Pop & Rock News

Official reissue of highly sought after Dutch Boogie cover from Indeep’s classic hit ‘Last night, the D.J. saved my life’: Northy
Davies – De D.J. redde mij vannacht. Poko poko edit on the flip side!

"I'm Always Right“ by Imagination is an unreleased jazz rock LP recorded in 1977, 3 years before their sought after “Shake It” debut from 1980. Comprised of five tracks with a playtime of roughly 30 minutes, you will hear one of the finest German late-70s rock-tinged electric jazz albums of the era. The recording is a delightful stand-out with unique compositions, aspiring solo work, and a soulful spirit throughout. Additionally, the album veritably glows with exceptional sound quality, as it has been remastered from original tapes that were cut more than four decades ago at the WDR Funkhaus, Cologne.

Acclaimed London-based sonic explorer Seb Rochford unleashes a startling new band and debut album. The frontier where doom rhythms rub against haunted saxophone atmospherics. A 4-time Mercury Prize nominee (Polar Bear, Sons of Kemet, Basquiat Strings)
Pulled by Magnets is Seb’s most sublime and provocative musical statement to date. There’s the glittering list of collaborations that includes Patti Smith, Brian Eno and David Byrne, the trailblazing (post-) jazz strangeness of Polar Bear, the drumming and producing for Sons of Kemet, of which he was a founding member, the film soundtrack work (on Chris Morris’s latest, among others) and, as we move into the new decade, there’s ... well, what is this exactly? How many Seb Rochford's are there? From the off, it sounds unlike anything the Scots-born, London-based, desert-loving drummer of Anglo-Indian and English/Irish heritage has done before. Gone are the quizzical, music-hall-at-the-end-of-the-world stylings of Polar Bear, to be replaced by a soundtrack of the mind that is, by turns, sublime, stately and provocative.
Forget type, genre or influence: this is the start of a brand-new trip by one of the most questing musicians at work anywhere. But let’s take refuge in facts for a moment: Rose Golden Doorwayswas recorded in The Old Church in Stoke Newington, London and features, in addition to Rochford, Polar Bear comrade Pete Wareham on saxophone and Neil Charles (Zed-U, Empirical)on bass guitar. Even with the help of the church, you’ll wonder how the three of them managed to make the sound they do, especially when you learn that the album is a series of live takes, with no added studio woo.

‘Timoka’ is an all instrumental album from Ross Goldstein featuring 11 compositions created using a Mellotron exclusively. It is a companion piece (volume 2) to ‘The 8th House’ and like that album it is inspired by cinema and film soundtracks While plenty of homage has been paid to the anxiety-heavy synthy soundtracks of 70’s b-movie horror flicks or the acid rock freak outs that soundtracked movies from the early days hippie subculture, The Eighth House goes in a very different direction. More than those popular entry points, the music here is subdued and slow-moving, curiously inspecting ideas as the album moves through various fantastical passages. Even when cartoonish sound effects meet with tense swells of strings or dramatic orchestral flourishes (early Chamberlin models recorded their sounds using players of the Lawrence Welk Orchestra, no less!), the result is never garish but always patient and communicative. Bells ring in the distance, memories and possibilities are implied but left open to interpretation and strange but friendly sounds linger for just a moment before melting into something else. The result is a muted and wintery paradise that envisions Smile-era Brian Wilson scoring the softer moments of a Jodorowsky film.

Presenting Shirley Scott’s deeply personal album, ‘One for Me’ - a defiant tribute to the music she always desired to create but was shrouded by the demands of her vibrant career. Thoughtful curation of the band, tracks, and completely self-funded, this project set off on an innovative trajectory supported by Harold Vick on tenor saxophone and Billy Higgins on drums. Originally released on the revolutionary artist-owned label, Strata-East Records, in January 1975, this unique project will be available to enjoy again on Arc Records from 15th May 2020.

The impetus for this record was a real desire for Shirley to express herself more freely and create something for herself, taking back the power she’d seemingly relinquished throughout her career. Maxine Gordon, Scott’s close friend, and executive producer on the original record, expresses thatthey often had intimate discussions about how Scott was being told what to play, what to wear, how to look and how to speak in public for many years. Having had enough of these restrictions, she created this record to please no one but herself.

As Scott expresses on the back of the original LP sleeve:

“All of the music recorded in this album is both personal and very purposeful to me, because it is the first step toward honesty about what and how I want to play. I’ve done a lot of other albums, a lot of different ways for a lot ofdifferent people and now, with the help of the Creator, in whom all things are possible, I have done one for me too.”

Having self-raised funds to make the record, with complete control over the masters, and with her dream band together, Scott recorded at Blue Rock Studio in November 1974. Harold Vick, often referred to as one of the “unsung tenor saxophonists” of his time, was cherry picked to bring Scott’s vision to life. Throughout his career, he released records on Blue Note, RCA as well as performing and recording with a string of legendary artists such as Ray Charles, and Aretha Franklin. Completing the dream trio was highly sought out drummer Billy Higgins, who is the most recorded drummer in the history of Blue Note Records, having played on 45 Blue Note albums. The key to their success was that Higgins tuned his drums to fit with the organ’s bass sound which, of course, Scott played with her feet.

