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Recorded in 1953 and 1954 with a veritable who's who of West Coast cool jazz including backing from Zoot Sims, Bud Shank, Shelly Manne, as well as arrangements from Jack Montrose, and Shorty Rogers, Chet Baker & Strings is a beautiful and airy collection of some of Baker's most sultry trumpet work. The string section perfectly complements the cool jazz quintet backing and makes this one of the Baker's finest and most unique sets. Essential.

At a time when bandleaders in Nigeria used titles as an affectation, Dr. Adolf Ahanotu was the real deal. He had a PhD in music compilation and Master's degrees in education and communication. He also played a mean tenor sax, an instrument he mastered touring Owerri with the Mirabels. Ahanotu's scholarly background is apparent in the impeccable arrangements and the way each track is labelled with its musical type. The banging opening track, 'Sensation' is disco, notes the helpful doctor. The legendary 'Ijere' is to be considered Remire or Afro Jazz. 'Litany of Freedom' is reggae, 'Cupid' is rock and 'Tropical Moonlight' classified as the blues. The mandatory ode to the nation, 'Happy Nigeria', is labelled as calypso. But these are not dry, scholarly pieces. 'Sensation' reeks of dance floor freakiness not the hallowed halls of academia. And listen to the pitch bend craziness on 'Injere'. Sure, Dr. Ahanotu had studied the rules. But he wasn't afraid to break them. From the freaked-out opening seconds of the title track you are left in no doubt: The doctor is in the house. Mastered and produced by Goddy Oku. - Peter Moore

The self-proclaimed funkiest band on the west coast of Africa, the Heads Funk Band, could arguably make that claim for the whole continent. Featuring the slick guitar of Felix 'Feladey' Odey, the slinky drumming of Eddie Offeyi and the swirling keyboard chops of Kevin 'Fortune' Coburn, nobody was funkier. And that's not even taking into account the dance floor monsters they were releasing at the same time as Akwassa. Cold Fire was their second album as the Heads Funk Band. Where their first album, Hard World, was in a hurry to get you on the dance floor, on Cold Fire the funk is given room to breathe. The title track has a dark ghetto groove, straight from the mean streets of New York. 'Got To Know' has a loose, feel good vibe. 'Put On Your Funky Shoes' and the instrumental, 'Funky Port Harcourt' live up to their names. With Feladey laying down a hybrid chicken scratch/wah-wah sound over Eddie Offeyi's assured drumming, and 'Fortune' Coburn supplying the free-range keyboards, this is a band at the height of their powers. Cold Fire is killer stuff and proof that in the mid-seventies Nigeria was producing the funkiest bands in the world. - Peter Moore

OFO The Rock Company (originally known as OFO The Back Company) were Nigeria's first acid-rock band. Blending Hendrix and Deep Purple with shamanism and a pro-black philosophy, they cut their teeth at Fela Kuti's Afrika Shrine, developing a fearsome live reputation that intimidated every other band in Lagos. No one wanted to follow the guys from OFO, not even Fela himself. Lead by the charismatic Larry Ifedioranma, OFO The Rock Company considered themselves a musical cult. Their live shows were a heady mix of mind-melting musicianship, mysticism and theatre. In 1973 the band tour Europe and Fonkafrika gathers together the best of those performance. The moments captured range from small intimate gigs in London, where you can hear the conversation amongst the crowd, to an astonishing gig in East Germany where they played before 900,000 people. The undoubted highlight is the extended prog-rock wig out of 'Ayaya,' recorded at the Berlin gig, before an obviously delighted crowd. See if you can pick out the moment where the band were joined on stage by a long-haired hippy who insisted on playing guitar. They didn't realize it at the time but it was Carlos Santana. It was in Europe that the band fell apart, riven in two by Ifedioranma's increasingly autocratic rule. Fonkafrica remains as a precious testament to what the band did best - playing loud and proud and putting on a show you would never forget. - Peter Moore

In 2017, the Finnish jazz scene seems to bubble with talent. One of the most prominent players in this mix is by definition, trumpeter Jukka Eskola. After over a decade of adventures in different spaces of jazz - from the dance floor burn of The Five Corners Quintet to the raw expressive modes of Mikko Innanen's small big band, Jimi Tenor's cosmic jazz and his own prime CTI styled solo recordings - Eskola takes things back to bare basics. And as usual, when it's done right, it's the best thing out there.

The Jukka Eskola Soul Trio is composed of Eskola on trumpet and fluegelhorn, Mikko Helevä on organ and the Stance Brother #1 Teppo "Teddy Rok" Mäkynen on drums. When Helevä needs to take a break from the bass pedals, the trio gets assistance from Ville Herrala on the upright. In addition, tenor saxophonist Timo Lassy features on "Hong Tong" and "Subterranean Variations" and Magnus Lindgren spices the groove with his flute on "Railyard Boogie".

