Pop & Rock News

Ghent bassed saxophonist Mattias De Craene (MDC) has caused a stir in the past few years as frontman of jazz rock sensation Nordmann. After their second place at Humo's Rock Rally in 2014, Nordmann became one of the most exciting bands in the new golden class of Belgian 'jazz' groups. 2018 sees Mattias fronting his own project MDCIII. Flanked by two special drummers - Simon Segers (De Beren Gieren / Black Flower / Absynthe Minded) and Lennert Jacobs (The Germans / Hong Kong Dong), he takes you on a slightly intoxicating musical trip balancing between psychedelic rock, tribal rhythms and energetic free jazz.
The band will release their debut album in October 2018. In the meantime they drop a self-titled EP as a teaser for Record Store Day. With two tracks of both over 8 minutes, the listener can acquaint the unique musical melting pot of MDCIII. For one of the tracks singer Sylvie Kreusch (Warhaus) was recruited and she makes an almost hypnotic contribution.

Meet the Supremes is, not surprisingly, the debut album of one of the greatest groups in soul music history, led by the inimitable Diana Ross, was originally released in 1962. Featuring the group's earliest singles "I Want a Guy", "Buttered Popcorn", "Your Heart Belongs to Me" and "Let Me Go the Right Way", none of which were chart smashes but have since become regarded as classics. Full of that early Motown sound the world knows and loves this is a perfect entry point into the illustrious career of Diana Ross & The Supremes.

Limited Green edition Here !!

The first single taken from Mario Biondi's top seller debut album "Handful of Soul", featuring a quite interesting modern Samba in perfect Schema style with "Rio De Janeiro Blue" on Side A. It reveals Mario's true soul of a crooner.

On the B-side we have "This Is What You Are", co-written with Alessandro Magnanini - a song that went on air on heavy rotation almost everywhere, and also became the music to many TV commercials and movies/TV series.

Explorations Of African Mysticism On Vinyl LP!

Includes The Astonishing "Sun In Aquarius"!

Pharoah Sanders possesses one of the most distinctive tenor saxophone sounds in jazz. Harmonically rich and heavy with overtones, Sanders' sound can be as raw and abrasive as it is possible for a saxophonist to produce. Yet, Sanders is highly regarded to the point of reverence by a great many jazz fans. He made his name with expressionistic, nearly anarchic free jazz in John Coltrane's late ensembles of the mid-'60s. The hallmarks of Sanders' playing at that time were naked aggression and unrestrained passion. In the years after Coltrane's death, however, Sanders explored other, somewhat gentler and perhaps more cerebral avenues — without, it should be added, sacrificing any of the intensity that defined his work as an apprentice to Coltrane.

Coltrane's ensembles with Sanders were some of the most controversial in the history of jazz. Their music represents a near total desertion of traditional jazz concepts, like swing and functional harmony, in favor of a teeming, irregularly structured, organic mixture of sound for sound's sake. Strength was a necessity in that band, and as Coltrane realized, Sanders had it in abundance.

Sanders made his first record as a leader in 1964. Jewels of Thought was recorded at Plaza Sound Studios in New York City on October 20, 1969, and was released on Impulse! Records in the same year.

"In 1969, Pharoah Sanders was incredibly active, recording no less than four albums and releasing three. The band on Jewels of Thought is largely the same as on Deaf Dumb Blind and Karma, with a few changes. Idris Muhammad has, with the exception of 'Hum-Allah-Hum-Allah Hum Allah,' replaced Roy Haynes, and Richard Davis has permanently replaced Reggie Workman and Ron Carter, though Cecil McBee is still present for the extra bottom sound. Leon Thomas and his trademark holy warble are in the house, as is Lonnie Liston Smith. Comprised of two long cuts, the aforementioned and 'Sun in Aquarius,' Jewels of Thought sees Sanders moving out from his signature tenor for the first time and delving deeply into reed flutes and bass clarinet. The plethora of percussion instruments utilized by everyone is, as expected, part of the mix. 'Hum-Allah' begins with a two-chord piano vamp by Smith and Thomas singing and yodeling his way into the band's improvisational space. For 12 minutes, Sanders and company mix it up -- especially the drummers -- whipping it first quietly down into the most pure melodic essences of Smith's solo and then taking the tension and building to ecstatic heights with all manner of blowing and intervallic interaction between the various elements until it just explodes, before coming down in pieces and settling into a hush of melodic frames and the same two-chord vamp. On 'Sun in Aquarius,' African thumb pianos, reed flutes, sundry percussion, and orchestra chimes are employed to dislocate all notions of Western music. Things get very quiet (though there is constant motion), the innards of the piano are brushed and hammered quietly before Sanders comes roaring out of the tense silence with his bass clarinet, and then the tenor and bass share an intertwined solo and Smith starts kicking ass with impossibly large chords. It moves into another two-chord vamp at the end of 27 minutes, to be taken out as a closed prayer. It's more like a finished exorcism, actually, but it is one of the most astonishing pieces by Sanders ever." -

