Pop & Rock Vinyl New Releases - News

Nina Simone's legendary early recordings Including My Baby Just Cares For Me,' Porgy (I Loves You Porgy),' Love Me Or Leave Me,' & Mood Indigo'

- Features 7 Unique single only versions & an alternate take of He's Got The Whole World In His Hands'

- LP configuration includes bonus 7" replica of Nina's first single Porgy (I Loves You Porgy)' b/w Love Me or Leave Me'

- Liner notes by Ashley Kahn contain new interview with bassist Al Tootie' Heath

- 2018 is the 60th Anniversary of these recording sessions

- 2018 Nominee for the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame

Moment In Time - This song is being released to mark the end of an era.

A catchy song inspired by Usain Bolt and his Jamaican team mates when they secured a record beating 1st 2nd and 3rd places in the 200 metres of the Olympics...The phrase 123 ARGUMENT DUN was coined immediately.
Written and produced in the heat of that incredibe moment by the Jamaican sax man Ray Carless & bass man Colin 'steamfish' McNeish, this anthem is performed here by UK rapper Watusi87 and soulful vocalist Emzee Haywoode.
This is our musical tribute in recognition of our legendary and Iconic Jamaican sprinter who has been showing a clean pair of heels to all-comers for quite some time now.
Lets face it, sain's been breaking records faster than us musicians can make or compose them, and we just wanted to sing his praises and express our love to the champ through song... #TheGreatest

Stunning new project from Niko Tsonev (Steven Wilson, Lifesigns) strictly limited to just 300 copies on 180g vinyl.

Earlier in 2017 Everland Jazz presented a reissue of Danser's Inferno's - Creation One, originally released in 1973. Now we present the even more obscure release The Danser Revolution by The John Danser Octet, almost impossible to find in original format. The ultra rare funky jazz LP from 1977 contains the killer funky fusion tune "Cool" known for being sampled by Gangstarr, Blackalicious and J.Dilla. At age 14, John Danser emigrated from London and established himself in New York City where he earned a master's degree in music at the Manhattan school of music. In his early years, Danser played in classical as well as jazz gigs, simultaneously arranging and composing. In the 1970's, composer and multi-instrumentalist John Danser formed Danser's Inferno, a funky Jazz-Rock-Fusion band, an ensemble of 14 very talented musicians. The John Danser Octet most probably contains the core of that same ensemble but the groups's single album is so rare that little is known about it's exact origins. So, just let the great music speak for itself. Licensed from Jessica Danser

British pianist Ashley Henry makes his major label debut with the release of the Easter EP on Silvertone / Sony Music.

Drawing influences from jazz, hip-hop and R&B, the 6-track selection is an imaginative project that boldly explores new musical territory, marking Henry out as an important new artist on the Jazz scene

Born and raised in South London, Henry graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in 2016 and has gone on to perform and collaborate with the likes of Jason Marsalis, Terence Blanchard and Jean Toussaint. Within the Easter EP, audio and visual style touchpoints include the likes of Abdullah Ibrahim, Ahmad Jamal, Sinead Harnett, Digital Underground, ZuZu and even Margot Fonteyn, Era Istrefi, Freddie Mercury and Dreezy.

Henry is beautifully influenced by his Jamaican heritage and in particular the wave of Caribbean jazz musicians from the 1950s, including the likes of Joe Harriott, Harold McNair, Dizzy Reece, Harry Beckett and Wilton Gaynair, who arrived in Britain during the jazz boom of the late post war period. Despite this eclectic range of international influences, Henry's sound remains distinctively British, crazily present and in the true tradition of jazz is bold.

The Easter EP sees Henry tackle a broad range of material in his original tracks and re arrangements of tracks by revered US rapper Nas and indie punk trio The Enemy.

A high-speed car chase between a Dodge Charger and a Ford Mustang, with super-cop Bullitt at the wheel, who forces the hitman off the road and into a petrol station, which explodes and incinerates him. Prior to that, harsh clashes of metal, hubcaps flying all over the place, and the chief character Steve McQueen, who grimly changes gears and hurtles through the streets of San Francisco, wheels screaming and rubber burning. That was how Hollywood staged one of the longest and most dramatic car chases, long before the days of the Anti-Blocking-System and Anti-Slide-Control.

Very up-to-date and just as exciting as the screenplay is the music Lalo Schifrin wrote for the film, which embeds the characters, places and events in a musical context. For example, "Bullitt": the metrically angular main theme portrays a mysterious, cool character who sums up a situation with keen alertness and then makes his attack with the speed of lightning.