The Soul Trio's album is a true delight for the lovers of mid to late 1960's American soul jazz from labels like Blue Note and Prestige. At parts the approach is even less sophisticated as on "For Anne Lee", where the group proceeds to lay down some of the rowdiest bar room hard bop. Creating an extra air of hipness, the package is completed with European Clarke-Boland'ish touches that hint at reinvention more than simple emulations. This record carries all the right ingredients for a grade A contemporary jazz album: virtuoso players, who know the heritage as well as how to play around it, and who know how to work as an entity surrendering strictly to the groove.

'Voyager' is the third full-length album from LA's Moonchild, whose candid style of soul and newschool jazz has propelled them onto a swirling, emotionally charged journey of the heart. Since 2014 they have dedicated their time and energy into honing dreamlike and ethereal compositions which explore the intricacies of relationships with emotional nuance.

Since cementing themselves into the vibrant LA soul scene, Moonchild have released two albums and collaborated or toured with highly-respected names in the soul-jazz crowd including Stevie Wonder, Jill Scott, India.Arie, Leela James, The Internet (Odd Future's Syd tha Kyd & Matt Martians) and more. Along the way, Moonchild have accumulated a host of iconic supporters from Robert Glasper and Laura Mvula to James Poyser, Jazzy Jeff, Jose James, 9th Wonder and Tyler, The Creator who have all shown love for the band.
Praise for Moonchild..

The first volume from the Nelson Records series by the infamous Italian Jazz quartet! - Seminal, deep Underground session by the legendary Italian Library studio combo with tones of sleazy sounds: from the Psychedelic guitar riffs, the crazy tough Funk and the groovy sharped beats to the lovely Jazz arranged theme music influenced by Samba, Bossa Nova and Easy Listening vibes of the time. I Marc 4 provided some of the best cinematic and theme music of the time, and this is one of their deepest productions. Top Italian Library LP production!

Limited edition of 500 copies exclusive for RSD 2017.

The toughest session by the great I MARC 4 Italian Jazz Library combo. Killer album and easily on the top 3 from the Nelson series with no weak tracks at all. The music goes from insane Psychedelic tunes to Jazz, Funk and more Bossa and Lounge tracks with plenty of Fuzz guitars, amazing Hammond job, and totally catching drum Breaks. An insane trip into early gold Italian Psychedelic and Underground vibes with loads of laden beats and grooves with the mark of the legendary Italian quartet. Another essential jewel released on our label!

Limited edition of 500 copies exclusive for RSD 2017.

Legendary album among Italian Library junkies and euro groove hunters by the great maestro and orchestra conductor Puccio Roelens, responsible of some for the Funkiest productions made in Italy. Music swings from Jazz to Funk and Psichedelia, with loads of terrific beats, laden grooves and top breakbeats simply to die for. Breathtaking Psychedelic Jazz arrangements / Lounge Funk tunes / catching Bossa / terrific drums groove. One of the most desired items of the genre is finally available for the Record Store Day 2017. HOLY GRAIL ALERT!

Limited edition of 500 copies exclusive for RSD 2017.

After two incredible EPs, Wayne Snow - the Nigerian-born, Berlin-based vocalist and songwriter - now presents his debut album on Tartelet Records. Freedom TV is the natural sequel to the Max Graef-produced tasters Red Runner (2014) and Rosie (2015); a project marinated in Afro-Caribbean, soulful grooves and topped by Wayne's effortless falsetto acrobatics. As the title suggests, Freedom TV is an album with themes of liberty, struggle and creative identity pumping through its veins. Within ten tracks, Snow fluently meanders between musical styles: from low-tempo soothers like album opener "Cooler" and "Fall" to the syncopated bruk of "The Rhythm" and cosmic funk escapades found on "Nothing Wrong". Production comes from three varied and solid sources. The tag-team between Snow and fellow Berliner, Max Graef

Peter Brötzmann - tenor saxophone
Fred Van Hove - piano
Han Bennink - drums, voice
Albert Mangelsdorff - trombone

Recorded during the Free Music Market, August 27/28th, 1971 in Berlin
produced by Peter Coverdesign by Peter Brötzmann
initially released on FMP in 1971

Peter Brötzmann - tenor saxophone
Fred Van Hove - piano
Han Bennink - drums, voice
Albert Mangelsdorff - trombone

Recorded during the Free Music Market, August 27/28th, 1971 in Berlin
produced by Peter Coverdesign by Peter Brötzmann
initially released on FMP in 1971

Joe Jackson's debut single, Is She Really Going Out With Him', was not an immediate hit, however, by the time his debut album Look Sharp! was released, the song had reached charts in the U.K. and U.S., earning him a gold record. For the follow-up, he produced the top 5 hit It's Different For Girls', Joe received the highest musical accolade of the Netherlands, the Edison Award.

After two edgy new wave pop records, his next tracks included some reggae influences such as the tracks One to One' and Mad At You', while Jumpin' Jive' - recorded with jazz musicians
- was full of old jump blues and swing tunes.

The huge commercial success came with his crafted pop songs Steppin' Out' and jazzy Breaking Us In Two' climbing the charts worldwide. Joe Jackson produced even jazzier hits in 1984 such as Happy Ending', (a duet with Elaine Caswell), Be My Number Two' and You Can't Get What You Want'.

