Laraaji releases his new album Segue to Infinity, a 4-LP boxed set containing his earliest-known recordings, via Numero Group. Today, Laraaji unveils Segue to Infinity’s final single, “Kalimba.”

Born Edward Larry Gordon in Philadelphia in 1943, Laraaji primarily grew up in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, where music was a constant presence, and 2nd Baptist church attendance was a weekly feature of family life for him and his two brothers. He studied composition and piano on scholarship at Howard University where he collaborated with Larry Mizell and Marvin Gaye. By the mid-1960s, Laraaji was hosting shows at the legendary Apollo Theater in Harlem, and he was a fixture in the coffeehouse folk scene in the West Village.

Beginning with Celestial Vibration, Laraaji’s 1978 debut and the only album he recorded under his birth name, Segue To Infinity goes on to showcase three full discs of previously-unreleased, trance-inducing tracks from the same time period. Recorded during or shortly after the sessions for Celestial Vibration, these six side-length tracks were entirely forgotten about until just a few years ago when the acetates were discovered in a storage locker, sold at auction, purchased by a reseller at a flea market, and then ultimately sold on eBay in mid-2021 to a college student for $114.01.

With recordings collected from the late 1970s–before Laraaji was famously discovered by Brian Eno–alongside never-before-seen photos of a young Laraaji and liner notes by legendary Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid and Numero Group A&R, Douglas Mcgowan (Hearing Music, I Am The Center), Segue To Infinity is the most remarkable collection of Laraaji’s early work to date.

Laraaji
Segue To Infinity
Track List
Numero Group

Disc 1 (Celestial Vibration)
A1. Bethlehem
A2. All Pervading

Disc 2
B1. Ocean
B2. Koto

Disc 3
C1. Kalimba 1
C2. Segue To Infinity

Disc 4
D1. Kalimba 2
D2. Kalimba 4

Pre-order Segue To Infinity by Laraaji HERE