Category: FEATURED RELEASES
As a follow-up to two standout releases last year for Matthew Halsell’s Gondwana Records, in Astral Traveling and Cloud 10, the saxophonist and flautist Chip Wickham has returned with a brilliant new EP for the Manchester-based label, titled Love & Life.
Late last August, the music world was stunned and saddened when the heartbreaking news circulated of Jaimie Branch’s sudden passing. At that point, the adventurous trumpeter and composer was one of leading young artists among the jazz scene. On the one year anniversary of her death, International Anthem, which is responsible for all of her previous releases, has put out Jaimie’s final album with her Fly or Die quartet, titled Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)).
Over the last couple of years, legendary UK jazz dance and Northern soul DJ Colin Curtis has been issuing some superb limited-edition vinyl-only EPs under his Colin Curtis Presents imprint label. These releases fall perfectly in-line with the kind of dancefloor-focused jazz music that is prominent on his weekly Sunday Jazz Dance Fusion radio show for The Hitmix 107.5 FM. Recently, he has added two more incredible titles to the growing discography in GeeW‘s Supernova EP and Stefano De Santis A Kind of Prayer EP.
Following his incredible album Firebird, which was released earlier this year, legendary UK producer, deejay, and acid jazz pioneer Chris Bangs has put together an exciting new ensemble project, called Nova Vida. Ahead of the group’s highly-anticipated Spring 2024 full-length debut, they have recently released a brilliant new 7inch single titled My Only on BDQ Records.
For over the past three decades, iconic Michigan producer John Beltran has been one of the leading artists in fusing together experimental electronic music, techno, jazz and Brazilian influences. Building off of both last year’s highly acclaimed Sol Set project and Para Viajeros EP, in addition to his brilliant and ongoing Back To Bahia series, Beltran has returned with a superb new Balearic album on the Turkish label Oath, titled Serendipia.
London’s fantastic Night Dreamer label has recently released a superb new recording, titled Celestial, by Sun Ra Arkestra saxophonist, percussionist and vocalist Knoel Scott. The record, which represents Knoel’s first studio record in 40 years, also features the legendary Arkestra bandleader and long-time collaborator Marshall Allen (originally joining the Arkestra in 1958, and leading the band since 1995 following “the departure” of Sun Ra).
Belfast-based multi-instrumentalist and broken beat pioneer Kaidi Tatham always seems to be many steps ahead of the pack, and that certainly continues to be the case as he has just released another superb recording for UK’s First Word Records, titled The Only Way.
If you’ve been tuning into Colin Curtis’s weekly Jazz Dance Fusion radio show, which was broadcast on Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide FM channel before eventually moving to The Hitmix 107.5 FM in the UK, you would of heard a heavy rotation of selections by the groundbreaking Japanese quartet Indigo Jam Unit. Active from 2006 to 2016, the Osaka-based group released a number incredible albums and EPs off of the Basis Records, often in extremely limited vinyl quantities. With the help of Paul Murphy’s Jazz Room Records, Curtis has compiled the band’s best dancefloor-focused material on a new highly anticipated vinyl-only release.
Since the release of the highly-acclaimed debut Eastern Flowers back in 2019, Stockholm-based composer and artist Sven Wunder has quickly built a very strong global following, releasing numerous recordings for both Mr. Bongo and his own label Piano Piano. In September, he will issue his fourth and arguably best full-length to date, titled Late Again.
After 20 years since the last volume was released, legendary German producer and DJ Rainer Trüby (formerly of A Forest Mighty Black) has just released the sixth compilation of his iconic Glücklich compilation series, unearthing rare Brazilian-influenced gems old and new from around the globe.