Scott was also known as “Little Miss Half-Steps,” a name given to her by tenor saxophonist George Coleman, (who wrote a composition by that name in her honor) - she regularly played with both George & Harold. Coleman is known to have admired Scott’s half-steps (when you play two adjacent keys on the organ or piano) and their close bond and mutual respect is solidified on this record through a track titled ‘Big George’ - specifically written for Coleman.

“Queen of the Organ”, Shirley Scott was born in Philadelphia in 1934 and lived there most of her life until her early death in March 2002 at the age of 67. Having mastered the piano at an early age, Scott switched from piano to organ at the tender age of 21. Scott had a legendary recording career as a leaderwith 45 albums mainly released on Impulse and Prestige and is often remembered for her work with Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis and Stanley Turrentine.Boasting a thriving career as a musician and composer, Scott progressed to a professor at Cheyney University in her later years. She was a treasured mother and grandmother, and a cherished friend of music scholar, Maxine Gordon, who’s honour it is to collaborate with Arc Records on shining a new bright light on this monumental body of work.

Andreas Schaerer’s recent projects have established him at the forefront of the creative jazz scene in Europe. The Berne-based artist’s debut on the label, the revolutionary orchestral work ‘The Big Wig’, a commission from the Lucerne Festival, was followed by a quartet formation with Michael Wollny, Vincent Peirani and Emile Parisien, ‘Out of Land’ and most recently by an album with another quartet, ‘A Novel of Anomaly’. This succession of highly contrasting releases has shown that Schaerer is not a jazz singer in any conventional sense: he is a vocal artist capable of imitating almost every instrument or sound with his voice. He covers all kinds of vocal styles from crooning to operatic tenor and he is able to juxtapose them all in a completely individual way. Now, having lain dormant while Schaerer pursued these other endeavours, the band that first put him on the map, Hildegard Lernt Fliegen (Hildegard learns to fly) is back in business. Hildegard Lernt Fliegen made a mark outside Switzerland with an appearance at Jazzahead in Bremen in 2012 followed shortly afterwards by winning the BMW World Jazz Award in Munich. Audiences responded enthusiastically to the band’s complex compositions which were always full of surprises and had a way of completely transcending style and genre and also left plenty of room for improvisation. There was always plenty of irony and humour, plus the opportunity to marvel at Schaerer’s solo escapades. Fans of the old ‘Hildegard’ are faced with a very different prospect with the new album ‘The Waves Are Rising, Dear!’. As the title of the album suggests, it is a more serious work, a concept album, on which Schaerer has taken the band's characteristic sense of instrumental playfulness, combined it with his own, almost classically clear vocal timbre, produced without any trickery. And he has put both of these elements to the service of poetry and to the task of thinking about things more deeply.

The one and only Lady Day together with tenor saxophone giant Lester Young represent one of the greatest musical relationships in Jazz history. The way Lester Young used to interact with Holiday's deep melodies was outstanding and after almost a century the whole atmosphere of their music is still totally unique. These sessions held in New York between 1937 and 1938 and featuring heavyweights such as Benny Goodman, Teddy Wilson and the Count Basie rhythm section, Freddie Green, Walter Page, and Papa Jo Jones, are one of the greatest treasures in American music, period.

High quality laquer cut LP with silver and pink pantone colors on cover.

Mutual Intentions is proud to present "Astral Traveling" which is Byron The Aquarius' debut album. A stunning piece of fusion built from everything between jazz, soul, hiphop and house makes Mutual Intentions a perfect platform for the release. String compositions is an on-going theme throughout the album. From the first chord on "Love Is 4U", until the very last second of "Spazzing Out", where Byron raps over a beautiful backdrop consisting only of Fender Rhodes, electric bass & strings. Byron jumps seamlessly between different genres throughout the whole album. From the acid house inspired "Sorry Kari", to 70's prog jazz sounding cuts like "Lost In Love". Once you put the needle on side B, you'll hear "Deep In That ***** feat. MDMA" which sounds pretty much like if Dexter Wansel took MDMA in 2019, inside Legowelt's studio and tried to re-create his classic cut "Theme From The Planets".

Italian film composer Piero Umiliani began working with the trumpeter and actor Chet Baker during the late 1950s. Of part Norwegian and Anglo-Saxon origins, Chesney Henry Baker Jr was born into a musical family in the small town of Yale, Oaklahoma, in 1929. After singing in the local church choir, he began playing trombone but soon switched to the smaller and more manageable trumpet. He joined the US Army just after the end of World War II and played in the 298 th Army Band while stationed in Berlin and began studying music theory at El Camino College in Los Angeles, following his discharge, but re-enlisted to play in the Sixth Army Band while stationed at the Presidio in San Francisco. Out of the Army for good in 1951, he played with saxophonists Vido Musso and Stan Getz before joining Charlie Parker for a series of West Coast live dates. He then joined the Gerry Mulligan Quartet, becoming a mainstay of the Los Angeles jazz scene, until Mulligan’s drug bust forced Baker to form a quartet of his own. Chet Baker And Strings was issued by Columbia in 1954 and he began recording for Pacific Jazz the following year; cast in the film Hell’s Horizon, Baker turned down a Hollywood studio contact to travel to Europe, touring the continent for eight months, which resulted in the album Chet Baker In Europe. Heroin became a significant part of the picture in this era and when he began working with the arranger and conductor Ezio Leoni (aka Len Mercer) in Milan in 1959, Baker was arrested for drugs and jailed in Pisa, temporarily disrupting the proceedings. Baker and Umiliani first joined forces in 1958 for the crime film I Soliti Ignoti (AKA Big Deal on Madonna Street, Persons Unknown or Le Pigeon), reportedly the first instance of jazz being used for an Italian comedy film; Il Paradiso dell’Uomo and Smog followed. Italian Movies draws from the best of Baker and Umiliani’s cinematic collaborations, the atmospheric compositions backed by a group of session players centred on drummer Ralf Ferraro, acoustic bassist Berto Pisano, guitarist Enzo Grillini, tenor saxophonist Livio Cervellieri and Franco Ciari on vibraphone, along with Baker’s expressive trumpet leads and composer Umiliani on piano.