The album Big World (1986), a live album of entirely new material including Home Town', was recorded during six concerts. It is not a regular live album though, the audience was asked to be quiet during the songs and the applause was edited out.

The pop song Nineteen Forever' was part of a larger construction from the album Blaze Of Glory, designed to tell a semi-autobiographical story. In 1991 Joe Jackson decided to abandon pop once and for all in favour of more serious music. It spawned the track Stranger Than Fiction'.

Joe Jackson - COLLECTED is a comprehensive series of sounds Joe Jackson has gone through, from old to new, this collection will never get boring!

As one-third of Yellow Magic Orchestra and an Academy Award-winning composer for his work on the soundtrack for The Last Emperor, synth pop innovator Ryuichi Sakamoto is among the most groundbreaking artists to have emerged since the late 70s. A musician's musician, Ryuichi Sakamoto
has created intriguing musical unions with artists such as David Sylvian, Iggy Pop, Tony Williams, Bootsy Collins, Jacques Morelenbaum and many others.

What kind of sounds/music' do I want to listen to'

async is the answer to this question Ryuichi has asked himself for the past several years. This is the album he is the most proud of which synthesizes all of his musical and sound interests. This is a journey through analog synth, the sounds of things and of places, an imaginary soundtrack to an
Andrei Tarkovsky film and many others musical surprises.

Reaching a near-mythical status amongst fans of free jazz's most worldly intrepid explorer, these seldom heard Paris soundtrack sessions known as 'Music, Wisdom, Love' have evaded collectors' grasps and confused historians for exactly 50 years.
Instigated in Paris in 1967 and filmed during Don's downtime on a visit to the Chat qui Pe^che nightclub in March 1967 (where he played with Karl Berger, Henri Texier and Jacques Thollot), the bulk of this cinematic portrait was filmed on the streets of Paris under the direction of creative all-rounders Jean-Noe¨l Delamarre and Nathalie Perrey who, as their careers bloomed, would become pivotal figures in underground French cinema - straddling La Nouvelle Vague, adult entertainment and cinema fantastique in what can only be described as speedball cinema.
As the supportive creative family that primarily played home to French vampire / horrortica director Jean Rollin, both Nathalie and Jean-Noe¨l, his brother Jean-Philippe Delamarre and a small team of other fans of oblique media would be responsible for a vibrant micro-culture that awkwardly flourished on the outskirts on the Parisian new wave - combining comic book culture, Lettrism, sexual liberation, psychedelic rock, graphic design and (with this record as prime example) free jazz and avant-garde music. What previously might have been regarded as an unlikely coupling, with the benefit of half a century of archival hindsight, this release documents the essential cosmic collision of two fantastic planets.
Available for the first time ever and licensed from producer and director Jean-Noel Delamarre himself.

tak €2 are eight fusion-jazz and ambient tracks, recorded by di erent cologne-based musicians, composed and arranged by Gianni Brezzo. The record comes in a crayon painted cover showing a holiday landscape with beach, sea, mountains and two sunshades.

Wildheart Recordings is Theo Parrish's new London-based label. 'Sound Signature releases for the body, Wildheart is for everything else' is Theo's pithy summary of his two labels' aims and compatibility.
Day Like This and Feel Loved are the first fruits of Parrish's work with the legendary Lagosian, Tony Allen. They met initially at the Red Bull Academy in 2007 in Toronto and linked again in 2010 when they spent a couple of days together in London, again courtesy of the RBA. (Their bond was forged further when they participated in the Honest Jon's Chop Up shows in London, France and Ireland at the end of 2011). Final work on the tracks was done in 2012 when Theo brought on board vocalist Eska, Andrew Ashong (following up from Flowers with another stellar contribution here, singing and playing bass) and guitarist David Okumu.
Day Like This is masterful modern soul music. At the point where Parrish's synth stabs into Tony's groove beneath a swirl of falsetto vocals, you know it - this is a Big Tune.
Feel Loved goes deeper and for some will hit harder. An epic sweep of synth this time, around which Tony plays with growing freedom and excitement - showing again that he is the best drummer on the planet - before a majestic coda brings things to a close.
Music for everything else indeed, but by all means for the body as well. For its first release, Wildheart is giving birth to a monster.
Exclusively distributed worldwide by Honest Jon's.

Second album, originally released in 1968. More cover versions, plus two John Sangster originals. Much more eclectic selection of covers on this outing, Herbie Hancock, The Beatles, Little Anthony & The Imperials mixed in with tunes originating from France, Cuba, Zimbabwe all getting a start. Players on this album are John Sangster, George Thompson, Ed Gaston, Don Burrows, Graeme Lyall and George Golla. Produced by Pat Aulton.

Third album, originally released in 1969. His final album for Festival Records. An interpretation of the music featured in the musical, Hair along with three original electronic pieces. Undoubtably inspired by working with Tully on the Australian version of Hair. Players on this album are John Sangster, Bob McIvor, Ken Herron, Lennie Hutchinson, Derek Fairbrass, Col Nolan and Ben Turpin. Produced by Pat Aulton.