Jazz / Soul / Funk

In 2017 Jeremiah Chiu & Marta Sofia Honer traveled together to the Åland Islands (an archipelago that is host to around 6,500 islands) in the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Finland. They headed to the islands with the intention of helping two friends (mother/daughter duo Jannika/Sage Reed) barn raise a small inn named Hotel Svala in Kumlinge (a municipality consisting of a small group of islands and a population of about 320). The idea was that, once completed, Svala would host artist residencies and workshop programs, creating a direct link between the islands and the USA. The concept of recording music there came about as Honer & Chiu learned more and more about the islands. They were taken by the serene and strange quality of the place. The sun doesn’t set in the summer (and barely rises in the winter). The network of miniature islands is traversed by ferry which, according to Chiu, “casts a surreal horizontal movement through space and time, with islands shifting into and out of periphery, totally still and calm, yet always in motion.” In 2019 they were awarded a grant from the Department of Culture to return and perform a concert at the Kumlinge Kyrka, a 14th century medieval church adorned with incredible frescos. The concert was recorded and became source material – along with improvisations on viola and electronics, pipe organ, pump organ, piano, synthesizers, field recordings and voice memos, all captured across both their trips at various locations on the archipelago – from which they meticulously crafted a post-script in the form of 'Recordings from the Åland Islands'. Easing listeners into the feeling of the place, the album’s opening track “In Åland Air” is a dream-like haze that slows time, invoking the feeling of descending by plane onto the archipelago, a place Chiu recalls as “lush with a gentle, brackish breeze...” On “Snåcko,” a track named for the island next to Kumlinge, the music becomes a transportive portrait, painting in sound “the romantic and gentle atmosphere of the forests in Åland — a place where your eyes slowly adjust to the rainbow-colored moss covering granite boulders. Walking around, you find the forest floor blossoming with blueberries, currants, and flowers...” The longest and darkest movement in the collection, “Archipelago,” encapsulates “the experience of being surrounded in the vast network of islands” with a dense cloud of slowly modulating string layers, improvised by Honer in an empty swimming pool at Svala. “The heaviness of the track,” says Honer, “is a reference to the deep darkness experienced during the Nordic winter days.” But the plaintive atmosphere of that penultimate piece is succeeded with the triumphant final movement of the album, “Under the Midnight Sun,” which bellows forth like a vibrant chorus of melodious sighs, echoing classic sounds from Jon Hassell’s 'Vernal Equinox', or Franco Battiato’s 'Clic', or Brian Eno’s 'Another Green World'. Just as two eyes, two ears, and two halves of a brain work together to create a memory, on their duo debut, Honer and Chiu’s collective pallet produces a vivid three-dimensional hyperreality of painterly tones and textures – bright and kaleidoscopic, but with a deeply warm, earthen resonance. The music evokes a powerful sense of place, transporting and immersing listeners in the other-world of the Åland Islands. And though they achieve this in beautifully natural, organic manner, Chiu & Honer agree this album is quite unlike anything they’ve made before, and likely unlike anything they’ll make in the future. ...about Chiu & Honer... The combination of modular synthesizer and viola is an uncommon one, but Jeremiah Chiu & Marta Sofia Honer manage to create a distinctive dyad that comes together with grace and truth. They’ve accomplished this by bringing much more than their respective axes to the table. Years of collaboration, cohabitation, shared experience, and separate but equally inspired commitments to utilitarian cultural work bind their disparate timbres together into a singular aesthetic reality. The two artists met, appropriately, as members of a large ensemble performing Terry Riley’s “In C,” for an annual concert organized by Bitchin Bajas at Chicago modern music hub Constellation. Honer & Chiu had been living and working in Chicago for a long time, both active members of the notoriously interconnected improvisational and experimental music scenes, but they were somehow previously unintroduced. Chiu’s musical CV to that point included work with bands like Icy Demons and Chandeliers, but he was mostly known for his visual and graphic design work as Some All None. Honer had primarily worked as an instructor in Chicago, as well as a member of the ensemble Quartet Datura. In 2014, a year after their first collaboration, together, they decided to migrate to Los Angeles to continue developing their respective careers and crafts in sunnier climes. Relocation to Los Angeles has proven to be fruitful for both artists. Honer has since become a first-call session player for the likes of Adrian Younge and Beyoncé. She’s also played on recordings by Chloe x Halle, Angel Olsen, Fleet Foxes, and Stanley Clarke, among others, including five recordings with Grammy nominations. Along with her session work, Honer is on the music faculty at California State University. Chiu has expanded his visual work in numerous capacities, in addition to becoming an active intersectional community organizer, and refocusing his musical practice to electronic music composition and sound art. He’s also become an Assistant Professor at Otis College of Art & Design; has exhibited/performed at The Getty Center, LACMA, and other distinguished locales; has become a resident programmer for Dublab; and has generated a strong unit of regular musical collaborators that includes Celia Hollander, Booker Stardrum, Ben Babbitt, Dustin Wong, Takako Minekawa, and Sam Prekop. Chiu has also designed album artwork for several International Anthem releases, including Angel Bat Dawid's Transition East, Dos Santos's City of Mirrors, Jeff Parker's Forfolks, and JP's Myspace Beats.

