Tag: African
Following a 15-year long hiatus, Schema Records’ co-founder and musician Luciano Cantone, in collaboration with Gianluca Petrella (ECM, Blue Note, Schema) and a new group of musicians that make up the group The Invisible Sessions have returned to release their highly-anticipated second album Echoes Of Africa Cantone’s newly-launched Milan-based Space Echo label.
South Africa has historically had strong jazz roots, even through the horrific apartheid regime. Pioneering artists like Hugh Masekela, Abdullah Ibrahim, Johnny Dyani, Dudu Pukwana, Chris McGregor, Mongezi Feza, Ndikho Xaba, and so many others in the region consisted of some of the most adventurous jazz musicians of their era. Following the release of two groundbreaking compilations in We Out Here and Sunny Side Up that explored the current thriving scenes in London and Melbourne, Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood label has just released a brand new compilation exploring the current wave of forward-thinking jazz artists coming out of Johannesburg.
As we wind down the final days of a year that we will never forget, and begin to look ahead, it’s good to highlight some of those incredible individual tracks that helped us get through 2020. From jazz, soul, electronic music, global grooves, dance floor gems, tropical funk, and just about everything in-between, the amount of quality music that was coming out over the past twelve months was arguably as good as any year I can recall.
Similar to the work that goes into reissuing a rare recording can probably also be said for a well-crafted compilation. Often years in the making, there are a number of elements, including discovery, theme, selection of tracks, licensing, and a complimentary editorial component. This past year, a number of brilliantly timeless and curated compilations were released, some highlighting a specific genre or region, while others focused on an artist or a label. Regardless, here are some of the favorites from the past twelve months.
Not only did we see a ton of great new music released in 2020, there was also an abundance of extremely hard-to-find recordings being reissued throughout the year. Similar to how difficult it was to put together the “Favorite Albums” list, it has been just as challenging to dive into all the great reissues, and generate a similar “Favorites” list.
In what has been truly an incredible compilation series over the past few years, the good people at the Brighton-based label and record shop have put out the fourth volume of their extremely well-curated and highly-acclaimed Mr Bongo Record Club.
New York based Frederiksberg Records has reissued, for the first time, the highly obscure and adventurously eclectic 1984 instrumental album from Ethiopian-rooted group Admas, titled Sons of Ethiopia.
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 London-based Night Dreamer label continues it’s string of brilliant direct-to-disc sessions with a brilliant new Afro-funk recording featuring Nigerian composer, trumpeter, and bandleader Etuk Ubong, titled Africa Today.
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.
