A Bow and a Fond Farewell to Terry Callier (1945-2012)

An immense influence to us all and a true Twisted Jazz forefather

Visioneers - Hipology (2012)

 Following on from the success of “Dirty Old Hip Hop” Marc returns with a new Visioneers record Hipology. “Hipology is a collage of some of my personal influences as a DJ/Producer growing up listening to Hip Hop; a real eclectic mix of Breaks, Beats, Soul, Jazz, and freaky squeaks and not a sampler in sight. Visioneers is about revisiting my love for Hip Hop; What is was and what it is; the musical influences and the culture...”. Features guest spots from John Robinson, TRAC & Baron, Notes to Self, Luke Parkhouse & The Ariya Horns. 

The Craig Charles Funk & Soul Club (comp - 2012)

Actor, stand up comedian, poet, radio presenter and club DJ, Craig Charles, has been a dedicated soul boy from a tender age. In fact, he was raised on the sounds of sweet soul, "My father came over from Guyana in the West Indies and he brought a load of records over with him. There was always Ray Charles playing in the house, The Platters, Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding. My Dad would play all this old stuff. In fact I was very close to getting called Otis when I was born! One of my earliest memories is my mum and dad dancing around the kitchen to Ray Charles' I've Got A Woman. I remember the look of sheer joy and exhilaration on their faces. I was hooked! 

Kostas Kouvidis Scholarship "You Are What U Do" [in greek]

ΥΠΟΤΡΟΦΙΑ ΚΩΣΤΑΣ ΚΟΥΒΙΔΗΣ
- Η οικογένεια του Κώστα Κουβίδη και η αστική μη κερδοσκοπική εταιρεία "You Are What U Do – Κώστας Κουβίδης" αποφάσισαν να διαθέσουν το σύνολο της αποζημίωσης που καταβλήθηκε μετά από δικαστική απόφαση από την ασφαλιστική εταιρεία του δράστη του τροχαίου εγκλήματος συνεπεία του οποίου έχασε την ζωή του ο Κώστας στις 26 Απριλίου 2007 στους φυσικούς του κληρονόμους: νέους ταλαντούχους μουσικούς, κατά προτεραιότητα ντράμερ, που είναι αφοσιωμένοι στην μουσική και εστιασμένοι στην τζαζ.
- Το συνολικό ποσό ανέρχεται σε 200.000 ευρώ.
- Οι υποτροφίες θα χορηγηθούν σε: Νέους ντράμερ που προέρχονται από την Ελλάδα για να ολοκληρώσουν τις σπουδές τους στο εξωτερικό. Προυπόθεση είναι να έχουν προεπιλεγεί από την επιτροπή υποτροφιών του Berklee College of Music.
-Η χορήγηση της υποτροφίας θα ξεκινήσει φέτος στις ακροάσεις που θα πραγματοποιηθούν στις 9&10 Νοεμβρίου στην Αθήνα στο Ωδείο Φίλιππος Νάκας.

Quasimode - Soul Cookin' (2012)

Quasimode are definitely cooking on this sweet little set – picking up a rich array of influences they've never had before – including bits of Latin rhythms, and some soul music as well! A few of the cuts feature vocals – but in ways that are more straight soul than the group's previous experiments with jazz singers – yet the backings are still tightly jazzy, and played mostly live, in a bold flurry of trumpet, tenor, trombone, piano, bass, and drums – plus some occasional Fender Rhodes as well! The Latin elements really help expand the sound, and flesh out the positive vibe of the record – a soaring, sunny vision that reminds us of the jazzy joy we first found in the music of Monday Michiru.

Kylie Auldist - Still Life (2012)

The third album from Australian soul/funk singer Kylie Auldist is out now on Tru Thoughts. Entitled ‘Still Life’, the new LP sees Auldist singing straight from the heart and telling the stories of her life, exploring themes such as love, loss and the passing of time with an intelligence and depth that only experience can inspire.

