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Pianist, drummer, composer and producer Hamish Balfour presents jazz funk, soul and electronic music, bridging the gap from classic Blue Note to Warp via Sonar Kollektiv on Running Colours, his electrifying debut album for London's Shapes of Rhythm Records.

Praised by Jazzwise for hissolo flourishes and sidestepping harmonies, Hamish Balfour should be a recognisable face to jazz addicts. The go-to keys player has performed and recorded alongside American jazz drumming legend Harvey Mason, Tenderlonious, The Temptations, Odyssey, Faze Action, Yolanda Charles' Project PH, Bassically, Nim Quartet and Yam Who. Popping up not only in the credits of many sought-after albums, but also Channel 4, ITV and BBCprogrammes for his compositions on various shows.

Over the course of eleven tracks, Balfour folds in and explores his influences, with a wide yet highly cohesive and strong palette of sounds, whilst interacting with high caliber guest vocalists such as spoken word artist and broken beat icon, Lyric L(Seiji,Nathan Haines), London Elektricity and Hospital Records' star vocalist Elsa Esmeralda, award-winning and chart-storming singer-songwriter Belle Humble (Freestylers, Paloma Faith) and soul and house mainstay Andre Espeut (Afriquoi,Simbad,Faze Action).

Responsible for all piano, synths, percussion and production on the album, Balfour's musicality shines through, a reminder of how overdue this debut album as leader is. However, in addition to the incredible vocalists, he's joined by some of the UK's finest jazz musicians: James Copus (trumpet), Pete Matin (bass), Laurie Lowe and Saleem Raman (drums) and Rob Updegraff (guitar).

Elsa Esmeralda implores us 'not to be afraid' on lead single and title track Running Colours. A perfect invitation to get stuck into this many layered album. Balfour compliments Esmeralda's soothing vocals with delicate piano intro before Lowe's bruk-easque drums and lead an irresistible groove bedded in warm synths and guitar licks.

Yes or No showcases Loose Lips legend Lyric L contemplating the uncertainty of love over a swinging mid-tempo jazz funk boogie groove propelled by tight drums and Hammond chords, closing with a flying trumpet solo from Copus, weaving around Balfour's nimble keys.

Wealth, featuring singer/songwriter Belle Humble, displays incredible depth and restraint. Humble delivers the enticing vocal with ease, as it slides over the intricate webs of jazz fusion and electronics.

Mogul is arguably Running Colours' curveball. An eastern-inspired whirlwind of all manner of synths and twisting drums which constantly morph throughout. Guitars and trumpets take turns to solo on a track that feels like a series of questions that we never quite get answers to.

Balfour's ability to merge free wheeling jazz and fusion with timeless electronic production and soulful compositions is also apparent on instrumental pieces such as Reflector 28. Here, we find the musicians upbeat, uplifting, progressive and playful, showcasing the keys whilst the bass underpins the groove.

South Of The Sun is Running Colours' laid-back moment with Roy Ayers-type vibrations as bass and drums sit in the pocket (at least to begin with), whilst a Rhodes weaves its magic. Like many of the album's tracks we take a few twists and turns before returning to our main feel-good motif.

Hamish's long awaited debut is sure to exceed the expectations of those who know him already, whilst introducing a whole new audience to his wealth of talent and originality.

Following in the footsteps of UK jazz heavyweights, Nubya Garcia, Ashley Henry & Kaidi Tatham, London-based, Berklee-trained drummer/composer and Jazz FM's Breakthrough Act of 2021, Jas Kayser unveils her much anticipated debut album in 2022 for Jazz re:freshed's iconic 5ive series.

With meditative jazz arrangements, finessed afrobeat fusions and energising studio production, Jas 5ive offers a sincere and candid reflection on themes of identity, self-discovery and family as well as navigating deep questions, from Jas's upbringing to her travels abroad.

The trajectory of 26-year old, Dorset-raised Kayser since gaining her undergrad and Masters from Berklee has been quietly exponential performing in bands led by a who's who of UK talent from Alfa Mist, Poppy Ajudha, Nubya Garcia and Shabaka Hutchings, to Brit Award and Grammy-nominated singer Jorja Smith. She's also presented her band at Boiler Room Festival for gal-dem and will showcase at Jazz re:freshed's SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas in 2022. Even rock legend Lenny Kravitz invited Jas to perform a drum duet and cameo in his 2018 'Low' video (currently sitting at 96 million Youtube streams).

But it's Jas's latest solo work packed full of influences ranging from Michael Olatuja, Richard Bona, Terri Lyne Carrington to Chris Dave and Pedrito Martinez that provides the most detailed account of her complete abilities as drummer, bandleader and composer.

