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They Say: “Driving brass and sax ensemble over funky rhythm section, playing tracks of various feel and style”.

We say: From the Lincoln Continental that memorably adorns the cover to the tranquil funk contained within, this glowing ode to the grooving force of 70s American soul music is ice cool all over. With brilliant contributions from the Three Key Alans™ (Hawkshaw, Parker, Tew) as well as Mike Moran, Les Hurdle and Keith Roberts, this is driving music for only the vibiest cats.

Originally released in 1976, The All American Powerhouse is one of the very best of the Themes library releases. It’s killer. A feast of dramatic jazz, horizontal, melodic funk and bouncing sunshine-y West-Coast feels throughout, there also lurks an intense injection of the Blaxploitation sound. Understandable, given the subject matter and year it was released.

Highlights include Alan Parker’s confident, horn-heavy wah-wah-fuelled album-opener “Sweeny Todd”, Hawkshaw’s graceful “Getaway” glide and dramatic, breathless “Speed Run”, Mike Moran’s loose, organ-driven propulsive B-Boy classic “The Pick-Up” and Keith Roberts’ percussive tour de force “Overide” that closes out the LP.

Yet, perhaps the most significant track here is Les Hurdle’s long-adored “Soul Train”. A grooving, bass-heavy library classic, it’s all swirling strings, stabbing horns, heavy open drums and melodic funk-rock guitars. Add in the funky clavinet, and the combination works beautifully.

As with all of our other Themes re-issues, the audio for The All American Powerhouse comes from the original analogue tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis. We’ve taken the same care with the sleeves, handing the reproduction duties over to Richard Robinson, the current custodian of KPM’s brand identity.

Sauce Combo is a powerful and dynamic jazz trio lead by Marcjean, saxophonist from Bestown (Besançon), sided by the mercenary drummer Tom Moretti and the melodious
Victor Pierrel on bass. The trio's music takes place in the modern jazz renewing coming especially from England and the USA. France has now a champion. Inspirated by vintage african and west indies jazz, 70's jazz funk and fusion but also 90's drum & bass, broken beat and hip hop, the repertoire is a rich jazz bomb exploding to the
ears. Each second brings its his new colorful burst to admire. The band's brilliant game makes it a living listening experience. The music is rich and versatile but cohesive and united. Why?
Crash Test came to light in one day during a single 7 hours recording session at the Honey For Bear laboratories. Arnaud Bataillard, the sound's engineer, wanted to try several new
tubes and audio gears added in his studio set up. The trio went to test it in a crash test session. All the recordings could have been compromise somewhere but... What was before planned as a try ended into a fantastic album. The mental disposition, while playing
when you know that all can be lost in a minute, gave the musicians the proper dimension to express their feelings in a total freedom. They were playing for pleasure and without any pressure. It was for all, but it could have been also for nothing. And we can literally feel that. This unique record had to be release as soon as possible to transmit the freshness of this beautiful impact to the listeners. Above all, Clément Laurentin's "Equilibre Précaire VI" achieves this album, offering a painting with four figures at the edge of the fall, in a constant imbalance, playing with time and gravity. It's the perfect allegory for the three band's members plus the engineer while making this record.

Alton Ellis's original 1967 Studio One version of 'I'm Still In Love (With You)' is one of the most well known tracks in Jamaican music history, based on an incredibly catchy rhythm that has seen countless versions over the years, most famously for Althea and Donna's huge worldwide smash 'Uptown Top Ranking' in 1977 and Sean Paul and Sasha's cover version that was a chart hit in the UK and numerous other countries in 2002. Here we present the original 7" version cut super loud and fat on a 12" single. On the B-side there's a funky slice of JA Soul grooviness, the Soul Vendors 'Just A Bit Of Soul', featuring the one and only Jackie Mittoo.
Housed in a heavyweight card Studio One sleeve these won't be around for long! Very Limited edition 1000 copies worldwide 12” pressing.

Mario Biondi's songs always proved to be a perfect material for an electro/dance/dub rework, and "Stay with Me", the first single from his new 2 CD project "Best of Soul", is no exception, the A-side of this 12-inch EP is covered by two different versions of that song made by legendary DJ and producer Luca Trevisi a.k.a. LTJ Xperience. The other LP side includes "Stay with Me" original version & another unreleased track, "Never Stop Dreaming", also from the "Best of Soul" recording sessions, perfectly fitting Mario Biondi's distinctive style.
... A must have for both Mario's fans and dancefloor DJ's!

The classic Sax and Piano ballad album by Guido Spannocchi on Baritone & Alto Saxophone and Rupert Cox on Piano in a contemporary arrangement for the urban listener produced by 'Total Refreshment Centre' mastermind Capitol K showcasing synths & drum machines for a modern take on classical jazz material.
Cover art by acclaimed New York photographer Nic Kern.

“This album will be part of the everlasting impact the Tribe collective had on our culture, on our hope and possibilities.” - Herb Boyd

Strut and Art Yard present the first compilation bringing together the modern era recordings of Tribe, Detroit’s acclaimed independent jazz collective.

Tribe began as a musical ensemble in 1971 co-founded by Saxophonist Wendell Harrison and trombonist Phil Ranelin that soon expanded into a broad amalgam including a live collective and independent record label. Ignored by the mainstream, many African American jazz artists in Detroit and across the US began creating their own small imprints and Tribe emerged alongside other cultural entities to express selfdetermination goals in the city: saxophonist Ernie Rodgers with his sessions at Rapa House; John and Leni Sinclair’s Artist Workshop; Bruce Millan’s Repertory Theater; the Hastings Jazz Experience and the Strata Corporation led by Kenny Cox. Harrison’s ideas of independence, self-determination and education were central to the Tribe ethos: “I might be possessed with a drive to get the knowledge out,” explained Harrison, “because I see this as sustaining the future of the jazz diaspora, the jazz tradition.” Tribe album releases like Harrison’s ‘An Evening With The Devil’ (1972) and Harrison and Ranelin’s ‘A Message From The Tribe’ (1973) became early ‘70s milestones in Detroit jazz.

