Jazz / Soul / Funk

Reissue of the 6th studio album by Brazilian jazz legend Antonio Carlos Jobim. Released in 1970 on A&M Records, this instrumental Bossa Jazz masterpiece was produced by Creed Taylor and engineered by Rudy Van Gelder. It features the arrangements of Eumir Deodato (who also conducted the band) and includes a plethora of sidemen from the U.S. jazz scene, such as Joe Farrell, Hubert Laws and Ron Carter, as well as Brazilian stars like Hermeto Pascoal, Airto Moreira and Joao Palma. Produced by Creed Taylor, engineered by Rudy van Gelder, arrangements by Eumir Deodato and featuring among others: Joe Farrell, Hubert Laws, Ron Carter, Hermeto Pascoal, Airto Moreira, and Joao Palma.

Orfeu Da Conceição was originally a stage play in three acts by poet and lyricist Vinicius De Moraes with music by Antonio Carlos Jobim. Premiered in 1956 in Rio de Janeiro. The play put the basis for the classic films Orfeu Negro. Needless to remember that Jobim and De Moraes were two seminal figures in Brazilian music, two modernists whose work was a major influence for generations to come. In fact Orfeu Da Conceição can be considered the beginning of their songwriting relationship. First released as 10" in the same year of the theater premier, the album features vocalist Roberto Paiva and guitarist Luiz Bonfà. An essential release for all Brazilian music fans out there.

Kalita are excited to unveil the first ever reissue of one of – if not the – strongest South African kwaito/bubblegum albums in existence, Jivaro’s 1989 masterpiece ‘Saturday Fever’. Originally released on Maurice Horwitz’s Music Team label at the turn of the decade, the album features various heavy hitting tracks that perfectly encapsulate the post-boogie/proto-house movement that had taken over the country’s airwaves and clubs at the time. Sourced from the original analogue master tapes, this definitive release by Kalita is a truly essential piece of musical history and one sure to set any discerning dance floor on fire.

Shout Out! To Freedom… encapsulates the endless potential that can come about from stasis. It's a record that as is celebratory of N.O.W.’s past as it is determined to break from it.

Giorgio Brugnolini (1931-2020) was a composer and saxophonist from Italy, known for his cult recordings under the name Narassa, who sadly passed away last year. This is the first analogue reissue of the obscure masterpiece "Utopia" released in 1972 on the library label Gemelli, on the prestigious soundtrack/library label Sonor Music Editions. The first official release since the maestro's passing, with excellent arrangements on Hammond and piano by Giorgio Carnini and direction by Franco Tamponi. A dreamy, underground mood, a rather dangerous one! A ton of great jazz-funk-lounge-jazz sessions, bursting with avant-garde jazz sophistication, orchestration, and gorgeous grooves.

A masterpiece buried in history for a long time finally sees the light of day! !! The original is a very rare Roman progressive jazz rock band, Spirale's only work released in 1974 is the first official reissue from Milan's ! Corrado Nofri (key), Gaetano Delfini (vo, sax), Giancarlo Maurino (sax / flute), Peppe Caporello (ba, g), Giampaolo Ascolese (dr). This work has a gorgeous, beautiful and tough sound with a unique Mediterranean atmosphere that is similar to jazz rock bands such as Napoli Centrale and Arti & Mestieri in Italy. This is a must-listen for those who like Germany's Out Of Focus and Xhol Caravan of the same age! !! Limited to 500 sheets.

The album also includes the new age anthem "O Sol Na Janela" from "Outro Tempo", one of Music From Memory's flagship compilations of Brazilian obscure electronic music. He was also a member of Carmo, a prestigious label that Egberto Gismonti ran under ECM. The original "Caminho Do Interior" was sold for over 30,000 and now it's been reissued in a deluxe edition. A long-awaited analog reissue! This is another important reissue in the current trend of reevaluating Brazilian obscure music. This is a divine realm of spirituality and folklore. A true miracle piece, full of acoustic nourishment, stewing jazz, bossa nova, and even classical music! Gismonti also makes a guest appearance. The bonus track is "Idade Média" from the extremely rare 7" "Quase Meio Dia / Idade Média" from 1974. 180G heavyweight vinyl & remastered. A must have for Carmo fans. Highly recommended for all Balearic and New Age fans!