Expanding on the strong West African foundation of her Fela-inspired, 2020 three track EP, Unforced Rhythm Of Grace, Jas 5ive deduces the similarities between afrobeat and jazz with a technical precision and social/cultural framing.

The 5ive's mellow, pop-infused production and catchy arrangements echo the many hours Jas has spent with the UK's latest chart-bound talent.

Encouraged by mentors (Terri Lyne Carrington, Danilo Perez, Ralph Peterson, Neal Smith) to address social concerns and exploring her dual heritage during time spent in the US, Panama and the UK, Jas enlists her twin brother, spoken word artist Aalvk and jazz vocalist Ava Joseph on her 5ive, posing questions surrounding migration, tolerance and identity.

"I can feel myself not liking what I seem to be/I don't know what you see", sings Ava on opening track and first single, Darkness In The Light. Nods to Afroswing and Salsa are in equal measure before adrenaline-fuelled Jas hits 100 on the heavy percussive outro. Dreams' ethereal afrobeat meets rousing Brazilian charanga-style polyrhythms before the Sahelian/Malian pop-sounding guitar licks on Jamie's Blues had Aalvk's vivid account on microaggressions and their unravelling impact, bounce off blazing off blazing horn lines on Half-Race Face. Stupid On The Beat closes, the percussion propulsive, the riff reminiscent of a weighty 70s dancefloor funk stomp.

Jas 5ive manages to synthesise an international palette of sounds but distill it through a thrilling UK jazz filter. "Tony Allen is my OG. Afrobeat actually made me fall back in love with jazz. They are both really connected. In Panama I got really into salsa, rumba, Cuban and Panamanian music. Connecting all these rhythms feels very natural".

Whether it's drum theory or the social function of art you sense that Jas is resolute and clear in her musical vision. She's focused on shifting perceptions around women in the jazz world, citing underrepresentation amongst other factors as to why there are so few female drummers working in music today.

“Jas’s 5ive reveals a glimpse into the future of one of UK’s most exciting young artists/instrumentalists”
— Review Sphere

“The album is going to be wonderful. Jas is a wonderful drummer, musician and assembler of fine musical ideas”
Jamie Cullum — Radio 2

In 1962 Martin left his record label Capitol and signed with Frank Sinatra’s new label Reprise. His debut album for them was French Style, released in April of that year. Martin had recently released an album of songs sung in Italian and would go on to record an
album of Latino material at the end of that year. French Style came in between the two, and collected a number of songs about France ably arranged by conductor Neal Hefti. At this point, France must have seemed impossibly glamorous, with Brigitte Bardot swanning
around St Tropez, while Grace Kelly raced her sports car around the clifftops of Cannes in Hitchcock’s To Catch A Thief. Beatniks filled the jazz cafés, where the New Wave of French cinema was being discussed over Disques Bleu and café au lait. What’s more, the
majority of songs in this collection focus on Paris – and the City of Lights has been a magnet for Americans ever since the days when Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald and Cole Porter first took up residence there. French Style is delivered with his trademark
charm and ease. So, bon appetit!

'Beileid' is the seventh album by the jazz/ambient band Bohren & Der Club Of Gore (the slowest band in the world), initially released on CD in 2011. The album is now being released on vinyl for
the first time ever.
'Beileid' features a cover of the song 'Catch My
Heart' by German heavy metal band Warlock. This cover is also the band's first track to feature vocals, delivered here in fine style by Mike Patton (Faith No More)

First Lady of Song Ella Fitzgerald overcame the challenges of a tumultuous youth through music, her performances with the Chick Webb Orchestra at the Savoy Ballroom and distinctive scat singing leading to early recordings and the 1938 breakthrough, ‘A Tisket A Tasket.’ After recording bebop LPs for Decca, manager Norman Granz launched the Verve label to allow her to broaden her musical horizons, exploring the Great American Songbook. Released in 1960, Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas sees her tackle Christmas classics as only Ella can, the lavish orchestration overseen by noted conductor Frank de Vol.

Following his discharge from Army Service in 1960, Elvis Presley and his Manager Colonel Tom Parker had eschewed live performance and concentrated instead on Elvis's burgeoning film career. A steady stream of record releases kept Elvis's worldwide audience of fans happy, and June 1962 saw the release of this non-soundtrack LP. Pot Luck reached No.1 in the U.K and No. 4 in the U.S.A due to the compositions Kiss Me Quick, Suspicion (which went on to become one of his outstanding songs of the period), I'm Yours and That's
Someone You Never Forget (co-written by Elvis with Red West). By the end of 1962, Elvis was set to remain at the top of the tree. But this was the year which saw The Beatles and Bob Dylan make their recording debuts. The times were, indeed, a-changin'!