"Jewels of Thought deeply explores the nimbus of African mysticism. With eyes closed and heart wide open, empyreal atmospheres are courted with almost religious fervour, the shrieks of brass ascending (sometimes falling down) the majestic stairways of celestial dimensions. On its opening track 'Hum-Allah-Hum-Allah-Hum-Allah', a Sufi meditation, is given a gentle sway via a strangely proto-hip-hop rhythm, predating the genre by nearly ten years. A sparkling, lush melody supplied by the simple strokes of a piano gives Sanders the freefall width to send his sax notes sailing high into the stratospheres. Then there is the hollowed African percussion and Leon Thomas' rippling yodels. It may have displeased jazz purists who didn't care for a multi-national confederation of sound, but clearly Sanders was having fun. The album's second track, the astrologically-themed 'Sun in Aquarius' (a motif continued from Tauhid's 'Capricorn Rising'), unfurls with the notes of a thumb piano, which scatter like jewels. Making a stormy mess with the noise of saxophones, bass clarinets and the combined squalls of the piano and drums, 'Sun in Aquarius' exorcises not demons but the seraphs deeply rooted in the songs of earth. Sanders, in restless temperament here, does away with the mathematics of logic and process, his work is down to an emotion invested purely in risk." - Imran Khan, Pop Matters

A Spiritual Journey On Vinyl LP!

Featuring Gary Bartz, Woody Shaw, Lonnie Liston Smith & More!

Pharoah Sanders possesses one of the most distinctive tenor saxophone sounds in jazz. Harmonically rich and heavy with overtones, Sanders' sound can be as raw and abrasive as it is possible for a saxophonist to produce. Yet, Sanders is highly regarded to the point of reverence by a great many jazz fans. He made his name with expressionistic, nearly anarchic free jazz in John Coltrane's late ensembles of the mid-'60s. The hallmarks of Sanders' playing at that time were naked aggression and unrestrained passion. In the years after Coltrane's death, however, Sanders explored other, somewhat gentler and perhaps more cerebral avenues — without, it should be added, sacrificing any of the intensity that defined his work as an apprentice to Coltrane.

Coltrane's ensembles with Sanders were some of the most controversial in the history of jazz. Their music represents a near total desertion of traditional jazz concepts, like swing and functional harmony, in favor of a teeming, irregularly structured, organic mixture of sound for sound's sake. Strength was a necessity in that band, and as Coltrane realized, Sanders had it in abundance.

Sanders made his first record as a leader in 1964. Deaf, Dumb, Blind (Summun, Bukmun, Umyun) was recorded at A & R Studios in New York City on July 1, 1970, and released on Impulse Records in the same year. The album's title is bilingual: "Summun Bukmun Umyun" is Arabic for "Deaf Dumb Blind". The phrase s taken from the Sura Bakara of the Qur'an. According to the liner notes, the album is "predicated on spiritual truths and to the future enlightenment of El Kafirun or The Rejectors of Faith (non-believers)". The performances on the album are strongly influenced by the music of Africa.