After some name and label switching, George Clinton and Funkadelic landed at Westbound in the late 1960s and quickly recorded their debut album. Released at the dawn of the 1970s, Funkadelic’s self-titled release presents a staggering tour de force in psychedelic R&B that heralds a seismic change in the genre and music as a whole. Featuring a mélange of influences from Hendrix to Zeppelin to classic doo wop and country, the band’s debut album mixes traditional soul arrangements with fuzz guitar solos and far-out studio embellishments. It’s hard to imagine what the reactions of listeners at the time must have been, as the result is still startling to this day. Deeply, deeply funky, Funkadelic’s firs

A miracle excavation release of the phantom live sound of the masterpiece "A Love Supreme" by John Coltrane (1926-1967), a great talent in the history of jazz music. 180g heavy vinyl.

Donald Byrd's 1975 album is the culmination of his fusion era, including such hits as "Wind Parade" and "Dominoes". It was one of five albums in a row produced by Larry Mizell, and Bird's second-to-last album at Blue Note, where he had been since 1958.

John Coltrane's wife, Flying Lotus' aunt, and Alice Coltrane (1937–2007), a practitioner of Indian music and Hindu philosophy, a quest for truth. In 1982, the extremely rare cassette sound source "Turiya Sings", which was distributed only to friends, was the first recording of her singing voice with organs, strings, synths, and some minimal sound effects. bottom. And "Kirtan: Turiya Sings" released this time from Is the intention of the son Ravi Coltrane who worked on the production, and only Alice's song and organ part are recorded. This mix was discovered by Ravi Coltrane around 2004 and hadn't been heard until the final album "Translinear Light" was produced. I was impressed by the clarity of the intention that I felt from. " Alice plays nine traditional Hindu chants called Bhajan with prayer only on the Wurlitzer organ, and it is a precious song that you can fully enjoy the sublime songs. Unpronounced source! !!

This is a meditative abstract jazz-funk masterpiece that features the mbira, an ancient traditional instrument of the Shona tribe in Zimbabwe that is originally played in rituals to communicate with spirits. Each song has a serene and mysterious beauty behind it, and with the overtones of the mbira, this album has a beauty like a gemstone that sets it apart from many spiritual jazz albums, an exceptional quality. I highly recommend this album to not only spiritual jazz listeners, but to a wide range of music listeners.

One year after the release of "Journey To The One", which was released after he moved to Theresa and showed a new brilliance, this album from 1981 is also undoubtedly a great album. The title track, "Rejoice", which makes all of jazz seem spiritual and colorful, and "Origin", with its light-hearted progression and haunting chorus, are all beautiful, bright songs that resonate honestly to us.