It was 1970 when Curtis Mayfield left R&B group The Impressions, to set off on his own solo path. What followed was a rich and highly celebrated career, during which Mayfield produced some of the most influential R&B, soul, funk, and gospel recordings of all time. Along with Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder, Mayfield is credited with helping to ring in a new era of socially-aware funk and soul music, all while raking in numerous Billboard-charting hits both as a performer and a songwriter. Though he died in 1999, he left behind a vast legacy of innovation and long-lasting music, and has been ranked by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the 100 Greatest Artists of all-time. Coming hot on the heels of his powerhouse hit soundtrack for the film Superfly was 1973's Back To The World. Mayfield's music always had a socially-conscious and political bent to it, but the tracks on Back To The World cranked this conceit up to an even higher degree, largely inspired the increasingly industrial world around him, and the social and environmental concerns that followed it. (The album's lead single "Future Shock" was named for an Alvin Toffler book on the subject.) Though not the smash commercial success of his previous efforts, Back To The World still landed in the Billboard Top 20, and is considered an underrated, and overlooked entry in the soul innovator's catalog.

A musical portrait of a great singer. 16 tracks, over one hour of music, six previously unreleased tracks. Cæcilie Norby is one of the leading singers in Scandinavia. Her music moves between the worlds of jazz, blues, soul, pop, rock and classical music. Norby masters everything and always in a way that makes her instantly recognizable. She was the first Danish artist to be signed by Blue Note and has worked with a panoply of international stars. With close to half a million album sales, Cæcilie Norby is one of the most successful jazz artists in Europe and one of the most important figures at the intersection of pop and jazz. ‘Portraying’ shows the many different facets of her vocal craft, with recordings dating from the early stages of her career right up to six new and previously unreleased tracks. She is accompanied by pre-eminent musicians such as Lars Danielsson, Curtis Stigers, Leszek Możdżer, Bugge Wesseltoft, Marius Neset, Randy Brecker, Rita Marcotulli and many more. Also included are two pieces from her recent appearances as featured artist on ‘Toppen af Poppen’ (The Great Singers) on Danish television.

New split 7” by Endless Boogie and Weak Signal. The masters of minimal blues repetition, Endless Boogie are in condensed charging form on ‘Jerome’. A treasure trove of interlocking riffs and searing lead lines from Matt Sweeney, Jesper Eklow and the one and only Stephen Malkmus, the A-side sounds like a lost proto-punk classic. Paul Major’s racing vocals tell a story of urban debauchery (nods to the Velvets included) while Mark O and Harry Druzd lock into that unmatched groove the fans of this band have been missing. This track
atches any underground chestnut from ‘Urban Guerilla’ to ‘Teenage Head’-era Flamin’ Groovies and has what Matt Sweeney calls a “thugassed jacked-up Saturday-night vibe.” On the flip side’s “Rolex,” Weak Signal show us the morning after the party, through the lens of a con artist so smooth he knows how to hit his mark “without knowing.” From the first person perspective Mike Bones walks us through every detail of the scam with the detachment of a practiced criminal who revels coolly in his skill. Weak Signal ply a different strain of minimalism from Endless Boogie, one in which every note, word and drum hit are there for a reason and nothing is wasted. Fans of their debut album and recent EP will find this track threading the needle between them - another great new track from one of New York’s best new bands.