Few acts have better captured angst and the agony of young love other than The Everly Brothers. As well as those inimitable harmonies, fantastic songs and Chet Atkins' superb production, the Everlys' success owed much to the fact that Don and Phil were barely out of their teens, and so filled every song with real feeling. Their first recordings led to a series of hits that would come to define the harmonious Rock & Roll of the period; Bye Bye Love, Wake Up Little Susie, All I Have To Do Is Dream, Claudette (penned by Roy Orbison), Bird Dog, Devoted To You, Let It Be Me, When Will I Be Loved, So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad), Walk Right Back, Ebony Eyes and Crying In The Rain. For their influence on The Beatles alone, the Everly Brothers are owed a huge debt of gratitude. The collection of songs found here span Country, Folk, Rock & Roll and Pop, and demonstrate just how influential Don and Phil were on popular music, beginning with those very first sessions in front of their parent's microphone.

If one single song is indelibly associated with Johnny Cash, it has to be I Walk The Line - the song that landed him his first American hit in October 1956. But for many, Cash is defined by a single line from Folsom Prison Blues. “I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die…”
confirmed Cash as a hard-living, fast-shooting guy (Don’t Take Your Guns To Town; Bonanza!) and also saw him identifying with prisoners and prison life. The ‘Man in Black’ had become a friend of Presidents and pop idols; a man whom stars like Bono and Bob Dylan deferred to; a legend courted by fans such as Quentin Tarantino and Johnny Depp.

And though a lot has been written about Johnny Cash since he died in 2003, questions remain about how this man came to dominate the world of popular music - but here, in your hands, are sixteen reasons why…

Few acts have better captured angst and the agony of young love other than The Everly Brothers. As well as those inimitable harmonies, fantastic songs and Chet Atkins' superb production, the Everlys' success owed much to the fact that Don and Phil were barely out of their teens, and so filled every song with real feeling. Their first recordings led to a series of hits that would come to define the harmonious Rock & Roll of the period; Bye Bye Love, Wake Up Little Susie, All I Have To Do Is Dream, Claudette (penned by Roy Orbison), Bird Dog, Devoted To You, Let It Be Me, When Will I Be Loved, So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad), Walk Right Back, Ebony Eyes and Crying In The Rain. For their influence on The Beatles alone, the Everly Brothers are owed a huge debt of gratitude. The collection of songs found here span Country, Folk, Rock & Roll and Pop, and demonstrate just how influential Don and Phil were on popular music, beginning with those very first sessions in front of their parent's microphone.

Matthew Halsall hat uns in diesem Jahr bereits mit einer wunderschön konzipierten EP beglückt, und nun hat er mit 'Changing Earth' ein weiteres perfekt gestaltetes Mini-Album oder EP mit vier Tracks vorgelegt. Während die Musik auf 'The Temple Within' aus der Energie der monatlichen Sessions der Band bei Yes in Manchester entstand, ist 'Changing Earth' ein eher meditatives, spirituelles Angebot.

Essential 7” only mixes from funk legends Pleasure featuring two exclusive versions taken from the original session recordings available here for the first time. The previously unreleased 45 Mix of their 1975 classic jazz dance rare groove spin ’Straight Ahead’ coupled with their 1977 b-boy anthem ‘Can’t Turn You Loose’. This single covers all the angles for soul-funk fans and b-boys alike.

New, extraordinary music by Cosmic Vibrations ft Dwight Trible. An interplanetary journey from this new, LA based 6-strong ensemble of experienced musicians that define spiritual jazz in the 21st century.
This is a genre-defying amalgam of divine vocals by Dwight Trible, Sun Ra-esque jazz with world influences, laced with indigenous instruments, taking you into a cosmic journey of spiritual improvisation and beyond. Cosmic Vibrations’ Pathways & Passages is an awakening, an opportunity to soar deeper into an altered awareness, an unfolding from a multi faceted cosmic realm into the Cosmos. Simply superb.

repress on RED vinyl

Jack the hipster. A musician's musician. The white negro from the docks. Jack Sels has been given many nicknames throughout the years. The Antwerp saxophone player who died at the mere age of 48 in 1970, remains Belgium's most mythical jazz musician, both to those who knew him during his lifetime and those who only know him from the stories and there are quite some stories to be told about Jack Sels. Throughout his career, he would play with jazz legends such as Dizzy Gillespie, Lester Young, Lou Bennett and Lucky Thompson, but he remained virtually unknown outside Belgium due to his reluctance to leave Antwerp.
Almost fifty years after his death, Jack Sels remains Belgium's most intriguing jazz musician. Partly due to his limited discography, he is overlooked by a wider audience. Yet, his contribution to the development of the modern jazz scene in Belgium cannot be overestimated, and neither can his influence on his fellow musicians, to whom he was the embodiment of jazz. As vibraphone player Fats Sadi once said: 'I loved Jack. He had never studied music and didn't have the least bit of technique. But if Jack played, the gates of heaven opened. Jack was more jazz than jazz itself.''Minor Works' is a collection of rare, previously unreleased recordings paying homage to the life and jazz of the enigmatic musician.




















