Belgium might not be a country that you might not associate with Jazz music. However there was some really good Progressive Jazz recorded there especially between 1968-1979, the subject of this compilation. Keyboardist Marc Moulin is the most well known Belgian Jazz musician of this time and he has two tracks featured, 'S.U.S' a nice mid paced fusion track by his band Placebo and the break beat synth led 'Tohubohu'. Solis Lacus contribute the title track 'Utopic Cities' a nice and moody seven minute atmospheric groove. Open Sky Unit 'Open Sky' is an off beat vocal track that found favour...
Lonnie Liston Smith's last album for the Flying Dutchman label 'Renaissance' was actually released on RCA in 1976. It is the bridge between his jazzier Flying Dutchman recordings and slightly more commercial Columbia albums that followed. 'Space Lady' and the slightly slower 'Mongotee' are typical Lonnie Liston instrumental Jazz- Funk grooves, with supple rhodes cascading over taught, funky and swollen basslins. 'Mardi Gras (Carnival) ' has a Brazilian flavour and a relentless groove which has made it a Jazz- Dance classic, an uptempo samba with percussive frills and an inate danceability laden with hand percussion and agogo/cowbells. 'Renaissance' is a...
World-renowned drummer Myele Manzanza has made a musical splash over the past few years since landing in London from his native New Zealand. The percussive ripples of his musical arrival have fanned out across the capital and beyond, hitting the right pairs of eardrums successively and accruing him somewhat of reputation as one of the brightest lights on the British Jazz scene, certainly one of its most skilled players. Manzanza, son of the Congolese percussionist Sam Manzanza, is a powerful presence on the international Jazz stage, an inventive and dynamic drummer who brings a particular sense of time and shuffling,...
Cornell CC Carter has understandably built up a good following after a string of strong contemporary Soul albums. Carter possesses a nice soulful voice, and his music is current whilst always having a link to the past. ‘Next Life’ builds on his previous albums and contains a mixture of modern soul dancers, steppers and slow jams. ‘Upside Down’, ‘Tonight’ and ‘Not Possible’ are 80’s influenced Modern soul dancers and ‘I’m Here’ a nice stepper. ‘The Moment’ has a funky groove, and ‘Experience’ a nice mid tempo song. ‘Don’t You Love it’ is a beat ballad/Slow Jam, ‘Sho Nuiff’ and ‘Real’ are old school sweet...
Debut album by the influential gaucho musician Gelson Oliveira, in partnership with the drummer Luiz Ewerling, released independently in 1983, with minimal resources. In spite of all this, they made a unique and very album, with a spectacular musicality, a mix of sounds, ranging from jazz, funk and fusion. Check out some of our other Mad About Records stock, ranging from superb Mexican Jazz Fusion, Las Vegas based private press Funk and Soul rarities, West Coast Jazz and possibly the best Brazilian Boogie / Disco Compilation to have ever graced UK shelves. Their output continues to impress and thankfully we...
Walter Bishop Jr - Keeper Of My Soul Keyboardist Walter Bishop, Jr. recorded the second album released by the Black Jazz label, Coral Keys, a masterpiece of Blue Note-style atmospherics infused with '70s soul-jazz. But a mere two years later, Bishop, Jr. brought a whole new sound and a whole new band into the studio for 1973"s Keeper of My Soul. Contrary to the album title, the name of the band was not The 4th Cycle; instead, as the liner notes put it, the name reflected 'Bishop's composition and improvisational techniques based on the Cycle of 4ths and his various...
Paprika soul—comprised of a collaboration of musicians from the UK, US and Europe—release their first CD of 2021, “Soul On Jazz”. As the title suggests, the album is made up of some mellow, groovy Soul and Jazz cuts with some interesting covers—an interesting take on the Lonnie Liston Smith Columbia classic Journey Into Love stands out as one of the album highlights, a mid-tempo groover with female vocals substituting for Donald Smith's dulcit tones. The leading track of the album Standing Right Here is a bright and upbeat track, peppered with playful bouts of percussion and soulful keys, with Jackie...
Can I Be A Witness - Stax Southern Groove is a great new CD compilation from Kent Records introducing no less than 11 previously unreleased tracks from the Stax vaults plus a further 9 rare or obscure upper tempo tracks. Highlights include eddie Floyd funky soul 'Can We talk This Over', the funky tracks Nightingales 'Burning Both Ends' and Jean Knight 'Helping Man' plus the modern Soul dancers Mel & Tim 'Forever And A Day' , Jeanne & The Darlings 'Changes' and Major Lance 'I Wanna Make Up (Before We Break Up)'. Frederick Knight 'Passin Thru/World KeepsTurning' is an unissued extended 11...
Anthony Hamilton returns with his first album in a few years with a strong album 'Love Is The new Black'. We have missed his rich tones, he has undoubtedly one of the best contemporary male soul voices. 'Love Is The New Black' ft Regina McKoy on background vocals and 'Threw It All Away' (which samples Tom Brock's 'I Love You More and More') are both slinky semi funky mid tempo tracks, steeped in early to mid 70's Soul. 'Real Love' ft James Poyser on keyboards gives a nod to De La Soul and Ahmad Jamal whilst the ballad 'White Hennessy' samples...
The opening phrase of ‘Maiden Voyage’ is as an evocative piece that Jazz has ever produced. It reflects the ebbing of tides and the gradual launch of a vessel. By the time ‘Maiden Voyage’ was recorded, Herbie Hancock had acquired an impressionistic quality to his writing, so much so that you can visualise the pictures he is painting with his music. Freddie Hubbard’s Coltrane inspired solo sets the scene on ‘Maiden Voyage’, which Hancock builds on eloquently. This is genius at work. Alongside the album’s closing track the sublime ‘Dolphin’s Dance’ ‘Maiden Voyage’ provided Jazz with two of its finest...