The third release from Night Dreamer’s essential “Direct-to-Disc” sessions sees an incredible meeting between legendary US saxophonist Gary Bartz and leading UK spiritual jazz ensemble, Maisha, featuring two Bartz classics and three brand new joint songs written by both Bartz & Maisha in close collaboration. Having cut his teeth playing with the likes of Charles Mingus, Max Roach, Art Blakey and finally in 1970, Miles Davis at the peak of his electric period, Gary Bartz became a leading figure of the early-to-mid 70s spiritual jazz movement, releasing a string of ground-breaking albums on legendary NYC jazz label Prestige Records with his NTU Troop, featuring classics such as “Celestial Blues”, “Uhuru Dance” and “I’ve Known Rivers”, before collaborating on Blue Note Records with the Mizell Brothers on the anthemic jazz funk of “Music Is My Sanctuary”. An oeuvre much loved by soul jazzers and hip hop fans alike. Led by drummer Jake Long, Maisha have been central to the UK’s jazz explosion, and have fast become the UK’s most exciting and in-demand young spiritual jazz ensemble, from steller shows at Jazz re:freshed, Total Refreshment Centre & Church of Sound and supporting the Sun Ra Arkestra, to releasing their critically acclaimed debut LP, “There Is A Place” on Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood Recordings in 2018. Theirs is an organic & explosive sound that blends influences from afrobeat and broken beat to Persian music, with a deep love and understanding of jazz, particularly the heritage of spiritual jazz led by titans such as Pharoah Sanders, Alice Coltrane and of course, Gary Bartz. Which makes this collaboration even more special. Bartz was first invited to share a stage with Maisha by Gilles Peterson to headline the inaugural We Out Here festival. Their chemistry was rich and instantaneous, certainly a two-way street, with the young musicians reinvigorating the legend’s performance and wowing the intergenerational festival audience. A European tour followed, including a London Jazz Festival highlight at the Royal Festival Hall, celebrating the 50th anniversary of his album “Another Earth”, originally featuring fellow legends, Pharoah Sanders, Charles Tolliver, Stanley Cowell, and John Coltrane’s own bassist, Reggie Workman. Now the relationship has evolved into a special straight-to-disc recording for Night Dreamer Records, that captures the vitality of their collaboration. Whilst Bartz and Maisha reinvent classic Bartz compositions “Uhuru Sasa” and “Dr Follows Dance”, extending the pieces into long piece improvised grooves, their recording session gave birth to three brand new joint compositions, written the very same day. These include the propulsive “Leta’s Dance” that magically combines the Bartz’ soulful musical lyricism with Maisha’s African-jazz influences, and the organic jazz funk of “Harlem to Haarlem”, featuring a hot solo from guest trumpeter Axel Kaner-Lidstrom of Cykada & Levitation Orchestra fame. Like previous Night Dreamer efforts from afrobeat star Seun Kuti & Egypt 80, and the beautiful
collaboration between Brazilian stars Seu Jorge & Rogê, the album was recorded in Haarlem’s Artone Studio, a stones throw from Amsterdam, in just one-take, straight-to-disc, avoiding postproduction embellishments and retaining the purity of the performance lost in modern recording techniques. This record really is an event, in and of itself, a meeting of talents, minds, generations and zeitgeist moments, captured in a unique and pure manner. The music does not disappoint, as Maisha have been inspired to reach new heights whilst we find Bartz truly reinvigorated, and both artists in tune to the spirit of the other.

Vibration Black Finger - GUADI EP (Enid Records)

Lascelle Lascelles (aka Lascelle Gordon) is the man behind Vibration Black Finger. As one of the house DJs at London's hipper-than-hip Wag Club in the 1980s, he earned a reputation as an eclectic and adventurous musical spirit, before helping to found Acid Jazz pioneers The Brand New Heavies, staying with the band for five years. His next project Heliocentric World scored a chart hit for Gilles Peterson's Talkin' Loud imprint, he then turned up behind the drum kit for indie darlings (and NME cover stars) Campag Velocet in the late 1990s. He's since gone on to appear live or record with the likes of Mr Scruff, Beth Orton, Gossip, Trevor Jackson, Peaches and others. More recently he's been working with indie popsters Le Volume Courbe and touring with James Holden, as well as forming astrojazz improv collective Woven Entity with fellow percussionist Patrick Dawes and drummer Paul May, whose debut album won much critical acclaim. He currently co-hosts a weekly show on NTS Radio, Music to Ease Your Disease.

Vibration Black Finger has long been a labour of love for Lascelle. As well as sporadically gigging under that name, over the last few years he's been in and out of studios and rolling tape with an eclectic cast of trusted collaborators. GUADI is the second EP by the project and follows hot on the heels of the album Blackism, which emerged in January 2017 to enthusiastic reviews from the likes of The Quietus and The Wire.

The title of Horace Tapscott's debut release is apt, if not self-referential, for indeed a giant of West Coast jazz had awakened with this, the pianist/composer/bandleader's 1969 album for the Flying Dutchman label. Tapscott went on to form two groups crucial to the flowering of modern jazz in the Los Angeles area, the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra (or P.A.P.A.; the name is an homage to Tapscott's predecessor and peer, Sun Ra), which eventually became part of a larger umbrella organization, Union of God's Musicians and Artists Ascension (UGMAA). Out of UGMAA came a host of LA-bred musicians, singers, and poets, including Arthur Blythe (who goes by Black Arthur Blythe on this recording), Stanley Crouch (who wrote the original liner notes), David Murray, Butch Morris, Wilber Morris, Jimmy Woods, Nate Morgan, and Sinclair Greenwell, Jr. (a.k.a. Guido Sinclair). And anchoring it all was Tapscott himself; as Kamasi Washington, whose vision of a large, Los Angeles community-based ensemble echoes that of P.A.P.A. and UGMAA, said in 2015: "Horace is one of the most important figures in the foundation of music in L.A., from both a purely musically and socially conscious perspective." Now, Real Gone Music is proud to present the first-ever LP reissue of The Giant Is Awakened (original copies go for hundreds of dollars), taken from high-resolution audio sources and complete with original gatefold artwork. Neon green vinyl pressing limited to 1000 copies... a foundational document of West Coast modern jazz!