In 1977, Harrison teamed up with pianist/composer Harold McKinney to form Rebirth Inc., aided by Detroit cultural warrior John Sinclair, a continuation of the Tribe community ethos. Musically, it formed a link with radio station WDET and began an outreach program to teach children and to publish Harrison’s jazz instruction books. Harrison continue to record extensively as a leader with his own labels, WenHa and Tribe, documenting the collective through sessions led by Phil Ranelin, Harold McKinney, Pamela Wise and more.

The ‘Hometown’ compilation places the spotlight on this later era of Tribe and Rebirth Inc., with rare and previously unreleased recordings from Harrison’s WenHa / Rebirth Studios and the SereNgeti Gallery And Cultural Center. Among many highlights, Harold McKinney and his “McKinfolk” family of musicians contribute the pulsing ‘Wide And Blue’ and dance celebration ‘Juba’; Phil Ranelin re-works his classic ‘He The One We All Knew’; Poet Mbiyu Chui (Williams Moore), pianist Pamela Wise and percussionist Djallo Djakate spark on the uncompromising ‘Ode To Black Mothers’ and the rallying cry of ‘Marcus Garvey’: “If we ever get together we will astound the world.” Harrison himself evokes the power and majesty of juju on ‘Conjure Man’.

‘Hometown’ comes as a 2LP gatefold and 1CD digipak fully remastered by Technology Works from the original session recordings. Both formats include exclusive sleeve notes by journalist Herb Boyd with rare photos from Wendell Harrison’s personal archive.

Mainstay of the Manchester DJ scene, Yadava is perhaps best known as a founding member of now legendary club night, So Flute. With 2018's It Rains Here released on Church Records to critical acclaim, he makes a welcome return to Ad Hoc Records with his latest release, Velvet House On Sackville Street, continuing to win new fans through a mix of samba, house and jazz on this one-of-a-kind EP. Luxuriate in the effortless seduction of these choice cuts and transport yourself to a Latin paradise - it's time to groove. Tones of St Germain, Folamour and Gilles Peterson run through every sun-soaked beat of Yadava's music - watch this space and remember the name.

Ism opens audaciously with the spiritual mic-check “You Are Free To Choose,” a track that features bassist Junius Paul alongside Vincent Davis (drums), Justin Dillard (piano), and Corey Wilkes (horns). This is by no accident. In many ways, “You Are Free To Choose” captures the spirit of Junius Paul’s artistic roots. Corey, Justin, and Vincent were among the multigenerational cadre of Chicago musicians present when Junius chose to follow his own path of creative discovery at the storied Velvet Lounge on the South Side of the city in 2002.

Though he began learning his craft playing in church, Junius’s creative voice really developed during jam sessions at clubs like The Velvet alongside members of the AACM. It was iron sharpening iron, the most natural form of knowledge transfer. He explained The Velvet’s vibe in 2018: “It’s like in Africa.... If you had this society of diviners or medicine people, or you know, sages… The Velvet stuff is not secret; but there are certain aspects of it… if you weren’t there, you weren’t there.” The Velvet Lounge closed in 2010. But, of course, the spirit of the Velvet Lounge is not dead. “Tune No. 6,” recorded live at the Co-Prosperity Sphere in Chicago, is a sweet interlude here to remind us that jazz is alive, bristling with what’s yet to come.

As Junius pushes forward as a creative musician, he is careful to carry with him the spirit and the knowledge he’s gathered from those who have come before him. He is very literally a bridge between generations of the Chicago vanguard, currently playing in a handful of combos with Makaya McCraven (who produced several of the tracks on Ism) as well as a few of Roscoe Mitchell’s working groups – most notably the Art Ensemble of Chicago – in addition to fronting his own band.

Carlos Nilmmns returns to Ornaments with another slice of artful songwriting ranging from classic
deep house, Detroit inspired techno, dubby sketches, a pinch of acid, some New York jazz downbeats
and stunning soundtracks.

Thus far, Zach Saginaw’s releases as Shigeto have been fragments, albeit singularly satisfying fragments -- EP-length glimpses into the Detroit producer’s creative psyche. After filling two EPs on Ghostly International, Shigeto’s lush, sumptuous take on instrumental hip-hop has fully materialized. Full Circle, the artist’s first full-length album, completes the journey begun with Shige-to’s Semi-Circle EP, synthesizing the drummer/produc-er’s signature themes of family, continuity, and musical boundary-pushing into a vibrant, fully unified artistic statement.

The sounds on Full Circle come from four years of obsessive field recording and collaboration. Saginaw brought his Tascam mini-recorder with him everywhere, capturing the “glasses, chains, breathing, children, family meals, monks singing in cathedrals, walks in the south of France, and good friends offering their musical skill” that would all find homes in the record’s compositional nooks and crannies. As a result of Saginaw’s constantdocumentation, the songs on Full Circle play like chap-ters in an ongoing story--as in “Escape from the Incu-bator”, whose initial rhythmic claustrophobia opens up into a boom-clap nocturnal chase, or “French Kiss Power Up”, whose romantic digital strut gives way to discord and fragmentation as the waves of synthesizer give way to a shaky, neurotic coda. Full Circle is framed by the “Ann Arbor” diptych, a pair of beat suites named after Saginaw’s hometown (one featuring a sample of Detroit MC SelfSays), all double-thick synths and triple-strength kick drums. Saginaw plays the majority of his rhythms by hand, and Full Circle’s consistently deep pocket is the record’s secret weapon, thumping and breathing like a living being.

Having set the stage with Semi-Circle and What We Held On To EPs--twin treatises on Saginaw’s Japanese grandmother’s escape from a US internment camp--Shigeto is clearly ready to draw the tale to a close and take center stage. “This release represents the end of the beginning--or perhaps that there is no end and no beginning at all,” says Saginaw. Regardless, Full Circle is the start of something great.

Brooklyn's Breakdown Brass have returned with a monstrous cover of the Rick James classic "Mary Jane", a follow-up to their smash debut 45 "Monmouth b/w Next Episode" (Kept Records). The track blends their trademark heavy sound with the strolling soul vib.

Thirteen-piece UK jazz collective Levitation Orchestra channel the spirit of Sun Ra, Ornette Coleman, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Alice Coltrane and Dorothy Ashby across six original compositions, encompassing Spiritual, meditative and free jazz.

