Category: FEATURED RELEASES
Following up on their first new release in over 20 years, the remarkable 2020 album Swirling, the Afro-futuristic pioneer ensemble Sun Ra Arkestra, led by 98 year-old Marshall Allen, have put out a brilliant instrumental full length recording, titled Living Sky.
London-based, Ukrainian-born harpist Alina Bzhezhinska follows up her critically acclaimed 2018 debut album Inspiration (Ubuntu Music), with a superb new full-length release featuring the HipHarpCollective on the BBE label, titled Reflections.
The London-based collective Natural Lateral, led by Aziz Mustafa (aka Tom Funk), follows up their breakthrough 2019 debut Cogito Ergo Jam with a brilliant and highly-anticipated new recording on the Social Joy label, titled Tapestry Of Life.
Formerly Chicago, and now Hawaii-based percussionist, composer, and producer Makaya McCraven has just released an incredible expansive new full-length album, titled In These Times, that has been over seven years in the making.
In just a short period of time, Italian-born Los Angeles-based drummer, producer and DJ Tommaso Cappellato‘s Domanda Music label has quickly established itself with some strong releases, including Rosa Brunello’s recent Sound Like Freedom recording, which is definitely one of the best albums of 2022. The label continues their string of impressive releases with a superb debut full-length, titled Transforma, from another of Cappellato’s collaborative projects, Collettivo Immaginario.
Over the last several years, there haven’t been many artists that have been able to release the sheer number of quality releases as composer and pianist Greg Foat. The London-based artist returns with his longstanding Greg Foat Group for the ensemble’s first full-length album in 6 years, titled Blue Lotus.
Following this past Spring’s fantastic 12″ tribute to the great Lonnie Liston Smith, and a number of superb releases for the Lovemonk label, saxophonist and flautist Chip Wickham, who divides his time between Spain, UK and the Middle-East, has released his debut full-length album on Matthew Halsall’s Manchester-based Gondwana Records, titled Cloud 10.
Australian-based keyboardist, composer and producer David Versace, who also plays in the Meanjin nu-jazz group First Beige, has released an incredible debut album on the Melbourne label La Sape Records, titled Okra.
In what has certainly been one of the most anticipated releases of the year, Chicago’s International Anthem has unearthed and released the eponymous debut album, titled Step On Step, by the late great producer, arranger, and composer Charles Stepney (1931-1976), featuring never-heard-before 4-track tape demo recordings. During the 60s and 70s, Stepney was a essential contributor to some of the greatest recordings of that time by Earth, Wind & Fire, Terry Callier, Ramsey Lewis, The Dells, The Rotary Connection, Deniece Williams, Minnie Riperton, Marlena Shaw, Muddy Waters, and so many others.
Jazz Is Dead’s brilliant series continues with multi-instrumentalists, composers, producers, and JID masterminds Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad teaming up with one of Los Angeles’s most innovative collectives in Katalyst. Based specifically out of the Inglewood area, Katalyst is a 9-piece band that was established back in September 2014, and includes a collaborative group of producers, composers, session musicians, and writers, who continue to be at the forefront of creative music and art currently coming out Southern California.
Youthful virtuosic cosmic drum-keyboard duo DOMi and JD Beck have quickly been one of the most talked about acts this summer, releasing a great new debut album titled NOT TiGHT on Anderson .Paak’s new Apeshit Inc. label, that’s been set-up in partnership of Blue Note Records. This follows four-night sold-out residency this June at the Blue Note Jazz Festival in New York City, and numerous standout performances among the summer’s festival circuit.
Following the release of two outstanding EPs from last year, Ah-Free-Ka and Ja-Maye-Ka, Marc Mac, who is half of the groundbreaking broken beat duo 4hero, continues his exploration into sounds from around the world with a superb new EP, titled Br-Azil-Ah.
Following the release of Brian Jackson’s first solo album in 20 years on BBE Music, simply titled This Is Brian Jackson, the legendary jazz-funk multi-instrumentalist and songwriter gets the remix treatment from two of today’s best producers in Louie Vega and Josh Milan(aka Two Soul Fusion) on the track’s superb second single “Little Orphan Boy”.