Initially the music travels through easy-going Latin terrain. But gradually the rhythmic texture changes and takes a rougher path, with clicks, knocks and hammering. Legendary flute lines create a compensatory placidness with airy clouds floating above the sharp mix. A really special track is "Shifting Gears": here you can listen to Schifrin tuning the car, how he manipulates a jammed springy bossa to take on the sound of clean, smooth-running rock.

This Speakers Corner LP was remastered using pure analogue components only, from the master tapes through to the cutting head. All royalties and mechanical rights have been paid.

Previously unknown hard bop and cool jazz from Berlin Image Films of the 1960s, transferred and carefully restored from the original master tapes. All music by composer, vibraphonist and pianist Manfred Burzlaff (1932-2015), a true master of harmonies, inventing improvisational concepts and experiments somewhat comparable to the famous style of the Clarke-Boland Sextet. Lost soundtracks from promotional films for the city of West-Berlin, all original material plus versions of Mobley 's "Infra-Rae" and Tjader's "Crow's Nest". Burzlaff was one of the best European vibraphonists and a great arranger, which is not just a sentence being said because he doesn't live anymore ! Vinyl-LP exclusive & digital, with unseen photos and nicely written obituary by Tatjana Wulfert.

Incredible today: Standing on a stage with Chet Baker in the late 50s when he still had his James Dean face. Jamming with Art Farmer, Dexter Gordon, Jim Hall and Lionel Hampton, who takes Manfred Burzlaff's mallets in his hands and plays on Manfred Burzlaff's vibraphone. Bebop, Hard bop. Rich harmonic schemes, improvisation, furious playing, nervous, metropolitan. Faster and rhythmically freer than the swing music he has played before, although Glenn Miller became a sensation for the German jazz lovers, especially for Manfred Burzlaff. Now, in May 1945, one no longer has to endure march music, no staccato goose-step, no songs of perseverance, no Wagnerian pomp. One can turn on the radio, tune in to one of the American channels and then listen to this new music called Jazz ... just like that. Jazz, which was hated by the Nazis, for whom twelve-year old Manfred Burzlaff had to perform in front of military audiences, with his excellent accordion and piano skills.

After listening to Glenn Miller, Art van Dam's music on a vibraphone is another key moment. And then, a little later, Lionel Hampton "topped all previous experiences," as Burzlaff points out. Being 20 years old, he studies music at the conservatory and switches to the vibraphone, a percussion instrument similar to the marimba, except that the plates are not made of wood, but of a hard metal alloy. Now he starts to perform. "At that time smaller combos grew like mushrooms out of the ground. That's when the TABU venues came into being, a club chain where jazz was played, from nine in the evening to five in the morning. Playing there felt like slave labor. One evening maybe half an hour off. It was far from secure, and money was extremely short."

The Germans are keen to perform with the Americans. After concerts of American bands, the musicians usually gather together at the "Badewanne" ("bathtub"), a legendary club at Nürnberger Straße, where there was a tub filled with champagne, not water. Even Louis Armstrong is said to have climbed in. One evening there is a guy in the audience, Jacques Loussier, a Frenchman with a notion of jazzing up Bach. He is responsible for booking Manfred Burzlaff's band into a Parisian club without many words. Suddenly Paris. They are all really there: Chet Baker, Stan Getz, and Manfred Burzlaff is allowed to stay there for a full year. He is discovering the music of Milt Jackson, one of the greatest vibraphone players of all time. He copies him, at first, getting better and better. Usually he uses two mallets. But one day he has to work with an incompetent piano player and takes four mallets to replace him. That's the turning point: "I did not imitate Milt Jackson any longer."

When he stands there, in a suit, with cufflinks and handkerchief, bent over his instrument, striking the plates, using the pedals, with sensational speed, highly dynamic, a master of harmonies, the layering of sounds. Even at eighty, suffering now from serious illness, from cancer, but still with that feverish energy. In the middle of the night, he might call a musician from his band and say, "Listen, I've got something here," finally playing over the phone. He is one of the best vibraphonists in Europe, which is not just a sentence being said because he doesn't live anymore.

But it's not just about intoxication, feeling, spontaneity. Improvisation is not an unrestrained digression. Manfred Burzlaff is more of an intellectual guy, inventing improvisational concepts and experiments. He meets the film producer Hansjürgen Pohland. "I need a soundtrack," he says, and Manfred Burzlaff replies, "I've never written one." - "Then you'll write one now." Then he composes his first soundtrack for the short film "Schatten", which is awarded with the "Berliner Kunstpreis" ("Berlin Art Award") , Now he gets more jobs like that, for more than 40 films. Among them are not only cultural highlights but also movies for sexual education or commercials. One, however, produced for the fashion house "Max Knaak", makes it to the advertising film festival in Cannes. At least he is earning a little with these soundtracks, on top of his small concert fees .

