Category: FEATURED RELEASES
Edinburgh’s Athens of The North puts out the first release from the label’s house band East Coast Love Affair, featuring a brilliant new version of Sky’s The Limit’s highly obscure 1976 soulful funk gem “Don’t Be Afraid”.
Following the publishing of the now out-of-print Wamono A to Z records guide book by the renowned remixer, compiler, and producer DJ Yoshizawa Dynamite and fellow DJ/record collector Chintam, the two have teamed up again to release a series of compilations highlighting “the Wamono sound,” featuring some of the most rare jazz, funk, soul, and disco music to come out of Japan since the sixties.
Just in time to catch the last few warm sunny days of what has to be the most bizarre summer of our lifetimes, the UK-based label WallenBink have released, for the first time officially on 7inch format, A Bossa Elétrica’s brilliant Brazilian fusion rendition of Roy Ayer’s 1976 essential jazz-funk classic “Everybody Loves The Sunshine”.
Record Store Day has typically been an annual event that has took place in mid-April. Due to the ongoing pandemic, this year’s RSD was originally postponed to June 20th, and unfortunately moved again to now three separate Saturday dates, August 29th, September 26th, and October 24th. Even though many record stores have been able to find ways to open up again in a limited capacity, it’s safe to say like everything in 2020, this year’s RSD will be very different than what it has been in the past.
28-year-old saxophonist and composer Nubya Garcia has been one the most active and impactful artists among the current London jazz scene. Over the past few years, she has collaborated with some of the region’s most breakthrough artists and collectives, including notable recordings with both ensembles Nérija and Maisha, as well as two highly acclaimed EPs in Nubya’s 5ive (2017) and When We Are (2018). In 2019, she was the recipient of the Jazz FM UK Jazz Act of the Year Award. This week, she releases her much-anticipated full-length debut album on Concord Records, titled Source.
As we maneuver our way through the strangest, and shall I say the most challenging summer of our lifetimes, Soundway Records has provided a timely and much-welcomed bright spot, with the exciting debut release from London producer Reuben Vaun Smith, titled Warm Nights.
Over the past decade, London’s On The Corner records has been one of the most forward-thinking labels, releasing innovative futuristic music that blurs the lines between jazz, electronic music, African, Latin, broken beat and beyond. In the words of Sun Ra, “knock, knock, knocking at the door to the cosmos,” this label is knocking down all sonic barriers on for their celebratory tenth release, which is a limited edition triple vinyl gatefold compilation out on September 18th, appropriately titled Door of the Cosmos.
London-based multi-instrumentalist, producer, and DJ Tom Funk has recently released a great new cosmic jazz full-length under The Sultan’s Swing alias, titled Ignite on his Lazy Robot Records.
On the heals of Now-Again’s recent box set featuring five classic albums from the Black Fire record label, including the previously unreleased Live From The East session from Juju, London’s Strut records has just released a great new compilation, titled Soul Love Now: The Black Fire Records Story 1975-1993, celebrating the seminal spiritual jazz and conscious soul label.
The London-based label Time Capsule has recently released a great new compilation EP featuring an eclectic collection of modern tropically influenced sounds that range from jazz, reggae, psych, and indigenously rooted instrumental music currently coming out of Japan.
The rightfully proclaimed “Godfather of Ethio-jazz,” Mulatu Astatke teams up again with the Melbourne-based collective Black Jesus Experience on a brilliant new Agogo Records released album, titled To Know Without Knowing.
The legendary spiritual Afro-jazz collective Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids, who became known due to the discovery of their now highly sought-after rare self-released seventies recordings Lalibela, King Of Kings, and Birth / Speed / Merging, have made waves recently through their newer releases on Strut Records. The iconic group returns with a brilliant new album on the London-based label, titled Shaman!.
Chicago-based composer, drummer, and producer Makaya McCraven has over the past half-decade, been one of the most groundbreaking artists in jazz, due to his unique recording approaches and post-production editing and mixing processes. The “jazz beat scientist” has just released an insightful documentary and new material from the same sessions that produced the 2018 critically-acclaimed Universal Beings album.