D3. Jack Sels - Gemini
D4. Jack Sels - It Might As Well Be Spring

After a recent 7" single release, Bongo Joe Records follow the debut album from Nyati Mayi & The Astral Synth Transmitters. Nyati Mayi, a Belgo-Congolese multi-instrumentalist, singer and improv dancer has joined up with DJ & producer Sofa Elsewhere. After a performance at this year's BBC Radio 3 After Dark Festival the duo have a busy live summer in Europe including a show a the Best Kept Secret Festival. Early support from Worldwide FM, Late Junction and AfroBase.

The phenomenal debut album by an extraordinary keyboardist and
composer Surya Botofasina.

Surya was taught in the tradition of Alice Coltrane, by Swamini
Turiyasangitananda herself, at her Ashram in California where he grew up.
Produced by and co-performed with Carlos Ni o in Los Angeles, this is a unique, deep listening masterpiece of spiritual jazz and meditative sounds from a progressive Sonic Artist devoted to: "OneLove. Family. Music."

Encompassing elements of experimental techno, ambient, dub and jazz; sonic scientist Pie Eye Collective - the solo project of Bristol-born, London-based Matthew Gordon - returns with second album ‘Tangential City’, an instrumental exposition of how people experience different lives in the same city.

With debut album ‘Salvation’ released in 2021, Matthew Gordon gained emphatic support from Mary Anne Hobbs, Jamz Supernova and Tom Ravenscroft at BBC Radio 6 Music and Radio 1Xtra. His one-man live show saw him experimenting in venues around London and supporting luminaries including Emma-Jean Thackray, Ben Marc, and Richard Spaven.

Pie Eye Collective’s voice remains clear in this new record, while hinting at exciting new developments in an ongoing exploration of rhythm and frequency. With a quasi-scientific, research based approach to music making, Pie Eye Collective creates an organic collage of evocative sounds, which could be filed alongside records by Theo Parrish, Lorraine James or Space Afrika. Personally influenced by mathematics, graphs, geometry, and calculus; his genre-melding music draws equally from jazz and soul music, both ancient, contemporary, and futuristic. Time signatures, sometimes hard to pin down, only lead to a more hypnotic sense of being afloat in a sea of harmonics and strangely familiar musical memories. Melodic and full of spatial movement, momentary pulses, and interjection; it is music that wants you to free yourself completely and wash over you.

One person has a different experience of living in a city to that of another. Barred by accessibility, wealth, race, gender, nationality; parts of the city are opened or closed to the individual with or without their knowledge. Impressions can either diverge and deviate so much that they could be describing entirely separate places, or be so similar they could be living the same life. Multiply this by the several million people that live next to each other and a wildly fractured vision appears. A multiverse of possible experiences. Can the paths of these separate existences be unlocked and traversed? 'Tangential City' is the point of intersection.

“'Tangential City' was coined by my younger brother to describe our neurodivergent conversational style,” says Gordon, “hopping around seemingly unrelated topics that are connected to each other by infinitesimal tangents. I’ve adopted 'Tangential City' as an expression of the real and metaphysical liminal realities we all exist in. It’s the atlas of my musical/artistic mind.”

The album’s first single ‘Land of Wood and Water’ is the definition of the Taíno word ‘xaymaca’, which is the indigenous name of the island of Jamaica. Gordon says “I’d like to think this music sounds Jamaican but from a very slightly different time-line.”

‘Axiom’ is named after the mathematical statements that serve as foundations from which other statements are logically derived (e.g., the parallel postulate of euclidean geometry). “One can similarly re-derive elements of the Pie Eye Collective sound if working from the axioms that 1. within a piece of music, more than one tempo can exist in a superposition of states; 2. there is no intrinsic value to the 4/4-time signature.”

‘Pie’s Eyes’ is the fourth and most recent addition to the growing Pie Eye Collective + Hector Plimmer songbook (the first and second appeared on Hector’s second album ‘Next To Nothing’, the third arrived on PEC’s debut ‘Salvation’). “Our creative process is very natural, spontaneous and fluid”, says Gordon. “When we write together we bounce around the studio playing with synthesizers, drum machines and bits of percussion. This track is like the playful, unbounded, collaborative dance we do.”

