Category: FEATURED RELEASES
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.
For well over twenty years, there hasn’t been a more definitive collection of releases highlighting the legendary reggae label Studio One than what London’s Soul Jazz Records has managed to curate through expansive compilation releases, exclusive singles, and never-before-heard gems. Their latest release Rocksteady Got Soul is an absolutely brilliant collection of uplifting rocksteady and soulful reggae from the late 1960s and early 1970s.