By turns wistful, uplifting, poignant and simply smoking hot, ‘Still Life’ is brimful of bright, accessible funk and sultry soul, served up by the velvety voiced diva with a healthy dose of disco inspired boogie. The album was co-written and produced by close collaborator Lance Ferguson (Lanu/The Bamboos), whose versatile production skills – as showcased across his many Lanu and The Bamboos releases – snap into action here with a classy updating of the ‘70s dancefloor sound. Exquisite string and horn arrangements on the record sit amongst emotive piano melodies, driving drums and the strut and snaking groove of Ferguson’s guitar.

The New Mastersounds - Out On The Faultline (2012)

As their live shows continue to charm audiences in USA, Japan and Europe, The New Mastersounds have built on their own impressive musical heritage and produced a soulful, funk-drenched eighth studio album - real instruments, recorded this time in downtown San Francisco.

The record opens with a classic slice of organ funk (think The Meters, but edgier), quickly followed up with other seriously catchy syncopated gems full of solos, inventive arrangements and gang vocals. There's a nod in the direction of jazz-house (à la Saint Germaine), a rolling-piano-&-spoken-word homage to New Orleans (where the band has performed for the past six consecutive years), then a massive horn track before the tone of the album gradually shifts to close out with a psychedelic Hammond-rock sound reminiscent of Brian Auger. Eddie Roberts' vintage production delivers warm soulful bass, choppy drums, funky organ & piano, and with Eddie's signature roughneck jazz guitar throughout.

Out On The Faultline is another corker of an album from the stalwarts of the global funk and soul-jazz movement.

The Cactus Channel - Haptics (2012)

Hear that sound? Raw, loose and nasty funk, recorded straight to analog tape. It’s just like the old days, but so new it’s sporting a badass teenage moustache. Now that Melbourne funk sensation The Cactus Channel have graduated high school, they’re taking their own brand of high-octane, instrumental car chase funk and smooth soundtrack soul to the people with their debut, Haptics. On the road and on the airwaves, 2012 is the year The Cactus Channel come of age.

Back in 2009, the founding members of The Cactus Channel were already jamming on some classic soul feels, tripping on Eddie Bo, James Brown and their contemporaries, and using words like “Boss” and “Cat” while trying to make it through year 10 in 21st Century Australia. What began as experimentation in Junior Stage Band developed into outright insubordination in Senior Jazz Ensemble and by 2011 The Cactus Channel were an out of control ten piece funk orchestra with the momentum of a runaway train who could count The Dap Kings’ Tom Brenneck and soul legend Charles Walker as fans.

Christian Scott - Christian aTunde Adjuah (2012)

 by Patrick Jarenwattananon (npr music)

The collage artwork for the new Christian Scott double album seems to show the trumpeter and composer in a ceremonial outfit: full jacket, ornate beadwork, headdress and pink feathers jutting out in every direction. If you know about his personal history, you connect the dots quickly. He has long been "masking Indian" in the long-standing Mardi Gras tradition of his family — and of the black communities of his native New Orleans — and the album cover can be processed as a statement of pride in his heritage. Indeed, Christian aTunde Adjuah is even named that way — Scott has recently adopted the names aTunde and Adjuah as a way of declaring his West African past.

The Herbaliser - There Were Seven (2012)

There Were Seven sees a familiar split between instrumental and vocal-driven tracks, but this is a definite departure from the pop-edged soul of 2008’s Same As It Never Was, and the delight is in the detail. The Lost Boy conjures up images of a dark, edgy jazz club with smoke trails hanging heavy in the air as Hannah Clive’s sultry vocals glide over a James Bond-style backing.

Welcome to Extravagance forms the Herbaliser’s first, and highly successful, foray into dub reggae, while cut-up syllables from a 9/11 documentary provide a driving percussive bedrock for the brooding, electronic chill of Mother Dove, which somehow manages to be simultaneously relaxed and uneasy.

