Tag: Jazz Funk
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.
2021 … or what at times just felt like the hangover to 2020. For parts, it seemed like a better year than the one prior, however let’s be real, that certainly wasn’t a hard bar to climb by any stretch. Over the last 12 months it’s become clear that the pandemic still remains a strong influence on all of our daily lives. It also continues to have a significant effect on music in general, what was produced, how it gets created, and often how it’s distributed. A whirlwind of complex emotions, cautious gatherings, high levels of uncertainty, as well as constantly backed-up vinyl pressing plants and more … 2021 was definitely a very challenging year for many, including musicians, record labels, and just about everyone in the music ecosystem.
For over a decade, Matsuli Music, have unearthed and reissued some of the most essential South African recordings ever made. With their latest release, the UK-based label has turned their attention to the incredible story and sounds behind Soweto’s first nightclub, known as the Pelican Club in an incredible new compilation.
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.
Following up on the group’s 2017 breakthrough EP Yellow Ochre, the cosmic jazz London-based Vels Trio, featuring keyboardist Jack Stephenson-Oliver, bassist Cameron Dawson, and drummer Dougal Taylor have just released their highly-anticipated full-length album Celestial Greens on the Rhythm Section International label.
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.
Being based in the Bay Area in Northern California, I’ve been hearing some buzzing locally over the last several years about a rising young teenage pianist and producer known as Telemakus. Over the last couple of years, the now 19-year-old self-taught musician’s acclaim has quickly grown well beyond the South Bay, which is where he grew up, receiving strong notable praise from the likes of Flying Lotus, Mark de Clive-Lowe, Tommaso Cappellato, Música Macondo label, Music Is My Sanctuary, and others. He has now released his much-anticipated full-length album on the German-based label Radio Juicy, titled The New Heritage.