He often performs at "Old Eden Saloon", a jazz club owned by Rolf Eden, founded long before Eden's glamorous discoteque at Kurfürstendamm. He jams every night with Albert Mangelsdorff, with Pony Pointdexter and with Art Farmer as a permanent guest. One time someone drops LSD into his drink, another time he carries Chet Baker on his back down from the stage, or a guy from the audience comes up, sticks a hundred-Mark bill to his forehead and asks him to play a very special tune. Eventually, the "Old Eden" closes and everyone moves on. Manfred Burzlaff begins to teach at the HdK art school (Hochschule der Künste) and the music school Berlin-Neukölln, builds up a mallet group, writes articles for specialist magazines, works as a lecturer in Stockholm, founds the ensemble "Mallets Ahead", composes and plays and plays and plays.

Tatjana Wulfert

Paul Who Even to those deep within the jazz cognoscenti the name Paul Jeffreys is unlikely to ring any significant bells. Beside being a featured sideman with two of the music's most demanding bandleaders - THELONIOUS MONK and CHARLES MINGUS and holding down several notable academic posts ,the last of which North Carolina's Duke University helped two generations of aspiring jazz performers gain valuable practical insights into the art form - - including Grammy winning trumpeter Terence Blanchard. Paul Jeffrey spent the majority of his lengthy career with a label that can be as much a curse as an endorsement - that of MUSICIANS' MUSICIAN.'
Paul worked with a wide range of artists, Maynard Ferguson,Howard Mcghee, Big Maybelle, BB King , Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie.The album's title The Electrifying Sounds of The Paul Jeffrey Quintet' gives it away in that it wasn't just an attempt to create genuine excitement but the fact that for much of the record Jeffrey's tenor is coonected to a Gibson Maestro Octave Box which enabled him to add either a higher or lower parallel music line to whatever he played.
This album was a most definite ground-breaker.

REPRESS ALERT! Spearheaded by Stuart Leath, Emotional Rescue is a label committed to unearthing forgotten gems and giving them the exposure they richly deserve, with all releases officially licensed by the artist and remastered in full. This 12" sees two classic tracks by the world music collective Suns of Arqa take pride of place. Incorporating elements of raga and dub, "Brujo Magic" is a much more straightforward dancefloor number than its description would suggest, with its rolling bassline and vocoder effects fusing irresistibly with its psyche-rock styles. On the B-Side, "Ananta Snake Dance" combines traditional Indian percussion and harmonium with conventional drumming to create something completely unique. A strong start to what will no doubt be an indispensable label.

180g double vinyl with digital download insert.
The definitive jazz ballads album by the greatest saxophonist in history.
Following the 50th anniversary of his death in 2017 and the release of a new documentary, Coltrane's profile couldn't be higher at this time.

The legendary Finnish pianist/composer Olli Ahvenlahti returns with his first new jazz album in 31 years! The new album "Thinking, Whistling" will be released 8 Dec by Helsinki's We Jazz Records.

The new record finds Ahvenlahti teaming up with the Jaska Lukkarinen Trio, one of the most highly-regarded ensembles in Finnish jazz. From funk-influenced acoustic jazz to heartfelt ballads, the band are delightfully in a world of their own, drawing from Ahvenlahti's effortless pianism and the trios natural swing.

As Ahvenlahti sums it up: "For me, jazz music has always been about three things: melody, harmony and rhythm."

Olli Ahvenlahti is one of the living legends in the Finnish jazz scene. His debut album was released in 1975 by the famed Love Records. DJs are likely to know him from such highly-regarded rare groove classics as "Grandma's Rockin' Chair" and "Countenance". The new album "Thinking, Whistling" presents Ahvenlahti's knack for writing catchy jazz music with a solid groove base, plus his more introspective side through the heartfelt ballads found on the new record.

- First-ever high-quality vinyl reissue

- 180-gram vinyl pressed at QRP, the trusted source for audiophile-quality records

- Lacquers cut by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio

- Vinyl housed in an old-school style heavyweight jacket

- Includes Jazz Dispensary Authorized Dealer' window cling

Flanked by a who's-who of exceptional talent, which includes Bernard Purdie on drums, Jimmy Lewis on electric bass, Grant Green on guitar, and Houston Person on tenor saxophone, Charles Kynard turns in a soulful and sublimely understated set of purely grooving soul-jazz fare. Long out of print and never reissued in the U.S. on vinyl since its original release in 1970, Afro-Disiac just might be the musical panacea you've been looking for. Features the smoldering, deep-pocket Purdie showcase, Sweetheart.'

