Tag: Jazz Funk
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.
Originally released back in March of 2015 to help raise awareness and funds for the Steve Reid Foundation, which is a non-profit organization that aims to help people working in music who are in crisis, the highly collaborative album led by drummer and producer Emanative (aka Nick Woodmansey), titled The Light Years Of The Darkness, featuring new renditions of music by Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Don Cherry, Sun Ra, Joe Henderson, Arthur Blythe, and Mary Parks is now being reissued with a secret bonus record.
Earlier in the year, two legendary artists in producer, DJ, and radio broadcaster Gilles Peterson and multi-instrumentalist Jean-Paul “Bluey” Maunick teamed under the name STR4TA to release one of the most groundbreaking records of 2021. This incredible full-length album, titled Aspects, has helped shine a bright light on the Brit-funk sound of the late 70s and early 80s. Fast forward a number of months later, producer and Z Records label boss Dave Lee, who is a legend in his own right, has remixed one of the many standout tracks in “After The Rain”, which is out now on a 12inch single via Brownswood.
The always-brilliant French label Favorite Recordings has recently reissued the incredible hard-to-find self-titled 1980 jazz-funk/fusion masterpiece from the Venezuelan ensemble Esperanto.
Following the breakthrough debut album Dreams Fulfilled on Acid Jazz Records, Glasgow’s Nimbus Sextet returns with an incredible new 4-track EP release, titled Helix, which features a mixture of new material and unreleased remixes.
For more than a decade, acclaimed London-based pianist Greg Foat has been at the forefront of some of the best groove-oriented jazz recordings for labels like Jazzman Records, Athens Of The North, and Strut. On his latest release, he teams up with two incredible Finnish musicians in bassist Teemu Åkerblom and drummer Aleksi Heinola for a superb feline-themed album on Jazzaggression, titled Gone To The Cats.
London-based keyboard wiz Joe Armon-Jones, who is also a member of the UK Afrobeat-inspired group Ezra Collective and a regular collaborator with saxophonist Nubya Garcia, follows up his two incredible breakthrough solo releases on Gilles Peterson’s Brownwood Recordings, with a superb 10-inch single Pray on his newly launch label Aquarii.
London’s Strut Records continues it’s superb series diving deep into the vaults of Jimmy Gray’s now considered legendary Richmond, Virginia based label Black Fire Records with another highly in-demand reissue of Southern Energy Ensemble’s 1977 masterpiece Southern Energy.
Making the most out of the unfortunate lockdown, Glasgow-based pianist, keyboardist, and composer Josef Akin, who also plays in two excellent groups Amara and GABO, returns with an absolutely brilliant new album titled, Flightcase on London’s Sola Terra label.