The second Be With foray into the archives of revered German library institution Selected Sound is one of our favourites, Sound Inventions from Klaus Weiss Rhythm And Sounds, originally released in 1979. From the notoriously strong mind of Niagara drummer / library-funk overlord Klaus Weiss, Sound Inventions is loaded with tripped out studio funk-freakery, mad samples and swaggering abstract funk grooves. From dramatic deep disco with dark Italo/Moroder leanings to heavy German funk breaks, this is absolutely sensational. Absolute synth-and-string-drenched magic. This re-issue of Sound Inventions has been mastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis from audio from the original tapes. Richard Robinson has handled reproducing the glossy metallic (iconic) original Selected Sound sleeve. Essential.

Originally recorded and released in 1977, the Instant Composers Pool's Tetterettet is the first classic of the band's larger incarnations. Founded in Amsterdam in 1967 by saxophonist Willem Breuker, pianist Misha Mengelberg, and percussionist Han Bennink, Instant Composers Pool (or ICP) was an independent free jazz label and orchestra that would go on to release over fifty albums featuring such pillars of the scene as Derek Bailey, Peter Brötzmann, Evan Parker, Jeanne Lee, John Tchicai, and Steve Lacy. Based around the concept that improvisation was, in fact, an act of instantaneous composition, ICP's legacy on improvised and free music is impossible to overstate. The ICP Tentet's Tetterettet is made up of recordings from 14-17 of September, 1977, cut and spliced together by pianist/composer Misha Mengelberg in a style similar to Teo Macero's work with Miles Davis. The first side is taken up entirely by Mengelberg's multi-part title track that breaks in and out of different tempos, with a loose arrangement style owing more than a bit to Charles Mingus' finest work on Black Saint or Ah Um. Traversing across decades and styles from free-jazz funereal marches, to carnivalesque excursions, broken piano rolls, and ear-splitting skronk, ICP Tentet show remarkable skill and chops in both their compositional craft and improvisational symbiosis. There's a playful undercurrent here that finds its home in some previously uncharted land between Mingus and Spike Jones. Featuring numerous ICP regulars along with the brilliant Alan Silva on bass, and a return to the fold of the amazing saxophonist John Tchicai, Tetterettet is one of the best of ICP's larger group recordings; humorous, unnerving, and ultimately, quite beautiful. This limited-edition reissue marks the first time this album has been in print on vinyl since its initial release

Reissue, originally released in 1979. Founded in Amsterdam in 1967 by saxophonist Willem Breuker, pianist Misha Mengelberg, and percussionist Han Bennink, Instant Composers Pool (or ICP) was an independent free jazz label and orchestra that would go on to release over fifty albums featuring such pillars of the scene as Derek Bailey, Peter Brötzmann, Evan Parker, Jeanne Lee, John Tchicai, and Steve Lacy. Based around the concept that improvisation was, in fact, an act of instantaneous composition, ICP's legacy on improvised and free music is impossible to overstate. Yi Yole -- recorded in 1978 -- was the first time the legendary South African saxophonist Dudu Pukwana had worked with the ICP. An innovator in the genre of Cape Jazz with the Blue Notes -- which also featured Chris McGregor, Louis Moholo, and Johnny Dyani -- who fled the apartheid regime for London in 1964, Pukwana's style is the perfect complement to ICP co-founders Han Bennink and Misha Mengelberg, who round out the trio here. Relaxed and somewhat understated for the ICP catalog, Yi Yole is the one and only time these leaders in European free improvisation would record together in a trio setting. This limited reissue marks the first time the album has been in print on vinyl since its initial release.

Limited edition LP Translucent green vinyl. Musica Elettronica Viva, or MEV for short, was formed in 1966 in Rome by Allan Bryant, Alvin Curran, Jon Phetteplace, Carol Plantamura, Frederic Rzweski, Richard Teitelbaum and Ivan Vandor. From the very beginning the group was based on musical freedom and the shunning of convention. Using contact microphones to record and manipulate sound wherever it could be found – from box springs to vibrators – and improvisationally combining those recordings with tenor sax, homemade synths and the very first Moog to trek cross the Atlantic, MEV made some of the most imaginative and abrasive sounds of the time.  

