MUSIC

"Sandman has added South Indian music to the genre-bending mix, along with funk grooves and nods to the Heath Robinson analog-synth adventures of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in the 1950s and 1960s" ⭐️ All About Jazz (UK) ⭐️ “The Sandman Project speaks the universal language of…global pop” ⭐️ Bayern Radio 7.4/10 (DE) ⭐️ “An exhilarating ten-track oeuvre, an evocative, borderless potpourri of global surf 'n' turf styles with a jazz ethos" ⭐️ Greedy For Best (DE) ⭐️ “It pivots around the character of Mulatu Astatke and the Fleet Foxes with winds and guitar and a little electronic touch from Brian Eno” ⭐️ DJ Magazine (ES) ⭐️ “This outfit is a jack of all trades and, on this evidence, a master of them all too” ⭐️ Pipelines Magazine (UK) ⭐️ “Brilliant album, will playlist on my PBB Radio show” ⭐️ Laurent Garnier (FR) ⭐️ Sandman Project’s long awaited debut album Where Did You Go? is a borderless amalgam of brass heavy sounds, a document of a band whose musical tendencies mimic their open-minded ethic where Ethio- jazz, Afrobeat, American soul music and psychedelic, Mediterranean funk traverse. Led by guitarist and composer Tal Sandman, Tel Aviv based Sandman Projects’s last release was in 2018 on their debut EP, their only existing recording. Six years later and it is no surprise this expansive work is positively brimming with an ocean of ideas, rooted in jazz, exceptionally crafted and boasting a myriad of musical pivots with a subtle but crucial production and synth touch by producer Tomer Baruch. Absolutely key to this new recording and Tal’s adult musical upbringing and education is the ongoing influence of saxophonist Abate Barihun, sometimes known as the Ethiopian John Coltrane who is an Ethiopian Jew who emigrated to Israel in 1999. Whilst he doesn’t feature directly on the record, Tal has long been mentored and stewarded by him and she affirms that “his inspiration continues to play a crucial role in my creative process.” And so, to the album’s title track Where Did you Go which oozes film- noir with Tal’s omnipresent Tizta sound using the Tezeta scales from Ethiopia dictating the mood whilst synths transcend and build an immersive soundscape something akin to Mulatu Astake jamming with the Fleet Foxes with Brian Eno-esque electronic manipulation. The Sandman project line up comprises of 5 core musicians with Tal Sandman on electric guitar, Tal Avraham playing trumpet, Tal Eyal on percussion, Noam Cherchie on drums and Ariel Harrosh on bass. Additional synth and organ provided by producer Tomer Baruch and guest vocalist Dafna Shilon joins on the album closer The Other Side. The group all live in Tel Aviv with Tal living in the Jaffa neighborhood for 12 years and the official birth-place of the Sandman Project. Jaffa is a diverse urban region where Arabs, Jews, Christians and many more live harmoniously together and it’s here where Tal has been active in building community ties and where she has recently started learning Arabic. The recent and shocking violence and war in Israel and Palestine has strengthened the bonds within the Jaffa community and a sense of unity and desire for peace has pervaded echoing Tal’s wish for peace, for real and imagined boundaries to dissolve and war and survival to be replaced with compassion and humanity. Jaffa is also Tal’s place of respite and spiritual place of being, where she returned to after significant musical and creative excursions to Goa in India (where she formed the Goa Afrobeat Band) and to London where she created a branch of the Sandman Project. Tal’s recent trip to Goa is effectively soundtracked on the album opener Karnataka, which borrows from the east, both the spirit and it’s drumming, inspired by a South Indian wedding ceremony. Trumpets and Tal’s incessant but measured guitar riffing using Indian scales transcends into a beautiful soundtrack of jazz and psychedelia energized with a propulsive funk. Temptation & Figs reverberates with a sly groove, an organ filled and chilled groove given a life affirming vibe with it repetitive and harmonized vocal pass building to a trumpet crescendo. The cine flavoured edge of Sandman Project goes wide screen on The X Files as bizarre electronic gurgling remiss of early BBC Radiophonic recordings intertwine with horn stabs and a percussion solo. Further vintage synth excursions repeat on Cauda Equina, with Tal’s heavy fretting giving the track a funk feel, and a dreamy one as the trumpet builds. Dafna Shilon’s entrance at the end of the album on The Other Side is unique in that it brings a skank to proceedings and is the only lyrical song from the collection. Six years in the waiting, and with plentiful personal and collective transformation giving Where Did You Go? a deeper sense of geography and global nuance, the new sound of Sandman Project is rich, porous and dreamy and essentially, full of hope.