Altoist Ernie Henry's first of three sessions as a leader, all of which were made within 16 months of his premature death, served as a strong debut.
Joined by trumpeter Kenny Dorham, pianist Kenny Drew, bassist Wilbur Ware and drummer Art Taylor, Henry - who always had a distinctive tone - performs five bop originals, plus "Gone With the Wind" and "I Should Care." Throughout the date, Henry hints strongly at the great potential he had.

Personnel:
Ernie Henry (as), Kenny Dorham (tp), Kenny Drew (p), Wilbur Ware (b), Art Taylor (d).
Recorded at Reeves Sound Studios, New York City, on August 23 (Side A) & 30 (Side B), 1956

Altoist Frank Strozier's first session as a leader has been reissued here with the original six selections joined by two additional and previously unreleased performances. The altoist's quintet consists of Miles Davis' rhythm section of the time (pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Jimmy Cobb), along with the late, great trumpeter Booker Little. The music, mostly comprised of Strozier originals, is advanced hard bop, and the music is both enjoyable and (due to Little's presence) somewhat historic.

Personnel:
Frank Strozier (alto sax), Booker Little (trumpet), Wynton Kelly (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), Jimmy Cobb (drums).
Recorded in New York City, December 9, 1959 & February 3, 1960

With 'Five Go Adventuring Again', Lundin returns to the format with which he successfully debuted on the Scandinavian jazz scene in the early eighties: drums, bass, and horns. A special format, because without the presence of a traditional chordal instrument, it appears openly and intermittently bare in its expression, while giving Lundin the optimal opportunity to present its dense, colourful music, using all the available acoustic accoutrement, including brass with mutes, his own 3 saxophones, the Bazantar bass, bells and percussion, and much more. It is the ideal setting for Fredrik Lundin as both a composer and the powerful soloist he has always been. A few years ago, on the occasion of Fredrik's 50th birthday, the Danish newspaper Politiken's jazz writer and critic Christian Munch-Hansen wrote that Lundin is considered by many to be the most complete and talented musician of his generation' and an artist with more heart than most.'

Other than four titles from 1949, this set has tenor saxophonist Harold Land's first sessions as a leader. Teamed up on the West Coast with trumpeter Rolf Ericson, pianist Carl Perkins, bassist Leroy Vinnegar, and drummer Frank Butler. Land shows that hard bop was very much alive in Los Angeles in the late '50s. His tone is cooler and softer than it would become later on, but it was already pretty distinctive. Land performs three of his swinging originals, the original version of Perkins' "Grooveyard" (which became a minor standard), an obscurity by Elmo Hope, and the standards "Speak Low" and "You Don't Know What Love
Is." This reissue also adds "Promised Land" to the original program. Fine straight-ahead music.

Personnel:
Harold Land (tenor sax), Rolf Ericson (trumpet), Carl Perkins (piano), Leroy Vinnegar (bass), Frank Butler (drums). Arrangements by Elmo Hope & Harold Land.Recorded at Contemporary's studio in Los Angeles, on January 13 & 14, 1958

Massive club floorfiller

Nat Birchall charts new paths toward spiritual communion, connecting jazz with classical Indian influences guided by the wistful flow of the harmonium.

Cosmic Language sees the UK-based saxophonist, composer and arranger return to Jazzman Records with a cross-cultural approach: an exploration of the parallel musical paths of jazz and Indian ragas. Here he takes influence from spiritual jazz forebears such as Alice Coltrane and Yusef Lateef and introduces the Indian harmonium to his band, where it takes the place of the piano. Making new connections to realise his transcendental ambitions, it's a logical next step in making music as spiritual cleanser.

The idea for the album was spawned from a one-off performance at a meditation centre, the Maharishi Golden Dome in West Lancashire. Seeking to bring a band set-up that was fitting to the quiet-minded setting, Birchall brought the harmonium with him. A small pump organ, it's an instrument he'd been in possession of for many years but hadn't previously used in his music. Building on the spiritual context of that show, and the associations of that instrument, it led naturally to the musical approach undertaken on the album.

Both the album and the show which preceded it were recorded with the same tight-knit group of players which have featured on Birchall's previous albums. All members of the group are part of the same like minded circle of Manchester-oriented jazz musicians, sharing stages and acquaintances with the likes of Matthew Halsall (a longtime collaborator with Birchall) and GoGo Penguin.

