Tag: Soul
Los Angeles-based composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist, visionary, and one of the two people behind the Jazz Is Dead label and series, Adrian Younge, has released a powerful new groundbreaking album, titled The American Negro, which unapologetically calls out historic racism and white supremacy, and the ongoing trauma it’s caused on Black people in the United States.
UK-based Backatcha Records has released a brilliant new sixteen-track compilation featuring some of the hardest to find independent soul gems recorded between 1971-1984.
Only hours after the shocking news about MF DOOM’s passing was just beginning to circulate throughout the music world on New Year’s Eve, we heard further heartbreaking news through social media that San Francisco native, producer, multi-instrumentalist, DJ, and vocalist Kenyan “K-Maxx” Hopkins had suddenly and unexpectedly passed away on December 29. This devastating news sent shockwaves through the Bay Area music community and beyond.
As we get ready to enter the new year, I’ve put together one final “favorites” list, featuring some of the best EP releases that came out over the past twelve months. Sometimes the line is blurring as to what is an EP and what is considered an album, and definitely a few of the selections below can arguably be considered full-length recordings. Regardless, I thought this provides another opportunity to highlight some of the brilliant recordings that helped get us through this very challenging year. Happy New Year everyone!
As we wind down the final days of a year that we will never forget, and begin to look ahead, it’s good to highlight some of those incredible individual tracks that helped us get through 2020. From jazz, soul, electronic music, global grooves, dance floor gems, tropical funk, and just about everything in-between, the amount of quality music that was coming out over the past twelve months was arguably as good as any year I can recall.
British-Ghanaian soul singer, songwriter, and producer Andrew Ashong joins forces with one of the most innovative and influential UK broken beat artists over the past two decades in keyboardist and producer Kaidi Tatham to release a brilliant new EP, titled Sankofa Season.
Earlier in the year, London’s Cordial Recordings put out a full-length album featuring previously unreleased material recorded in the 70s from an Oakland based funk and soul group Family of Swede, titled Family Album. Due to high demand and heavy rotation from Gilles Peterson and others, the long version of the brilliant soul track “Set You Free”, which was originally only included on the CD version, has been released as a twelve-inch single.
“Do you remember?” … Over the years, September 21st has kind of unofficially become Earth, Wind & Fire Day due to the opening lyrics to their 1978 smash disco-funk hit “September” where bandleader and founder Maurice White references this exact date: Do you remember the 21st night of September? / Love was changing the mind of pretenders /
While chasing the clouds away.
The London-based reissue label Discs of Fun and Love is quickly making a strong name for themselves with some incredible and worthy seven-inch soul reissues. Their third and latest release features the obscure 1981 funky soulful gem “Summer Love,” written and produced by illustrious jazz musician Prince Billy Mahdi Wright, and sang by Maggie “Mandisa” Epting.
Soul-jazz legend Roy Ayers, who made his mark in the seventies and early eighties with classic recordings like He’s Coming, Ubiquity, Red Black & Green, Vibrations, Everybody Loves The Sunshine, and so many others, has teamed up with Los Angeles based producers/multi-instrumentalists Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad (of also Tribe Called Quest) to release a brand new album on the newly formed Jazz Is Dead label.