Recorded in live performance at the Academy of Arts (Akademie der Künste) in Berlin on October 5, 1967, Spacecraft is made up of a single piece of the same name – a slow building, jarring and disquieting work that reveals the entire MEV ethos in its lone half hour. As group member Alvin Curran put it “The music could go anywhere, gliding into self-regenerating unity or lurching into irrevocable chaos - both were valuable goals. In the general euphoria of the times, MEV thought it had re-invented music; in any case it had certainly rediscovered it.” Our Swimmer is pleased to present this first ever vinyl issue of MEV’s Spacecraft, an early piece from the most free-spirited group of the 20th century avant-garde. Translucent green vinyl.

Innercity Griots, the second album from Freestyle Fellowship, is perhaps *the* essential West Coast left-field rap album of the early ’90s. Released in 1993 on 4th & Broadway, it’s a towering, progressive hip-hop masterpiece that expanded rap’s boundaries through lyrical elevation and production innovation. Their talent was ahead of everybody else by light years. This is pure b-boy jazz. The original single vinyl LP is now hideously scarce, and of course the sound suffers from not being officially released as a double. This Be With re-issue fixes both problems, and for completeness also includes “Pure Thought” from the CD version of the album. This incredible display of imaginative hip-hop sounds better than ever. Freestyle Fellowship were some of the earliest technically dazzling rappers to come out of California. Mikah 9, P.E.A.C.E., Aceyalone and Self Jupiter - along with DJ Kiilu - forged their famed lyrical dexterity in the ultra-competitive crucible of the Good Life Cafe. Founded in Leimert Park, South Central LA in December 1989, this earthy health-food store and cafe was where the city’s finest microphone fiends would gather to showcase their freestyle skills at the Thursday night open-mic.

The first of two unearthings of the racket made by Derek Bailey and pals at his Company Week festivities in 1982. This is waaay out there improv experimentation which sees musicians like Julie Tippets, Motoharu Yoshizawa and George Lewis go into battle to see who can come up with the most ludicrous squeak. Faint hearted step aside, this is prime freeform improvisation with an all important humorous streak.

A 22-year-old genius jazz pianist who also works with Kamasi Washington, Thundercat and Carlos Niño, including his grandfather legendary soul jazz drummer Donald Dean, Sun Ra, Alice Coltrane, Herbie Hancock and more. A young Jamael Dean who needs attention to be influenced by. The long-awaited official debut work is fully released from the prestigious ! Currently, he leads the music group The Afronauts and participates in the legendary black jazz "Pan Afrikan People's Arkestra". It is a two-part album consisting of 10 hip-hop songs produced under the name of his own nickname "Jasik" using jazz performances by his group and beats sampled from them. Sharada Shashidhar and Mekala “Mickey” Session, who are also enrolled in Brooklyn's female singer and have collaborated with Jamael Dean many times, participated. The title comes from the Genesis of the Yoruba, a West African ethnic group. Both sides are fertile and superb!

A timeless masterpiece left by the Japanese fusion / urban pop giant. From city pops such as Hiroshi Sato, Junko Hirotani, Etsuko Sai, and Piper to Yumin and Seiko Sawada, and a number of sharp anime records such as "星へ行く船" and "夢の碑", this person in the history of Japanese music. The original was a super rare album released from in 1982, but the long-awaited first analog reissue from , which is also known for the reissue of Japanese ambient / ambient music such as Takashi Kokubo and Yas-Kaz. A masterpiece aerobic record produced as a soundtrack to TBS TV's "Aerobics" by Ken Morimura, who is known as the keyboardist of the salsa band Orchestra del Sol! A masterpiece that will surely fascinate disco boogie-city pop and Balearic lovers. Come on while this is! Limited to 500 copies.