”Through discussions and experimentations, after four rehearsals we found ourselves to be the creators of this suite of music. Unmistakably otherworldly, we took great joy in our creations, as they transformed with each performance. Even in the studio the music was developing and stretching with a life of its own. A part of this phenomena depends on the fact that the music does not belong to any one member, everyone has contributed, and is included in the creation of each piece. This principle empowers the player with a clear focus and desire to bring as much energy as possible to the music.

Music that is owned not by the individual but by the collective is a way of life that has been eroded over time by the cut-throat creative industries. Levitation Orchestra, is stepping outside of that paradigm, we create, we chronicle and we move on. We are not striving for a one-hit wonder, we are striving to create long-lasting relationships as creators, a support network built on meaningful creations.
In the process we will leave behind suite after suite of music for the world tomorrow. It is the process of creation which we hold sacred.”

A snapshot of the rising Dutch jazz scene, the ‘Super-Sonic Family’ compilation captures a refreshed spirit of talented artists that are shaping the new musical directions within the Lowlands. This thirteen track collection connects these unique artists that express themselves beyond the borders of genres. This compilation adds to the rise of this ascending scene and will be released in the light of the six day ‘Super-Sonic Jazz Festival’ in Amsterdam, organised by KC The Funkaholic & Tenzers.

Crackin' remixes by Boards Of Canada, Wavne and Andrew Weatherall of The Sexual Objects track 'Sometimes'...

Recording at Malcom Catto's analogue studio has been an ambition of Greg's for a long time, not only for the studio itself but for Malcolm's skill using this vintage equipment, very few people can achieve such an incredibly big sound.

Earlier this year we grabbed the chance to get the full Greg Foat group joined by Binker Golding (Binker and Moses) on Tenor Saxophone, Malcolm Catto on drums and Hugh Harris (The Kooks) on Guitar on the session.

Moving to a more rhythmic space, you could call it Jazz funk or Fusion, but labels suck so just listen and appreciate the pure sense of space Malcom achieves with this recording. Instruments float in space, aided by the Vintage EMI desk and a host of valve equipment which has taken Malcolm a lifetime to collect. In amongst the more rhythmic pieces we also have some classic Foat style compositions; 'Lake Kussharo' and 'The Dreaming Jewels' as emotive and personal as ever, a feeling that can only be expressed and articulated in music.

These past few years will no doubt be looked back on with great favour in musical history, with prolific and high quality output in all his various projects this LP is his crowning achievement of 2019.
... A strong year indeed!

Mesmerising minority language acid folk and wayfaring world music forges a river of revolution between langue doc and Côte d’Azur with this stunning seldom spoken 1978 intimate community pressing.

Weaving a fragile thread through collectible outsider genres such as acid folk, French jazz, Braziliana and world music it is virtually incomprehensible that this incredible one-off solo album by mononymous Occitan language singer, songwriter and activist Miquela has managed to evade notoriety and wider affection zover five decades. Captured via a humble makeshift studio set-up in a classroom in 1977, this startlingly crystalline recording is one of the best examples you are likely to hear, not shying from ambitious small string arrangements and intimate Gallic jazz infusions this LP represents the quiet storm erupting from the pride and protection of the ancient “romance” language known as Occitan, as spoken by less than 1.5 million people in Southern France (as well as parts of Italy and Spain). Naturally combining a wide range of influences, and fuelled by the same impassioned fervour found in privately pressed minority language records from Britanny, Catalonia and Wales, Miquela’s first and only solo record was recorded by request of poet Ives Roqueta for his exclusively Occitan language label Ventadorn. Including players from Miquela’s surrounding area of Toulon the album also enlisted arrangements from important musicians such as co-author Jean-Michel Mariou, jazz contrabass player Didier Capeille (later affiliate of Marseilles’ Etron Fou Leloublan), and guitarist Gilles Cardon, who would regularly play for Britanny based label Nevenoe (knotting the ties between both French language rehabilitation movements).

Released and well-received by a supportive and emotional Occitan fan base, this would be Miquela’s only ever solo LP (preceded by a 7” picture sleeve EP, drawing similarities to Welsh label Sain) and laid the foundations for future releases with her folk rock girl group Lei Chapacans (The Vagabonds) which led to tours as far as Sardinia, Yemen and Moscow. As a vital forerunner of a maligned genre of Occitan femme-folk singers such as Estela, Nicòla, Jacmelina, Rosina De Peira E Martina and Claudia Galibert, this LP marks the start of a journey that would eventually find its beloved protagonist at the heart of the galvanised Occitan language media.

No slouch as a songwriter herself, Nina Simone ably picked a variety of compositional classics from the new Rock era for her 1969 LP To Love Somebody. Opening with a beautiful, introspective version of Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne,” Simone shows an obvious affinity for social statements with the Byrds’ “Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)” and a trio of Dylan standards: “I Shall Be Released,” “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues,” plus a dramatic, meditative “The Times They Are A-Changin’.” The album title is taken from the Bee Gees song “To Love Somebody”. Her cover of the song became her second British hit single after “Ain’t Got No-I Got Life”. Also “I Can’t See Nobody” is a song by the Bee Gees. “Revolution” (parts 1 & 2) was Simone’s third subsequent single released in the UK, after “Ain’t Got No-I Got Life” and “To Love Somebody” both became hits. The song was released around the time of the same titled song by The Beatles and, although it has a similar hook (“Don’t you know it’s gonna be - all right”) and structure, most of the lyrics differ.

Available as a limited 50th anniversary edition of 1500 individually numbered copies on purple & black marbled vinyl.

Guadeloupean pianist Jonathon Jurion explores the legacy of American saxophonist Marion Brown, a cult figure whose time in Paris left an indelible mark on the French Jazz scene. The session blends traditional Ka drums from Guadeloupe and the exceptional double bass of Michel Alibo with Jonathan’s piano to bring a percussive Caribbean reading of Brown’s diverse repertoire.

Da Lata’s highly anticipated fourth album Birds is a genre busting journey through London Afro-Brazilian soul music.
The most homogeneous Da Lata record to date, Christian Franck has honed his craft and expanded his art to create a glowing testimony from the melting pot of the capital’s musical life.