Birchall has always channeled wide-ranging ideas into music that's simple to understand, and this album is no exception. Album opener 'Man From Varanasi' is an ode to Bismillah Khan, one of Birchall's heroes of Indian music who hailed from the northern Indian city named in the title. It also sees him taking cues from the Indian raga tradition which, as with most other traditional Indian music, is a foundation which underpinned Khan's music.

Crucially, the ragas tap into the idea of of music as a means of spiritual release. As Birchall explains, "The whole act of making music is a spiritual experience. It's during performance and when playing music that I look for a kind of truth. It's with music where I find myself feel closest to attaining that 'enlightened' kind of feeling." "On rare occasions I've actually felt as though I was listening to the music being played rather than being involved in making it, almost like an out-of-body experience."

This natural feeling comes from Birchall's attitude toward jazz music. He sees it as an essential part of day-to-day life: instead of brightly-lit, occasional entertainment in lugubrious concert halls, he considers it an everyday, vital source of inspiration. At a moment where jazz-influenced music is undergoing creative renewal and wider appreciation, it's an important perspective that's found resonance elsewhere. His experiences and the world around him are filtered through his music, and he looks to have his music - be it live or on record - absorbed in the same quotidian way. "To me, it's an integral part of society, an everyday thing," he says. "You should hear the music every day."

And so, steadily, Roberto Musci's works are being made available for our listening pleasure. Soave's edition of 'the complete sessions' of The Loa of Music, Musci's debut album from 1984, is now flanked by Urban and Tribal Portraits, another milestone from 1988, a key collaboration with fellow sidereal world traveler Giovanni Venosta, whose essential and amazing debut album Olympic Signals was also recently repressed. While a number of the recordings that comprise this particular work have been (relatively) available --through a ReR anthology that also included tracks from the other Musci/Venosta collaboration, Water Messages on Desert Sand as well as some integrated in the Music From Memory compilation, Tower of Silence, released under Musci's name only—this is indeed the first time one can listen to this fundamental work as it was meant to be heard. Not a minor detail for a work that was obviously conceptually and narratively rigorously conceived by Musci and Venosta.

And what a listen it is.


Urban and Tribal Portraits reaffirms the idea of postmodern pastiche as a multimedia multisensory experience and sound as an ecosystem that is both aleatory and concrete, ephemeral and durable. In these binary paradoxes, a radical notion of the nature of collaboration, that is both chance induced and conversely conceptually worked out, is also established. The result is a work that exposes the fixed assumptions about the constructed boundaries and flows between musical traditions and practices. On its own this is the ultimately problematic place where many of the so-called musics concerned with the world reach an impasse, incapable as they are of questioning their own basic assumptions and ultimately end up strengthening those very same boundaries and flows that they had apparently set out to challenge. Musci and Venosta go further, principally and more fundamentally, by picking away at the margins of pure sonorous events and musical material, noise and sonance. In doing so,Urban and Tribal Portraits repoliticizes the notion of pastiche, engaging as it does in a kind of ecopractice, turning the process rather than the musical object into the poetic focus of the work. Fixed categories are rendered ephemeral, temporal and spatial categories including the margins, so hard to overcome, between composition, improvisation, authorship, recordedness and live performance are deconstructed. In the end, where one would expect seriousness there is levity and where one might see some postmodern appropriative ironic juxtaposition there is intensity and respect of the magical organicness of the material sources.


Like much Italian experimental music from that magical decade of the 80s this is not your dad's fourth world music, with all of its ambiguous aestheticism of 'unifying' some not so well defined primitivism of 'world ethnic styles' with the futuristic sounds of whatever 'advanced electronic techniques' were the platter du jour. In this sound the 8-bits of the E-Mu Emax is as primitive as the Jews Harp while the electronically treated Pygmy chants turn out to be as futuristic as the multi-timbral capacities of the OB-8.


From the funk ostinatos of El Lamento de Los Ayatollah' where Venosta showcases his straight piano playing to the rarefied queer guitar arpeggios in Tamatave', the peaceful ripples in Dialogue Between a Dreamer and Others', the playfulness of Starfish & Kangaroos' or the post-punkish This Heat/Cabaret Voltaire aggression in The Fear of a Soldier' this is destabilization as praxis, a shifting of the ground. The new cover image, that replaces the ethno patchwork of the original sleeve (beautiful as it was) is indeed more to the point: Sven Hedkin's photograph of early 20th century Tibetan death masks is at once urban and tribal, surrealist in its uncanniness. Just like in surrealist praxis these sounds offer some kind of redemption: sounds used in alternative ways, distinct from their usual connections, deconstructed. A DIY bricolage: a destructuring of everyday sound objects towards new uses fed by local ecosituated experiences, transformative of performance and listening. Surrealist 'musicking' indeed.

