jazz

VA – Africa Airways Three: The Afro Psych Excursion 1972-1984 [ASVN030]

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The Africa Seven label might not have been around for very long, but the London-Paris dynasty has certainly established itself as a no.1 outlet for rare, unhinged world music. This is Africa Airways Volume 3: The Afro-Psych Excursion, a gorgeous compilation spanning the years 1972 to 1984, and it clearly offers some of the most magnetic tunes that they label has put out thus far. There isn’t a mediocre song in here and, as the saying goes, it’s all-killer-no-filler; take African Black’s “Nzango”, for example, a twisted, FX-heavy tribal experiment, or the more soulful highs and lows of tunes like “Zinabu” by Bunzu Soundz. Rough, dusty, completely psyched-out, and inimitable the whole way through; if you’re looking for something that’ll get the heads turning, and the diggers jealous, then this is your LP.

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VA – Africa Airways Three: The Afro Psych Excursion 1972-1984 [ASVN030]

John Scott – Fragment (Soundtrack) [MVMEP001]

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‘Fragment’ is a new instalment from Moscovitch Music composed by veteran English Jazz saxophonist/flautist – John Scott. This EP is almost a companion piece to Scott’s rare Columbia Lansdowne LP ‘Communication’ (1967), a firm Gilles Peterson favourite, with its Conga-tastic version of Ellington’s ‘Caravan’. For fans of filmic UK Jazz this release is a real gem, and there are strong musical connections to the 60s American ‘Third Stream’, Dorothy Ashby, France’s Michel Magne and Francois de Roubaix and of course our own talented composers like Tubby Hayes, Graham Collier and Neil Ardley. ‘Ride in a Pontiac’ with its driving bongo rhythm is pure Spy-Jazz (Courtesy of KPM Drummer Barry Morgan) – Remarkably similar in feel to tracks from the legendary ‘All Night Long’ (which also featured John Scott alongside friends such as Tubby Hayes and Johnny Dankworth). ‘Night of Love’ is an evocative mood piece, pensive yet gentle, with an air of Miles Davis’s smoky ‘L’Ascenseur Pour L’Echafaud score while ‘Waiting/Revelation’ begins with a lonely Flute motif which erupts into a percussive hard bop workout worthy of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers!

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John Scott – Fragment (Soundtrack) [MVMEP001]

Duke Hugh – Canvas [RS016]

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Bradley Zero met Duke Hugh in Amsterdam, when he handed him a green USB stick after a show. He played the promos in the empty club and the first track immediately grabbed his attention – he knew it was something special. When he remembered the hook to Green Leaf the next morning he signed the release almost instantly. Each song has its own essence, there is absolutely no filler and the entire double pack sits together as a perfect whole. Flirting with aspects of broken beat, Jazz, hip hop and dreamy electronica – Duke Hugh winds together a most idiosyncratic release equally at home on the peak time dancefloor as it would be for a long road trip. Canvas is a big statement from an artist who’s here to stay.

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Duke Hugh – Canvas [RS016]

William Antonini – William Antonini E La Sua Orchestra [SME026]

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Very rare’cult’ Library album by maestro William Antonini and his orchestra recorded with the deep sounds of Dirmaphon studios in Rome. Very small Library and Orchestra production by the pianist Antonini during his career as session man, this is the unique long-playing we have and for sure a lost collectible gem. Excellent studio orchestra arranged by the maestro. Expect some strong Blues Rock influences with loads of Killer Psychedelic sounds all over the place / amazing Jazz-Funk and Blues Funk vibes / heavy Progressive riffs with Big Band Swinging Jazz and Jazz-Rock tunes / huge bassline with stoned flute and deep Tenor sax / amazing early ’70s Freakbeat clubbing tunes

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William Antonini – William Antonini E La Sua Orchestra [SME026]

Jimi Tenor – Saxentric [HRKL005LP]