Gathering his family of collaborators with diverse musical backgrounds in soul, jazz, and gospel as well as African and Brazilian forms, Birds is an album that finally lays waste to that tired idea of World music.

There are tracks that are inspired by Chris’ journeys to the source, there are elegant horn and woodwind arrangements recorded in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, there are lyrics in different tongues, but this is a London record.

Birds is an album of warm organic grooves infused with sophisticated funkiness and splattered with instrumental colour. From the Afro skank swagger of the low slung opener Mentality to the Beatles-esque pathos of the closing title track, it’s a record packed with soulful surprises and beguiling rhythms.

The sound is both intimate and expansive, drawing the listener into Da Lata’s London tropicalia and out into the cosmos.

Birds is an album about keeping doors open and conversation flowing, it’s about survival, hope, family, resistance, awareness, unity and love. 

'Esoteric, modal and deep jazz from the undergound, 1968-77'

Jazzman Records presents the sound of the unsung musicians who – in the midst of the Vietnam War and the fallout of the Civil Rights struggle – created some of the most beautiful Spiritual and meditative music of the era. Sometimes funky, sometimes mellow, but always trying to say something about the world in which we live.
Existing completely under the critical radar and largely ignored or unknown by music fans and critics alike, most of the musicians featured in this album won't be familiar to even the most seasoned aficionado. Their records, frequently turned down by distributors and record stores, saw little attention when first released - and have seen even less since. But in this era of musical apathy, where so many music junkies look to the past for their musical fix, we have re-discovered hidden, obscure and esoteric jazz musicians who looked to the four corners of the earth - and beyond - for inspiration. Here we evaluate Spiritual Jazz – music that is a snapshot of the era after Coltrane, a time which saw the evolution of an underground jazz that spoke about the reform of the soul, the reform of the spirit, and the reform of society: a music which was local and international at once, which was a personal journey and a political statement, and which was religious and secular in one non-contradictory breath.
The music on this album reflects the social and historical forces at work during the closedown of the '60s dream; music made by close-knit collectives and individual visionaries, by prisoners and eccentrics, by mystics and political radicals. It includes music by acknowledged masters, and moments of brilliance by unsung figures known to us from just one or two recordings. It is the jazz music of America in the age of civil rights, brutal repression, political assassination and war; a music that would guarantee the survival of the spiritual dimension in a society that was angry and traumatized, but nevertheless had seen hope of better days to come.

Derek Bailey’s guests for Company Week at London’s ICA in July 1982 were contemporary classical pianist Ursula Oppens, folk/jazz singer-turned-improviser Julie Tippetts and her partner pianist Keith Tippett, violinist/electronics wizard Philipp Wachsmann, guitarist Fred Frith, trombonist George Lewis, harpist Anne LeBaron, and from Japan free jazz bassist Motoharu Yoshizawa and sound artist Akio Suzuki.

Altogether they performed the stunning extended improvisation Epiphany.
In different, more intimate lineups they detonated numerous Epiphanies.

Here, to start, Yoshizawa and Oppens (both on the keyboard and inside her piano) bounce ideas off each other like ping-pong balls.
Then Tippetts, Wachsmann and Bailey do extraterrestrial cubist flamenco; and Lewis and Frith rumble at everyone magnificently.
Tippett and Oppens kaleidoscope the entire history of the piano into just over fifteen minutes (Fourth and Fifth) with added seasoning from LeBaron and Wachsmann.
To close, Akio Suzuki — despite once describing himself as “pursuing listening as a practice” — makes one hell of a racket with his self-made instruments: a flute, a spring gong and his analapos (two single-lidded cylinders attached by a long steel coil, which he can manipulate and strike, besides vocalising into the tube). Yoshizawa and Bailey give him a real run for his money, and it all builds to an ecstatic, swirling, grinding climax, with Suzuki whooping and hollering wildly.

More buried treasure from Company Week 1982: seven previously unissued Epiphanies by lineups involving Derek Bailey, Ursula Oppens, Julie Tippetts, Keith Tippett, Philipp Wachsmann, Fred Frith, George Lewis, Anne LeBaron, Motoharu Yoshizawa and Akio Suzuki.

Fred Frith is a stellar improviser — 1974’s Guitar Solos is still a seminal album of free improv — and he has three opportunities here to showcase his considerable talents. Eleventh is a tour de force of extended technique, with George Lewis working slowly but surely through a variety of trombone mouthpieces, while Frith’s guitar, strummed, bowed or prepared, could be a theremin, a koto, a mouse trapped inside a grandfather clock or a lion cub inside a shoebox. Bookending the album, on Seventh he swaps Webernian shards with Lewis and harpist Anne LeBaron and on Thirteenth, with pianist Keith Tippett, he condenses a whole lifetime of musical exploration into a mere twelve minutes. When it’s over both musicians are so amazed they burst out laughing.

Elsewhere, on Eighth, Wachsmann reveals his understated mastery of both his violin and the electronics he’s devised to extend its range, and pianist Ursula Oppens proves she’s as adept as conjuring forth magic from inside her instrument as she is at the keyboard. Major and minor triads too!

Ninth is spikier, with Lewis quacking, spitting and wheezing like a flock of geese let loose in a fairground, while Derek Bailey and Motoharu Yoshisawa patiently explore the outer limits of acoustic guitar and double bass. Bailey and Lewis team up again on Twelfth to take on Oppens — and everybody wins. Voice is more to the fore on Tenth, with Julie Tippetts’ coloratura and flute and Akio Suzuki’s analapos and spring gong flying high, while LeBaron, Wachsmann and Yoshizawa weave intricate webs of pizzicati, spiccati and glissandi beneath.

“The story of Perception takes root in a series of chance meetings, which seem at first glance unlikely, between musicians from differing horizons, be they geographic or esthetic. Jazz Magazine was spot on with an article from the period entitled, "Perception, four conceptions", before detailing the origins of the musicians (Hungarian for saxophonist Yochk'O Seffer, German for pianist Siegfried Kessler, French for bassist Didier Levallet, Franco-Vietnamese for drummer Jean-My Truong). It then looked at their varying backgrounds (classical academic training for the first two, an improvised apprenticeship on the jazz scene for the third), in order to point out the seemingly contradictory and perhaps complementary directions which would unite in a singular identity. None of this, however, was clear from the start as the group began as a trio with a different saxophonist, before stabilising to the first core quartet.