Menahan Street Band - The Crossing (2012)

By Len  Comaratta (Consequence of Sound)

[...] Menahan Street Band's The Crossing is front-loaded with the album’s two pre-release singles, the title track and “Lights Out”. The former bridges back to the debut’s closing number, a cover of Bill Conti’s “Going the Distance”, while the latter serves to set the tone for the remainder of the current album. Much of the material on The Crossing was recorded in the wee hours of the morning, when mood and mind are apt to wander down those lesser lit passageways. The songs are not necessarily a nocturne as much a carefully focused array of vibe, mood, and emotion often associated with the pre-dawn hours. But the slightly haunting, lower-timbre drive throughout most of The Crossing is occasionally set aside for lighter fare such as the titular opening number or “Everyday a Dream”, which has the feel of Young-Holt Unlimited’s “Soulful Strut” if Sly Stone and Burt Bacharach had been consulted.

The Souljazz Ochestra - Solidarity (2012)

Canada's hardest working super-group, The Souljazz Orchestra, are back! Since their last project together, 2010's Rising Sun, the band has been refining its sound on the road, and it shows on Solidarity which boasts a muscular, plugged-in sound that positively commands dancing. The album showcases a diverse set of influences, buoyed by the many featured vocalists, all of whom are connected to the group through the Canadian music scene, yet hail from a variety of backgrounds, from Senegal to Brazil to Jamaica and beyond. Recorded on vintage gear, the music packs a punch which is often lacking on contemporary recordings. The band will be touring internationally around the release, so look for them soon near you! (Strut Records)

25 years of ACID JAZZ records

Acid Jazz, the brainchild of Eddie Piller and Gilles Peterson was born in 1987 and immediately hit a chord in the UK by appealing to a cross section of serious fans from old school Jazzers, obsessive Jazz-Funkers, passionate Soulboys, sharp-dressed Mods, nodding Hip-Hoppers and even laid back Dreads. Before long the tentacles of the Acid Jazz movement were spreading throughout the world and what began as a bedroom label between two mates soon became a mecca for various tribes who had become disenfranchised from other scenes.

Double Yellow - Life in a Slow Lane (2012)

Dave "Double Yellow" Lilley, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, is a long-term collaborator with Diesler (AKA Jonathan Radford). With completely different approaches towards making music, and after many late night muso-chats, Dave Lilley and Jonathan Radford embarked on numerous collaborations that formed the backbone of most of Diesler's album outputs. Together they wrote much of Diesler's best-selling 2006 album, Keepie Uppies, which was shortlisted for Best Album in Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Awards for Radio 1 and received global exposure. And now the two are responsible for the Double Yellow album combining ingredients from a rich and deep larder of Barrelhouse Honky Tonk, Club Funk, Dixieland Jazz-Stomp, Swing.

Wolfy Funk Project

WOLFY FUNK PROJECT [W.F.P.] were formed in the summer of 2007 based on the needs of three musicians (D. Giotakis, K. Stamou, A. Diamantopoulos) to suit their musical pursuits. Adapting their personal sound to melodies and rhythms of familiar and non-familiar songs, from a wider musical range, but also creating their own compositions using as its main component the aggressive (“wolfy” as they name it) funk rhythm, started performing live in clubs, bars, music festivals and stages all across Athens. At the end of 2008, Nancy SiM (vocals) and Dimitris Faris (tenor sax & keys) joined the band. Melodic lyrics and MC-ing in addition with the harmonic keys and the power of the horn, boosts WFPs current particular style, rehearsing new songs and performing more “wolfy” funky gigs. 

Jimi Tenor & Kabukabu - Mystery Of Aether (2012)

 A sense of togetherness is at the heart of Aether, and not just in the concert hall. It permeates Jimi’s whole world-view, even embracing other worlds. Lyrically, the song ‘Resonate And Be’ captures what the LP is about, exploring the drama of the cosmos for our own spiritual and material well-being. Jimi explains, “in our view there is only aether. Everything material is the resonance of the aether. We are, because our particles resonate the song of cosmos. We are all one."
more here...