-Peter Sarram

- 180-gram vinyl pressed at Quality Record Pressings (QRP)

- Back in print after 40+ years

- Vinyl housed in an old-school style tip-on jacket

- Includes Jazz Dispensary "Authorized Dealer" window cling


An unsung monster in the pantheon of exceptional soul-jazz outings from the Prestige catalog, Fire Eater finds Bryant grooving hard in a combo that featured Idris Muhammad on drums, Wilbert Longmire on guitar, and both Bill Mason and Leon Spencer Jr. on organ. Included in this stretched-out, funky set of four originals is the title track, Fire Eater,' which was sampled for Swing Set' by Jurassic 5 (2000) and appeared on the 1999 collaboration between DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist, Brainfreeze. While not as instantly recognizable by name as other greats of the tenor saxophone such as John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins, Bryant's fiery and athletic approach on this set sets him apart from his peers as a force to be reckoned with. In the strident groove and funky underpinnings of Fire Eater is the blueprint for generations of future groovers and funkateers. Essential.

Sole release by this Colombian band that surfaces briefly after the Speakers, Young Beats, Ampex and Time Machine era comes to an end. The band boasts an Italian jazz-rock drummer Roberto Fiorilli and legendary Genesis Bassist Humberto Monroy. The record consists of one theme divided into two long experimental progressive ventures (Viaje I and Viaje II) of fierce, fluid and free collective improvisation with spacey feels and a rich texture of Hammond organ, guitar, bass, tenor sax, percussion and drums that takes the listener on a trippy psychedelic krautrock-sounding out there' voyage.. First performed live at the Festival de la vida' in Bogotá in 1970 with an audience of close to ten thousand, Siglo Cero's concert was then recorded in the legendary Ingeson studio with the same musicians and same production as the live gig. This concert became a pivotal and highly influential experience for an entire generation of soon to be Colombian rockers who tuned-in to the irreverent breaking of boundaries that this music showcased. Comes with liner notes From Zodiaco co-founder Álvaro Díaz Manrique.

This fully licensed album is released in high quality heavy paste-on gatefold cover, limited to 500 copies in black vinyl

A mixture of live recording and studio post-production, 'On Jupiter' sounds unique to any other album Sun Ra made. The arkestra reflects a disco pulse right back on itself, and delivers one of the most cohesive albums of their career. The title track is a masterpiece of gentle atonal harmony, while 'UFO' pushes along at a cracking disco-ish pace with fierce brass and spacey dub effects. This a timeless Ra classic.

Our latest examination of Esoteric, Modal & Progressive Jazz of the 20th Century has taken us to Japan. The liberating force of jazz has been created and felt all around the world, but few nations on earth embraced the jazz message with the passion and intensity of Japan. From the dawn of the jazz age to the present day, Japanese audiences have been renowned tastemakers, enthusiasts and champions of the music - in the 1980s, Japan was the biggest per capita market in the world for jazz records, and it has even been said that Japanese jazz fans kept the jazz record industry alive through the lean years of the 1970s, when the music fell from commercial favour in the land of its birth.

But while the jazz aficionados of Japan are celebrated as sophisticated fans and consumers of the music, comparatively little is known outside Japan of the remarkable and abundant music produced by generations of Japanese jazz musicians. Numerous Japanese jazzers have found enormous success on the international stage - Toshiko Akiyoshi, Sadao Watanabe, Teramasu Hino, and many others are household names among jazz listeners all over the world, and with good reason. But if such global figures are put aside, the stunning heritage of Japanese jazz remains poorly understood outside Japan. As a result, the work of many celebrated Japanese jazumen has remained largely unknown to international audiences, and the extraordinary scope and depth of Japanese jazz has not been widely recognised.

Compiled for the Spiritual Jazz series in collaboration with the celebrated collector and DJ Yusuke Ogawa (Deep Jazz Reality, Tokyo), this 2CD/twin set of double LPs aims to correct that omission by uncovering the uniquely deep sound of esoteric, modal and progressive jazz from Japan - music of the heart, soul and Japanese spirit!

Each 2LP set comes complete with OBI strip and thick, textured sleeve. Our extensive liner notes extend onto printed inners, and are in both Japanese and English.