Having been remarked on in 1970 by Gérard Terronès, who was already producer of the cult Alors! (Michel Portal), Célesphère (Burton Greene) and Basse Barre (Barre Phillips), Perception was thus given a timely opportunity to record their first album on his Futura Records label. This eponymous opus, illustrated with a drawing by Yochk'O Seffer, is the first of a fascinating trilogy. It puts the seal on those complementary contradictions with a lyrically incandescent free jazz, made up of startling interactions between complex harmonies and disjointed rhythms.”

Unreleased live recording with Jacques Thollot on drums 6 page booklet with unpublished paintings by Yochko Seffer + an essay by Didier Levallet

“Seven years of effervescent activity: few free jazz groups can be proud of such longevity, especially with a lineup as stable as that of Perception. Yes, there would be several guest musicians, including Kent Carter and JeanCharles Capon, on the second album… Yes the "existential problems" of Siegfried Kessler would necessitate him being temporarily replaced by Manuel Villaroel… But for the most part, it was the core quartet of the first album which would tour Europe, through concerts from Belgium to Germany and including Norway where Perception represented France at the Molde festival.

So, few personnel changes then, until towards the end, in 1975, after completing the third album, when drummer Jean-My Truong left and had to be replaced. First by Mino Cinelu, at the time in Opération Rhino and Moravagine, then by Jacques Thollot, already behind the cult albums Jeter la girafe à la mer and Watch Devil Go. These changes did not alter the spirit of Perception, as both were able to integrate a group which nevertheless had such a strong identity.

There was no recorded trace of Jacques Thollot’s time in the group, until Live At The Stadium came to the rescue. So, this live recording from 1977 is a precious archive, displaying unique and contrasting directions which had first begun to be explored in 1970, following the seminal Our Meanings And Our Feelings by Michel Portal. An archive then, which proves what we already knew, that there were few quartets in Europe at the time capable of reaching such a level, other than that formed on an occasional basis, around the same period, by Gerd Dudek, Joachim Kühn, Peter Warren and Daniel Humair.”

"The original concepts of vocal and instrumental music are utterly different. The instrumental impulse is not melody in a 'melodious' sense but an agile movement of the hands which seem to be under the control of a brain centre totally different from that which inspires vocal melody.

Altogether, instrumental music, with the exception of rudimentary rhythmic percussion, is as a rule a florid, fast and brilliant display of virtuosity... Quick motion is not merely a means to a musical end but almost an end in itself which always connects with the fingers, the wrists and the whole of the body."

The inclusion of the above passage from Curt Sachs' The Wellsprings of Music with this album, the recording of which predates the Music Improvisation Company's only other release, the eponymous ECM outing, indicates a clear intention to stake out territory for European Free Improvisation markedly different from that of the (American) Free Jazz it sprang from.
The African-American heritage that led to jazz was melodious, vocal, field holler / church-inflected, and the Germans and the Dutch never made any secret of their affection for it, but British free improvisers in the late 1960s were looking elsewhere.

Even so, and though the music press made a big deal a while back about the release of a 1965 rehearsal tape by Derek Bailey's earlier Joseph Holbrooke trio (with Gavin Bryars and Tony Oxley), their early efforts were mere tentative steps along a cliff edge wearing a line safely attached to Coltrane, and there's still a faint but distinct aftertaste of jazz in Bailey and Parker's work with the Spontaneous Music Ensemble up to and including 1968's Karyobin.
But with the addition of Jamie Muir - the first great free improvising percussionist who didn't start out as a jazz drummer - and Hugh Davies and his electronics from way out leftfield in the avant garde / experimental world, the MIC leapt right off that cliff.

As Nina Hagen screamed later, "1968 is over! Future is Now!" These six tracks – tight, electric, pointillistic, brilliant, uncompromising and exhilarating – sound like nothing else that came before - In a word, seminal.

Local Talk is back again with a fantastic album from Soulphiction who gets deep, down and dirty with this bumping selection of timeless house tracks across 3 pieces of beautifully packaged vinyl...

Dusty grooves and soulful emotion form the foundation of this release, which also takes influence from Jazz, Hip Hop and Afrobeat.

Soulphiction aka Michel Baumann is one of Germany's most respected artists who is also known under the equally successful and iconic alias Jackmate.
This is the third time Soulphiction has featured on Local Talk including his recent single "Beehive". Other labels to have featured Soulphiction tracks and remixes include Lumberjacks in Hell, Rebirth, Pampa and Philpot Records.

A master of both mood and texture, this release showcases the studio wizardry of a true sound-smith.
Chunky percussion with shuffling rhythms form the backbone of the grooves, which are fleshed out with intricate melodies and funky basslines that move mind, body and soul.

With ebbs and flows, the release builds and drops with tracks like "Jus Listen" moving away from the dance floor vibe to focus on a more soothing sound.
Like the tracklist of a J Dilla mixtape, this album flows with a purposeful care combined with a storytelling blend of emotions rarely heard in a house music long player.

Executed to perfect precision, this album is an instant classic and a must-have for home listening along with a club setting.

special handstitched felt backed 7” sle

Consisting of homemade electronic and mechanical music heard exclusively via British TV speakers as an eerie backdrop for the Polish made stop-motion adaptation of the Finnish comic strip classic. Custom composed for radically reedited daily five-minute episodes (alongside reconstituted storylines and the narrations/impersonations of comedy actor Richard Murdoch), the short cues written and played by two Leeds based post punk avant- theatre composers helped exacerbate the programme’s bizarre spectral storylines and characters earning a firm fixture of fear, intrigue and infatuation in the hearts and memories of a slightly confused electro fed generation. Ticking all the boxes that attract freak folk enthusiasts and synthusiasts alike, the combined efforts of Steve Shill and Graeme Miller deployed thumb pianos, backwards tape effects, wooden pipes and a Wasp synthesiser (the almost affordable post punk synth of choice) to replace the original 70’s German jazz soundtrack, thus dramatically mutating the tonality of the one hundred episode long saga. Miller and Shill’s unique DIY approach follows characters like Moomintroll, Sniff, Snuffkin and the Snork Maiden as they encounter hobgoblins, sand lions and the mysterious Groke complete with their individual detuned electronic voices and thereminesque whimpers. Based on the original sprites invented by Tove Jansson the modified fuzzy felt figurines were designed by animator Lucjan Debinski at the legendary Se Ma For studios in Poland for German syndication resulting in what many regard as the definitive and most enigmatic version of the story succeeding further animated adaptations form Japan and Russia.