"Who Sent You?" by Irreversible Entanglements is an entire holistic jam of "infinite possibilities coming back around," a sprawling meditation for afro-cosmonauts, a reminder of the forms and traumas of the past, and the shape and vision of Afrotopian sounds to come. Stay on it! This is the future! This is the spectral dreaming, the reshaped soundwaves of post-Katrina, post-Osage Avenue, post-Obamacare that we borrow from to do this work, so stay on it. Who Sent You? they said from their liquid cryo-chamber, from a low-light induction field cobbled together with lithium rods, with melted down Romare Bearden and Howardena Pindell paintings, stitched with chaos fibers and placed in the center of the carrion husk of a burnt out shanty town. They took time to scrape ashen samples of what was, their souls the residue thick and caked on, that still climbs those new high-rise condominiums like moss - the only evidence that they were once there, that they were baked into the fabric of this planet - they were there fixing elevators and tossing wrenches into quantum fields until they were stopped! frisked! and turned into weird, 100-foot martyr murals on the backside, the north side, of supermarket walls-Who Sent You? is how the matrix modulation works. Dig it: Who Sent You? is the punk-rocking of jazz and the mystification of the avant-garde, a sci-fi sound from that out-soul-fire jazz quintet Irreversible Entanglements.

The legendary Monk's quartet appearance at the world-famous Concertgebouw in Amsterdam in May 1961. The high priest of Bop, one of the most important, if enigmatic figures in modern Jazz together with three of his main disciples, tenor sax specialist Charlie Rouse and the ultra dynamic rhythm section of John Ore - double bass and Frankie Dunlop - drums, in a wonderful performance based on super tight renditions of classic tunes such as Jackie -ing, Straight No Chaser, Crepuscule with Nellie and Rhythm-a-Ning. Surely, both the band and a packed house had a ball that night!!!

Repress

"ATA Records" is pleased to announce the release of Early Works: Funk, Soul & Afro Rarities From The Archive, a compilation of tracks that were recorded at the very outset of the label and haven't been available since the initial limited run (Released as Funk, Soul & Afro Rarities: An Introduction To ATA Records on Here and Now Recordings) sold out 5 years ago.

Since 2013 label founders and musicians Neil Innes & Pete Williams have been tirelessly fulfilling their shared dream of making the records they weren't hearing. Having spent years working in various bands both players felt the desire to break free of the constraints of working within another band and started on the slow path to creative autonomy by starting to work on the 12 tracks presented on this compilation.While deliberating their next steps they were approached by Here & Now records who licensed the 12 tracks and released them under the titleFunk, Soul & Afro Rarities: An Introduction To ATA Recordsin 2014 as a limited run of 300 copies that sold out within weeks of release.

Now in 2020, celebrating their 5th year of running successfully as a label in their own right, ATA are re-releasing these 12 tracks on a new vinyl pressing under the titleEarly Works: Funk, Soul & Afro Rarities From The Archivewith new artwork and liner notes that detail the labels birth.

The compilation features 12 tracks that include the very first 3 tracks from The Sorcerers that led to their self-titled debut LP & the first proper release on ATA, as well as the first recordings by The Mandatory Eight and The Yorkshire Film and Television Orchestra.

‘Kind of Tango’ is a kaleidoscope of shifting emotions. Wolfgang Haffner’s conception of tango has drama and propulsion in it but also melancholy and longing, with room for frenetic outbursts too. All this is unified by his inimitable groove and feel that commentators have called “an absolute dream,” “magical” and “profoundly relaxed.” Alongside trusted co-protagonists Christopher Dell and Lars Danielsson, he has two guests with him who defy all the clichés associated with tango: guitarist Ulf Wakenius cut his teeth musically in Oscar Peterson’s band and his Swedish heritage always shines through in his playing; Vincent Peirani is one of the leading innovators on the accordion and he finds new ways to define the instrument’s role in the tango. Also, young pianist Simon Oslender makes a first appearance with the band. Jazz and tango find a natural yet constantly shifting equilibrium - to be heard particularly effectively on ‘Close Your Eyes And Listen’ by Astor Piazzolla. In addition to compositions by Haffner himself and by his band members, pieces by the celebrated Argentinian bandoneon player and composer are the focal point of the album. Piazzolla’s innovations with the tango, such as bringing jazz into it, date from around 1955. Haffner and the tango
seem perfectly matched to each other. Tango is no longer a fixed style nowadays, it is above all an attitude to playing and an attitude to life. Wolfgang Haffner’s approach to tango is both authentic and new. It is his and his alone and it is irresistible.

Stigers finds the perfect mood for each tune on Gentleman, with a stellar band - pianist and organist Larry Goldings (James Taylor, Peyroux), bassist David Piltch (k.d. lang), drummer Austin Beede (Alastair Greene Band), trumpeter John “Scrapper” Sneider (Madeleine Peyroux), percussionist Doug Yowell (Duncan Sheik) and cellist Jody Ferber (Esperanza Spalding). Confirmed promo includes ITV1 - Breakfast at Garraway’s, via a live interview via video link plus 30 second acoustic performance, Sunday Express (My Favourite Photo feature), Record Collector (Talking Heads feature), Daily Express (Six Best Albums feature), Financial Times (Inventory feature), Entertainment Focus (Music Features section) plus Gentleman is Track Of The Week on Jazz FM.

Originally released in 1971!