This is a journey into sound. A series of journeys across the globe, in-fact. This time with Don Leisure from Darkhouse Family. Let us tell you a story. Firstly, we first need to answer a question. Who is Shaboo

It began in Africa. Nasser Barwani was the son of Shabudin. At the age of 15, Nasser (Don's Uncle) left Kenya and hitch-hiked his way to London. Nasser entered the movie business, occasionally finding himself in front of the camera, acting in Bollywood films. It was then that Nasser changed his surname to adopt a screen name - Shaboo.

According to Don, "Shaboo was the most colourful character in my family. I have fond memories of him playing tabla at family parties. When I was about 17, I was on a journey with my Uncle. Whilst Shaboo drove me around, he was playing the steering wheel as if it were a tabla. It was then I nervously asked "do you think, one day, I'd be able to make music too...". Shaboo was so furious he nearly crashed the car, slamming his hand hard against the wheel. He screamed "OF COURSE YOU WILL!! IT IS IN YOUR BLOOOOOD!!!"...

A week later, inspired by the creative energy of my Uncle, I acquired some music software, and began an all new journey. A journey through the beats..."

Long family car journeys were a constant in Don Leisure's life growing up. "We'd take frequent trips from Wales to London to visit family in the late 80s / early 90s. There I'd mainline into my cousin's record collections, and make full use of the signal radiance to the M4, searching the airwaves for pirate radio stations. However, I wasn't the only one to make use of this. Every trip, my parents would routinely tune their dial into Sunrise Radio - the only Asian radio station around back then.

The soundtrack of these road trips were somewhat unique. Whilst I tried to learn the lyrics to 90s hip hop songs taped off my cousins, my Mum would constantly interrupt, interspersing my boom bap with bonkers Indian radio ads. And here we have the premise of this album. An attempt to recreate this sonic mix, with sounds pulled in from dusty crates and breaks dug from all over the globe."

25 instrumental Hip Hop tracks, linked together in a truly unique style and fashion, this is much more than a beat tape. This is a journey into sound. For real.

Dedicated to Nasser 'Shaboo' Bharwani.

A child virtuoso whose piano recitals were local events, Nina Simone started her musical career as a classically trained pianist, strongly rooted in the works of Bach, and became a singer almost by accident. The rest is history.

Her recordings, over the next five decades, earned her cult status, critical acclaim and reached the top of the charts on many occasions. Between 1959 and 1964, she was signed to Colpix, who relinquished all creative control to her, including the choice of material. Her voice at her finest, she worked her way through jazz and blues standards like 'The Work Song' and 'I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)', folk tunes like 'Little Liza Jane' and 'Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair', her very own 'Blackbird' and 'I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl'.

This compilation gathers all the singles released by Colpix with their original edits, in mono*.
*7 of these edits available for the first time since first released.

The Influencing Machine is the third album by the uniquely creative mind of pianist, keyboardist and composer Elliot Galvin. A maverick musician with a vision like no other of his generation. His bold and idiosyncratic approach has seen him build a reputation as one of the rising stars of European Jazz and improvised music, alongside being a key member of Mercury Music Prize nominated band Dinosaur. Elliot has an uncanny ability to create a truly individual musical sound from a disparate world of influences where the old meets the new.
Inspired by the book 'The Influencing Machine: James Tilly Matthews and the Air Loom' by Mike Jay and the parallels between the life and times of James Tilly Matthews and the modern world

The Influencing Machine is a sonic exploration of the human mind, technology and our postmodern age, featuring bassist Tom McCredie and drummer Corrie Dick. This album demonstrates a step forward in production and performance by Elliot. Each track is inspired by an overriding concept, that also works to bind the album into a whole making for a unique and compelling listen. The Influencing Machine sees Elliot hone his sonic approach by incorporating a number of electronic sounds to add to his already considerable acoustic pallet: analogue synthesisers, Hammond organ, self-hacked children's toys found in charity shops and many more. Long-time collaborator Tom McCredie augments his formidable double bass playing with the addition of electric guitar to powerful effect. All the components are bound together by the inimitable drumming of Corrie Dick.

Jazzwise Magazine Feature confirmed in Feb issue - 15 date UK Tour in March 2018 including 2 night residency at The Vortex. High profile performance in Paris on 9th May supporting Craig Taborn.

Ernie Hawks' debut album "Scorpio Man" is nearly here, and about to be released during the first quarter of 2018. The way will be paved with a fresh 7" single that lifts the gritty jazz funk of "Scorpio Walk" from the album on the A side and pairs it up with the mystic groover "Message of Love", a non-LP track only available on this release.