Sharing the same nostalgia and oblique exoticism as The Singing Ringing Tree, The Little Mole, The Magic Roundabout and other reconstituted imports seen on programmes like Granada TV’s Picturebox, The Moomins and its synonymous theme tune and sound effects render this limited 7” vinyl release an essential addition to the record shelves of soundtrack collectors, domestic electronic fans and absent bygone tele addicts as well as animation and design enthusiasts on account of its unique imagery and packaging. Housed in a very special custom-made felt backed 7” sleeve depicting original production stills this limited 45 single comprises an extended take of Woodland Band and a never before heard cue from the forthcoming Lost Tapes LP.

Like the running lengths of the original episodes these rare specimens won’t stick around for long so act fast, relax, regress and rejoice for the return of the Moomin trolls.

With the demise of the group Wire in 1980, founder members Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis joined forces to create Dome. With the assistance of engineer Eric Radcliffe and his Blackwing Studio Dome took the ethic of "using the studio as a compositional tool" and recorded and released three Dome albums on their own label in the space of 12 months: DOME (July 1980), DOME 2 (October 1980) and DOME 3 (October 1981). A final fourth album, WILL YOU SPEAK THIS WORD: DOME IV was released on the Norwegian Uniton label in May 1983.

These albums represent some of the most beautifully stark and above all timeless exercises in studio experimentation from early 1980s alternative music scene.

Previously issued in the out of print DOME 1-4+5 box set in 2011. Now available as standalone LP with download card

Epiphany \ i-ˈpi-fə-nē \ (1) a manifestation of the essential nature of something (usually sudden) (2) an intuitive grasp of reality through something (usually simple and striking) (3) an illuminating discovery or disclosure.

All three definitions apply perfectly to this span of music recorded at London’s ICA in July 1982. It’s a miracle of group interaction, wonderfully paced, moving steadily between moments of mounting intensity and tension. The passage about halfway through — when Derek Bailey’s harmonics ring out above a sheen of inside piano tremolos and shimmering electronics, topped off by Julie Tippetts’ soaring vocalese — is simply sublime. After which it’s fun to try and tell the two pianists apart. Are those runs Ursula Oppens, with her formidable technique honed from years performing some of the twentieth century’s most difficult notated new music, or are those Keith Tippett’s crunchy jazz zigzags? Are those intriguing twangs from one of Akio Suzuki’s invented instruments or could they be Fred Frith’s or Phil Wachsmann’s electronics? Bah, who cares?

There’s plenty of room for the more delicate instruments too, like Anne LeBaron’s harp picking its way gingerly through a pin-cushion of pings and scratches from Bailey and bassist Motoharu Yoshizawa. Of course, some performers are instantly recognisable: Tippetts, as lyrical and flighty on flute as when she sings, Phil Wachsmann, sinuous and sensitive on violin, and trombonist George Lewis, who, as John Zorn once put it, swings his motherfucking ass off.

So many magical moments abound, from the opening dawn chorus of Tippetts’ voice and Frith’s guitar swooping through a rainforest of exquisite piano cascades, to the Zen calm of the closing moments.

Epiphany, indeed.

Funky soul-jazz organist Caesar Frazier crafted superior Hammond funk. 75, his second LP, is a rare gem. It’s comfortably his greatest artistic statement.

The follow-up to Hail Ceasar!, it’s a taut, grooving set that expands his sound and, put simply, it’s got better songs. The key elements of his debut album are all there – production from maestro Bob Porter, accompaniment from hip players (Bernard “Pretty” Purdie, Cornell Dupree, John Tropea) and arrangement from Horace Ott - but the overall sound is elevated. The tightly jamming, expressive jazz-funk makes for a richer, fuller, more satisfying experience.

75 is a mixture of hard-driving originals, deeply beautiful slower numbers to vary the tempo and a couple of classy covers. The crazy bombastic “Mighty Mouse” - a riot of horns, organ and in the pocket drums - became an acid jazz classic at Dingwalls and it’s easy to see (hear?) how. A blissed out, lushly instrumental take on Seals and Crofts’s “Summer Breeze” follows, perfect for those sunshine sets.

Side A closes with the heavenly “Sweet Children”. A loping, funky jazz masterpiece famously sampled by Kanye West for Common’s “Real People” from Be. It opens beautifully, with soaring sax and a funky horn section combining with weightless keyboard tones atop snapping drums. Unsurprisingly, the excellence endures right through to the end.

The B side opens with perhaps the album’s most famous track. "Funk It Down” contains the familiar “I can feel the funk” vocal refrain throughout. But it’s the gorgeous, insouciant bridge that you should all know and love, having been used as the hook for Gang Starr’s “Ex-Girl To Next Girl”. A great cover of Stevie Wonder's “Living for the City” comes next, with an unforgettable bass-line which anchors the entire heavy rhythm section workout. Dizzying organ, triumphant horns and sun-dappled guitar grooves combine to create “Walking On The Side”, rounding out a pretty smoking set.

This is one of those rare 70s funk-soul-jazz LPs on which a bad track cannot be found. It’s all essential. So of course finding original copies on vinyl at affordable prices has been tough for years.

Mastered brilliantly by Simon Francis, cut by Pete Norman and with painstakingly reproduced artwork by the Be With team, this fresh Be With reissue ensures this legendary LP now sounds, looks and feels as sensational as it should.

Palto Flats & WRWTFWW Records are ecstatic to announce the highly-anticipated reissue of Japanese percussionist Midori Takada's sought after and timeless ambient / minimal album "Through The Looking Glass", originally released in 1983 by RCA Japan.