"After Karma was issued and Sanders had established himself -- to himself -- as a musician who had something valuable and of use to say, he was on what this critic considers to be a divinely inspired tear. Deaf Dumb Blind is an example of that inspiration. Beginning with the title cut, a suite of over 21 minutes, Sanders brings in the whole of his obsession with rhythm and R&B. Using African percussion, bylophones, shakers, cowbells, and all manner of percussion, as well as drummer Clifford Jarvis, Sanders brought in Cecil McBee to hold down the bass chair and Lonnie Liston Smith back in on piano, and added a three-piece horn section that included Gary Bartz on alto and Woody Shaw on trumpet in addition to himself. Whew! Here the Latin and African polyrhythms collide and place the horns, as large and varied as they are, in almost a supplementary role. The horns check counterpoint in striated harmony, calling and responding over the wash of bass and drums and drums and drums! It evolves into a percussion orgy before the scary otherworldly multiphonic solos begin. And Shaw and Bartz are worthy foils for Sanders. And no matter how out it gets, those rhythms keep it rooted in the soul. 'Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord' is almost 18 minutes in length. It has a long soprano intro, covered in shimmering bells and shakers with a glorious piano fill by Smith, who becomes more prominent, along with some excellent arco work by McBee, until the piece becomes a meditation on lyricism and silence about halfway through. The entire band eventually rejoins for a group ostinato with very little variation, except in timbre and subtle accented color work by Sanders and McBee. It is a stunningly beautiful and contemplative work that showcases how intrinsic melodic phrasing and drones were to Sanders at the time -- and still are today. This piece, and this album, is a joyful noise made in the direction of the divine, and we can feel it through the speakers, down in the place that scares us." - Thom Jurek,

2017 saw Colin Curtis celebrate his 50th anniversary as a DJ, a career that started out in his mid-teens at Newcastle-Under-Lyme's Crystal Ballroom, before making his all-nighter debut at Stoke's hallowed Golden Torch, one of Northern Soul's foundation venues, eventually becoming one of the scene's leading figures as a result of his legendary '70's partnership with Ian Levine at the Blackpool Mecca. This is Colin's own story: By 1979 the development of Jazz rooms at major Soul / Funk Alldayers was providing a much-needed outlet for the more discerning collectors and the fanatical Jazz dancers. The UK Jazz Funk scene began for me in earnest in 1978 when I moved from the Blackpool Mecca to Manchester's Rafters nightclub on Oxford Street. The clash of new imported Soul, Funk and Jazz music coming out in the USA and being shared with a fresh new audience in clubs like Rafters Manchester, Chaplains Birmingham, Locarno Birmingham, Rufus Manchester,
Cassinellis Standish Leeds Central and Nottingham Palais was creating a potpourri of music fashion and dance styles.

I had started to experiment with the jazzier side of dance tracks at Blackpool Mecca in around 1976 with artists like Patrice Rushen, Bill Summers, Azar Lawrence, Charles Earland, Johnny Hammond, Donald Byrd etc, all artists I had discovered using the inner sleeves of Blue Note, Fantasy, Prestige and Mercury labels. As a collector of all styles of black music including Soul, Funk and Jazz my interest was being drawn more to albums and particularly Jazz albums as my brain, as proven with 60's and 70's soul, had an unquenchable appetite for knowledge and unearthing new music. I was thriving on searching out more of this amalgamation of Jazz styles adding fusion, percussion, vocals and tempo to this burgeoning genre.

As the Jazz room identity increased within this environment for me Birmingham, Nottingham, Leeds, Manchester all became prominent in their enthusiasm for Jazz Dance. The fashion, passion and dance began to take on almost a religious aura combined with the unique camaraderie and respect. Out of this grew a passion amongst certain dj's in the midlands and the north of England to start digging a lot deeper for music in the Jazz Fusion / Dance category. Baz Fe Jazz, Chris Reed, Shaun Williams, Simon Mansell, Jonathan Woodliffe, Paul Murphy, Eric & Floyd, Hewan Clarke and many others were willing to push the barriers. This Jazz Dance explosion spread across the country with Dj's like Dr Bob Jones, Colin Parnell & Boo Sylvester adding to the London connection via clubs like The Electric Ballroom and The Horseshoe. This scene thrived for me featuring club nights devoted to Jazz Dance and an increase of Jazz rooms and Jazz breaks on the AllDayer circuits drawing in both interest in the music and the voyeurism of watching the dancers and their individual interpretations.