LP reissue, originally released as Eternal Now on Sonet Records in 1973. Don was living in Sweden at the time and made 2 great spaced-out records (in the freeform "Universal Music" style) for Sonet (Live Ankara being the other) -- the prior CD reissue of this material has seemingly disappeared into the wind. If this album had been made by some Vietnam vet living in a windowless cove in Northern California -- with a picture of leaves on the cover, no less -- it would have made the NWW list and originals would be fetching more than a used car, today. As an unfortunate aside, this LP reissue features the vastly inferior American cover as used by Picc-a-dilly, compared to the screaming ethno-psychedelic visuals favored by Sonet. The fact that he is shown wearing a suite that he certainly wasn't wearing during this recording, playing an instrument that he certainly wasn't playing during this recording -- apparently these details fazed no one. "Piano and percussion dominate this rare recording from sessions in April of 1973. No cornet or trumpet. Cherry sings and plays piano, gamelan, harmonium, and assorted percussion. The other musicians are: Christer Bothen (piano, etc.), Bernt Rosengren (taragot, a Swedish wooden soprano saxophone), Agneta Ernstrom (Tibetan bell, etc.), Bengt Berger (piano, mridangam, etc.)."

the 3rd album released in 1970 by the genius David Axelrod, who was loved by stars such as DJ Shadow, Madlib, and Jurassic 5 and became a treasure trove of sampling sources.

Saturday Night Special is certainly a contemporary jazz cult classic album if there ever was one. Merging the heart and soul of Detroit jazz and rhythm & blues while also tossing in a little Latin music, keyboardist Lyman Woodard was at the forefront of defining an instrumental identity for the Motor City on this recording. With top-notch guitarist Ron English, saxophonist Norma Jean Bell, drummer Leonard King, and percussionists Lorenzo Brown and Bud Spangler, Woodard provided solid, head-nodding groove music punctuated by heady, at times spacy jazz improvisation that set the standard for any rival or modern-day jam band. Although he became an organist exclusively, Woodard added Mellotron and electric piano to his arsenal for this date. The muddy production values diminish the overall quality of the sound, but the music itself is undeniably unique, and set apart from the CTI recordings or the fusion music Miles Davis was producing in this mid-'70s time period. The two-part title track is an industrial mythic anthem signifying a steadily streaming automobile production line within a slow, slinky melody via Woodard's various keyboards, flute, and handclaps, a chicken scratch synthesizer insert by the leader, followed by a funky electric bass solo and a jam. "Belle Isle Daze" and "Cheeba" are also dual part pieces, the former a light samba cum boogaloo with Woodard's organ and synth gliding alongside the guitar of English, the latter a straight Latin groove with Woodard's burning B-3 and the percussionists working out in Afro-Cuban fashion. The most beautiful track is "Joy Road," a soul ballad with sighing, serene synth and the lilting alto sax of Bell. King wrote the song of self-determination "Creative Musicians" in a choppy beat as he sings "keep on rollin' right along," while "Allen Barnes," a tribute to Detroit's enduring saxophonist , is a mix of Milestones meeting Jimmy Smith. English, an unsung hero of post-Kenny Burrell guitardom, penned and leads out on the melodies of the commercial tune "On Your Mind" and the more complex "Help Me Get Away," a complex, churning, jazz-oriented piece in 5/4 time that reflects the bop aesthetic of the '50s that brought so many Detroit musicians into prominence. Immediately after Woodard's death in 2009, the Wax Poetics label reissued this recording on limited-edition vinyl, made the tracks and unreleased material available for downloading, and reissued Saturday Night Special on CD. It's a testament not only to the vibrancy of the Detroit scene and what Woodard offered as one of the forefathers of the burgeoning fusion movement, but more importantly, it signifies how local Detroit musicians prevailed against adversity to keep their traditions very much alive and well. ~ Michael G. Nastos

In the endless ocean of Sun Ra recordings, Space Is The Place ranks among the very best but more importantly stands as the most immediately understandable of his records. This masterpiece touches flawlessly on elements of many of Ra's multiple phases and provides both a mission statement for and a gateway to his immaculate body of work. Originally released in 1973; Tip-on Gatefold Jacket; Original Artwork; Limited Transparent Blue Colored Vinyl.

Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda’s devotion to spirituality was the central purpose of the final four decades of her life, an often-overlooked awakening that largely took shape during her four-year marriage to John Coltrane and after his 1967 death. By 1983, Alice had established the 48-acre Sai Anantam Ashram outside of Los Angeles. She quietly began recording music from the ashram, releasing it within her spiritual community in the form of private press cassette tapes. On May 5, Luaka Bop will release the first-ever compilation of recordings from this period, making these songs available to the wider public for the first time. Entitled ‘World Spirituality Classics, Volume 1: The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda,’ the release is the first installment in a planned series of spiritual music from around the globe; curated, compiled and distributed by Luaka Bop.
This powerful, largely unheard body of work finds Alice singing for the first time in her recorded catalog, which dates back to 1963 and includes appearances on six John Coltrane albums, alongside Charlie Haden and McCoy Tyner, and 14 albums as bandleader starting with her Impulse! debut in 1967 with ‘A Monastic Trio.’ The songs featured on the Luaka Bop release have been culled from the four cassettes that Alice recorded and released between 1982 and 1995: ‘Turiya Sings,’ ‘Divine Songs,’ ‘Infinite Chants,’ and ‘Glorious Chants.’ The digital, cassette and CD release will feature eight songs. The double-vinyl edition features two additional songs, “Krishna Japaye” from 1990’s ‘Infinite Chants, and the previously unreleased “Rama Katha” from a separate ‘Turiya Sings’ recording session.
Luaka Bop teamed with Alice’s children to find the original master tapes in the Coltrane archive. The recordings were prepared for re-mastering by the legendary engineer Baker Bigsby (Ornette Coleman, Sun Ra, John Coltrane), who had overseen the original sessions in the 80s and 90s. The compilation showcases a diverse array of recordings in addition to Alice’s first vocal work: solo performances on her harp, small ensembles, and a 24-piece vocal choir. The release is dotted with eastern percussion, synthesizers, organs and strings, making for a mesmerizing, even otherworldly, listen. Alice was inspired by Vedic devotional songs from India and Nepal, adding her own music sensibility to the mix with original melodies and sophisticated song structures. She never lost her ability to draw from the bebop, blues and old-time spirituals of her Detroit youth, fusing a Western upbringing with Eastern classicism. In all, these recordings amount to a largely untold chapter in the life story of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda.
In addition to the recordings, GRAMMY-winning music historian Ashley Kahn has written extensive liner notes on the collection. The package also includes a series of interviews with those who knew Alice best, conducted by Dublab’s Mark “Frosty” McNeill, and an as-told-to interview between musician Surya Botofasina (who was raised on Alice’s ashram) and journalist Andy Beta. 2017 marks what would have been Alice’s 80th year of life, as well as the 10th anniversary of her passing. Alice will be celebrated at events throughout the United States, Europe and South America in the coming year. With this in mind, the time is right to bring this meaningful piece of Turiyasangitananda’s legacy into focus.

180g Vinyl. Weldon Irvine's first album on his own Nodlew label, released in 1972. Although his later releases "Spirit Man" and "Sinbad" are also popular, this is the origin of this album, which draws you in with its dense black jazz groove centered on the energy of Irvine's electric piano. It's no wonder that many sampling material and covers were born from this.

Limited colored vinyl.This 1966 LP by Astatke (billed to Mulatu Astatke & His Ethiopian Quintet) isn't shaded by nearly as much African/Ethiopian influence as his later work, which was recorded between the late '60s and mid-'70s. As the title might lead you to believe, it is indeed more in the Latin soul-jazz bag than the later material, sometimes leaning toward the R&B-informed boogaloo sound of the mid-'60s. On his own compositions and arrangements (which comprise about half the LP), sometimes more exotic and African colors bubble closer to the surface, as on the eerie vibe parts he lays on 'Mascaram Setaba.'" -- Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide.

In the late '70s, three do-right women from Cleveland forged a brief partnership with Ohio's everything man, Lou Ragland. Unlike the prefabricated singing combos of the day, Lily Pearson, Annette Warren, and Avetta Henry swapped lead duties as situation demanded. When a Ragland-centric publicity stunt preempted a concert appearance, Love Apple disintegrated, abandoning this rehearsal tape within the lo-fi confines of Thomas Boddie's cherished Eastside studio. Devoid of bass, the sparse instrumentation (only Lou on guitar and piano and Hot Chocolate's Tony Roberson on drums) accentuates each vocalist's aptitude, showcasing some of Ragland's finest songwriting in the process. During any given take, Ragland can be heard calling audibles, directing his singers to repeat a passage, or lending his own sweet tenor to the vocal mix. Never intended for release, Love Apple's six-song sketch is the perfect companion to I Travel Alone, bringing Ragland's unique musical vision into sharper focus.