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Jimi Tenor has compiled a selection of afro jazz tracks that he has written and performed over the years with musicians Icelandic drummer, Helgi Svavar Helgason, Helsinki based guitarist/bassist and journalist Ilkka Mattila, legendary drummer Tony Allen, Cuban & Berlin based trumpeter Daniel Allen Oberto, Ethiopian/Finnish & Helsinki based percussionist Abdissa ‘Mamba’ Assefa (Itetune), Nigerian/German & Berlin based percussionist Akinola Famson, Helsinki based percussionist Mongo Aaltonen, American & Paris based spoken word artist/singer & painter Allonymous, Helsinki based flügelhornist Tero Lindberg, Finnish & Berlin based guitarist Kalle Kalima, Polish & Berlin based bassist Patrick Frankowski, British trombonist Hilary Jeffery and Ghanaian/German & Berlin based drummer Ekow Alabi Savage. Jimi Tenor, born Lassi Osmo Tapio Lehto in Lahti, Finland, who has been releasing recorded music for 30 years, plays several instruments as is his usual practice. He is credited for playing on the upcoming release Saxentric; acoustic guitar, acoustic piano, background vocals, bass kalimba, drums, drum programming, electric guitar, electric piano, flute, Hammond organ, Korg MS-20, Korg PolySix, Log-o-phone, Moog, organ, percussion, Photophone, plastic bongos, programming, shaker, synthesizers, tambourine, tenor saxophone, vocals and Walton organ.

vinyl / CD

Jimi Tenor – Saxentric [HRKL005LP]

Roy Ayers – The Funk and Soulful Side Of Roy Ayers [MUKAT048]

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Mukatsuku sets up the ongoing winter months with a couple of hot dance floor burners of gems from the legendary vibes master, Mr Roy Ayers. First up an monster club instrumental in the shape of ‘Funk In The Hole’ with driving driving electronic keys accompanied by a funky breakbeat ,brass stabs and strings. On the slipside is the sultry personification of sexy soulfulness that is ”Liquid Love” …;..Both tracks issued here for the first time on a single in their own right.

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Roy Ayers – The Funk and Soulful Side Of Roy Ayers [MUKAT048]

Sun Ra – In Some Far Place: Roma 77 [STRUT122]

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Thanks to some inspired detective work by Art Yard Records, an intimate trio performance by Sun Ra in Rome in 1977, ‘In Some Far Place’, is receiving its first release. Recorded from the sound desk and mastered from original reels, the album features Sun Ra on piano and Moog, drummer Luqman Ali and occasional Arkestra vocalist Thomas Thaddeus in fine form, exploring Ra staples and revisiting some of the traditional jazz pieces from his early Chicago days. Tracks include the reflective ‘Trying To Put The Blame On Me,’ ‘Spontaneous Simplicity’ and the first Sun Ra version of ‘I Cover The Waterfront’ to ever be officially released. New sleeve notes come courtesy of the Arkestra’s Knoel Scott with cover design by Lewis Heriz.

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Sun Ra – In Some Far Place: Roma 77 [STRUT122]

A Band Called Flash – S/T [FVW003]

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Created by the inspired young Jared Hines and produced by master minds Ron Trent and Jonecy, this self titled follow up to ”Mother Confessor” features four etherial, lush tracks that have a live feel and are equally heavenly. Inspired by the Jazz Funk elements of UK outfit Atmosfear and the alternative Disco sounds of Dinosaur L, presented here, A Band Called Flash embrace the energy of “live” dance music. Reminiscent of the early 80’s Boogie sound, A Band Called Flash will surely capture the attention of the more eclectic, global dance floor.

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A Band Called Flash – S/T [FVW003]

VA – Surinam Funk Force [RHMC002]

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A compilation of highly collectable and rare Surinamese 45’s and LP cuts. Compiled by Antal Heitlager & Thomas Gesthuizen this is the follow up to the Kindred Spirits released Surinam! compilation. This volume goes even deeper into the field of 70ties and 80ties funk music from the Surinamese dance floors.

vinyl / CD

VA – Surinam Funk Force [RHMC002]

Psycheground – Psychedelic And Underground Music [CNPL802C]

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The progressive jazz groove library holy grail album produced in 1971 by Gianfranco Reverberi, composed by himself, Stefano Torossi and Sandro Brugnolini, and performed by the musicians from NUOVA IDEA band.