So this compilation acts as an introduction to this electric, cool and uplifting music that was affecting so many enthusiastic dancers and Dj / collectors. All the tracks on here are taken from one of the most prolific and emerging labels for this genre Muse Records that offered the complete spectrum of styles to fit in with this emerging scene crossing over with Jazz Fusion, Be Bop, vocals, electric keyboards, and percussion.

Strut presents the new album from the modern day leader of Afrobeat, Seun Kuti. The youngest son of Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti is as incensed by injustice as his father ever was and, with his mighty new album Black Times including a feature from Carlos Santana, he honours the revolutionaries who have gone before and rallies the torch-bearers to come.Black Times is the fourth album by Seun & Egypt 80, the extraordinary dance orchestra created by Fela as a conduit for the common people. Inherited by the 14-year-old Seun in 1997, the younger Kuti has been building to this, his most accomplished and honest album yet. Black Times is a true reflection of my political and social beliefs,' says Seun, 34. It is an album for anybody who believes in change and understands the duty we have to rise up and come together. The elites always try to divide the poor people of the world. The same oppression felt by workers in Flint, Michigan is felt by workers in Lagos and Johannesburg.Here, then, are tracks designed to spark conversation and realign priorities. The elegant 'African Dreams' insists that commercial success counts for little. Pay no heed to examples set by accepted' African-American celebrities, says Kuti, and marvel instead at the philosophies of great thinkers like the late Pan-Africanist Doctor Amos Wilson. The message,' Kuti sings, is free.' 'Black Times', featuring Carlos Santana, gives us truth. Lyrics such as Understand your history / rise to be free' shine a forensics-style black light on that which is otherwise hidden. 'Bad Man Lighter' is a horn-heavy track calling out duplicity and defending the right to smoke the good weed, the politically charged 'Corporate Public Control Department (C.P.C.D)' is a roiling protest anthem directed at Muhammadu Bahari's Nigerian government and indeed, at deceitful politicians the world over. Co-written with veteran Egypt 80 saxophonist Abedimeji 'Showboy' Fagbemi, the frenetic, fingerpointing 'Kuku Kee Me' borrows from a Nigerian saying ( When someone is always on your case, you're like 'Save yourself the stress and kuku kill me now'') while 'Theory Of Goat And Yam' ridicules a homily invented by former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan, who justified corruption by likening politicians to goats tempted by yams: By taking money meant for a hospital or to build roads, they are actually costing human lives.' 'Last Revolutionary' is a paean to authentic leaders past, present and future, name-checking homegrown African revolutionaries and freedom fighters like Kwame Nkrumah and Thomas Sankara. I say the names of these men who died for us without any promise of resurrection,' says Seun Kuti. Maybe people will Google them, then set out on a journey whose destination is unknown.Black Times' is released on Strut on 2nd March 2018 with the title track released as a single on 7th December 2017, accompanied by a video directed by Jamie Delaney of Black Dog Films.

When Acid Jazz founder Eddie Piller asked Martin Freeman ('The Hobbit', 'Sherlock', 'The Office') to do a jazz radio show they could hardly imagine the response. From around the world emails and tweets inundated the show and they swore to themselves that they couldn't leave it there.

Now, two years on, this compilation of their favourite jazz has
arrived. From the rolling hard bop of Lee Morgan and Art Blakey, via screaming soul organ, jazz funk original acid jazz onwards to the post modern spiritual jazz of Kasami Washington, this is an incredible journey.

Released on double CD, digital download and double vinyl with
deluxe gatefold packaging, this is the album that will launch Acid
Jazz's 30th Anniversary celebrations.

Michael Wollny is an award winning and gold disc selling German jazz pianist.

He is the recipient of many ECHO Jazz Awards (Germany).
Recorded live in concert.

Emile Parisien is one of France's biggest up and coming jazz stars. Le Monde called him the best new thing that has happened in European jazz for a long time.'

'Wartburg' is a companion album to the studio album 'Oslo' released on the same day.

