Category: FEATURED RELEASES
New York’s Ostinato Records has recently released a new album from Djibouti-based ensemble Group RTD, titled The Dancing Devils of Djibout. This recording represents the first ever international record to come out of the small East African country.
Legendary saxophonist Gary Bartz has been at the forefront of some of the greatest recordings over the past six decades, performing alongside Art Blakey, Miles Davis, Pharoah Sanders, Woody Shaw, McCoy Tyner, Jackie McLean and numerous others, while also putting out many groundbreaking records with his own bands, including the spiritual jazz ensemble NTU Troop, and collaborating with the Mizell Brothers on the jazz-funk anthem “Music Is My Sanctuary”. On his latest recording, the jazz great teams up with leading UK group Maisha on a a special straight-to-disc session for the London-based label, Night Dreamer.
Paris-based composer, bandleader and tenor saxophonist Laurent Bardainne, who has Pharrell Williams, Cassius, Tony Allen and many others, has released the debut full-length of his latest quintet project Tigre d’eau Douce, titled Love Is Everywhere on Heavenly Sweetness.
The Berlin-based label Matasuna Records has recently put out a pair of 7inch releases featuring two essential Latin funk gems from Nico Gomez And His Afro Percussion Inc’s “holy grail” classic Ritual.
Even though Austrian saxophonist and composer Muriel Grossmann has released a dozen albums over the past thirteen years, it seems that she is just beginning to receive the global-acclaim that she ultimately deserves. As a follow-up to two brilliant releases over the past couple of years for the Estonia-based RR GEMS label, in Golden Rule (2018) and Reverence (2019), UK’s Jazzman Records has released a great new compilation highlighting some of Grossmann’s earlier recordings.
Based out of London and run by highly-acclaimed producer Dego (Pavel Kostiuk, 4hero), the 200Black label collective ( named after a 1975 Roy Ayers’ recording) have recently released a brilliant jazz-influenced dancefloor recording from a mysterious group that goes by Project X.
In a time where the topic of mass extinction feels unfortunately very real, the Helsinki-based sextet Soft Power releases an incredibly powerful new album, titled Brink of Extinction, that sonically speaks to the importance and beauty of biodiversity on this planet.
The UK-born, Madrid-based flautist and saxophonist Chip Wickham follows-up two stellar releases in 2017’s La Sombra, and 2018’s Shamal Wind, with his most adventurous and cosmically-charged album to date in Blue To Red.
Italian drummer, composer, and producer Tommaso Cappellato, who has recently relocated to Los Angeles, has released a Sun Ra-inspired experimental cosmic jazz recording with his Astral Travel group, titled If You Say You Are From This Planet, Why Do You Treat It Like You Do?.
Following a string of three incredible 7inch singles, beginning in 2016, Max Weissenfeldt’s Berlin-based Philophon label has finally released the highly-anticipated full-length album from Ghanaian singers and songwriters Y-Bayani & Baby Naa, backed by the label’s “sessions ensemble” The Band of Enlightenment, Reason and Love.
Led by by Melbourne saxophonist Josh Kelly, who also is a member of the future soul-jazz collective 30/70, the JK Group has recently released their incredible debut album, titled The Young Ones on La Sape Records.
Two of London’s most forward-thinking artists in multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and producer Tom Misch and drummer Yussef Dayes team up for a brilliant new electronic-soul-meets-jazz-funk album, titled What Kinda Music on Blue Note Records imprint Beyond The Groove.
Jazzman Records has just released volume eleven (!!!) of it’s critically-acclaimed Spiritual Jazz series, this time diving deep into the vaults of the Copenhagen-based and highly under-the-radar imprint SteepleChase Records. Similar to the past two label-focused releases in the series, this double vinyl compilation features some of the most essential recordings from the European label.