3rd album by Los Angeles based jazz duo Nicole McCabe and Logan Kane. Widely known for legendary concerts featuring instrumental madness amongst many synths and bonkers dance beats, Dolphin Hyperspace finds a new lane of expression within modern jazz and beat culture.

Consider this your invitation to Café Molly, a lounge bar like they don’t make them anymore. The lights are low, the martinis are ice cold, the banquettes are velvet, and the stage is set for the electrifying talent of whistler Molly Lewis. Molly’s soft-focus cocktail music conjures up visions of classic Hollywood jazz clubs, Italian cinema soundtracks and lingering embraces between lovers. After the exotica stylings of The Forgotten Edge EP and the tropicalia-indebted Mirage EP, Molly wanted to encapsulate the sound of Café Molly for her debut album On The Lips, a dreamy tribute to classic mood music. That spellbinding sound, which usually comes to life in Los Angeles, has also popped up in Mexico City dancehalls, graced the runways of Paris and London Fashion Weeks, and made a magical appearance at a children's fairyland. Molly Lewis’s love for this smoky corner of the world doesn’t end with her songwriting. She is a devotee and an archivist, capturing and enlivening the pieces that endure. She was a regular at the legendary shows by Marty and Elayne, the lounge duo who spent almost 40 years playing LA’s Dresden bar. The duo came to global fame after an appearance in 1996’s Swingers and kept going long after that spotlight faded, finally finishing their nightly residency after the death of Marty at the ripe age of 89 last year. “That felt like the end of an era,” says Molly. But there are still flashes of that world to be found, and she finds them. “I’ve been spending a lot of time in New York lately, where there are a lot more of those moody, classic jazz bars,” she explains. Molly celebrates the poet Kenneth ‘Sonny’ Donato, a former drinking buddy of Charles Bukowski, on the album’s swooning ‘Sonny’. “He’s a total LA character with a great voice and great style, as well as a champion of me and my music,” says Molly, who met Sonny when he was tending bar at Hollywood’s iconic Musso and Frank. “He would MC my Café Molly shows and introduce the night with a poem about LA. Everyone loves him.” Over the past few years Molly has flexed her one-of-a-kind musical skill alongside Mark Ronson on the Barbie soundtrack, as well as with Dr Dre, Karen O, actor John C Reilly, Mac De Marco, fashion houses Chanel, Gucci and Hermes, and folk rock royalty Jackson Browne. After a performance with longtime friend Weyes Blood on Burt Bacharach’s The Look of Love during a Café Molly evening at LA’s Zebulon, Molly supported the singer on a US tour, introducing her sound to a brand new audience. “I forget sometimes that what I do has that factor of surprise and uniqueness – it is something that most people have never seen before,” says Molly. She too might never have entered the idiosyncratic world of whistling had she not as a teenager seen the 2005 documentary Pucker Up, which details the International Whistling Competition. Equally amused and bemused by the eccentric event, in 2012 she competed herself. Spending her early twenties in Berlin she then moved to LA to work in film – and returned to the contest in 2015 to take home first prize. One evening Molly did a turn at an open mic at the Kibitz Room, a tiny late-night bar inside historic LA deli Canter’s. Her display led to appearances at performance art happenings across the city, and she soon caught the ear of independent record label Jagjaguwar. On The Lips was recorded with producer Thomas Brenneck of the Menahan Street Band, Budos Band, Dap-Kings and El Michels Affair, at his newly-built Diamond West Studios in Pasadena. The pair bonded over the work of 1960s soundtrack composers Alessandro Alessandroni and Piero Piccioni, and, with something of an open door policy during the sessions, a stream of acclaimed musicians ended up across the album’s 10 tracks. “We were all sitting around having beers and amazing people would just come by,” says Molly, who fitted out the studio with a vintage tiki bar she picked up at a local flea market. “It was a wonderful place to be social, sometimes almost too social!” Step forward Nick Hakim, who would lend bossa nova piano to ‘Cocosette’, which also features the smooth sounds of Latin Grammy-nominated Brazilian guitarist Rogê. Elsewhere Leland Whitty of Canadian instrumental group Badbadnotgood lends a searing saxophone line to the jazzy ‘Lounge Lizard’, while Sal Samano and Alex Garcia of Chicano soul group Thee Sacred Souls appear on the melancholy ‘Crushed Velvet’. Badbadnotgood’s Chester Hansen also plays bass across the album, while Beck collaborator Roger Joseph Manning Jr. lends organ to the lush ‘Moon Tan’, which pays homage to film score composer Piero Umiliani. Experimental jazz pianist Marco Benevento and El Michels Affair’s Leon Michels both crop up on the perky ‘Silhouette’. There are a couple of covers, too, just like you’ll hear at a Café Molly night. This time it’s Dave Berry’s 1960s pop standard ‘The Crying Game’ and Jeanette’s ‘Porqué Te Vas’, which Molly fell in love with after hearing it on the soundtrack of Carlos Saura’s acclaimed 1976 drama Cría Cuervos. “The original is such a great song – I always wanted to do a few covers and I don't really gravitate towards more upbeat music in my own songwriting, so it was fun to try and think of a more upbeat track to include, to try to kind of change up the movement of the record.” With her intoxicating compositions, and wry brand of stagecraft (she might not be singing up there, but she can sure tell a joke) Molly Lewis looks set to join her heroes in the storied lore of the Los Angeles lounge scene and beyond. So pull up a chair, order your favorite drink, and prepare to fall for On The Lips.