Considered a Holy Grail of Japanese music by many, "Through The Looking Glass" is Midori Takada's first solo endeavor, a captivating four-song suite capturing her deep quests into traditional African and Asian percussive language and exploring contemplative ambient sounds with an admirably precise use of marimba. The result is alternatively ethereal and vibrant, always precise and mesmerizing, and makes for an atmospheric masterpiece and an unparalleled sonic and spiritual experience.

The fully licensed reissue is available as a single 33rpm LP and a limited 45rpm DLP, both cut directly from the original studio reels (AAA), at Emil Berliner (formerly the in-house recording department of renowned classical record label Deutsche Grammophon) for the 45rpm DLP, and at the equally famous Frankfurter SST Studio for the LP. It is also available in CD format for the first time. All versions come with extensive liner notes.

Firenze Sogna' is literally a journey of musical itineraries from the legendary Tuscany chief town between the mid-70s and the early 80s, curated by Giampiero Bigazzi, Bruno Casini and Ernesto De Pascale. Influential post-punk act and electronic producers all teamed up with local legends depicting almost 20 years of a constant evolution. It is not simply the Italian way to rock’n’roll, hereby three generations of artists facing the banks of Arno river forged a memorable artistic season. Stalwart ok kosmische psychedelia Sensation’s Fix altogether with EBM forerunners Neon, astonishing etno-world travelers Zeit (the Italian answer to late Popol Vuh ?) and electro pioneer Alexander Robotnick , no wave heroes Rinf and rock in opposition alumni Bella Band (Cramps Records). 23 tracks split between two lps, a revelation of sort.

The debut album from The Jazz Defenders is released on Haggis Records, the label started by U.K funk band The Haggis Horns. Jazz has always been a massive part of what The Haggis Horns are about so this marriage was the perfect fit.

The Jazz defenders are a group borne out of a deep love for Blue Note Records - specifically the hard bop recordings of Horace Silver, Hank Mobley, Lee Morgan and Art Blakey. Those records were highly regarded for a reason - catchy horn lines and incredible musicianship combined with Rudy Van Gelder's engineering skills mean they will forever be regarded as classics of the genre. The Jazz Defenders are a group that would 'defend' the legacy of those recordings whilst creating its own original identity and distinctive flair. The music they produce together is a modern soul jazz slant on this classic Hard Bop, effortlessy channelling the spirit of the golden Blue Note era of Jazz.

The group is the brainchild of vibrant pianist and composer George Cooper who at only 31 years old has already amassed a comprehensive repertoire of musical credits including Hans Zimmer, Nigel Kennedy, U2, Slum Village, The Haggis Horns and Abstract Orchestra. Featuring some of the UK's finest players the line up is Nick Dover (tenor sax), Nick Malcolm (trumpet), Ian Matthews (drums), Will Harris (bass) and George Cooper (piano). As session musicians in their own right the members of the band have worked with a variety of internationally acclaimed artists such as Andy Sheppard, Clark Tracey, Get The Blessing, Pee Wee Ellis, Massive Attack, Rodriguez and Nostalgia 77 as well as playing at venues including Ronnie Scott's, The Jazz Cafe & The 606 Club.

Radio support from Craig Charles (BBC 6), Jazz FM

Australian Soul Jazz holy grail from 1968! Debut album release on Pacific Theatre Encore, the reissue label started by Melbourne's contemporary funk / soul lynchpin Lance Ferguson (The Bamboos, Menagerie, Lanu, ex Cookin' On 3 Burners). Vinyl includes download card and liner notes insert, CD in digipak and booklet.

Lead by Australia's own rival to Jimmy Smith and Jimmy Witherspoon, the '68 line up of Col Nolan & The Soul Syndicate would prove to be an Australian jazz super-group, consisting of John Sangster on drums / percussion (whose own late '60s Festival albums are highly collectable), John Allan on bass, Col Loughnan on sax and Jimmy Doyle on guitar (the latter two were also in mid Oz '70s jazz-rock giants, Ayers Rock). Early '70s Soul Syndicate recordings have become highly sought by collectors, but this album is their rarest, with collectors paying sizable amounts on the rare occasion a copy appears.

The album was recorded in Sydney while they were the house band at the legendary Kings Cross nightclub, Whiskey A Go Go, during it's swinging sixties heyday. The city's best jazz players would play there and at surrounding clubs seven nights a week into the early hours, entertaining both high society and visiting American G.I.s on R&R, a far cry from the area's current lock out law enduced coma.

Their residency would allow them to break in new material night after night, much of it recorded on this album. The album is lead by some cracking originals written by Nolan, Loughnan and Sangster including the two Mod dancefloor burners, "Shades Of McSoul", the title track and the breakbeat monster "Rivera Mountain". But their versions of popular soings of the time are more like re-inventions, such as the drum heavy, low slung take on Bobbie Gentry's "Ode To Billie Joe" and a superlative rendition of Jimmy Webb's "By The Time I Get To Phoenix", which builds to a frantic, swirling psychedelic crescendo to close the album.

"Pacific Theatre Encore will be reissuing music from across the globe, but it was important to me for the first release to shine a light on the important legacy of our own scene" says Ferguson, who meticulously restored the audio himself, which was then remastered.

Protofuture’s newest release is a reissue of the 3rd installment of Beppe Loda’s “Acid Jazz” tapes. Acid Jazz is a series of 10 mixtapes recorded by Loda between 1994–96 in Brescia, Italy for the Sound Music Room Club. Only a limited amount was dealt among a small circle of clubbers, from Rimini to Vienna. Protofuture has reissued them with the original cassette covers, the original numeric stamp, and even ink from the time, used by Loda since the 80s -
(Protofuture - PF3T).

12" + 7"

In 2009 Mocky made a radical decision: after having become one of the cult figures of the leftfield Berlin electronic music scene of the early 2000s, Mocky retired his sampler and travelled to Paris to embark on an all acoustic journey with the producer Renaud Letang in the vintage Studio Ferber, previously inhabited by the likes of Nina Simone and Serge Gainsbourg.

Named after a song he made up when he was 7, using imaginary words, "Saskamodie" was an instant new future/retro classic: a return to pure musical expression by a cutting edge artist who was no longer bound by the electronic music scene. "Saskamodie" was a brave step into unchartered waters, the sound of a musician exploring where his talent can take him with rare confidence and authority. At different points you could hear a vintage soundtrack suite, a debonair jazz record (minus the solos) or a golden era '60s soul ballad recording ... yet, as if all these charming stylistic sorties weren't loveable enough, cut "Saskamodie" through the middle and you'll find that sweet, inescapably infectious melody is the lifeblood trickling through its core.

