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Now in the final days of 2023, we take a look back at some of the essential compilation releases over the past 12 months. From tropical grooves to jazz dance, spiritual, soulful house and obscure selections from around the globe, there were many incredible must-own compilations to dive into.
Since the release of the series’ first compilation back in 2018, in addition to two follow-up compilation recordings and a growing number of select album reissues, BBE’s J Jazz has become the most definite collection exploring innovative and rare Japanese jazz. Curated by Tony Higgins and Mike Peden, the highly anticipated fourth compilation dives deep into one of the biggest and most diverse labels in Japan, Nippon Columbia.
When it comes to organizing a record release, there might not be something more challenging than compiling music for a compilation. Unlike a Spotify playlist, these releases require sourcing and licensing the music, which is often much more challenging than selecting the tracks. That being said, compilations play an important part in telling a story about either a time period, a region, a sub-genre of a sub-genre and many times, all of the above. They often also serve as musical “gateway drugs” into whole worlds of lesser known music for listeners, in which they can continue to explore well beyond each release.
With much anticipation, London’s BBE Music releases the third volume of it’s phenomenal J Jazz compilation series, continuing to shed light on some of the most incredible and obscure modern Japanese jazz recordings from the 1960s through the 1980s. Since issuing the first volume in 2018 and the follow-up in 2019, plus a number of essential album reissues, there has not been a more comprehensive and impressive output of releases dedicated to this region’s historic jazz scene.
The London-based BBE Muisc label continues it’s remarkable J Jazz series, dedicated to some of the finest and most obscure Japanese jazz recordings from the late sixties to early eighties, curated by Tony Higgins and Mike Peden, with a reissue of Hideto Sasaki and Toshiyuki Sekine Quartet +1’s 1976 hard-bop masterpiece Stop Over.
It’s that time of the year again where we spend some time and look back at many of our favorite releases over the past twelve months. To kick things off, we take a look at our top 10 favorite compilations of 2019, those records that often introduce many of us to new/old artists, obscure rarities, and/or explorations into lesser known sounds from all corners of the world.
London’s BBE Records follows up last year’s brilliant J Jazz: Deep Modern Jazz From Japan, 1969-84 compilation with a second volume featuring fourteen additional rare jazz selections out of the Far East.
I know, I know … it’s 2019, and it’s time to start looking ahead to the new year. Before I do that, I need to get one final “Best of 2018” list out there. With so many great compilations this year, it would basically be criminal to not include this releases in any year-end recap.
The third in BBE’s well-curated ‘J Jazz Masterclass Series’ features one of the most sought-after jazz albums out of Japan in ‘Earth Mother’ by the Koichi Matsukaze Trio.
