Tag: Jazz Dance
As we wind down the final days of 2021 and look ahead to 2022 (with so many questions regarding what the future or this virus has in store), here is one more “look back” at the past twelve months — exploring some of the best individual tracks that helped us all get through this (still very much) challenging year. Happy New Year everyone, and more importantly, stay healthy and safe!
Over the past twelve months, not only was there a tremendous amount of great new music put out into the world, but we also saw a high-level of incredible reissue releases, including many previously unreleased recordings that had been shelved for 30-40 years or more.
French jazz-funk quartet Aldorande follow up both their 2019 breakthrough debut album and superb 2020 double-sided 12inch single Summer Body / Breakfast in Space with an incredible new album, titled Deux on Favorite Recordings.
Bassist of the legendary Brazilian fusion trio Azymuth, Alex Malheiros, who has also contributed his pioneering space-funk sound on records by Jorge Ben, Milton Nascimento, Roberto Carlos, Marcos Valle, Mark Murphy, and others, has recently released a brilliant new album on Far Out Recordings, appropriately titled Tempos Futuros.
London-based Outernational Sounds has recently reissued, for the first time outside of South Africa, two superb 1974 Johannesburg sessions Song Of Soweto and The Last Special from an all-star U.S. touring band led by both guitarist Charles Mallory and trombonist Al Hall Jr., known simply as the The Mallory Hall Band.
Formerly Chicago, and now Hawaii-based composer, producer, drummer, and all-around “jazz beat scientist” Makaya McCraven continues to be one the most forward-thinking artists of our present time. On his latest album, titled Deciphering The Message, he dives into the historic vaults of Blue Note Records and completely reworks some of the label’s classic material.
Highly-influential UK-based DJ, compilation curator, producer, and radio presenter Kev Beadle has just reissued a selection of essential tracks from Jan Tober and Ron Satterfield’s extremely obscure 1975 vocal jazz masterpiece As Long As There’s Music.
Acid Jazz has released an official reissue of Emmanuel Abdul-Rahim’s highly obscure 1988 Latin jazz dance full-length Harlem featuring The Times at Hand Orchestra. Known for his 1972 classic album Total Submission for Cobblestone/Muse, this later recording, which is equally brilliant, is often overlooked.
Sacred Rhythm Music, which is a pioneering label run by the legendary Joaquin “Joe” Claussell, has just released a superb posthumous EP release, titled Grace, by the late great New York house DJ and producer Carlos Sanchez featuring crossover vocal greats Gregory Porter, Bobby McFerrin, and Kenny Lattimore.
Producer, composer, multi-instrumentalist and 22a label boss, Ed ‘Tenderlonious’ Cawthorne continues to make his mark as one of the most pioneering musicians of our time, through his explorations of jazz, house, electronic music, and Hindustani classical. After a series of remarkable albums that have individually focused on those sounds, the London-based artist has brought all those elements and influences together on a brilliant new album, titled Still Flute.
London-based Jazz Room Records, which is run by legendary jazz DJ Paul Murphy, continues it’s onslaught of “must-have” releases in 2021, with a very welcomed reissue of The Arpeggio Jazz Ensemble’s highly obscure 1987 spiritual soul-jazz masterpiece Le – Le.
Saxophonist and composer Nubya Garcia has been among one of the groundbreaking artists at the forefront of London’s thriving jazz scene. Her critically-acclaimed 2020 debut full-length album SOURCE was at the top of many “best of” lists (including BeatCaffeine’s Favorite Albums of 2020), and was recently nominated for the prestigious Mercury Prize. With the help of some of today’s most forward-thinking artists, the album gets the full on remix treatment on a brand new release, titled SOURCE ⧺ WE MOVE.
As we enter the cooler Fall/Winter months, iconic DJ Paul Murphy and his Jazz Room Records label continue to bring the heat with a very welcomed reissue of Tata Vasquez’s extremely rare New York-style Latin jazz dance floor masterpiece, titled Ecstasy.