BBC and Parliamentary Jazz Awards winner Tony Kofi 's ANOTHER KIND OF SOUL traces the explosive music of Cannonball Adderley from his first session as leader in 1955 through his work with Miles Davis to the soul-jazz of the 1960's. Recorded live at Luton's Bear Club in 2019, it also features Andy Davies on trumpet, pianist Alex Webb, bassist Andrew Cleyndert and Alfonso Vitale on drums. This is the distilled version of two very special nights, immortalised by Paul Riley's recordings. The album is available in limited edition 180 gm vinyl the medium of Adderley's erato best replicate the ambience of this remarkable live recording, and in digital format. The album is not called A Portrait of Cannonball as there is already one bearing that name by the great man himself. It is however, without a doubt,

Another Kind of Soul by Tony Kofi.

Kofi has performed with the World Saxophone Quartet, Clifford Jarvis, Courtney Pine, Donald Byrd, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Eddie Henderson, Jamaaladeen Tacuma and Ornette Coleman. The Guardian has described his improvisational skill as having "an arrestingly raw power".

Born in the 19th century, Duke Ellington moved through the 20th either initiating or accompanying every modern phase that traversed the world of jazz. He began appearing at the Cotton Club in 1927, and went on to become no doubt one of that century's major jazz figures, recognized by both his peers and an audience that was immense. From the New Orleans style to the big bands of the swing era, from Swing itself to Bebop, and from the "Cool" to the modern jazz of Coltrane and Mingus, he composed and played with peerless musicians and made the transformation of jazz immortal, all in the course of a career lasting fifty years. His own orchestra made each phase tangible, and he composed a huge number of pieces for them. To those talents he added another: that of revealing, bringing to full bloom and giving new visibility to many, many musicians: Bubber Miley, Johnny Hodges, Cootie Williams, Rex Stewart, Ray Nance, Joe Nanton, Cat Anderson, Billy Strayhorn… The list goes on. The four sides of this album — covering the period 1928-1962 — illustrate not only the path of the composer and the career of the conductor, pianist and bandleader; they also show the evolution of jazz throughout fifty years.

‘AJX500’ celebrates a milestone in Acid Jazz’s catalogue and at the same time harks back to the earlier label collections released in the ‘Totally Wired’ series. This is carried through in both the choice of material - a mix of eight new tracks and one obscure oldie - and the glorious packaging with a sleeve designed by longtime label collaborators The Unknown and printed on a US style Tip On sleeve. The music is what makes this package, nine tracks never before released on vinyl showcasing Acid Jazz 2019 and what the future holds in 2020. There is an exclusive new track by Matt Berry which previews the direction for his long awaited follow up to his Top 40 album ‘TV Themes’. There are exclusive to vinyl remixes of the Brand New Heavies by FOUK, Laville by the Disco Freaks and Corduroy by their drummer Ben Addison. The album opens with two blistering debut releases: the afro-funky psychedelic bootyshake of ‘Theme’ by Lightning Orchestra and newly christened Soul Revivers with their Ethiopiques-meets-Kingston groove on ‘Harder’ which features 87 year old reggae legend Ernest Ranglin’s shimmering guitar hooks. Argentinian mega-producer Kevin Fingier takes time out of the Aggrotones to launch his soul / jazz Project and label friends at Unique in Germany lend the cosmic garage of Suzan Kötcher. The oldies are courtesy of UK producer Graham Dee and the Orchestre Picoby Band D’Abomey’s ‘Dahomy’, the latter with a 1970s funky stew from Benin previously only available on a rare 7” from the Albarika Stores label from Benin. Dee’s Sampaguita is a take on a song that the UKbased producer wrote for a Moacir Santos Blue Note album and is being released for the first time.

Absurd in the Anthropocene - out 31st January 2020 via Gearbox Records - is in line with Dan Rosenboom’s abstract musicianship and virtuous experimentalism but, naturally, pushes the envelope. The record’s inspirations run the gamut from Miles Davis and Ornette Coleman to Frank Zappa, Soundgarden, and Squarepusher, and its title refers to the complicated and often surreal times in which we live. Rosenboom, a musician at the forefront of Los Angeles' ever-thriving creative music scene, boasts an international reputation for boundary-pushing projects and relentless productivity. A trumpet virtuoso equally at home in improvised and classical music, the prolific musician has been featured on stages and festivals all over the world, and has been described as “a phenomenon” by the Los Angeles Times.

Absurd in the Anthropocene is loaded with a an absurd crew of musicians, including producer and keyboard master Jeff Babko, legendary drummers Vinnie Colaiuta, Gary Novak, and Zach Danziger, renowned bassists Jimmy Johnson, Tim Lefebvre and Jerry Watts Jr., Rosenboom’s longtime collaborator Gavin Templeton and jazz icon David Binney on saxophones, guitarists Tim Conley, Alexander Noice, and Jake Vossler, electronics wizard Troy Ziegler, and horn-playing colleagues Brian Walsh, Ryan Dragon, Juliane Gralle, and Javier Gonzalez. 
 “One of the most original, exciting, adventurous artists in LA right now.” Gary Fukushima, LA Weekly

“Rosenboom is a phenomenon.”
Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times “Brilliant.” Chris Phillips, Jazz FM

“Transportative…” Jazziz

Santana’s thirteenth studio album Shangó is named after one of the dominant religions in Latin America and the Caribbean. This is a must own Carlos record reaching number twenty two in Billboard 200 album charts, and the single “Hold On” reached number fifteen in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Santana is on fire and along with Alex Ligertwood’s soulful vocals they created some fine and versatile songs. The songs are close related to the contemporary pop music, but it also ranges from Latino songs and jazz influential pieces.