CD in 4 page digipack including 16 page booklet
with lyrics.

180g vinyl including digital download code.

They are one of the world's great jazz-driven piano trios.' - The Guardian

The most exciting contemporary German jazz pianist.' - Die Welt

Michael Wollny is an award winning and gold disc selling German jazz pianist.

He is the recipient of many ECHO Jazz Awards (Germany).

'Oslo' is a companion album to the live album 'Wartburg' released on the same day.

CD in 4 page digipack including 16 page booklet with lyrics.

180g vinyl including digital download code.

They are one of the world's great jazz-driven piano trios.' - The Guardian

The most exciting contemporary German jazz pianist.' - Die Welt

Equal parts songwriter, poet, singer and lyricist, Sampa The Great makes her debut on Big Dada with her finest mixtape to date, 'Birds And The BEE9', featuring production from Blue Daisy, Sensible J and Silentjay.
The internationally acclaimed Melbourne resident has supported Kendrick Lamar, Thundercat, Joey Bada$$ and Hiatus Kaiyote and just finished her own headline EU tour.
180g heavyweight black vinyl release.
For fans of Kendrick Lamar, Joey Bada$$, Little Simz, Mick Jenkins.
Live highlights include supporting the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Thundercat, Hiatus Kaiyote, Ibeyi and Little Simz. Sampa has also played venues such as KOKO, Sydney Opera House and Somerset House as well as festival slots at Laneway Festival, The Great Escape, Golden Plains, Sugar Mountain, Womad and Vivid Live.
Forthcoming shows include an EU tour stopping in London, Paris, Cologne, Hamburg, Berlin, Birmingham and Manchester, as well as supporting Joey Bada$$ on his UK tour.

Acclaimed Malian musician Sidi Touré returns with his fourth album, 'Toubalbero'. Named after the large traditional drum used to gather people in the Malian region of Gao, 'Toubalbero' is a danceable, dynamic and, despite the region's significant political challenges, joyous album.
'Toubalbero' is the first album by the acclaimed Songhaï legend to be recorded with electric guitar and bass - the groove is irresistible.
'Toubalbero' was recorded in Mali's legendary Studio Bogolan where Ali Farka Touré, Toumani Diabate and Björk have recorded. The album was then mixed live by Jason Meagher at Black Dirt Studio (Steve Gunn, Black Twig Pickers, Jack Rose).
Since his debut album Touré has toured extensively in both Europe and North America at prestigious venues and leading world music festivals, including New York's Lincoln Center, London's Barbican, Chicago's Millennium Park, the Vancouver Folk Festival and New York's SummerStage festival. Touré will tour the US this Spring with appearances at the Brooklyn Bowl's Festival of Mali, New Orleans Jazz Festival, and The Kennedy Center to name a few.
CD in 4 panel mini-LP style gatefold package with metallic
gold ink. 2LP version pressed on virgin vinyl and packaged in a gatefold jacket with metallic gold ink and free digital download card.
Touré weaves beautifully textured songs, each takes a snapshot of an individual Songhaï musical style, from takamba dances to the holley played in possession rituals to the gao-gao played at joyful times like weddings.' - NPR Music First Listen

Slowly Rolling Camera is a project led by Dave Stapleton, pianist and founder of Edition Records, alongside Deri Roberts on electronics and sound design, Dionne Bennett on vocals and Elliot Galvin on drums.

The result is music that has distinct echoes of the 'invisible soundtracks' of UK progressives Cinematic Orchestra and Portishead as well as the polychrome textures of maverick Scandinavian artists like Sigur Rós.

This particular 7' showcases Stapleton's imaginative compositional and arranging skills, as he extends the original ensemble with a string section and horn parts, to great effect.

The release includes an incredible selection of British jazz talents, such as Mark Lockheart on saxophones and Jasper Hoiby on double bass.

