Record Shopping Etiquette
The do’s, the don’ts, and best practices when it comes to shopping for vinyl.
Paul Murphy’s Jazz Room Records has a slew of incredible releases on deck for this Spring, and one of the first of these records to come out is a limited-edition double-sided single 7inch, featuring two rare 1969 jazz dance heaters out of Japan.
Brooklyn-based trumpeter Dave Guy has been a contributing member of some the most groundbreaking groups over the last twenty-plus years, including The Roots, The Dap Kings, Menahan Street Band, El Michels Affair, and The Budos Band, and has shared the stage with everyone from Amy Winehouse and Lizzo to Lee Fields, Sharon Jones, Charles Bradley, and others. He now steps out on his own, and releases his debut 7inch release for Big Crown Records.
Legendary multi-percussionist, bandleader, vocalist, composer, educator, and former Chair of the Association of Creative Musicians (AACM), Kahil El’Zabar has been a staple among the Chicago jazz scene for over half a century. In celebration of the 50th anniversary of his pioneering group, the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, he has released a brilliant new album on the Spiritmuse label, titled Open Me, A Higher Consciousness of Sound and Spirit.
Two of Finland’s most virtuosic and forward-thinking musicians in saxophonist Timo Lassy and trumpeter Jukka Eskola have teamed up with a number of notable New Orleans musicians for an innovative new album on the Amsterdam-based Dox Records, titled Nordic Stew, that fuses together Nordic jazz and the deep-rooted sounds from the Crescent City.
Legendary UK DJ Colin Curtis, who has been at the forefront of both the jazz dance and Northern soul scenes, has released the fourth volume of his brilliant Jazz Dance Fusion compilation series featuring new and unreleased dancefloor-focused jazz selections that have either previously never been issued on vinyl, or have slid slightly under-the-radar.
Italian DJ, broadcaster and internationally respected Mixcloud selector Massimiliano “Jazzcat” Conti has teamed up with the Milan-based label Right Tempo on a brilliant new compilation, titled The Congregation: Jazz Alliance International, that highlights some of today’s most forward-thinking jazz that’s currently being released.
The fantastic Glasgow-based production duo Nuovi Fratelli, featuring DJ and producer Wayne Dickson and sound engineer, music producer, and synth wiz Luigi Pasquini have teamed up again with the superb jazz ensemble Nimbus Sextet, along with special guest vocalists Russell Stewart and lissappear (aka Lissa Chen Robertson) on an incredible new rendition of Roy Ayers’ 1976 soul-jazz classic “Searching”.
Highly influential London-based DJ, broadcaster, and producer Gilles Peterson and pioneering multi-instrumentalist, producer, composer, and bandleader Jean Paul “Bluey” Maunick (Incognito, Light of The World, Freeez) continue their deep dive into the world of DIY Brit-funk with a limited-edition STR4TA white label 12inch, featuring two new remixes of tracks taken from their 2022 album, STR4TASFEAR.
Following a slew of standout singles and their 2019 breakthrough album Super-vilains, the 8-piece French jazz-funk group Cotonete has returned with a brilliant new eclectic album on the Heavenly Sweetness label, titled Victoire De La Musique (which takes a dig at the annual French music award ceremony).
After 13 years since its initial CD/Digital-only release in 2011, Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder label is releasing for the first time on vinyl, the late great Austin Peralta’s cosmic jazz classic Endless Planets. This record was the label’s first dive into jazz, helping set the stage for artists like Kamasi Washington, Thundercat, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Kneedelus, and others.