Gap Mangione – Diana In The Autumn Wind

Gap Mangione's monumentally influential Diana In The Autumn Wind. AKA BEWITH200LP. Our White Whale. Remarkably, this is the first ever vinyl reissue, produced with the full and extensive participation of Gap. An exceedingly rare album, it's been coveted by funk, soul, jazz and hip-hop sample fiends for decades. It's unarguably the most sought after album for J Dilla / Madlib sample collectors. With acceptable copies of this holy grail changing hands for $400, to call this reissue "much-needed" or "long awaited" seems to understate just how vital it is. It's never even been bootlegged. Gap's story is told in his words alongside rare photos across a sumptuously designed 2-page insert. To augment this deluxe edition further, it's all wrapped up in a beautiful, no-expense-spared luxury tip-on sleeve, as per the original hens-teeth release. And, while we're talking packaging, just take a look at that cover - a work of art in and of itself. — (via Label) — Glorified alternately as a holy grail or a white whale for hip-hop sample heads, Diana In The Autumn Wind has now received its very first reissue. J Dilla and Madlib fans can happily play sample bingo with this 1968 album, but A Tribe Called Quest, Ghostface Killah, Kendrick Lamar, Talib Kweli and many others have drawn from it too. Bible here, Moby Dick there – the real question is: does this almost cultishly revered Gap Mangione work also convince as a coherent jazz-funk album? Short answer: yes, absolutely. With Gap Mangione on electric piano and organ, the rhythm section of Tony Levin on bass and Steve Gadd on drums forms a very young – all in their early to mid-twenties – fiery and virtuosic trio of capable jazz musicians. On top of that, Gap’s brother Chuck conjured brass and string arrangements influenced by classical music and big-band jazz as much as by Brazilian pop and rock. That the Mangione brothers were no purists, and were quite engaged with contemporary pop music, is shown by the piano-heavy cover of "Yesterday", which a then presumably hip British group called The Beatles had released only three years earlier. Whether crisp jazz standards, the closing "Graduate Medley" of "Scarborough Fair", "The Sounds of Silence" and "Mrs. Robinson", or the apparently still unsampled "Pond With Swans", they make one thing crystal clear: Diana In The Autumn Wind can also be enjoyed wonderfully from start to finish. — (via HHV Mag) — - First time reissued on vinyl - Produced with full participation of Gap Mangione - Housed in tip-on sleeve with a 2 page insert Vinyl Tracklist A1 Boy With Toys A2 Diana In The Autumn Wind A3 Long Hair Soulful A4 Yesterday A5 The XIth Commandment A6 St. Thomas B1 You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You B2 Pond With Swans B3 You Are My Sunshine B4 Free Again B5 Dream On Little Dreamer B6 Graduate Medley ↓ Label: Be With Records Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Deluxe Edition, Limited Edition, Reissue, Remastered Reissued: 2026 / Originally Released: 1968 Genre: Jazz, Funk / Soul Style: Big Band, Jazz-Funk, Soul-Jazz File under: Soul-Jazz/Jazz-Funk ⦿