More unearthed tape from a jazz icon! This second volume of Jazz Mill recordings shows Barney firmly at the top of his game. Once again, Kessel and the Jazz Millers (pianist Pete Jolly, drummer Art Kile, and bassist Gene Stoffell) interpret a variety of standards from The Great American Songbook and each arrangement serves to demonstrate the group's superb chops and collective creativity. In Mean to Me,' a vintage standard from 1929, a high velocity rendition of Harold Arlen's Let's Fall in Love,' the riff tune Godchild,' and others, Kessel and the Jazz Millers demonstrate superb chops and collective creativity. Thanks to Jack Miller, a young Phoenix audiophile, armed with his Knight-brand recorder, today we can relive and enjoy the artistry of one of jazz's most extraordinary musicians. This is Barney in his salad days when he was topping all the major jazz polls and emerging as one of the most important guitarists of that or any subsequent era. Available on blue vinyl or CD, both featuring liner notes from noted jazz author Jim Carlton!

Jazz guitar autodidact and 1956 Downbeat Critics Poll winner Dick Garcia struts his stuff while the likes of Bill Evans, Gene Quill, and John Drew try to keep up! The combination of Bird, Christian and his own personality meld here in Dick's own swinging style, delivering repertoire so diverse it required three different backing bands! Message From Garcia presents Dick in various contexts so as to give the listener an idea of his scope - the material is diversified in order to give Garcia and the other instrumentalists a chance to speak of varied moods. The first group is a quartet typified by a quietly pulsating, yet exploratory quality on Have You Met Miss Jones,' I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire,' and Potatoes.' The second unit finds its identification in the ensemble sound of the guitar and piano on Ev'ry Night About This Time,' Like Someone In Love,' and Kimona My House.' The last group tends toward a more basic jazz quartet persuasion on The Deacon,' Stompin' At The Savoy,' If I'm Lucky' and It Could Happen To You.' Modern Harmonic proudly presents this mid-mod guitar jazz gem pressed on translucent icy light blue vinyl!

This new label from Toronto is a thrilling prospect. Its first release — a five-track EP — is a warmly personal, yet cosmically-minded blend of jazz, funk, disco and Fett-style ambience, candidly pitched at the dancefloor. Lovely stuff.

First ever reissue of this impossible to find artefact from the Swiss underground avant-garde scene of Geneva, originally released as a private boxset limited to 150 copies in 1973, only sold at art galleries.

A unique, instrumental mix of free-jazz, classical, psych-rock, folk, improv, kraut, funk and musique concrete with tape effects...

In the late 60s, musician / guitar player Christian Oestreicher, a savage in the era of twist and free jazz', met artist and painter Richard Reimann - famous for his optical art -, at the Aurora art gallery in Geneva. Fuelled by the artistic creativity from this underground scene, where jazz and rock musicians rubbed shoulders with artists, poets and painters, Christian ideated the Mouvements project, enrolling his friend Richard to create the artwork.

Christian was a trained guitar player with diverse influences: Ornette Coleman, Chuck Berry, Zappa, Soft Machine...He envisioned Mouvements as a concept album and he asked some of his musician friends from the jazz / rock scene to join in for the recordings: among them, Jean-François Boillat (of Boillat-Thérace), Blaise Català, Jerry Chardonnens...

The album sessions took place at an occupied mansion during 1972, using three Revox machines. The musicians played standing in a circle and there was lot of room for improvisation. Tape effects and a small portable synth were also used.

The result was released in 1973 as a hand-numbered, deluxe boxset limited to 150 copies, including a series of Richard Reimann's lithographies and inserts. For this, the first ever reissue, we've created a new, more affordable edition with new artwork, including an insert with liner notes and previously unreleased photos.

LP edition comes housed in a silver-mirrored sleeve.

LP version come with a digital download coupon including all the tracks from the LP/CD plus another four bonus tracks taken from the album sessions.

Highly recommended if you're into avant-garde psychedelia, free-jazz, free-rock, psych-funk, kraut...

Think Staff Carpenborg, Zappa, Soft Machine, Bo Hansson, The Feed-Back, Mahogany Brain, Semool, Pierre Schaeffer, the BYG and Futura labels...