Japanese musician Hakushi Hasegawa/長谷川白紙 proudly announces their new album Mahōgakkō/魔法学校 for LA-based Brainfeeder Records, out July 24th. As part of the announcement, Hasegawa shares a new single and video – “Boy’s Texture” – serving as the album’s second single after last year’s “Mouth Flash (Kuchinohanabi)”. The news arrives alongside Hasegawa’s grand gesture of revealing their face to fans for the very first time, unveiling a new side of the elusive and compelling artist.

“Boy’s Texture” sprints with all the energy of springtime. A warm, easygoing guitar forms the track’s main center, a through line as skittering synths, pounding drums, and a chorus of voices swirl around it. The video, directed by Gauspel (Brandon Saunders), explores the desire to find a missing piece of yourself in the wild. “Most people hold this preconceived notion that your being will be complete upon this revelation and that the broken pieces that comprise you will find their final puzzle piece,” he explains. “But there is no such grand revelation, just self-reflection… just you.”

Mahōgakkō, translating to “Magic School,” also seeks to make sense of a chaotic, vibrant world by letting itself get swept up in it. A balance of pop and pandemonium, the album is one of extremes, where chipmunk-pitched voices square off against percussion set to speed metal’s tempo and volume. Noise and melody, cutesy and aggressive, acoustic and electronic — all come to a head in a process Hasegawa calls the Explanatory Ratio.

“The balance is probably the only thing in my work that is intentional and very important to me,” shares Hasegawa. “In many of my songs, I use a scale that I personally call the ‘Explanatory Ratio’ to guide my work. This is not a sophisticated musical theory at all, but simply a subjective scale that looks at the balance of sounds that are explainable to me and sounds that are not explainable to me, and whether or not they are distributed in the ratio that I set for each piece.”

Mahōgakkō finds Hakushi pushing their boundaries to the absolute limit, with hyperspeed jungle and breakcore traded up for the even more pummeling onslaughts inspired by Tanzanian singeli so that they become just another texture in the wild sonic landscapes. And just when your senses are bordering on overloaded, Hakushi gifts you a moment of sweet reprieve before the roller coaster sets off again with hectic syncopations and harmonic jumps not for the faint of heart.