This second-hand record is available through our collaboration with Parisian shop Dizonord, all items are in NM condition. Just add them to your order as you'll add any other releases. Limited quantities!
Dizonord met Jean-Jacques Birgé from Un Drame Musical Instantané and GRRR label before Dizonord was created. Jean-Jacques is still a very active musician working for exhibitions sound designs and always fond of new technologies projects. These LPs are a paradise for samplers and Thurston Moore has always been a huge fan of Birgé who could be found on the famous NWW list !

This second-hand record is available through our collaboration with Parisian shop Dizonord, all items are in NM condition. Just add them to your order as you'll add any other releases. Limited quantities!
Dizonord met Jean-Jacques Birgé from Un Drame Musical Instantané and GRRR label before Dizonord was created. Jean-Jacques is still a very active musician working for exhibitions sound designs and always fond of new technologies projects. These LPs are a paradise for samplers and Thurston Moore has always been a huge fan of Birgé who could be found on the famous NWW list !

This second-hand record is available through our collaboration with Parisian shop Dizonord, all items are in NM condition. Just add them to your order as you'll add any other releases. Limited quantities!
Dizonord met Jean-Jacques Birgé from Un Drame Musical Instantané and GRRR label before Dizonord was created. Jean-Jacques is still a very active musician working for exhibitions sound designs and always fond of new technologies projects. These LPs are a paradise for samplers and Thurston Moore has always been a huge fan of Birgé who could be found on the famous NWW list !

Repress!

Uno Melodic was the brainchild of the legendary Roy Ayers. At the height of his career in the early 80s, Roy established Uno Melodic to explore working as a writer, musician, producer and record label owner with complete control over his creative ideas. Roy brought artists and musicians to the label invaluable to him at Polydor and in whom he saw potential to make more great records. Between 1980 and 1983 Uno Melodic released records that went onto become definitive of their time, classics that became much sought after. The label and its signature releases are part of the Roy Ayers legacy, the best of which Expansion have assembled here on remastered double LP.
Sylvia Striplin, Eighties Ladies and Ethel Beatty represent the soul, disco, two step and boogie sides of Uno Melodic, Bobbi Humphrey, Justo Almario and Roy himself the masters of jazz fusion at the label. The album concludes with the spoken words of Rick Holmes on one of the label's biggest ever release on the label.

Grant Green’s musical style evolved to embrace jazz-funk as the decade turned to 1970. The guitarist’s vibrant album Green Is Beautiful is a highlight of the era with his distinctive tone shining on a set that included covers of James Brown (“Ain’t It Funky Now”), The Beatles (“A Day In The Life”) & Burt Bacharach (“I’ll Never Fall In Love Again”).

This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is stereo, all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.

Die Musik von Surprise Chef basiert auf dem Hervorrufen von Stimmungen; ihre lebendigen Arrangements nutzen Zeit und Raum, um Klanglandschaften zu schaffen, die den Zuhörer in ihre Welt einladen. Der unverwechselbare Sound des Quintetts speist sich aus der Filmmusik der 70er Jahre, der funkigeren Seite des Jazz und den Samples, die die Grundlage des Hip-Hop bilden. Sie verschieben die Grenzen des instrumentalen Soul und Funk mit ihrem eigenen Ansatz, der durch unzählige Stunden im Studio, das Studium der Meister und - vielleicht am wichtigsten - durch die "Tyrannei der Distanz", die ihrer Musik eine einzigartige Perspektive diktiert, verfeinert wurde. Mit ihren ersten beiden Alben All News Is Good News und Daylight Savings haben sich die aus der Nähe von Melbourne, Australien, stammenden Musiker eine eingefleischte Fangemeinde erspielt und ihren Sound von ihrem Heimstudio aus in alle Ecken der Welt gebracht. Die Band ist nun bei Big Crown Records unter Vertrag und reiht sich damit in eine Reihe zeitgenössischer und klassischer Sounds ein, die die Musik von Surprise Chef seit ihrer Gründung im Jahr 2017 beeinflusst haben. Surprise Chef besteht aus Lachlan Stuckey (Gitarre), Jethro Curtin (Keyboards), Carl Lindeberg (Bass), Andrew Congues (Schlagzeug) und Hudson Whitlock - das jüngste Mitglied, das von der Percussion über das Komponieren bis zum Produzieren alles macht. Die selbsternannten "moody shades of instrumental jazz-funk" haben von allem etwas: druckvolle Drums, mitreißende Keys, eine Rhythmusgitarre, die man auf einer Studio One-Platte hören könnte, und Flötenlinien, die von einer Blue Note-Session stammen könnten. Aber wenn man einen Schritt zurücktritt und sich die Gesamtheit ihres Sounds und ihrer Herangehensweise anschaut, dann hört und sieht man eine Gruppe, die mehr ist als die Summe ihrer Teile. In vielerlei Hinsicht verkörpert Surprise Chef die Redewendung "the benefits of limits". Ihre Möglichkeiten waren insofern begrenzt, als es in Südost-Australien nicht viele Leute gab, die instrumentalen Jazz/Soul/Funk machten oder darüber sprachen, geschweige denn Platten herausbrachten. So mussten sie ihren Sound und ihre Herangehensweise in einer Art kreativer Isolation entwickeln, in der sich ein kleiner Kreis von Freunden und gleichgesinnten Musikern gegenseitig befruchtete. "Da wir in Australien so weit weg sind, bekommen wir nur flüchtige Einblicke in die Ursprünge dieser Musik", sagt Stuckey. "Aber als wir ein Label wie Big Crown hörten, wurde uns zum ersten Mal bewusst, dass man frische, neue Soulmusik machen kann, die nicht super retro oder einfach nur nostalgisch ist." Dieser Ansatz ist auf ihrem neuen Album Education & Recreation deutlich zu hören. Tracks wie "Velodrome" verbinden klobige Drums mit einer ohrwurmverdächtigen Synthie-Linie, die so klingt, als würde sie auf einer Ultimate Breaks & Beats-Compilation zu finden sein, während Nummern wie "Iconoclasts" zeigen, dass sie ein Händchen für die geschmackvolle Nutzung von Raum haben. Vom erdrückenden Intro von "Suburban Breeze" bis zum schwebenden, sanften Bop von "Spring's Theme" haben Surprise Chef ein Album zusammengestellt, das dich durch Höhen und Tiefen der Emotionen führt. Ein lebendiger, die Fantasie beflügelnder Sound! Dem weiten Spektrum dieser Instrumentalmusiksparte wird mit diesem neuen Album ein modernen Klassiker hinzugefügt.

