Category: FEATURED RELEASES
After a number of years of re-releasing some of the best and most obscure recordings, you can basically guarantee that if Portugal’s Mad About Records is putting something out, it’s going to be absolutely incredible. That string of essential releases continues with their recent reissue of the 1980 modern soul full-length gem from vocalist and keyboardist Kenny Mann and his group Liquid Pleasure.
With the massive new album from STR4TA and other recent releases from Koji Ono (w/ members of Atmosfear), The Expansions (2018 track “Mariposa” specifically) and others, it feels like their is bit of a Brit-funk revitalization that is brewing. The momentum to take this DIY new-wave-jazz-funk sound, that originated in the UK during the late 70s and early 80s, into the future continues with an incredible new twelve-inch single, titled ‘Life Is A Mirror’, from the French group GALXTC.
Broken Beat pioneers Denis “Dego” McFarlane of 4Hero and Matt Lord of the legendary Bugz In The Attic collective follow-up their outstanding 2018 collaborative debut release One Way To Another, with a brilliant new self-titled EP on the 2000 Black label.
After being featured as an integral part of Matthew Halsall’s Gondwana Orchestra, Welsh harpist Amanda Whiting steps out on her own to release a brilliant and mesmerizing new full-length album on Jazzman Records, titled After Dark.
Cognitiva and ANMA Records have teamed up to release an incredible new compilation, titled Outlines, which highlights a new generation of exciting producers from across Europe, whom are fusing together jazz, broken beat and house in adventurous new ways.
Following last year’s superb collaborative EP with Andrew Ashong and the reissue of his groundbreaking 2008 sophomore solo recording In Search Of Hope, pioneering producer and keyboardist Kaidi Tatham, who has made his mark as one the most innovative broken beat artists over the past two decades, has just released an absolutely incredible new cosmic jazz album, titled An Insight To All Minds on First Word Records.
Over the last couple of years, the Chicago-based collective Black Monument Ensemble, led by visual/sound artist, and producer Damon Locks have released some of the most powerful and forward-thinking music. Their 2019 debut, Where Future Unfolds was arguably the best album to come out that year, and last year, the group put out the timely and very much needed uplifting track “Stay Beautiful”. Locks and the stellar ensemble have returned to release an absolutely brilliant new sophomore record on International Anthem, titled NOW.
Following the breakthrough success of last year’s album Ignite, the London-based cosmic jazz ensemble The Sultan’s Swing return with a masterful new follow-up recording in Matter Of Urgency on Lazy Robot Records.
Thanks to Gilles Peterson and Jean-Paul “Bluey” Maunick’s highly acclaimed STR4TA project, the late 70s-early 80s UK-based DIY new wave jazz-funk sound, known as Brit-funk is beginning to see a nice resurgence. A number of other artists and projects also seem to be resurfacing as of late, including French multi-instrumentalist, producer and composer Koji Ono, who recently released a brilliant new twelve-inch single on the Paris-based label Chuwanaga. Receiving some assistance from two key players of the pioneering band Atmosfear, this new single features legendary bassist and founding member Lester Batchelor (aka “LB”), and the group’s current drummer Roy Mistry.
For the latest release in the absolutely brilliant Jazz Is Dead series, Los Angeles based producers/multi-instrumentalists Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad have joined forces with legendary saxophonist and composer Gary Bartz on an incredible new full-length album.
Following the release of their brilliant debut album New York Is For Lovers at the tail end of 2020, the new school Lover’s Rock ensemble, has just released a limited-edition seven-inch single on Brooklyn-based label Names You Can Trust, featuring their superb rendition of Evelyn “Champagne” King’s 1981 boogie classic “I’m In Love”.
Every year, there are a number of remarkable releases that weren’t originally on most people’s radar, and that is certainly the case with Los Angeles-based composer and pianist Matthew “Honeybee” Little’s superb debut album Liner Notes on San Diego’s Common Good Records. Over the last several years, Little has been making his mark among the LA jazz scene, playing with like-minded exploratory artists like Josef Leimberg, Shafiq Husayn, Jason McGuiness, and others.
In what might be the most-anticipated album of the year, New York label Luaka Bop has released an absolute stunning new collaborative album, titled Promises, featuring legendary saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, groundbreaking electronic producer Sam Shepard, also know as Floating Points, and one of the greatest symphonies in the world, in The London Symphony Orchestra.