Impressively, the eye of this maelstrom revolves solely around Hasegawa, who taps only a few select collaborators to enliven their vision. Those who caught lead single “Mouth Flash (Kuchinohanabi)” will recall bassist Sam Wilkes added depth to the track juxtaposed against Hasegawa’s high-pitched singing. The lone featured vocalist rapper KID FRESINO lends his voice to “Gone,” where FRESINO’s determined flow seems to ground the skittering drums from spiraling out of control. NYC-based jazz composer Miho Hazama likewise lends her own form of control to “KYŌFUNOHOSHI”, guiding horns and saxes brought in by Yohchi Masago, Ryo Konishi, and Tomoaki Baba (J-Squad).

With Mahōgakkō there is no doubt that this is the sound of a once-in-a-generation artist not just breaking boundaries for Japanese music but global music culture and it will leave you with no doubt that Hakushi Hasegawa is only really just getting started. 

Big Crown Records is proud to present Dave Guy’s debut album Ruby. Having lent his talents both on stage and in the studio to artists like Amy Winehouse, Lizzo, Pharrell, and Sharon Jones to currently playing every night on The Tonight Show as a member of The Roots, Dave steps out on his own with a jazz record that is both unique and modern. Ruby mixes his musical influences with the energies of the city that raised him, capturing different moods and inviting the listener into the world as Dave Guy sees and feels it. Recorded in Queens at The Legendary Diamond Mine, the album is produced by Homer Steinweiss and Nick Movshon and features musical contributions from Leon Michels, Marco Benevento, Claire Cottrill, and more. Ruby instantly sits with the classics as an album that is fully realized and not simply a collection of songs. Lead single “7th Heaven” opens the album with an anthemic energy as Dave’s horn lines soar over thundering drums, ethereal vocals, and dancing piano. Keeping the energy high, “Footwork” is a Latin inspired number that is sure to soundtrack many a dance floor from SoHo to Harlem. The synth intro of “Pinky Ring” cleanses your palate for the mood shift when the track drops. Deep bass tones underline the impeccable drumming and Dave effortlessly finds the pocket wasting no notes as the verses and choruses trade off. The record leans into spiritual jazz vibes on “Diamond Encore” with a dark and deep almost “Axelrodish” rhythm track then picks the energy back up with the stomper “Still Standing”. “Dave Wants You” has a bop all its own with an unorthodox drum pattern that Dave anchors with his trumpet hits. The otherworldly arrangement of “Drony Boy” puts the production on a pedestal. The first intro almost serves as an intermission on the album while the second intro sets up the neck snapping track that is about to drop. A menacing guitar signals the builds and the whole thing is juxtaposed by Dave’s beautiful trumpet riffs. “Quesodillas” & “Green Door” begin the autumn of the album with their mellow & intimate energy and “Ruby’s Rubies”, the album’s closer is the perfect ending to the journey.

As soon as came back from a long concert tour in Asia, The Albert Mangelsdorff Quintet went in their Frankfurt studio to record many of the originals performed on the road. This session offers a splendid mix of Eastern and Western music. Featuring "Now, Jazz Ramwong," an enticing modal piece inspired by a Thai folk dance and "Three Jazz Moods?", a jazz adaptation of music by sitarist Ravi Shankar.

Reissue of Annette Peacock and Paul Bley's "Dual Unity" album, originally released in 1972 on Freedom Records. Hailed as a pioneer and artistic genius by many, this album captures Peacock in her element alongside husband, Canadian jazz genius Paul Bley. Dual Unity is a landscape of aural vision captured on tape in 1970, during their first European tour. For 33 minutes and 21 seconds, the listener is absorbed by other spirits. Using Robert Moog's earliest synthesizers, Bley and Peacock apply the strategic use of silence to indicate its reflective nature with captivating results. A statement of immensity through synthetic minimalism and a milestone in the avant-garde, free jazz movement. Guests musicians: Han Bennink (drums) on "M.J." and "Gargantuan Encounter", Mario Pavone (bass) and Laurence Cook (drums) on "Richter Scale" and "Dual Unity".

The jazz-funk metamorphosis of harpist Dorothy Ashby completed on her 1968 album released on Chess records subsidiary Cadet. The cycle was literally completed when the album – recorded on February of the same year in Chicago – hit the stores. With arrangements by Richard Evans and a killer (unknown) line-up the record is full of samples galore, from "Soul Vibrations" and "Come Live With Me", plus a version of "Little Sunflower" by Freddie Hubbard.