First Word Records is very proud to bring you a brand new album from Takuya Kuroda!

Takuya Kuroda is a highly respected trumpeter and arranger born in Kobe, Japan and based in New York City. 'Midnight Crisp' is Takuya's seventh studio album, entirely self-produced and following 2020's highly acclaimed 'Fly Moon Die Soon', also released on UK label First Word (winner of the Worldwide Award's Label of the Year in 2019). Consisting of six new tracks, this once again sees Takuya displaying his unique hybrid sound, blending soulful jazz, funk, post-bop, fusion and hip hop.

After following the footsteps of his trombonist brother playing in big bands, he relocated to New York to study jazz & contemporary music at The New School in Union Square; a course he graduated from in the mid-noughties. It was here that Takuya met vocalist José James, with whom he worked on the 'Blackmagic' and 'No Beginning No End' projects.

Following graduation, Takuya established himself further in the NYC jazz scene, performing with the likes of Akoya Afrobeat and in recent years with DJ Premier's BADDER band. Premier said "The BADDER Band project was put together by my manager, and an agent I've known since the beginning of my Gang Starr career. He said, 'What if you put a band together that revolved around a trumpet player from Japan named Takuya Kuroda? He's got a hip-hop perspective and respect in the jazz field…"

Takuya Kuroda is already incredibly prolific, releasing six albums in the past decade and fortifying a solid reputation in the global jazz scene. 2011 saw the release of Takuya's independently-produced debut album, 'Edge', followed by 'Bitter and High' the following year and 'Six Aces' on P-Vine in 2013. Takuya was signed to the legendary Blue Note Records in 2014 for his album 'Rising Son', as well as appearing on their 2019 cover versions project, 'Blue Note Voyage'. He released his 5th album 'Zigzagger' on Concord in 2016, which also featured Antibalas on a reimagining of the Donald Byrd classic 'Think Twice'.

His last album was the afore-mentioned 'Fly Moon Die Soon' on First Word, which received plays and support from the likes of Pitchfork, Earmilk, Bandcamp Weekly, Worldwide FM, All About Jazz, Apple Music, Tidal, Stereogum, Treble, Brooklyn Vegan, FIP (France), Tony Minvielle, Jazz FM, Huey Morgan (BBC 6 Music), BBC Radio 3, Novena Carmel, KCRW and tons more DJs, tastemakers, selectors, radio stations, bloggers & magazines.

The new project 'Midnight Crisp' will be released October 21st 2022 on vinyl, CD and digital, worldwide via First Word Records.

As part of their 20th Anniversary celebrations, Strut present the first new volume in their pioneering 'Nigeria 70' series for over 8 years, bringing together rare highlife, Afro-funk and juju from the '70s and early '80s. Compiled by collector and DJ Duncan Brooker, this new selection of tracks is receiving its first international release outside of Nigeria.

