Vinyl Record
Prince Lasha Quintet - Cry!
Prince Lasha Quintet - Cry! on LP vinyl. A 1962 Jazz record available from Kilmorna Collection in Listowel, Ireland.
LP · Jazz · 1962
Available from Kilmorna Collection in Listowel.
Buyer notes: 1962 LP, currently available from the Kilmorna Collection Jazz shelf. Pay for pickup in Listowel or ship within Ireland for EUR 5.50.
Cry! is the 1962 Contemporary Records album by the Prince Lasha Quintet featuring Sonny Simmons, a West Coast free-jazz statement that turns Ornette Coleman's shadow into a language of its own. Recorded in Los Angeles in November 1962, the session places Lasha's flute and alto voice beside Simmons' alto saxophone, with a rhythm section that keeps the music mobile rather than merely abstract. The title matters because the record often sounds like a call being bent, answered and sent back through unstable harmony. Congo Call, Bojangles, Green And Gold and Ghost Of The Past move with folk-blues memory, dissonant swing and chamber-like tension, while the flute gives the music a different colour from the tenor-heavy free-jazz stereotype. In 1962, jazz was already being pushed open by Coleman, Coltrane, Dolphy and others, but Cry! has its own atmosphere: exploratory, West Coast, lean and searching, more conversational than bombastic and more emotionally direct than its surfaces first suggest.
Cry! matters because it captures a less overexposed route through early-1960s free jazz. Prince Lasha and Sonny Simmons were not simply copying the new language around them; they made a compact session where flute, alto saxophone, blues feeling and open form produce a distinct, questioning sound.
For collectors, Cry! is a rewarding Contemporary title for shelves that go beyond the best-known free-jazz landmarks. It is especially useful for listeners who want the adventurous edge of 1962 without losing ensemble shape, melodic fragments and the unusual flute-led colour that gives Lasha's music its signature.
Early-1960s West Coast free jazz with alto saxophone, expressive flute, elastic rhythm, blues traces, dissonant themes, open improvisation and a searching tone that stays intimate rather than sprawling.
Recommended for: Jazz collectors exploring Contemporary Records beyond the obvious titles; Listeners interested in early free jazz with flute and alto interplay; Fans of Prince Lasha, Sonny Simmons and Ornette-adjacent West Coast sessions; Shelves focused on exploratory 1962 jazz recordings.
When was Cry! recorded? Cry! was recorded in Los Angeles in November 1962 and released on Contemporary Records. Who are the key musicians on Cry!? The album is led by Prince Lasha and features Sonny Simmons, making the flute and alto saxophone dialogue central to its sound. What kind of jazz is Cry!? It is an early-1960s free-jazz and avant-garde session with blues roots, open forms and a lean West Coast ensemble feel.