Of Filipino descent, the expressive keyboardist, vocalist, and composer Flip Nuñez enjoyed a varied career in jazz. After backing Bev Kelly, Jon Hendricks, and others in the 1960s, Nuñez impacted in the Latin jazz-rock act Azteca. The marvelous My Own Time And Space, his only solo album, showcases his versatility; the Latin cadences of Willie Colon and former Santana bassist Tom Rutley and the keen jazz phrasings of guitarist Michael Howell and drummer Vince Lateano make superb backing for Nuñez's piano and synthesizer flourishes, bolstered by his emotive voice. A lost classic, and one that sounds better with every spin.

Thee Marloes, by way of Surabaya, Indonesia are Natassya Sianturi on vocals, Sinatrya Dharaka on guitar, and Tommy Satwick on drums. Their unique sound mixes elements of their local culture and music with influences of Soul, Jazz, and Pop.

A trailblazing amalgam of elevator-friendly R&B and synth-forward smooth jazz, Tony Palkovic's 1986 debut goes down easy as a huff of dentist-issued nitrous. Born With A Desire's silky grooves and bursts of drum machine 1.0 endure as an '80s vision of future earth where 8-bit graphics and pastel palettes swath a synthesizer Shangri La.

One of the most stunning and unique albums of the Ethiopian golden age of jazz, never re-issued in full until now! This album was the only LP released by the mysterious Aselefech Ashine and Getenesh Kebret, two young women backed by one of the hardest-charging jazz and funk bands of the Ethiopian scene. The record was a huge hit in Ethiopia in 1976, but the artists never released another album. We managed to track them down and bring this amazing record back to the world. Dizzying close harmonies and indestructible grooves on this lost classic from Ethiopia's Golden Age. Aselefech Ashine and Getenesh Kebret, two young women raised in the bustling cosmopolitan milieu of late-empire Addis Ababa, released one single and a full-length LP in 1976 before disappearing from the music business entirely. Originally released on Kaifa, the label responsible for some of the heaviest and funkiest Ethiopian records of all time, Beauties was a hit, selling out in a few days. But it came out at the beginning of two decades of darkness and oppression in Ethiopia, and this is the first full reissue of this overlooked classic. Beauties is at once totally unique and an amalgamation of all that came before it during Ethiopia's explosive two decades of creativity in the 60s and 70s. Fans of Ethio-jazz will hear Mulatu in the dark, minor-key piano runs, turning in on themselves on songs like "Amlak Abet Abet" and "Metche Neow." Interlocking percussion and rock steady basslines are a signature of the Army Band, which also backed greats like Tlahoun Gesesse and Mahmoud Ahmed. Arranger Teshome Sisay is also an incredible flutist, playing with both sensitivity and swagger on tracks like the majestic "Ayinouma." But the vocals are the most stunning part. Aselefech and Getenesh met at the legendary Hager Fikir Theatre in Addis, where centuries-old Ethiopian culture combined with the modern music of the capital's elite. Trained in traditional music, their dual vocals lead in extremely close harmony, intertwined and infinitely creative in their phrasing. By the time this record was released, the Derg Regime was imposing strict crackdowns on music and artistic expression. Targeted as allies of the deposed Emperor Haille Selassie, the artists (and most musicians) had to keep a low profile. This is one of the last great releases of the Ethiopian Golden Era. Though she was never able to release a second record, Aselefech Ashine is proud of her work. From her home in Addis she says: "I have full confidence that this album will be popular and a hit when it is released again now!" We are proud to release this album in collaboration with Domino Sound in New Orleans and through direct license from the artists. Old-school "tip-on" jacket faithfully recreates the amazing original artwork, lyric translations, photos, and an interview with Ashine accompany.