Bettye LaVette -Thankful N' Thoughtful (2012)

“Ms. LaVette now rivals Aretha Franklin as her generation’s most vital soul singer. She uses every scrape, shout and break in her raspy voice, with a predator’s sense of timing, to seize the drama of a song.” - New York Times

Bettye LaVette celebrates her 50th anniversary in the music business (note: can someone check this - there must be some mistake!) with the release of her new album, "Thankful N' Thoughtful", on ANTI- Records - as well as the publication of her long-time-coming book, variously described as 'engrosing', 'riviting', 'hair-raising' and only suitable for over 18s - the tell-it-like-it-is autobiography: "A Woman Like Me", co-written with David Ritz, the highly-regarded author of books on R&B legends such as Ray Charles, Smokey Robinson, Aretha Franklin and Marvin Gaye.

"Thankful N' Thoughtful" turned out to be a companion piece to her autobiography as while she was writing the book, she was also recording the songs.

Afro Latin Vintage Orchestra - Last Odyssey (2012)

 By Thom Jurek (AMG)
 

The Afro-Latin Vintage Orchestra may not be well-known outside of Europe save for the track "Kingston Abeba," off their 2009 debut album Definitely Roots. It was selected for the Paris DJs' (Grant Phabao and DJouls) mixtape 21st Century Afro Extravaganza. Led by virtuoso percussionist Masta Conga, the French group is truly an orchestra, numbering ten or more players at any given time. Definitely Roots drew Euro raves for its meld of Afro-beat, funk, old descarga, rhumba, reggae, and Western and Ethiopian jazz. They followed it a year later with the stellar Ayodegi: A Modern Afro-Fusion Ensemble, which was rooted in '70s-era jazz funk. Last Odyssey, issued by Ubiquity, is the group's debut international release and provides a stellar introduction to their ambitious musical vision as well as their virtuosic instrumental talent. 

Tucci and Mannutza - Lunar (2012)

Pretty great work from the team of Lorenzo Tucci and Luca Mannutza – two artists we normally associate with much straighter jazz material, but who really take off here together! The format is still definitely jazz, but the energy is quite free a times – just drums and effects from Tucci, and shifting piano, Fender Rhodes, and Hammond from Luca Mannutza – played in these really flowing lines that sparkle amidst Lorenzo's energy on the drums – all in ways that are inside enough to swing, but in ways that really go beyond conventional jazz! The format is a wonderful development for both players – and really helps us appreciate their rich talents even more than before – hardly a trick or gimmick, and instead a compelling collaboration that almost makes us feel like ECM has collided with Schema Records. Titles include "Jet Lag", "Jungle & Space", "Lunar", "Moon Boots", "The Voyager", "Avaria", and "Inception".

- Dusty Groove 

The Cinematic Orchestra presents In Motion pt.1 (2012)

Jason Swinscoe of The Cinematic Orchestra has long been intrigued by the link between vision and sound. From TCO’s re-soundtracking of Man With A Movie Camera, through his “soundtrack to an imaginary film,” Ma Fleur, to his band’s name itself, Swinscoe has continued to pick away at the issues and emotions found at this intersection. With In Motion #1 he continues this process by inviting some of his favourite musicians and producers to provide soundtracks to or musical re-imaginings of seminal work by great avant-garde film-makers.

Responding to visuals which run from René Clair’s surrealist classic "Entr’acte" (The Cinematic Orchestra) right up to Peter Tscherkassky’s “Outer Space” (Dorian Concept & Tom Chant), the musicians wrote for and worked with a string quartet to create music of remarkable emotional reach. The results are so vivid, so complex yet immediate, that they can be enjoyed as freestanding pieces in their own right.

De Phazz - Audio Elastique (2012)

The freedom of jazz and pop are the ease of the two defining elements of Dephazz. On audio Elastique, the ninth album, there are swinging sound collages between chanson ("Men, the trophies kiss," "Not Sally"), Smash-bits ("The Ball Is My Friend") and classic jazz ("Prelude"). Electro-organic is probably the most apt description for the sound of the 16 songs on audio lastique, coined by Pit Baumgartner's distinctive mode of production: Cut & Glue - audio splitter to cut out from their usual musical environment and stick on another site. Through various filters, effects and audio-rotation yields the elastic atmosphere, sometimes close to the radio play. However, whenever the singer Pat Appleton appear, Karl Frierson, Barbara Lahr or Sandie Wollasch to compress the audio components to groovy jazz or pop rolling. 