The compilation returns to a fertile heyday in Nigerian music when established styles like highlife and juju became infused with elements of Western jazz, soul and funk and musicians brought a proud new message post-independence. Brooker places the spotlight particularly on some of the incredible Ukwuani musicians from the Delta State region as guitarist Rogana Ottah and Steady Arobby's International Brothers Band forged their own fluid brand of highlife and soulman Don Bruce drew on the US R&B greats for a series of great albums and explosive stage shows at his residency at Hilton Hotel in Abuja.

Elsewhere, the album explores the close connection between Nigeria and Benin's music, most famously through Sir Victor Uwaifo, appearing here with a killer mid'80s ekassa jam, as well as highlife hitmaker Osayamore Joseph on 'Obonogbozu' (Joseph made headlines in Nigeria for very different reasons in 2017, surviving a one month kidnapping ordeal).

Other tracks include 'Sickness' a 1979 lament on how all countries share troubles by Prince Nico Mbarga, the Nigerian / Camerounian star behind the smash hit 'Sweet Mother'; reggae singer Felixson Ngasia switches to funk and disco for a heavy workout with potent lyrics around black identity; another major highlife great Etubom Rex Williams unleashes a punchy psych funk gem with 'Psychedelic Shoes' and Africa 70 member Pax Nicholas vocals a simmering Afrobeat groove from Jacob Lee's Saxon Lee & The Shadows International Band.

'Nigeria 70: No Wahala' iis released on 29th March 2019 on CD, 2LP and digital. All tracks have been restored by See Why Audio and mastered by The Carvery. The package features comprehensive sleeve notes including exclusive interviews with some of the original artists.

An ode to Nature or the nostalgia of a fantasized city, it’s the character of Zaka, the Voodoo Loa (spirit), who gives its protection to this collection inspired by the wonderfully free world of Library Music.

This second volume shows Blundetto’s passion for nature and the mystic of the eco-systems. You’ll hear the realm of a studio placed in the center of a French forest, the chicken ballroom, the daily walks at the rhythm of seasonal transformations of oaks and chestnut trees, the summer wind in the jungle of the vegetable garden responding to vintage keyboards, folk guitars and the silky sound of Mellotron.

Ezra Collective’s new era, a venture in discovered maturity and raised stakes, will be defined by the anticipated second album.

'Where I’m Meant To Be' is a thumping celebration of life, an affirming elevation in the Ezra Collective’s winding hybrid sound and refined collective character. The songs marry cool confidence with bright energy. Full of call-and-response conversations between their ensemble parts, a natural product of years improvising together on-stage, the album - which also features Sampa The Great, Kojey Radical, Emile Sandé, Steve McQueen, and Nao - will light up sweaty dance floors and soundtrack dinner parties in equal measure.

Where I'm Meant To Be is out on 4th November via Partisan Records.

Lido Pimienta is a Toronto-based, Colombian-born interdisciplinary musician and artist-curator. She has performed, exhibited, and curated around the world since 2002, exploring the politics of gender, race, motherhood, identity and the construct of the Canadian landscape in the Latin American diaspora and vernacular. Her new album Miss Colombia takes her ecstatic hybridity to a new level, building on the “nu” intersection of electronica and cumbia established by her 2016 Polaris Prize-winning La Papessa as Canadian album of the year. Produced with Matt Smith, a/k/a Prince Nifty, Miss Colombia overflows with the kind of understated genius that promises yet another breakthrough. TOURING EUROPE IN 2020. Already confirmed: May 22 - London Calling (Paradiso), Amsterdam (NL).

Favorite Recordings presents a reissue of Lucas Arruda's first album, Sambadi.

Lucas Arruda’s born in 1983, in a Brazilian state called Espírito Santo, near Rio de Janeiro. Coming from a musical family (his dad and older brother are musicians) he started playing and listening to music very young. At the age of 13, he was also playing professionally already.
After studying electric guitar and playing in various bands, Lucas passion quickly turned into Rhodes and keyboards, expanding his musical range of skills. At the same time he started a project called Du Black, with his older brother Thiago, quickly receiving various local support from people like Ed Motta, William Magalhães (Banda Black Rio), Robert Lamm (Chicago) or Hyldon (Brazilian soul legend).
From the growing notoriety obtained, the band began to work with various other artists and singers such as Tamy Macedo, or Bossa Nova’s legend, Leila Pinheiro, leading Lucas to build a recording studio with Thiago in 2011. Now 2 years after he launched this home-studio, here comes “Sambadi”, first solo album by Lucas Arruda!
On this recording he also started to team up with Fabricio di Monaco (Modo Solar), who clearly became a fundamental piece, as Lucas relates: “Fabricio introduced me to Pascal Rioux at Favorite Recordings, as they released his EP few years ago. He’s a brilliant musician and a great human being.”
In Lucas’ words, Sambadi is highly inspired by Rio de Janeiro. As for the musical side, the album almost sounds like a tribute to his longtime heroes like Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, Marcos Valle, Azymuth, or Robson Jorge & Lincoln Olivetti. And Lucas also humbly concludes: “I really hope to honor all the guys who influenced me.”