Santana gained public attention by appearing at the Woodstock festival in 1969. The Latin influence has always been an important part in their music, although the band also created some blues rock and pop classics. Even after all those years frontman Carlos Santana is still actively performing.

• 180 GRAM AUDIOPHILE VINYL
• INSERT
• FEATURING THE SINGLES “HOLD ON”, “NOWHERE TO RUN” AND “NIGHT HUNTING TIME”

“This January 1968 recorded session pretty much illustrates the dilemma many Jazz men faced at the time: either let themselves be submerged by the waves of Free-Jazz, the avant-garde renewal of the genre or be tempted by the lure of audience recognition and the dollars of the record buying public; if they picked the latter alternative up they’d again be confronted with two options: to cover immediately recognizable Pop hits or to invent something new but equally appealing; Hank Mobley opted ,albeit and thankfully only partially, for
the former and the bait was thus placed at the beginning of each side of the album’s original LP format. This fanciful intro has of course ignored a third possibility which was to simultaneously experiment more than one option while working on a project, and that’s exactly what Mobley and his sextet of hardened musicians did on this date and why this album - rendered in two distinct velocities or levels of
commitment -, is still a very worthy listening experience and deserves a place in any self respecting collection.”

Sidsel Endresen and Bugge Wesseltoft, two artists who cut their own
distinct paths through the Norwegian music scene, had collaborated for many years and had already released two albums as a duo before they began writing and recording the album that, for many listeners, remains the magnum opus of their partnership.
‘Out Here. In There.’ coalesced during a period when both artists had refined their individual musical signatures, but were preparing to launch into new explorations. The album brought them much critical acclaim, a Spellemannprisen (Norwegian Grammy), and garnered a legendary status that has not diminished since. Despite its peripatetic musical nature, it has a fully realised coherence, each track feeling fully connected to every other, more siblings than cousins.
It features “Try”, a song that has taken on a life of its own, appearing on compilations, films and television shows, commercials, and has been given countless remix treatments and cover versions. 2019 sees this album become available on vinyl for the first time since its release.

George Benson's "Give Me The Night" gets a NU Jazzy-Brazilian re-touch under the production umbrella of the Los Charly's boyz: Juan Laya & Jorge Montiel, featuring Jazz Funkster: Xantone Blacq for this uplifting update. As B-Side there are J & J features their debut collaboration with the amazing: Heidi Vogel for a deeper excursion into Latin-Jazz fusions with the track: "Fly Me With You".

CREDITS:
Heidi Vogel - Vocals. Xantone Blacq - Vocals & Keys. Matheus
Nova - Bass. Raphael Delphino - Drums (Fly me with you) & Guitar. Juan Laya - Drums. Eikel Venegas - Trumpet & Trombone. Alejandro Martinez – Congas. Produced by Juan Laya & Jorge Montiel

Electronic / acoustic wonder band KUF deliver a special surprise for their third album: eleven sizzling hot takes on tracks drawn from the Macro label's stellar catalog, as originally crafted by some of today's most respected artists in electronic music. KiNK, Patrick Cowley, Peter Kruder (of K&D), Stefan Goldmann, rRoxymore and more get the treatment. With a nod to the label's previous highly original compilations and mixes from the Macrospective and Vinylism series, Re:Re:Re captures more new ground.

KUF's previous albums presented an astonishing inversion of the typical extended electronic set up, in that they paired a plethora of disembodied, sampled voices with acoustic real time interaction on bass, drums and keys. Re:Re:Re shifts the focus of sampling altogether to scanning entire tracks and compositions which are then reimagined with the band's singular approach. Neither just remixes, nor faithful reproductions, KUF engage in careful sound archaeology. From re-programming key sounds to holistic granular deconstructions, the originals's sound palettes are reproduced to serve as a springboard towards entirely new instalments. The resulting tracks range from intimate ballads to full power dance floor movers, spanning a highly engaging arc of sheer listening pleasure.

The sound world of ‘Kristallen’ relishes the moment when the surfaces and edges of crystals shimmer and cast off unexpected colours. There is a certain stillness that offers space for the imagination to unfold. Magic with fragility.
Nils Landgren and Jan Lundgren have a consistent vision of lyrical chamber jazz which flows gently and naturally. Rather than clamouring for our attention, this is music which reveals its true
beauty the more attentively one listens.

Rare Brazilian spiritual jazz. Reissue for the first time worldwide from the original master tapes. Legendary sessions produced by Amado Maita. Deluxe Numbered Limited Edition with OBI and thick cover. Recorded Live at S. Paulo in 1982 it was originally issued on Amado Maita’s small indie label in the 80's called Poitou.

Featuring one of the best Brazilian Sax Players, the legendary Nestico and his sister composer, piano player Lilu. Nestico joined several Jazz ensembles in São Paulo, having participated in 1977 in the first Jazz festival held at the Municipal Theater, alongside the musicians Samuel (piano), Nilson (bass) and Caram (drums).

