Tag: Spiritual Jazz
UK’s Mr Bongo has recently released a brilliant new album from the highly creative Belarus-based collective SOYUZ (aka СОЮЗ), titled Force of the Wind. Led by composer, arranger, and singer Alex Chumak, multi-instrumentalist Mikita Arlou and drummer Anton Nemahai, the group’s third recording is heavily inspired by the popular Brazilian sounds of the 70s (known as Música popular Brasileira or MPB).
London-based, Ukrainian-born harpist Alina Bzhezhinska follows up her critically acclaimed 2018 debut album Inspiration (Ubuntu Music), with a superb new full-length release featuring the HipHarpCollective on the BBE label, titled Reflections.
The London-based collective Natural Lateral, led by Aziz Mustafa (aka Tom Funk), follows up their breakthrough 2019 debut Cogito Ergo Jam with a brilliant and highly-anticipated new recording on the Social Joy label, titled Tapestry Of Life.
Formerly Chicago, and now Hawaii-based percussionist, composer, and producer Makaya McCraven has just released an incredible expansive new full-length album, titled In These Times, that has been over seven years in the making.
In just a short period of time, Italian-born Los Angeles-based drummer, producer and DJ Tommaso Cappellato‘s Domanda Music label has quickly established itself with some strong releases, including Rosa Brunello’s recent Sound Like Freedom recording, which is definitely one of the best albums of 2022. The label continues their string of impressive releases with a superb debut full-length, titled Transforma, from another of Cappellato’s collaborative projects, Collettivo Immaginario.
Over the last several years, there haven’t been many artists that have been able to release the sheer number of quality releases as composer and pianist Greg Foat. The London-based artist returns with his longstanding Greg Foat Group for the ensemble’s first full-length album in 6 years, titled Blue Lotus.
Following this past Spring’s fantastic 12″ tribute to the great Lonnie Liston Smith, and a number of superb releases for the Lovemonk label, saxophonist and flautist Chip Wickham, who divides his time between Spain, UK and the Middle-East, has released his debut full-length album on Matthew Halsall’s Manchester-based Gondwana Records, titled Cloud 10.
The Diplomats Of Soul, which is a London-based label (distributed by Expansion Records) run by acclaimed DJs and diggers Mike Allin and Ralph Tee, have recently reissued drummer and vocalist Grady Tate’s very obscure and highly sought-after 1974 soul jazz rendition of Jon Lucien’s “Lady Love”.
Jazz Is Dead’s brilliant series continues with multi-instrumentalists, composers, producers, and JID masterminds Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad teaming up with one of Los Angeles’s most innovative collectives in Katalyst. Based specifically out of the Inglewood area, Katalyst is a 9-piece band that was established back in September 2014, and includes a collaborative group of producers, composers, session musicians, and writers, who continue to be at the forefront of creative music and art currently coming out Southern California.
Following the release of both their breakthrough 2019 self-titled debut EP, and last year’s standout double A-side 12″ single Baba Ayoola / Carry Me Home, the London 8-piece collective Kokoroko, led by trumpeter and vocalist Sheila Maurice-Grey, returns with their highly-anticipated full length album on Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood Recordings, titled Could We Be More.