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Psycheground – Psychedelic And Underground Music [CNPL802C]

Big Mean Sound Machine – Blank Slate 014 [BS014]

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Big Mean Sound Machine is a twelve-piece Afrobeat band native to Ithaca, New York. They tour 150 days a year and have a large and dedicated following up and down the East coast. Still, it is a crime that Big Mean Sound Machine is not well known elsewhere. The band’s tremendous sound combines a big band aesthetic while channeling a global sense of musicality. Their shows leave fans drenched in sweat from dancing as audiences absorb the West African, Caribbean, Jazz and Funk traditions that Big Mean Sound Machine carries forward.

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Big Mean Sound Machine – Blank Slate 014 [BS014]

Floating Points – Kuiper [FP002]

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Sam Shepherd drops a surprise 12” still riding the wave of his impeccable, all-conquering 2015 LP, Elaenia. ‘Kuiper’ that was written after the producer started touring with his live band (Leo Taylor, Alex Reeve and Susumu Mukai), and is “completely different” each time it’s played. Here we have a new version, a riotous, stargazing 18-minute version recorded by the band at 8am. Flipside the B, ‘For Marmish Part II’, meanwhile, is an early demo version of the same track on Elaenia that includes Shepherd flexing his vocals.

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Floating Points – Kuiper [FP002]

Afrikan Sciences – Means & Ways [DBRV006LP]

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Bursting out of Oakland into the ionosphere, a hot pocket of free jazz, house, blues, African & Latin rhythms, a fully shuffled deck of everything that might expand your head, all fed into the MPC, and hot-wired right into your heart. Some five years after it was released digitally, Aybee’s Deepblak label revisit the wonderful Afrikan Sciences LP Means &Ways to grant it a double LP vinyl edition. For those unfamiliar with the album, the 11-track set showed Eric Porter refusing to stand still, variously touching on polyrhythmic IDM, dusty jazz-hop, dense post-techno wonkiness, hard-to-pigeonhole madness (see “Alpha Male Syndrum”), sparkling aural experiments (“Ways & Means”), and pleasingly off-kilter dancefloor fare. Amongst this category you’ll find deliberately out-of-time deepness, slipped broken beat, and dense drum workouts (“NanoRock Skank”). As usual, Porter’s tunes are bizarre but brilliant.

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Afrikan Sciences – Means & Ways [DBRV006LP]

Nat Birchall – Guiding Spirit [JMANLP089]

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Guiding Spirit was second album by Nat Birchall for the fledgling Manchester label Gondwana Records back in 2010. The follow-up to the remarkable debut of Akhenaten found him exploring different textures using percussion and instruments like the kora and the harp. It was also the first time Nat had recorded on the soprano saxophone, featured here on the songs Keep the Light Shining and Higher Regions. Nat reveals a concept on the instrument quite unlike most other contemporary players of the higher-pitched horn, his sound more akin to the keening tone of the Indian shenai master, Bismillah Khan, perfectly in keeping with the music’s more “Eastern” sounding leanings. The music here is firmly rooted in the modal jazz world of Pharoah Sanders, Alice Coltrane and others who sought to expand upon the avenues of expression originally forged by John Coltrane in the heady days of the early 1960s. As has often been pointed out by commentators however, this is no pastiche or “re-make”. This is the real thing, played absolutely in the now, but played from and in the spirit of then. Originally released only in CD format, Jazzman Records are proud to make this music available on vinyl for the first time.

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Nat Birchall – Guiding Spirit [JMANLP089]

Nat Birchall – Akhenaten [JMANLP088]

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Akhenaten was the first album Nat Birchall released via the then brand-new Gondwana Records label in Manchester. Originally only released on CD this is the first time this classic recording has been made available on vinyl. The album on the whole features a quartet, and is expanded to a quintet on the title track where UK trumpet virtuoso Matthew Halsall joins in with a stunning solo. The album explores deep, hymn-like themes at length, finding much to say on the relatively simple melodies and arrangements. Nat and his fellow band members play here with the selfless motivation and focus that’s required to allow them to tap deep into the human psyche, producing music that is soulful and stately. Very different from most modern jazz styles played nowadays, the music has a timeless beauty that will stand the test of time.
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Nat Birchall – Akhenaten [JMANLP088]

