Tag: Jazz
In what has become one of the most highly anticipated compilations of 2020, Blue Note and Decca Records have just released a great new compilation, titled Blue Note Re:imagined, featuring many of the UK’s most breakthrough jazz artists re-working classic material from the Blue Note vaults.
Back in May, Uk pianist and saxophonist Laurence Mason had an idea of meshing together two of his biggest musical heroes, Dave Greenfield of the seventies-era proto-punk band The Stranglers with the sixties cool jazz “Take Five” sound of Dave Brubeck. He didn’t think much would come of it at the time, however after posting a demo of this funky soul jazz tribute track to YouTube, titled “Golden Brown”, it immediately blew up and received over a million views, with hundreds of requests for a physical release on vinyl.
Canadian multi-instrumentalist Pierre Chrétien, who also plays with groups like The Souljazz Orchestra, Atlantis Jazz Ensemble and Slim Moore & the Mar-Kays, has just released his debut solo album, titled Les Paradis artificiels on Marlow Records, under the alias Cinephonic.
In coordination with September 26th’s Record Store Day (the second RSD of 2020), Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood label released a brand new limited-edition 12inch single by London-based ensemble Maisha, titled Open The Gates.
London’s Spiritmuse Records have just released the brilliant debut album Pathways & Passages from the Los Angeles-based spiritual jazz ensemble Cosmic Vibrations, led by acclaimed jazz vocalist Dwight Trible.
Through it’s highly acclaimed Spiritual Jazz compilation series, the London-based label Jazzman Records has shed light and unearthed some of the greatest and most obscure spiritual jazz recordings from all corners of the globe. Most recently, the series has dove deep into the vaults of groundbreaking labels like Blue Note, Prestige, and Steeplechase. With their 12th volume of the series, Jazzman continues it’s label focus, exploring “the house that Trane built,” better known as Impulse! Records.
This past Saturday, BeatCaffeine’s TJ Gorton was a special guest on Morgan ‘Moman’ Nixon‘s weekly two-hour live video streaming show Zinelab Transmission. Often there is a weekly theme tied to each show, and in memory of one of the greatest jazz collectors from Hawaii, Melvin M. Murakami, Moman and TJ played some of their favorite new, rare, and classic jazz records.
After making their mark for a number of years hosting notable parties and events, the Bristol-based collective Worm Disco Club have launched a brand new label called Worm Discs, and have recently released a brilliant new compilation highlighting the Bristolian jazz sound, titled New Horizons.
UK label Jazzman Records has recently released a brilliant full-length album highlighting the sixties-era music of long overlooked jazz journeyman and flautist Roscoe Weathers, titled I’ll Remember.
Record Store Day has typically been an annual event that has took place in mid-April. Due to the ongoing pandemic, this year’s RSD was originally postponed to June 20th, and unfortunately moved again to now three separate Saturday dates, August 29th, September 26th, and October 24th. Even though many record stores have been able to find ways to open up again in a limited capacity, it’s safe to say like everything in 2020, this year’s RSD will be very different than what it has been in the past.
28-year-old saxophonist and composer Nubya Garcia has been one the most active and impactful artists among the current London jazz scene. Over the past few years, she has collaborated with some of the region’s most breakthrough artists and collectives, including notable recordings with both ensembles Nérija and Maisha, as well as two highly acclaimed EPs in Nubya’s 5ive (2017) and When We Are (2018). In 2019, she was the recipient of the Jazz FM UK Jazz Act of the Year Award. This week, she releases her much-anticipated full-length debut album on Concord Records, titled Source.
The London-based label Time Capsule has recently released a great new compilation EP featuring an eclectic collection of modern tropically influenced sounds that range from jazz, reggae, psych, and indigenously rooted instrumental music currently coming out of Japan.
Chicago-based composer, drummer, and producer Makaya McCraven has over the past half-decade, been one of the most groundbreaking artists in jazz, due to his unique recording approaches and post-production editing and mixing processes. The “jazz beat scientist” has just released an insightful documentary and new material from the same sessions that produced the 2018 critically-acclaimed Universal Beings album.