Mocky is listed as playing drums, bass, rhodes, piano, guitar, percussion, bells, recorder, vocals, whistle, organ and toys as well as writing string arrangements. Taylor Savvy, Gonzales, Jamie Lidell and Feist contribute additional instrumental and backing vocal performances that make this record sound more like a live performance than a studio creation.

"Saskamodie" has definitely stood the test of time and Mocky still successfully follows the path he started with this recording - be it on his series of digital Moxtapes, his album "Key Change", his recent "recorded-in-one-day" jazz album "A Day At United", his score for the japanese Netflix anime "Carole & Tuesday" or his writing and production work for the likes of Feist or Kelela.

Originally only released as CD/Digital Download, this 10 years anniversary limited vinyl edition brings us "Saskamodie" in it's original form, re-mastered for deluxe 180g vinyl and accompanied by an exclusive bonus 7" with a new single edit of the album's hit "Birds Of A Feather", a solo piano version of "Guiding Light" by Chilly Gonzales, the recent coverversion of "Birds Of A Feather" by LA's underground funk sensation Vulfpeck and a remix featuring a collaboration with noone less than the Wu Tang's GZA.

"An exceptionally musical album – there’s no other word for it – that could fail to seduce only the hardest of hearing, or the hardest of hearts" (Pitchfork, 8.0 review)

"An amazing record…a big hit for me" (Gilles Peterson)

"If Saskamodie was a film, it would undoubtedly be The Science of Sleep by Michel Gondry. Please take that as a wholehearted endorsement" (BBC)

japanese legendary jazz guitarist “ryo kawasaki”,some of his famous works are like mellow jazz fusion masterpiece “tarika blue”,dance jazz classic “trinkets&things”,cosmic new wave jazz “lucky lady”….

this album with his band “the golden dragon” is probably the best album for fans of wired jazz,brazilian,barealic music. japanese best digger “chee” picked up this album as his favorite album from japan on RA.

“little tree” is a first album that ryo kawasaki used self made guitar synthesizer.

this album is rich in variety, japanese brazilian jazz fusion classic “looking around you”,experimental guitar ambient “capricho arabe”,cosmic fusion “quasar infection”,barealic jazz masterpiece”you are the sun-light”,club jazz classic “little tree”,folky jazz vocal “jamiko”,a lot of great song on this album.

Jimi Tenor and a group of friends visited twice at Edward Vesala's unique home (Sound and Fury Studio) in Korkeakoski in southwest Finland. It was winter 1998.
Matti Knaapi and Jimi Tenor has been designing and building instruments since early 80s. They brought vanful of apparatus to Sound and Fury which already had a large collection of Vesala's exotic and self built instruments.

During the two rather extreme sessions 13 songs got finished. The first part was released in year 2000. Sadly Edward Vesala passed away before the first part City of Women I was released.
Now after 20 years of calming down we are ready to evoke the second part of the sessions.

City of Woman is
Edward Vesala, drums, vocals, instruments
Jimi Tenor, flute, instruments

Iro Haarla, harp
Jimi Sumen, programming
Matti Knaapi, instrument design and construction

Hailing from one of the world’s most famous harbours, Rotterdam, a true multicultural melting-pot, the music by 6-piece band called the Greyheads mirrors the daily life of this busy city. They approach jazz from a hip-hop point of view, or hip-hop from a jazz point of view, always carefully adding a perfect dose of other influences (all the members are heavily influenced by artists like Miles Davis, J Dilla, Herbie Hancock and Robert Glasper) with an exciting, groovy and vibrant tone.

After having self-released their debut EP "GREYHEADS × KYTOPIA" in 2017, they recently finished recording "HOMES", their first full length album.

Led by drummer Nello Biasini, this truly international band of like minded musicians was formed in 2016 and have since been busy creating their own, fresh and unique sound. Whether an intimate jazz club or the main stage of a big festival, they are all about creating a feel-good groovy vibe using live rlectronics, drum 'n bass, jazz, hip hop and pop fused together.

GreyHeads performed at NN North Sea Jazz 2019 and several other festivals such as So What's Next Festival, Jazz Delft Festival, Cutting Edge, ProJazz, Big Rivers Festival, as well as opening for the bands Moonchild and Knower.

'Homes' is a journey through space and time, travelling in opposite but jointed paths that lead to the places we call home. The concept of the record is to carry the listener to experience what every place and time can in any way, represent home, characterized by different atmospheres, sounds, images and sensations.

Repress

Selva Discos fulfills its duty of giving a new life to Fernando Falcão's long lost LPs with the reissue of his album Barracas Barrocas, originally released through Egberto Gismonti's cult record label Carmo in 1987. Somehow, an original copy of this album is even more elusive than its predecessor Memória das Águas and it is a pity that such a stunning piece of music was kept apart from listeners worldwide for so long.

The follow-up to Memória das Águas was recorded in São Paulo after Fernando Falcão returned from his exile in France in 1984. In order to conceive Barracas Barrocas, the musician had the help of illustrious friends, such as singer-songwriter Alceu Valença and singer Tetê Espíndola, alongside brothers Myriam and Daniel Taubkin. At the time, Falcão was still using the sound sculptures he created for Memória das Águas, as he is credited in the liner notes for playing a "water orchestra" and his berimbau variant called balauê.

Barracas Barrocas is an album that works as a more condensed and coherent artistic statement of Falcão's œuvre. Lush strings, swelling brass, glowing production, and humming atmospheres fill the record, adding a beautiful yet subtly linked counterpoint to his previously explosive debut. It is very cinematic, sounding like the soundtrack of a play that only existed in the musician's mind.

For this release, not only the sound was remastered but the artwork of Barracas Barrocas was completely and faithfully restored. Also, the reissue comes with unprecedented liner notes featuring rare photos of the musician and his sound sculptures plus an article that tells the story of Fernando Falcão after returning to Brazil following his exile – a story that has never been told, until now.