Tag: Cosmic
London keyboardist and pianist Charlie Stacey has been making waves over the past few years, performing with Yussef Dayes and fellow Tomorrow Warriors alumni such as Moses Boyd and The Ezra Collective. He sets out on his own, releasing his highly-anticipated debut as a leader, titled The Light Beyond Time on UK’s Night Dreamer label.
Right on the heals of Jazz Room Records’ most recent 7inch release, Japan’s leading jazz fusion/funk trio Nautilus has recently released a brilliant new full-length on the Urban Discos label, titled Revival.
When it comes to seamlessly blurring the sounds of jazz, house, and Afro-Latin music, Italian composer and producer Gerardo Frisina has set the standard, releasing six highly acclaimed full-length albums and numerous essential EPs, 12inch singles, remixes and more over a two decade span. As a follow-up to last year’s superb Soul Drum EP, the modern-day jazz dancefloor pioneer has returned with a brilliant new 2xLP on Schema Records, titled Joyful Sound.
Over the last several years, saxophonist Binker Golding and drummer Moses Boyd have been at the forefront of the thriving London jazz scene. Together as a duo, they have released six acclaimed releases and were named the “Best UK Jazz Act” at the 2016 Jazz FM Awards. They have now team up with electronic music legend Simon Ratcliffe of Basement Jaxx to form Village Of The Sun, releasing their debut EP First Light on Gearbox Records.
East London-based musician, musical director, and producer Amane Suganami has been very active over the last several years, playing keys with notable UK group Maisha, and serving as Musical Director for Jorja Smith, Amaarae, Ego Ella May and Maverick Sabre, as well as performing alongside some major names like Ed Sheeran, Elton John, and many others. Despite a constantly busy touring schedule, Amane has been able to step out on his own and release an impressive debut EP on Música Macondo, titled Moments Of Solace.
Over this past summer, legendary Michigan-based producer and DJ John Beltran released a brilliant Brazilian-inspired jazz dance debut with the Detroit collective Sol Set, titled Olá de Novo. As a follow-up release, the tracks from the original recording have received the remix treatment and issued on a new LP, simply called Olá de Novo (the remixes).
UK’s Mr Bongo has recently released a brilliant new album from the highly creative Belarus-based collective SOYUZ (aka СОЮЗ), titled Force of the Wind. Led by composer, arranger, and singer Alex Chumak, multi-instrumentalist Mikita Arlou and drummer Anton Nemahai, the group’s third recording is heavily inspired by the popular Brazilian sounds of the 70s (known as Música popular Brasileira or MPB).
Continuing with a string of essential releases, Paul Murphy’s Jazz Room Records is releasing an incredible new double-sided 7inch featuring covers of both Azymuth’s 1979 “Jazz Carnival” and 808 State’s 1989 “Pacific 707” by jazz-meets-electronic music Tokyo-based duo Cruisic.
Since 2014, Tokyo-based jazz-funk trio Nautilus (named after Bob James’ 1974 fusion classic) has been at the forefront of the incredible music currently coming out of Japan. Led by drummer Toshiyuki Sasaki, and featuring founding bassist Shigeki Umezawa and more recent keyboardist Mariko Nakabayashi, the group is consistently active, releasing highly sought-after full-length and 7inch singles featuring a strong mix of originals and covers of timeless classics. For their sixth release(!!!) of 2022, the band has put out a brilliant new double-sided single on Japan’s Urban Discos label, titled Looking Back / Paint it Black.
London-based, Ukrainian-born harpist Alina Bzhezhinska follows up her critically acclaimed 2018 debut album Inspiration (Ubuntu Music), with a superb new full-length release featuring the HipHarpCollective on the BBE label, titled Reflections.