As the track to start up the upcoming album, "Scorpio Walk" rushes on like a manic villain from an art house spy film. A groove made of a murmuring fuzz bass and a surf guitar is suddenly released into heavenly choruses, where the man of the hour lifts the ambiance with a series of lyrical flute solos.

"Message of Love" sounds like an homage to the gently pulsing library music funk from the mid 1970's. Ernie's flute lead is accompanied by bubbling Fender Rhodes, which carries the track forwards like a shy cousin of Michel Sardaby's "Welcome New Warmth". Seductive male vocal wailing haunts in the background, while the track proceeds without haste in its realm of lost budget X-rated movie soundtracks.

James Allsopp leads on a third set of standards with the established rhythm section of Tim Giles, Riaan Vosloo & Ross Stanley.

He has worked with many other wonderful people including Django Bates, Brian Irvine, Stan Sultzmann, Polar Bear, Tom Rainey, Graham Collier, David Axelrod, Jamie Cullum, Kenny Wheeler, Mark Lockheart, Ingrid Laubrock, Mulatu Astake, The Heliocentrics and Tom Arthurs to name a few!

The record was recorded direct to 2 track tape in a three hour session. It has been played by Jamie Cullum & Gilles Peterson on their radio shows but our favourite reviews are from the fans:

Chris Edwards"A moment of silence to respect the level of musicianship here. These guys really know how to talk to each other. Every topic in the album is maturely discussed. A group as tight-knit as this hasn't been heard since the 50's. Allsopp has a very specific sound that is solid like Getz and yet delicate like Desmond, a sound I can't put my finger on. The only way to put it is that he sounds like James Allsopp. I had no choice but to get the LP, where it has earned its spot here in Cali next to Baker, Mulligan, Pepper, and all alike. You'd be a fool to go on without it. A toast.Favorite track: My One And Only Love."

The current resurgence of jazz in all its' forms has certainly been impossible to ignore in recent times - from the chart-bound, mainstream crooning of Gregory Porter, to the left field 'jazz not jazz' soundscapes of Kamasi Washington, Moses Boyd, Nubya Garcia and Snarky Puppy proves this is a worldwide phenomenon. One artist who has been been ploughing this furrow in the southern hemisphere for longer than most is Lance Ferguson. As the driving force behind The Bamboos, Cookin' On 3 Burners, Lanu, and the Black Feeling series, these are the varied and versatile projects on which he has built an enviable reputation.

Menagerie 'They Shall Inherit' saw the light of day in 2012 (Tru Thoughts Records) and established the fact that jazz of the contemporary type could reach back to it's essential roots and present itself, refreshed and vital for a contemporary audience.

Lance himself explains: "The Arrow Of Time' draws its inspiration conceptually from the themes of space exploration, human evolution and the future of humankind. It's pretty big stuff to be underpinning an album of modal Jazz tunes - but the main message is one of hope, and I hope that comes across in the music"

Late 2017 saw the 2 track album sampler 'Evolution/Arrow Of Time' create a genuine buzz of anticipation, being playlisted on Jazz FM, and also supported by Jamie Cullum (BBC Radio 2) and both Don Letts & Gilles Peterson on their BBC 6 Music shows - having as it does the spirit of deep jazz, but combining an accessible sound that reached way beyond the usual jazz hungry audience - due in one part to Evolution's immensely catchy hooks, with the voice of Fallon Williams focusing the listeners attention on the philosophical themes Lance highlighted above. Now the album, laid out in its' entirety can be experienced, attempting to encapsulate the music with the written word feels like a somewhat futile exercise, so it is best to consider Lance Fergusons' final thoughts about its inspiration, influences and ongoing appeal.

"The sound of record labels like Strata East, Tribe and Black Jazz has been a massive influence on Menagerie. To me that sound is timeless, exciting and just as vibrant as a musical format in 2018 - and the proof is that we're hearing more and more young musicians embracing it"

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.

The vinyl version of the album is housed in an "old-style" high gloss tip-on sleeve. The album comes with the first issue of "Mopo Zine" (12 pages), edited by Mopo, plus digital download with 2 bonus tracks.

KEY POINTS: First ever release of radio sessions recorded in Philadelphia around 1974-5 features newly commissioned artwork by Guy Denning, pioneering artist from Bristol's urban art scene + new sleeve notes by Paul Griffiths - Remastered by Technology Works from the original master tapes - Official release in conjunction with Sun Ra LLC FOR FANS OF: Miles Davis, Kamasi Washington, John Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, Fletcher Henderson, Batman, Gershwin, The Pyramids, Salah Ragab, doo-wop, be-bop, Philip Cohran, Jerry Dammers, Gilles Peterson, Shabaka Hutchings