Bola Sete - Samba in Seattle : Live at the Penthouse, 1966-1968 is the first official release of the legendary and influential Brazilian acoustic guitarist BOLA SETE's live recordings at the Penthouse jazz club in Seattle, WA featuring bassist SEBASTIÃO NETO and drummer PAULINHO MAGALHÃES. Produced by Grammy-nominated jazz detective ZEV FELDMAN, and remastered from the original tape reels in cooperation with THE BOLA SETE ESTATE, this deluxe 3-CD set includes an extensive 40 page booklet with rare photos from THE PENTHOUSE; essay by music critic GREG CASSEUS (aka GREG CAZ); new interviews and statements by guitar icon CARLOS SANTANA, legendary composer/pianist LALO SCHIFRIN, Sete's friend, pianist and producer, GEORGE WINSTON, and Bola Sete's widow ANNE SETE; plus an effusive tribute by the late guitar great JOHN FAHEY. Samba in Seattle is a significant addition to the recorded legacy of an oft–sampled musician (A Tribe Called Quest, J Dilla and Dan The Automator) whose career straddled bossa nova, jazz–pop and early New Age.

We Release Jazz announce the official reissue of Ryo Fukui's only solo piano album, recorded live, June 4-5, 1994 at The Lutheran Hall in Sapporo. Originally released on CD only by Sapporo Jazz Create in 1994, My Favorite Tune is a beautiful bop adventure which includes two superb compositions that Ryo Fukui wrote as an homage to his beloved Hokkaido region, the fan-favorite "Nord" and "Voyage", a tribute to his mentor Barry Harris ("Nobody's"), alternate versions of his mega classics "Scenery" and "Mellow Dream", and, last but not least, bewitching takes on timeless gems by Sonny Clark and Avery Parrish. My Favorite Tune plays like a cool summer night, full of contemplative notes and deep feelings, with Ryo Fukui baring his heart on the piano and displaying the soulful sophistication he is loved for. A true masterpiece completing his amazing discography. Comes with liner notes by Yusuke Ogawa. Sourced from the original masters. LP version comes on 180 gram vinyl mastered at half speed for full audiophile sound.

I want to keep this one in my family. A collection of the finest synths and funk that you want to recommend to a wide range of music lovers! An emerging label / art collective based in Bloomington, Indiana, USA and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, the Sam Gendel cassette work, which was an instant kill, has also been released. > The cassette that needs attention has arrived. Brazilian Rio de Janeiro musicians Gabriel Pessoa Guerra Calavanti and Lucas Andrade Ramos Caramuru De Paiv are cult labels launched there in 2013 when they were in their late teens and early 20s, respectively. > A cult label <40% Foda / Maneiríssimo>, a cult label that has been making great strides from modern funk / synth boogie to lefty house lovers. Arrived. With the support of the organizers Gabriel and Lucas, this gorgeous book features the songs of the label they love most. I've thought about this idea personally, but it's overwhelming! Symbolized by the smooth edges of jazz aesthetics, deep house like Larry Heard and Theo Parrish, mid-'90s video game BGM, library music, and the abundance of Hermeto Pascoal and Milton Nascimento. Electro-Funk ~ Balearic Boogie ~ Good house full of uplifting and humorous after New Age Revival, where even typical Brazilian jazz intersects! limited edition.

At its current upload clip, Spotify adds an estimated 50,000,000 songs to its catalogue every three years. It would take one person 83 sleepless days of endless listening to aurally ingest just one 24-hour cycle of new Spotify uploads. The truth is that only a tiny percentage of those songs (we heard someone say 5%) are ever listened to by another human being. It’s as endless and frightening as the cosmos — nay, death itself. Yet, down in that deep, digital Mariana Trench, that void of unlistening, there are untold startling and curious treasures — irreverent, enigmatic creators; wild-eyed, impractical romantics; undiscovered jazz savants; or maybe just some regular folks who wrestled lightning into a bottle just once then forgot where they put it. They’re truly all legends to us. We howl their names and speak of them as demigods. We’ve gone deeper than most would dare — digital residue forever under our fingernails — and have pulled these gems from the depths on this collection. Please enjoy some hotdogging & peacocking. 19 new dear friends await you.