*Master tape sound
*Insert with liner notes and rare photos
*Digital Download Coupon including nine previously unreleased bonus tracks

Digital-Only Bonus Tracks: Largo Pour Trompettes - Mouvement Pour Guitare B1 - Mouvement Pour Guitare B2 - Hard-Rock Ouverture (Take 2)

A smart set of fine beat-era jazz, beautifully programed and compiled for the hi-fi in your home! Includes some of the top players of the era- Zoot Sims, Paul Quinichette, Gene Roland, and others- in selections suited for a swingin' starlit session! 'Start Here,' says it all as this both the perfect way to start this LP and the perfect way to start your jazz collection! From the distinctive style and touch of Randy Weston on the keys, to the tenor tones Paul Quinichette blows, these are the tracks to let your hi-fi strut its stuff! A virtual greatest hits of '50's jazz from the Dawn Records catalog, including cuts from The Modern Art Of Jazz by Mat Mathews, to cool jazz LPs from Zoot Sims, Paul Quinichette, Gene Rowland, Dick Garcia and more! ...and when we say cool jazz' we mean cool' jazz! Modern Harmonic proudly presents Jazz for Hi-Fi Lovers, pressed on clear vinyl!

Obscure Dutch private pressing from 1977. Laid-back instrumental psychedelic / progressive sounds with jazz-funk-groove and abstract / experimental / Latin-indigenous touches. Stoned homemade atmosphere with treated / distorted electric & acoustic guitars, flute, electric piano, primitive drum machines / homemade electronics...Much in the vein of the experimental-underground scene of France & Germany during the early 70s but actually recorded and released in Holland.

Wild Havana was the project of guitar player Johan Smith, helped by his brother Cor on flute. Influenced by artists like Zappa and Herbie Hancock, Johan recorded the Wild Havana' album at his home studio on a 4-track, using effect devices developed by himself, like a modified proto-drum machine taken from a Hammond organ. He also used effects like phase shifter, chorus, etc and experimented with putting wool on the guitar strings and electric effects on the mandolin. The result sounded like nothing else at the time.

Buried for many years, we're excited to bring to life this unique album.

RIYL: HERBIE HANCOCK, RICHARD PINHAS, CHRISTIAN BOULE, OREXIS...

*Insert with liner notes by band member Johan Smit.

...a beautiful, strange psych-prog LP with abstract compositions ,experimental edges and some funk hints' - Mutant Sounds

Mopo, a trio of sax, bass and drums from Finland, has been on the radar of international tastemakers already for a while thanks to their unique blend of jazz, punk, and inpisration from the Finnish nature. Now the trio of saxophonist Linda Fredriksson, bassist Eero Tikkanen and drummer Eeti Nieminen is set to release their fourth album on Helsinki's We Jazz Records.

"Mopocalypse", a highly flammable mix of rough-around-the-edges jazz and melodic songwriting, is the remarkable next step for one of Finland's most potent exports. Mopo swing, grind, drive hard, and slow down with an impeccable sense of dynamics. Their music is raw and beautiful.

Selected airplay: KCRW, KEXP, Jazz FM, Basic Soul, TNDC, Deutschlandfunk Kultur, Worldwide FM, WDR 3, Radio Helsinki "Album of the Week".

UK Vibe 5/5

The debut album from Seattle's Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio. The group channels old-school organ combos like The Meters and Booker T & The MGs, but are making it fresh and feel new again!

Originally released in 1970, Electronic Meditation' is the first album by Tangerine Dream, and the only one
to feature the line-up of Edgar Froese, Conrad Schnitzler and Klaus Schulz.
The album fuses together different styles from jazz to experimental rock and employs amongst the more tra
ditional instruments like guitars and organs, drum and cello, electronics conceived by Edgar Froese himself.
The album was recorded entirely inside an abandoned factory in Berlin in October 1969.

A stunning collection in 3 volumes documenting the early years of the great Miles Davis.

The first steps into the legend of the Young Man with the Horn!

A stunning collection in 3 volumes documenting the early years of the great Miles Davis.

The first steps into the legend of the Young Man with the Horn!

A stunning collection in 3 volumes documenting the early years of the great Miles Davis.

The first steps into the legend of the Young Man with the Horn!

