Traveling, Psychedelic Jazz Performances Vol. 2 (A Butterboy Compilation) (4 x CDs)

Jazz has long been one of my deepest listening pleasures, a genre that invites exploration, emotion, and transformation. Yet I’ve often found myself asking what truly defines psychedelic jazz? Is it a genre, a mood, a movement? Or is it something more elusive, a sonic experience that defies categorization?

Through years of listening and reflection, I’ve come to believe that psychedelic jazz is not a genre in the traditional sense. It’s a feeling. A groove. A state of mind. It emerges where improvisation meets cosmic curiosity, where free-form virtuosity dances with electric textures, and where traditional jazz phrasing is stretched into new dimensions. It’s personal, spiritual, and often unpredictable.

Volume 2 is built on the belief that psychedelic jazz isn’t a genre so much as a state of mind, a widening of perception, a loosening of gravity, a willingness to follow sound into places where language stops. This box set gathers that spirit across continents, decades, and scenes, shaping it into a four-part journey that moves from awakening to ascent, from cosmic turbulence to the quiet glow of return. The intention was never to simply compile tracks, but to create a narrative arc that honours the emotional and spiritual weight of this music.

The decision to split the set into four CDs came naturally. The material demanded space, not just physical room, but conceptual breathing room. These pieces are long, exploratory, and deeply expressive; they don’t belong in a compressed sequence fighting for attention. By giving each disc its own identity, the music can unfold at its own pace. The listener is invited to step into a world, stay there, and then move on to the next chapter with a sense of continuity and transformation. It mirrors the way psychedelic jazz itself works: slow openings, sudden revelations, ecstatic peaks, and gentle landings.

Many of the selections here are rare, private-press, or long out-of-print treasures. Cecil McBee’s Agnez, Clifford Thornton’s Festivals and Funerals, and Walt Dickerson’s monumental Chant of Peace stand as towering statements from artists who pushed far beyond the boundaries of jazz orthodoxy. Ndikho Xaba’s Nomusa, Rudolph Johnson’s The Highest Pleasure, and the Strata-East lineage represented by Kenny Cox, Joe Bonner, and Phil Ranelin bring the deep-cut energy that collectors know well, music that circulated quietly for decades before finding its rightful audience. Even the more familiar names, Sun Ra, Joe Henderson, Azar Lawrence, Bennie Maupin, are represented by tracks that lean into their most cosmic, exploratory impulses.

What ties all of this together is intention. Every track was chosen for its ability to open a door, shift the air, or tilt the listener slightly off the axis of the everyday. The four-disc structure gives the music room to breathe, but it also gives the listener a map: a way to travel through sound, to get lost, to return changed. Astral Traveling, Volume 2 is a passage, a meditation, and a celebration of the rare, the beautiful, and the boundless.

Volume 1 can be found here:  

VA – Astral Traveling, Psychedelic Jazz Performances (A Butterboy Compilation) (6 x CDs)  

https://butterboycompilations.blogspot.com/2024/06/va-astral-traveling-psychedelic-jazz.html

These two volumes stand as companion pieces, parallel journeys through the same cosmic landscape, each illuminating what the other leaves in shadow. Volume 1 opens the door with its wide-angled curiosity, tracing the many tributaries that feed into the psychedelic jazz river, while Volume 2 dives straight into the current, following it into deeper, more spiritual waters. Together, they offer a fuller picture of what this music can be, expansive yet intimate, exploratory yet grounded, rooted in tradition yet always reaching beyond it. If Volume 1 maps the territory, Volume 2 reveals its inner terrain. Placed side by side, they form a single, continuous experience, a reminder that psychedelic jazz is not a fixed destination, but an ever-unfolding journey through sound, imagination, and the boundless possibilities of the astral plane. (B)

