Tag: Jazz
London-based composer and bassist Daniel Casimir, who has been making a strong name for himself over the past few years performing alongside some of the most notable artists among the scene like Joe Armon-Jones, Nubya Garcia, Oscar Jerome, Ashley Henry, Binker Golding and others, has just released his debut album as a bandleader, titled Boxed In on the Jazz re:freshed label.
Earlier in the year, Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker teamed up to release an incredible 23-track compilation exploring the fusion of jazz, funk, Brazilian, Tropicalia, and disco with Latin and Salsa that emerged in Cuba in the 1970s and 1980s, titled Cuba: Music And Revolution — Culture Clash In Havana Cuba: Experiments In Latin Music 1975-85. With much more music to dive into from this era, London’s Soul Jazz Records has just released volume 2 of this essential series.
Berlin-based label Sonorama Records has recently reissued, for the first time since it’s original 1975 release, Jamaican tenor saxophonist Fitz Gore and his adventurous group The Talismen’s highly obscure soulful spiritual jazz debut album Soundnitia.
Following the group’s superb 2020 breakthrough album Worshippers, and an expansive remix release, the Munich-based ensemble Web Web, led by mastermind Roberto Di Gioia, teams up with composer, musician, and producer, Max Herre and a string of outstanding guests to release a phenomenal new 70s-era inspired spiritual jazz recording, tilted WEB MAX.
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 well over a decade, Manchester composer, saxophonist, and multi-instrumentalist Nat Birchall has released some of the most standout jazz recordings, as well as some brilliant dub-infused collaborative work with producer Al Breadwinner. He has recently released an incredible new solo African-influenced spiritual jazz album titled, Ancient Africa.
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.
One of the last year’s best albums, and a recording that really captured the emotion of 2020 well, was New York harpist Brandee Younger and bassist Dezron Douglas Force Majeure. Following this beautifully homemade session (recorded in the couple’s apartment), Younger steps out on her own to release a brilliant full-length on Impulse!, titled Somewhere Different.
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.
Decca has recently released an incredible new compilation featuring selections from some of the greatest and most sought-after British jazz recordings from the sixties and seventies, titled Journeys In Modern Jazz: Britain. This represents a time where the UK jazz scene was really finding it’s own sound with it’s own “home grown” British musicians and the support of labels like Decca, Deram, Argo, EMI Columbia/Lansdowne Series, Fontana, Mercury, Philips and others.
Following up on 2019’s standout debut full-length Scheming, the outstanding Bristol quartet known as The Jazz Defenders returns with a brilliant new 7inch release on the UK-based Haggis Records, featuring two superb dancefloor jazz selections.
Once described as “the Quincy Jones of Catford” by Rolling Stone magazine, South London composer, arranger, and trombonist Nathaniel Cross has become a prominent musician among today’s UK jazz scene, performing and recording with artists like Moses Boyd, Solange, Zara McFarlane, Kano, David Murray, LCSM, Swindle, Sons of Kemet, and many others. Stepping out on his own, he has just released a superb debut EP on First World Records, titled The Description Is Not The Described.
Paul Murphy’s Jazz Room Records continues it’s string of incredible “must-own” releases with a brand new 7inch single, titled The Electric Jazz Room EP, revisiting two essential selections that made their mark at the underground jazz dance nights like Shiftless Shuffle, The Horseshoe, Electric Ballroom, and others in London.