- 180 GRAM AUDIOPHILE VINYL

The Headhunters' Straight From The Gate was their 2nd album and was released in 1977. Originally started as a jazz-fusion band fronted by Herbie Hancock, members Paul Jackson, Bennie Maupin, Michael Clark, Paul Potyen, Derrick Youman and Obsidion Blackbiyrd delved further into jazz-rock and fusion sounds and recorded the album at The Automatt studios in San Francisco.

The Headhunters use a wide range of instruments. From the electric piano, to tenor and soprano saxophone, flute, sitar, electric and acoustic guitar as well as adopting an early ARP synthesizer.

Their music is certainly a blend of many styles and genres, including R&B, funk and African rhythms and it is widely accepted that The Headhunters made their mark on the serious' jazz scene.

Just as Liverpool named its airport after John Lennon, New Orleans' gateway to the sky now bears the name of another musical giant. Like the late Beatle, Louis Armstrong put his home town firmly on the map, and his legacy will be listened to and appreciated for as long as music is played. Wherever in the world you fly from New Orleans, the name of Louis Armstrong is known, revered and respected. Here's a selection of his greatest
songs that tell you exactly why.

QUAD SAX is the cut-down version of URBAN SAX, composed by Gilbert Artman (LARD FREE, URBI-FLAT KOMINTERN, CATALOGUE).
An exploration of minimalism and repetitive music ( evocating Steve Reich pieces) by a brass quatuor designing a spacey odyssey through unknown territories.

Sun Ra's legendary 1978 Italian studio sessions, now available together for the first time ever on vinyl! Long sought-after by collectors, these extremely rare studio sessions were originally released in 1978 as two double LPs (New Steps and Other Voices, Other Blues) on the mysterious Italian jazz label, Horo Records. They have never been reissued on vinyl (and only partially reissued on CD) until now! With the help of trumpet player, Michael Ray, drummer, Luqman Ali and saxophonist John Gilmore, Ra kicks off the quartet sessions with the classic "My Favorite Things", which features some superlative playing by Gilmore, while Ra pounds away on an old upright studio piano. In fact, for the first two sides Ra plays mostly piano, while on sides C and D, he sticks more to his new Crumar Multiman, an Italian-made synthesizer that Ra had purchased during the tour. These sessions are also interesting because they give listeners a chance to hear Ra concentrating on primarily his own compositions-many of which (i.e. "Rome At Twilight" "Along The Tiber") were inspired by his time spent in Italy-but in a more intimate / Arkestra-less jazz setting. Fans will be clamouring to get their hands on this before it disappears again for another 30 years.

Seems strange that Tommy Stewart's seminal rare groove funk anthem 'Bump And Hustle Music' has never had a 45 release but Mukatsuku has set out to re address this issue with volume 2 of their First Time On A 45 Classics series. On the flipside we find the sublime version of Stella ' from Bridge via the originally unreleased album 'Crying For Love' recorded in Boulder, Colorado in 1981. First Experience reissued that album in 1999 but this is the first time 'Stella' written by Paul Tillman Smith has been made available as a 45

As the lead singer of George Darko's legendary Burger-Highlife hit-band, Lee Dodou became the number one voice of 80's Highlife. Born in Kumasi, the epicenter of Ghanaian Highlife, he came to Berlin in the late 70's - by then the uprising epicenter of Burger-Highlife - to work as a back-up-singer for Pat Thomas. After joining and leaving Georg Darko and running his own band "Kantata", he stopped releasing music in the early 90's. Now, Philophon is proud to present new recordings of his soulful genius to the world of 2018.

Basa Basa is a song in the classic "concert party" style, as it was played in the glorious 60's. After a firey horn introduction Lee takes over in that funny and entertaining manner typical for "concert party" music. Buzz Duncker joins Lee's phrases with some gentle clarinet. Highlife at its best!

Sahara Akwantuo is anything but a classic: it's the start of a kind of philophonic Highlife, labeled as Kraut-Life. Ghanaian love of life meets German romantic melancholy. Happy rhythms meet mysterious synth landscapes. Eternal summertime and mangos are meeting a wet winter world and roast apples. Kraut-Life at its best!