He performed several times in São Paulo with Syncro Jazz group. In 1982 released with the ensemble the LP “Syncro Jazz - Live”, along with the musicians Lilu Aguiar (piano), Peter Wooley (bass), Vidal (sax and flute), Dagmar (trumpet) and Ronny Machado ( drums).

In the repertoire, the songs “Pro César”, dedicated to pianist César Camargo Mariano, “Winter know” and “Black Cock”, all by Lilu Aguiar, “For Guzi” (Peter Wooley), “Cruzan” (M. Santamaria) and Revelation (S. Fortune). The LP contains amazing Fender Rhodes solos in a Heavy Modal Spiritual and Bossa Jazz a la Strata-East & Black Jazz Records.

Gowanus Session II was seven years in the planning. Thollem, Nels Cline, and William Parker convened at Peter Karl Studios in Brooklyn on January 3rd, 2012 and recorded two complete albums.

The first was Gowanus Session I, released by Porter Records in April of that year. GS II was put aside to eventually complete the five-album palindromic cycle of trio albums Nels and Thollem ambitiously set out to realize. The albums in between include Radical Empathy with Michael Wimberly (Relative Pitch), Molecular Affinity with Pauline Oliveros (Roaratorio), and Reality and Other Imaginary Places, with Michael Wimberly (ESP-Disk').

William Parker debuted on ESP-Disk' in the mid-'70s on Frank Lowe's classic album Black Beings (ESP3013), with additional material from that session released as The Loweski (ESP4066). He returned to the label this century with Mat Walerian's group Toxic (ESP5011) and in a quartet with Ivo Perelman, Matthew Shipp, and Bobby Kapp (ESP5036), while being highly prolific as a leader, notably with a series of brilliant albums on AUM Fidelity.

Nels Cline has spent decades changing people's ideas about the role of the electric guitar in multiple contexts, ranging from Wilco to Anthony Braxton (think about that!) as well as many projects as a leader, earning a spot on Rolling Stone's Top 100 Guitarists list.

Thollem is a perpetually traveling pianist, keyboardist, composer, improviser, singer-songwriter, activist, author and teacher. He's spent most of his adult life living on the road throughout North America and Europe. His work is ever-changing, evolving and responding to the times and his experiences, both as a soloist and in collaboration with hundreds of artists across idioms and disciplines.

Thollem is known internationally as an acoustic piano player in the free jazz and post-classical worlds, as the lead vocalist for the Italian agit-punk band Tsigoti (ESP4057), and as an electronic keyboardist through a multitude of projects.

Thundercat drops his new album ‘It Is What It Is’ on Brainfeeder
Records. The record, produced by Flying Lotus and Thundercat, features musical contributions from Ty Dolla $ign, Childish Gambino, Lil B, Kamasi Washington, Steve Lacy, Steve Arrington,
BADBADNOTGOOD, Louis Cole and Zack Fox.

A unique voice transcending style and genre: “This album is about
love, loss, life and the ups and downs that come with that,” says
Thundercat. Thundercat has previously worked with the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Pharrell, N.E.R.D., Erykah Badu, Childish Gambino, Mac Miller, Anderson .Paak, Little Simz, BADBADNOTGOOD, Moses Sumney, Kamasi Washington and many more.

For fans of Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino, Flying Lotus, Kamasi Washington, BADBADNOTGOOD. Album photography by Eddie Alcazar. CD in softpack. Deluxe 140g picture disc LP housed in a 6mm spined gatefold sleeve with gold foil detail and OBI strip. Includes digital download code.

Deluxe 140g pink clear vinyl LP housed in a 6mm spined gatefold
sleeve with gold foil detail and OBI strip. Includes digital download
code. Red 140g vinyl LP housed in a 3mm spined sleeve with OBI strip. Includes digital download code. Thundercat will play his biggest UK shows to date in April.

Village Of The Sun is the new collaboration between London jazz trailblazers Binker & Moses and Simon Ratcliffe, one-half of legendary UK Electronic pioneers Basement Jaxx Evocative of Ratcliffe’s inspirations such as Alice Coltrane alongside Masters at Work, the track ‘Village Of The Sun’ itself is awash with atmospheric vibes, a future Balearic classic ‘TED’ is enormously catchy, uplifting and feel-good. And classy as you like. Written around an extraordinary chord porgression by Ted Moses from the tune ‘Dreamship’, it compels you to dance with a smile on your face Initial pressing comes in a special edition die-cut sleeve

The sublime Time Capsule remains Weldon Irvine's most fully realized and influential recording. A supremely talented multi-instrumentalist and composer, Irvine had a musical vision that was unerringly soulful, spiritual, and funky. Assembled as a kind of musical scrapbook documenting the thought patterns and belief systems of the early '70s, it nevertheless boasts a surprising vitality and timelessness thanks to luminous funk grooves that anticipate the latter-day emergence of acid jazz. Irvine also rhymes over several tracks, further cementing his influence on successive generations of hip-hop. A profoundly righteous spirituality winds through all eight of Time Capsule's performances, assaying both the affection ("Soul Sisters") and anger ("Watergate") vying for control of post-Woodstock America. Irvine's searing keyboard and piano playing further capture the moment in question, deftly balancing between beatitude and bitterness. For fans of funk, soul and jazz, it doesn’t get much better than this 1973 classic.

a A1. Time Capsule - Electric Piano, Narrator Recitation – Weldon Irvine