In an industry always pinning its hopes on the next big trend, Benny Sings is in it for the long haul. The Dutch artist has honed a signature sound while creating a colorful catalog of essential pop gems that have led to loyal global following. Music is Benny's 8th full-length album, and his second on Stones Throw after City Pop (2019).

City Pop is Benny Sings's sixth album and first for Stones Throw in 2019. Limited color vinyl LP will be released in 2021. (the original LP is sold out)
A sum of Benny's real-life observations and insights on love, held together by his soft rock- inspired songwriting, jazz instrumentation, leading piano and distinctive vocal. The album was inspired by and written in cities all over the world, including New York, LA, Tokyo, Paris and Benny’s hometown of Amsterdam. The album celebrates collaboration, with Mayer Hawthorne, Cornelius, Sukimaswitch (the “Japanese Steely Dan”), Mocky and Faberyayo among the featured artists.

Keyboardist and composer Weldon Irvine is among the most celebrated Jazz-Funk artists of all time. Throughout the 1970s, Irvine released a series of seminal albums full of deep, soulful, funky grooves. The Sisters is a collection of lost tracks and demos from his late-1970s studio sessions with fellow Jazz-Funk luminary Don Blackman.iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1EuQGnOUXog" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen>

Stunning compilation of great soul songs. The third in a six part series of compilations following a similar logic as Harry Smith’s Anthology Of American Folk Music – only where Smith covered folk, blues, gospel and old timey, this compilation covers just American soul music recorded between 1955 and 1972. Many deep ballads and a few rockers. Features extensive 12 page liner notes with lots of photo’s as well as a real special bonus insert. Cover has gold foil printing, and the records are housed in classy black sleeves. Super fancy limited edition double LP not to be missed.

Stunning compilation of great soul songs. The third in a six part series of compilations following a similar logic as Harry Smith’s Anthology Of American Folk Music – only where Smith covered folk, blues, gospel and old timey, this compilation covers just American soul music recorded between 1955 and 1998. Many deep ballads and a few rockers. Features extensive 12 page liner notes with lots of photo’s as well as a real special bonus insert. Cover has gold foil printing, and the records are housed in classy black sleeves. Super fancy limited edition double LP not to be missed.

A double LP with 42 pages of full color 12" X 12" liner notes bound into a gatefold LP with a shiny silver foil front cover. Printed inner sleeves and 180 gram vinyl. "Strange World" is a compilation of cosmic and earthly doo wop and R&B from Jamaica and America. The songs are mostly sparse, beautiful and spacey. Features unreleased demos as well as hard to find songs found only on 45's from the 1950's. The liner notes feature unseen photos and cosmic art. Pyramid Records is a new label focusing on deluxe very small pressings. The goal is to make "dream records" that speak of an alter destiny better than what we got going these days.

Sublime Frequencies finally unleashes it’s ESSENTIAL compilation from 1970’s Egypt. Modal instrumental tracks from Baligh Hamdi - one of the most important Arabic composers of the 20th Century (writing for legends Umm Kalthum, Abdel Halim Hafez, Sabah, Warda, and many others). Features his legendary group the “Diamond Orchestra” with Omar Khorshid on guitar, Magdi al-Husseini on organ, Samir Sourour on saxophone, and Faruq Salama on accordion. All of these musicians were discovered and recruited by Hamdi to interpret his vision of a modernized, hybrid Arabic music. Under Hamdi’s direction, this orchestra charted a new melodic direction and created a new musical language. This compilation is culled from a specific era of Hamdi’s long career, a decade where he fully realized an international music which incorporated beat driven Eastern tinged jazz, theremin draped orchestral noir, tracks that feature searing guitar solos from none other than Omar Khorshid, and a selection of buzzing, sitar driven, Indo-Arabic tracks establishing a meeting of mid-east and eastern psychedelic exotica, and a vision that created some of the hippest music coming out of the Middle East from the late 1960’s and throughout the 1970’s.

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.

A masterpiece of Sade's British pop / soul masterpiece "Smooth Operator", which was formed as a successor to the funk group "Pride" who was a famous band of British soul / smooth jazz and made a name for themself from London. A masterpiece that became a single cut from the debut album "Diamond Life". A must-have killer vinyl for AOR / City Soul fans!