Released in 1976, Eternity was Alice Coltrane's first album for Warner Bros. after eight wondrous records on Impulse! Combining the drones and textures of India, the gospel and R&B of her Detroit youth and the dissonance of modern classical composition, Coltrane's music in the '70s would become increasingly difficult to categorize. Having moved a few years earlier to California (where she founded the Vedantic Center, an Ashram for spiritual studies), Coltrane stretches out on Eternity – incorporating various musical styles, including a stirring adaptation of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring – and the results are dazzling, both in sonic scope and emotional range Opener "Spiritual Eternal" sways between Alice's exploratory organ and the dramatic swell of lush strings. A meditative solo piece for harp, "Wisdom Eye," precedes the rollicking rhythms of "Los Caballos," which showcases some of her finest soloing. "Om Supreme" is the album's first track to be built around bhajans (Hindu devotional songs). Featuring graceful keyboards backed by an angelic choir, this piece hints at the ecstatic devotional music that she would later make with members of her Ashram. While Coltrane would delve deeper into her spiritual journeys and continue to expand her musical interests on subsequent LPs, Eternity remains a vivid and compelling display of her unique vision, myriad talents and passions.

An iconic rare groove heresy with alternative and avant-garde badassery! Weldon's masterpiece, still widely influential in the world today! This is a masterpiece of Weldon's, which is still widely influential in the world today! The original is almost impossible to find for less than $1000. It is also a masterpiece of 70's jazz with gems of music with incandescent performances. The eloquent and spiritual spoken word piece "Time Capsule" opens the album, and it is heretical from the start. Feelin' Mellow" is a heartwarming soul number co-written and performed with Johnny King of the FATBACK BAND, a masterpiece that reflects the loving feelings of Weldon, who wrote the lyrics. The album's most popular song, the rare groove classic "Deja Vu," is an impressive piece of vocal jazz in the Latin manner, with a space-like tone of the electric piano and tricky soloing. The simple singing and Weldon's philosophical lyrics are beautifully synchronized with the spacy orchestration, and the result is a wonderful mixture of acidic intensity and popularity!　Other great songs include "Watergate-Don't Bug Me!" and "Bananas"! This album is also a bridge to the prestigious Strata East and RCA label's trilogy. This is a masterpiece among masterpieces, filled with pop, experimentation, lively and vivid performances that make you bleed when cut, and Weldon's passion for music. It's like a piece of spectacular storytelling!

I hope that everyone who listens to this album will be able to feel a little happiness.

The above sentence was written by Nujabes himself as an introduction to the album "modal soul" on tribe at the time of its release. He did not dare to mention the contents of the songs on the album, but rather expressed his own wishes in his comments on the album, hoping that people would actually listen to the album and empathize with the songs.

Nujabes has been expressing various thoughts and feelings through the world of sound, and their second album is finally released on 2LP.

Free, Dancing . . . is the first release by a new trio with percussionist and producer Carlos Niño, luminary multi-instrumentalist Idris Ackamoor (of The Pyramids) and wizard guitarist, producer Nate Mercereau. They have been playing concerts together in California since June 2022, sharing a unique vibrant sound, findings and energetics...

2x LP with printed inner sleeves. A strong tip on this one! South-Asian vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and composer Ganavya releases her new studio album “Like the sky I've been too quiet” on Shabaka Hutchings’ Native Rebel Recordings. The album features contributions from artists including Kofi Flexxx, Floating Points, Carlos Niño, Leafcutter John and Mercury-nominated bassist Tom Herbert. Since graduating from Berklee College of Music, UCLA and Harvard, Ganavya has quickly become a much-in-demand artist on the US scene who consistently confounds expectations. Hailed as “among modern music's most compelling vocalists” (Wall Street Journal), “most enchanting” (NPR) and "extraordinary" (DownBeat), Ganavya has worked with an array of luminaries including the likes of Quincy Jones, Wayne Shorter and Esperanza Spalding and on new album "Like the sky I've been too quiet" she presents thirteen compelling tracks which showcase her ethereal voice and numinous energy.

Portland's finest practitioners of Great Black Music offering to the planet! All Is Sound could not be a more apt title for this. Through saxophone, cello, piano, and flutes The Cosmic Tones Research Trio created a truly beautiful record. All Is Sound breaks new ground. At its heart, it's healing/meditation music, but the Gospel and Blues roots are in there too...as well as hints of forward-looking Spiritual jazz. As sincere a record as you could ever hope for. Music is indeed the healing force of the universe.