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Track lists

CD1

01 Ronald Snijders - A Safe Return 2:17 1980

02 Jef Gilson - Chakan 2:26 2011

03 Eddie Gale - Black Rhythm Happening 2:52 1969

04 Terry Plumeri - He Who Lives in Many Places 2:52 1975

05 Michael White - Praise Innocence 3:20 1972

06 Byard Lancaster - Loving Kindness 3:43 1979

07 Masabumi Kikuchi - Circle, Line 3:38 1981

08 Arild Andersen - Clouds in My Head 3:27 1975

09 Yusef Lateef - Love Theme From Spartacus 4:16 1961

10 Dzyan - Khali 4:41 1974

11 Kenny Cox - Mystique 4:44 1968

12 Gabor Szabo - Three King Fishers 4:45 1968

13 Dudu Pukwana - Tete and Barbs in My Mind 4:38 1977

14 Gary Bartz NTU Troop - Celestial Blues 5:13 1971

15 Joe McPhee - Cosmic Love 5:57 1970

16 Lonnie Liston Smith - Expansions 6:05 1975

17 Carlos franzetti - Graffiti 6:05 1977

18 Weldon Irvine - Homey 4:19 1972

19 Weldon Irvine - Gloria 3:05 1972

20 Ronald Snijders - Lenox (Edit) 4:23 1980

CD2

21 John Surman - Edges of Illusion 10:13 1979

22 Joseph Bonner - Impressions of Copenhagen / R.V. 6:43 1981

23 Hal Galper - Inner Journey 7:05 1973

24 Azar Lawrence - From The Point of Love 7:52 1975

25 Clifford Jordan - John Coltrane 6:49 1974

26 Joachim K hn - Seven Sacred Pools 8:39 1976

27 Rudolph Johnson - The Highest Pleasure 7:38 1973

28 John Klemmer - Free Fall Lover 6:45 1975

29 Hugh Masekela - Inner Crisis 6:16 1972

30 Bennie Maupin - Quasar 5:53 1977

31 Carlos Garnett - Mother of the Future 7:40 1974

32 Azar Lawrence - Novo Ano 6:39 1975

33 Eddie Henderson - Scorpio-Libra 10:09 1973

34 Music Inc featuring Charles Tolliver - On The Nile 9:50 1971

35 Karma - High Priestess 9:42 1995

36 Chico Hamilton - Space for Stacy 3:07 1975

37 Embryo - You Don't Know What's Happening 4:52 1970

38 Wayne Henderson - Mysterious Maiden 6:24 1978

39 Wayne Henderson - You Think of Her 5:46 1978

40 Alan Silva - Skillfullness 23:49 1969

CD3

41 Horace Tapscott Quintet - The Giant is Awakened 17:18 1969

42 Cecil McBee - Agnez 19:38 1978

43 Billy Harper - Capra Black 11:22 1973

44 Tomasz Stanko - Music for K. 16:25 1970

45 Tisziji Mu oz - Divine Radiance 24:12 2003

46 Clifford Thornton - Festivals and Funerals 25:54 1972

47 Walt Dickerson - Chant of Peace 28:11 1976

48 Mtume - Sais 22:56 1977

49 Dave Burrell - Echo 20:21 1969

50 Hannibal and the Sunrise Orchestra - The Light 14:12 1978

51 Tribe - Hometown 7:58 2019

52 Eddie Palmieri - Lucumi, Macumba, Voodoo 4:39 1978

53 Pharoah Sanders - Upper Egypt & Lower Egypt 16:18 1967

54 Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids - Rhapsody in Berlin 6:22 2015

55 Juju - Nia (Poem: Complete The Circle) 8:37 1974

56 Randy Weston - African Cookbook (LP Version) 12:11 1969

57 Phil Ranelin - Vibes from the Tribe 3:50 1976

58 Michael White - The Blessing Song 6:14 1972

59 Steve Kuhn - Thoughts of A Gentleman - The Saga of Harrison Crabfeathers 12:16 1972

60 Sonny Simmons - Metamorphosis 11:40 1966

CD4

61 Ruiz, Jorge Lopez - El Grito (1er Movimiento) 6:13 1967

62 Masayuki "Jojo" Takayanagi & New Direction for The Arts - Sun in The East 10:03 1972

63 Billy Bang Quintet - Rainbow Gladiator 14:24 1981

64 Mtume - Yebo 6:08 1977

65 Norman Connors - Dark of Light 11:45 1973

66 Doug Hammond & David Durrah - Reflections 4:30 1975

67 Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Phil Kelan Cohran - Ethereal 3:57 2016

68 Michael Longo - Like A Thief in The Night 5:31 1974

69 Julian Priester Pepo Mtoto - Love, Love 4:26 1974

70 Terje Rypdal - Midnite 16:40 1975

71 Doug Carn - Moon Child 7:44 1971

72 Ronnie Boykins - The Will Come, is Now 12:29 1975

73 Steve Reid & The Master Brotherhood - Lions of Judah 5:41 1976

74 Ndikho Xaba - Nomusa 8:46 1971

75 Kelan Phil Cohran & Legacy - White Nile 10:11 1993

76 Charles Lloyd - Forest Flower - Sunrise 7:19 1967

77 Joe Henderson Featuring Alice Coltrane - Earth 13:13 1974

78 Art Ensemble of Chicago - Theme De Yoyo 9:03 1970

79 Kamasi Washington - Change of The Guard 12:15 2015

80 Sun Ra Arkestra - Space is the Place 4:23 1973

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Music weaves itself into the fabric of our emotions, dances through the corridors of memory, and whispers to the soul of who we are. Sharing these stories deepens the connection, turning the experience into something timeless and profound.

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