Les Éditions Vermillon stem from virtual friendships built around forgotten music. Navigating an aesthetical repertoire ranging from funk to soul, gliding by jazz and reaching toward the birth of electronic music, the friends’ musical exchanges transcend egotistical visions in the hope of shared emotions. Théo (G2S), Hugo (Tiny Albert), Baptiste (Acquired Taste) and Elise Kravets decided to embody this feeling in a record label. Choosing Lyon as their starting point, the desire to appreciate a forgotten musical legacy quickly extended to a regional scale with the aim of shedding light on the diversity and effervescence of local scenes. With the goal of reproducing the fullness of these sounds and textures, the search and selection of titles quickly gave way to the hunt for original tapes and sources. Several stages of audio restoration and digitization were undertaken to deliver a compilation of the highest possible quality. For its first release, the label offers a stroll along the Rhône river to discover, through forgotten songs, the funkiest sides of the Provençale and Rhône-Alpes 80’s scene. Although the music portrays a diverse palette, from Digen, with its meticulous Jazz-Funk straight from Lyon’s heart, the clubbesque rhythmic section and cheeky bass of Dans Tes Bras (VCA Mix), and the summer balearic anthem Tropique Du Cancer, to the soft “French Boogie” theme of Fun Safari, the soul-filled choirs of Patchwork, the pastoral getaway that is L’Anthropofemme, the scathing ode of prehistoric reptiles in Fill Le Crocodile and the Jazz-Funk incantation Fai Tira Marius; they all sweat funk. Having not known the top 50 in their first lives, this compilation aspires to bring these pieces of music to the top 8.

He has collaborated with such giants as Ry Cooder, Vampire Weekend and Moses Sumney. Sam Gendel is one of the biggest talents in the current L.A. independent scene and has become a very popular saxophonist, who has also sketched his own unique sound in his jazz trio Inga. Sam Gendel is one of the biggest talents in the current LA independent scene, and is now a very popular saxophonist, blending keywords such as fourth world, hip-hop, jazz, psychedelic, ambient, and meditative, and cultivating a new world in the free air of LA. The album was recorded in his hometown in California with two guest musicians, Gabe Noel and Philippe Melanson. The album features jazz standards such as Miles Davis' "Freddie Freeloader" and Charles Mingus' "Goodbye Porkpie Hat," arranged in a psychedelic, outsider's world. It's an unorthodox sound that would be out of place in New Jazz, which is probably one of the most interesting forms of music today.

Originally released on Prestige in 1957, this is the third LP from NYC street performer and avant-garde/minimalist composer Moondog. Perhaps the least accessible of his early releases, this album is made up of percussive jams, usually on instruments of his own creation, street sounds, poetry, and Far East melodies, despite opening with a swinging number that is, oddly, the most bizarre thing on the album. Another classic from Moondog reissued with its original Andy Warhol artwork. Limited edition of 1,000 on purple and green starburst vinyl.

180 gram virgin vinyl, with original artwork restored. Spiritual Unity, recorded on July 10, 1964, is the album that made Albert Ayler and ESP-Disk' famous (or, in some people's eyes/ears, infamous). Mr. Ayler had already recorded in Europe and, in February '64, in New York, but this was the first album on which neither he nor his collaborators held back. It was also ESP's first jazz recording. Spiritual Unity presented a new improvisation paradigm: looser structure, less regard for standard pitch, and no obligation to present a regular beat. Ayler's sound was unprecedented, much rawer than any other jazz of the time. Sometimes it was expressed in squalls of untempered sound, sometimes in outbursts of poignant spontaneous melody. Meanwhile, under and around the leader's unfettered self-expressions, bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Sunny Murray reinvented the roles of their instruments.

Sweet And Nice is the vital debut album from Jamaica’s undisputed first lady of song Marcia Griffiths. It's reggae at its most soulful. Slinking through a tight ten tracks of R&B and pop-sourced material, it became an instant best seller. 45 years after its initial release the LP is available again on vinyl, now as a double LP, with an extra record collecting 14 rare tracks.

Everything’s been remastered of course, including the original LP, so Sweet And Nice now sounds even sweeter, and even nicer.