Born to parents of Senegalese, Gambian, and Malian descent, and hailing from the outskirts of Paris, the multitalented Gadiaga has been making waves in the UK music industry since she moved to London aged 18. With a fresh and unique style that bridges the old school jazz tradition of musicians such as Betty Carter and Wayne Shorter with the raw, rootsy modern sound of artists such as D'Angelo, Stevie Wonder and Twinkie Clark, Gadiaga's breadth of ambition and revitalising approach have brought early critical acclaim and ardent fans. Having performed at prestigious festivals, We Out Here, Cheltenham Jazz Festival and London Jazz Festival, Gadiaga has received previous radio support from Jazz FM, interviews on BBC radio and handpicked by Jamz Supernova as 'one to watch'.

Once again it's quite difficult to pin down exactly what's going on through Herandu's debut album, Ocher Red, but its a little bit like Metalheadz meets Weather Report out on the Siberian steppes... Herandu are brothers Evgeny and Mikhail Gavrilov from Novosibirsk in Siberia. Mikhail and his brother have played music together since they were very young eventually forming the band FPRF together in the mid 2000's. Eventually the group split as the members dispersed around Russia, but Evgeny and Mikhail continued to make music, Evgeny under the alias Dyad and Mikhail under the name Misha Sultan (some of you may remember his excellent cassette, Roots, which came out on Hive Mind in 2022). Herandu was born in 2022 during several studio sessions they managed to grab whilst both visiting Siberia. They both quickly realised that together they were making music that didn't quite sound like either of their solo projects but which was influenced by the music of their formative years. Their friend Vladimir Luchansky was invited in to add saxophone and the result is an 'urban music' that's as influenced by the gritty cityscapes of '70s TV cop thrillers as it is by 21st Century urbanism. The paintings on the album cover are by Italian artist Mauro Reggio, who kindly allowed us to use his work, and whose paintings seem to convey something of the mood of Herandu...

"Born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, keyboard player Lonnie Liston Smith moved to New York in 1963 playing with the likes of Dakota Staton, Al Hibbler, Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln and Roland Kirk. He made his first recordings with Kirk and in 1968 entered into a mutually rewarding and instructive partnership with Pharoah Sanders and Leon Thomas. In 1971-2 he toured Europe with saxophonist Gato Barbieri appearing on his 1973 albums “Under Fire” and “Bolivia”. His growing reputation was also burnished by playing Fender Rhodes with Miles Davis electric band.

The second of these Barbieri LPs was released on Bob Thiele’s Flying Dutchman label. Thiele was quick to sign Smith and release Smith’s first album under his own name, “Astral Traveling”. Backed by his Cosmic Echoes band, Smith served up a beautiful spiritual and funky stew on tracks like ‘Let Us Go Into The House Of The Lord’, ‘Rejuvenation’, ‘I Mani (Faith)’ and ‘In Search Of Truth’.

Smith went on to record “Expansions” one of the greatest funky jazz albums of all time in 1975 but this debut really paved the way towards that musical milestone."

Federico Ughi Together with Leo Genovese and Brandon Lopez Explores the Spaceways in the New Multidimensional LP/CD ‘Infinite Cosmos Calling You You You, Vol. 1’ Federico Ughi, drum wizard and producer, is back with an album under his own name for the first time in five years. The project features outstanding musicians: Leo Genovese, originally from Argentina but now Brooklyn-based on keyboards and synths, and Brandon Lopez from NYC on upright bass. This album celebrates the advanced creative dialogue between these artists by fully immersing the listener in the world of sound conjured by the trio. The expansive scope of this experience suggests that Ughi's artistic enterprise extends beyond the music itself to the idea of connection between artists, music, and the audience. In this conception the musicians are conduits for the delivery of cosmic sound, the music world, the cosmic dimension of sound and light. The message is launched towards the audience and refracted back through them, aspiring to achieve a sort of universal consciousness through presence and participation. The trio moves away from a specific genre, opening up to limitless possibilities. Anything is possible when these improvisers listen to each other so closely. This music is dynamic and defies particular labels. It’s the universal language of sound, frequencies, beat and vibration. The project is strongly influenced by the music, philosophy, and persona of Sun Ra, to whom one of the tracks is dedicated. The album will be followed soon by Vol. 2, containing the other half of the material recorded on the day at Sear Sound, the oldest recording studio in NYC.