Kneebody & Daedelus – Kneedelus [BF058]

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Two members of Los Angeles’s alternative music scene, beat freak Daedelus and instrumental quintet Kneebody, team up for a collaborative album on Brainfeeder. Titled (amazingly) Kneedelus, the album articulates the notion of technological singularity – the idea that humans and computer technology will increasingly blend together – in its straddling of jazz, rock, and electronic production.

vinyl / CD

Kneebody & Daedelus – Kneedelus [BF058]

VA – Tanbou Toujou Lou: Meringue Kompa Kreyol Vodou Jazz & Electric Folklore From Haiti 1960-1981 [OSTP001]

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Between the 1960s and 1980s, experimentation and electric reinterpretation of traditional rhythms was rife, along with the sophisticated balancing of a host of influences. There’s the jazz-era instrumentation, brought during the early 20th century American occupation, which introduced horn sections to Haitian ensembles. Cuba, cultural imperator of the Afro-Atlantic and perennial ally of Haiti, imbued Meringue, Mambo, Son, Guajira, Charanga, and a slew of Afro-Cuban styles into the Haitian repertoire. Accordion-driven Colombian Cumbia and Dominican Merengue left their mark. A melting pot of sound was all held together by the countless rhythms, drum patterns, and percussion brought across the Atlantic from Africa, surviving slavery’s violent cultural repression. New York City label Ostinato Records make their impressive debut with this compilation of Haitian Jazz and Electric Folklore spanning two decades from the sixties onwards. Allegedly compiled from an array of private collections and radio archives in Brooklyn and several digging trips throughout Haiti, this 20-track selection offers an intriguing overview of the country’s musical diversity in this period.

vinyl / CD

VA – Tanbou Toujou Lou: Meringue Kompa Kreyol Vodou Jazz & Electric Folklore From Haiti 1960-1981 [OSTP001]

Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids – We Be All Africans [STRUT144]

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IDRIS ACKAMOOR & THE PYRAMIDS - We Be All Africans

Those turned on by Spiritual Jazz should already be aware of West Coast combo Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids. They’ve been playing and recording together since the 1970s, though We Be All Africans is only their sixth full-length outing. Predictably, it’s a fine set, effortlessly fusing their spiritual roots with elements of jazz-funk, soul and, of course, Afro-jazz. Highlights are plentiful, from the swinging, Tony Allen style rhythms, swirling vocals and punchy horns of “Rhapsody In Berlin”, and the clarinet-sporting sweetness of the brilliantly percussive “Epiphany”, to the stretched-out drum workout “Traponga”, which sounds like the work of three drummers and a whole troupe of percussionists.

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Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids – We Be All Africans [STRUT144]

Dam-Funk – DJ Kicks [K7332LP]

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DAM FUNK/VARIOUS - DJ Kicks

A lot of folks feel like they know DaM-FunK, he is laid-back, affable and personable but to truly get the guy, I mean really understand him, is to know a deep love of music like no other. A more suitable reflection of this is his contribution to the beloved DJ-Kicks series. A snapshot into the mind of the pioneer of Modern-Funk music…get to know the man behind the shades. For fans of George Clinton, Madlib, Theo Parrish, Flying Lotus…

vinyl / CD

Dam-Funk – DJ Kicks [K7332LP]

Pellegrino – Periplo [EAS011]

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‘Periplo’ marks the solo debut of Early Sounds Recordings co-founder Pellegrino S. Snichelotto, following occasional contributions to other material from the label’s extended family of artists. Pellegrino goes for a periplus around Mediterranean savors, dispensing a multi-flavored cocktail of fast-moving disco groovers, spacey jazz-fusion experiments and sun-bleached funky melters. Stylistically, most of the tracks sit somewhere between jazz-funk, cosmic funk, and the kind of melodious Afro-Cosmic fare that was once a staple of Northern Italy’s eccentric club scene. There’s plenty of hazy musical humidity to enoy, too, with the impeccable “Ad Libitum” standing out.

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Pellegrino – Periplo [EAS011]