With Jazz Is Dead Series 2, Younge and Muhammad have once again, together with a roster of world-renowned legends, crate digger patron saints, and an exciting vanguard of young talent, delivered another unimpeachable collection of fresh and captivating recordings inspired by jazz's past, present, and future. There are names that some may already be familiar with, such as Lonnie Liston Smith, Jean Carne, and Tony Allen, and those less so, like Henry Franklin, Phil Ranelin, Wendell Harrison, Garrett Saracho, & Katalyst. What unites each new collaborator is their unbent dedication to remaining original, preserving their creativity, and sharing it with the world.

The current moment in music is an interesting one: electronic music is more popular than ever, but at the same time there is a growing counterworld of new bands and musicians who are inventing new styles by reinterpreting old styles and combining live music with electronic production. Many of these new musicians are switching between "scenes" and styles - just like many young listeners do today. Kryptox, the sub-label of Toy Tonics, is a platform for these new hybrid musicians. Noah Fürbringer is one of these new talents. Moving in these intermediate worlds - a virtuoso drummer, composer and busy band leader who is at home in many genres and besides writing his own great music which he debuts on this album he also is a side musicians for some big names of the German rap and indie pop scene.

Uusi Aika is a fresh new ensemble from Finland. Their self-titled debut album will be released by We Jazz Records on 25 November 2022. The band's music could be described as introspective and meditative, but that's only a part of the story. The instrumentation is acoustic and their sound organic to the bone, but the music's slowly unfolding character brings to mind some deep abstract electronic music or experimental dub explorations at times. That is, there's power just under the surface, just beautifully out of focus.

Otto Eskelinen says: "Lately I have been playing mostly folk music and using traditional instruments, such as ancient flutes. Now I felt that I wanted to play the saxophone again, and to do it in a small group setting, while searching for new compositional approaches and also ways of playing together with others. I wanted to create a band that would play something connected to free jazz, but with a distinctly melodic approach. I wanted the sound of the band to be gentle and peaceful, all acoustic. The main inspirations here stem from the history of Japanese sound aesthetics, new age, early 20th century art music and jazz giants such as Lester Young and Jan Garbarek."

Uusi Aika has already debuted live in Helsinki, where their performance at Odysseus Festival this summer was met with remarkable enthusiasm.

Celebrate Christmas with an array of stars and the best crooning talent the world has ever known. Featuring classic songs and festive favourites from Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Eartha Kitt, Dean Martin, Gene Autry, Perry Como and many more, this LP is the perfect seasonal soundtrack.

Limited Green Vinyl Edition of Munich-based quintet Fazer’s second album.
Nadi' follows the underground success of their self-released debut 'Mara', which quickly sold out on vinyl and became one of the most streamed jazz records of the year. Moving freely between composition and improvisation, the band's spacious, organic sound pitches lyrical melodies from guitar and trumpet over double-drummer polyrhythmic grooves and dub-like basslines. The album title 'Nadi' references a term rooted in traditional Indian medicine. Nadis are channels that connect points of intensity within the body. This reflects the band's feeling while playing of moving as one body. Contrary to the creation of the group's debut album 'Mara', both the writing and recording sessions for 'Nadi' were completed in relatively short periods of time.

For Richard Dorfmeister and Rupert Huber, the idea of rebirth is a creative driving force - an artistic device which not only informs their work, but anchors it. As the avant-garde electronic group Tosca, the two artists have lived many musical lives, from their early electronic experiments with tape decks to the blissed-out dub compositions with which they have made their name. Their latest project, OSAM, takes this idea of renewal even further. A meditative journey through rhythm and texture, the album represents a new chapter for the Austrian duo. It's as much an instrument for change as it is a source of inspiration. 'Osam' is a direct translation of the number eight in Serbian, but it also acts as the mediaeval symbol for a fresh start - a renaissance. This is their ninth studio album but in true Tosca style when they started working on the concept for the record, they thought it was their eighth.

Celebrate Christmas with an array of stars and the best diva talent the world has ever known. Featuring classic songs and festive favourites from Aretha Franklin, Billie Holiday, Eartha Kitt, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, Nina Simone and many more, this LP is the perfect seasonal soundtrack.