Many still see Louis Cole foremost as a drummer. nothing, Cole's fifth album and his third on Brainfeeder – released on 9th August 2024 – is bound to change that impression. Collaborating with the Metropole Orkest and Jules Buckley, he rejected the well-trodden path to orchestral renditions of his greatest hits and instead opted to compose a suite of brand new music for this project – bigger, bolder, and more expansive than ever. Yes, there are nods to his GRAMMY-nominated 2022 album Quality Over Opinion, but 15 of the 17 tracks included here are brand new. This is jazz. This is classical music. It's got that funk. You'll hear synths and loops. You'll hear a band and live drumming. There's a world class orchestra playing. Some pieces are ultra concise, whereas the sprawling ‘Doesn’t Matter’ surpasses the ten minute mark. To Cole, jazz has always been the one place where you can really let go of all expectations – on nothing, he is putting the music where his mouth is.

The Metropole Orkest proved to be the ideal partner for this endeavor. Over the course of its 80 year history, it has worked with legends like Ella Fitzgerald, Pat Metheny, and Herbie Hancock – exactly the kind of border-crossing mentality Cole was looking for. Add into the equation the conductor, arranger, curator and composer Jules Buckley and this really is a triple threat of epic proportions. Buckley is a unique and rare breed of artist – a GRAMMY winner who has redefined the rulebook of orchestral music and the role of a conductor.

Together, the ensemble embarked on a multi-date sold-out tour through Europe with the 50-piece orchestra, Cole's band, as well as guest stars like his long-time creative partner Genevieve Artadi. With the exception of a few vocal re-recordings and instrumental overdubs, everything you'll hear on nothing was culled from these ecstatic live dates.

This is remarkable because, almost until the very end, nothing was not actually an album. It was a collaboration, a series of concerts, a cross-over between two worlds. Cole had been eagerly waiting for an opportunity like this for years. His father had been a big classical music fan and as a kid, he'd absorbed a lot of that. Once he got the call to work on a project involving an orchestra, he instantly “went hard” with the writing. The finished recording encompasses 17 tracks and stretches across more than an hour of music – and still, a few more tracks had to be left on the cutting room floor.

Cole was looking for something very specific. The challenge was to create music that had a deep emotional impact, while also being really simple and straight-forward. Already at the earliest stages of his orchestral ambitions, he had tried and failed to achieve this ideal. It would remain an obsession for years. Even when nothing was still a live project, it didn't seem like he would be able to pull it off. And then, at the very last minute, Louis decided to give it one more go. One night, he sat down at the keyboard and instantly realised: “This is it!” He struck on the ideas and themes which would become the pivotal title track of the album.

Just as with many of the orchestral pieces, there was a clear vision of the feeling and the sound he was looking for. For “Ludovici Cole Est Frigus”, he based everything on a 30-40 chord progression at a pace of “one chord at a time”. Then, he went back in with the pencil tool and Logic, finding and weaving together little melodies. It was a slow, assiduous process. But working with an outside arranger was never an option: “It was the only way I was ever going to be happy with the results. This is my pure vision. It doesn't get blended in or mixed with anyone else's.”

Having already written and arranged the suite, Cole is also very proud of the mixing, an epic task in its own right. For a full nine months, he selected the best takes, tweaked the sonic balance and adjusted frequencies until the orchestral parts really shone. “I was sad when the mixing was over,” he laughs, “Sometimes, when I'm mixing my own solo stuff, I'll feel like a song needs a little magical dust. But mixing an entire orchestra and your own rhythm section, there's so much human energy! You don't have to add any magic. It was there the whole time.”

Wisdom Through Music is an album by saxophonist Pharoah Sanders. It was recorded in New York City and Los Angeles, California, and was released in 1973 by Impulse! Records. On the album, Sanders is joined by flutist James Branch, pianist Joe Bonner, bassist Cecil McBee, drummer Norman Connors, and percussionists Badal Roy, James Mtume, and Lawrence Killian. The most notable track is "High Life," on which Sanders emulates the West African style of music with roiling, celebratory drumming and singing, and killer flute playing.