Flying Lotus - Until The Quiet Comes (2012)

By Andy Kellman (AMG)

Rewarding as it was for most lovers of 1983 and Los Angeles, Cosmogramma was so complex and knotted that Steven Ellison's next step could have gone beyond the challenging and into the self-parodic. On his fourth album, Ellison not only peels away layers from his sound but organizes his tracks into a gracefully flowing sequence. The producer once again draws from numerous instrumentalists and vocalists, from Brainfeeder associates Stephen "Thundercat" Bruner and Austin Peralta to the likes of Erykah Badu and Thom Yorke. Bruner has the most presence. His tremulous basslines are on nine of the album's 18 tracks, and his spaced-out, quasi-oracular vocals poke through on occasion, such as on an 80-second track that is titled after a natural psychedelic compound and references the title of Ellison's 2010 EP. 

Hidden Orchestra - Archipelago (2012)

‘Archipelago’ is the second album from Hidden Orchestra. Following the release of their 10,000 selling debut, ‘Night Walks’, their intricate yet viscerally emotive and energetic sound has won them critical acclaim and a diverse fanbase, from bass and hip hop heads to jazz and classical aficionados to indie and rock fans. ‘Archipelago’ follows the “Vorka”/“Spoken” single which premiered on The Line of Best Fit and Wax Poetics and continues to gain heavy tastemaker support including Stuart Maconie, Nemone and Huey Morgan on BBC 6Music, Ally McCrae (BBC R1), John Kennedy (XFM), Monocle 24, The Selector and more. 

Chico & Rita (2010)

Chico and Rita (Chico & Rita) is a Spanish animated feature-length film with Spanish and English languages directed by Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal. The story of Chico and Rita is set against backdrops of Havana, New York City, Las Vegas, Hollywood and Paris in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The film was produced by Fernando Trueba Producciones, Estudio Mariscal and Magic Light Pictures. The film was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film for the 84th Academy Awards (the first time that a Spanish full-length animated film is nominated) and has won in Spain the 2012 Goya Award for best animated film.

A gifted songwriter and beautiful singer chase their dreams – and each other – from Havana to New York and Las Vegas. Chico is a young piano player with big dreams. Rita is a beautiful singer with an extraordinary voice. Music and romantic desire unite them, but their journey – in the tradition of the Latin ballad, the bolero – brings heartache and torment.

The Shaolin Afronauts - Quest Under Capricorn (2012)

2011's debut album from The Shaolin Afronauts'Flight Of The Ancients' was a critical and commercial success story, lauded as a truly original blend of the sounds of 1970's West Africa, Ethiopiaand the pioneering and progressive avant-garde jazz artists of the same period.

'Flight Of The Ancients' went onto be nominated for several music awards, including the 25th Aria Fine Arts Awards in the world music category, whilst the band, led by Ross McHenry, cemented it's reputation as a truly revelatory live act, with a colourful and vibrant visual element to their shows, with the band resplendent in flowing, hooded robes and face paint to complete the spiritual presentation of their highly original music!

Now in 2012, The Shaolin Afronauts continue their musical journey with the follow up album 'Quest Under Capricorn' and the groups musical progression is apparent from the outset.

Dr. Lonnie Smith - The Healer (2012)

By DAN BILAWSKY (All About Jazz)

Dr. Lonnie Smith has always addressed organ traditions on his own terms. He seems to intentionally avoid clichés and marketplace trends, preferring instead to chart his own course, so it's beautifully ironic that he's become something of a trendy figure-to-follow for the jazz-meets-jam crowd. While Smith recently attained septuagenarian status, he shows no signs of developing a conservative crust or going musically gentle into that good night. The Healer, culled from material recorded at the 2011 Lamantin Jazz Festival in Hungary and a date at New York's Jazz Standard in early 2012, is brimming with the bold, bizarre and beautiful.