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Bill Brown, a producer and songwriter representing the US West Coast in the 70's, who has been re-evaluated in a 7-inch format in recent years, has finally decided to release the extremely rare sound source left under his own name in the 70's in album volume!"Love Under The Apple Tree" is a modern soul with a groovy bassline and light vocals and chorus, starting with "Time After Time" (M1), which is an update of "World Full Of People" to a rich male vocal ver. (M2), tight funk number "Fool-Ology" (M3), released under his own name in 1974, the original 45 is also the premiered rare soul "Bip Bam" (M4 & amp; M5) and the first half Is it just a fulfilling content?In addition, the crossover soul "Dream world Fantasies" (M7), which lets you hear the upper sound from the entanglement of the cutting guitar and horn, and the finest funk "Sock It To The Landlord" (M8), which will be released for the first time in this release, are gems. Includes a killer track through the entire soul ballad "Rainbow" (M9)! – Anywhere Store

Henri Guédon is an artistic legend from Martinique. Musician, painter, sculptor and one of the main architects of modern Caribbean/Antilles music. Taking the music to truly new and progressive territory from the late 1960’s onward. Karma, his 2nd album is one of the holy grails of the Caribbean cosmic Latin/Jazz scene, near impossible to find in this day and age. Released in 1975 on a small Parisian label, La Voix Du Globe, a label releasing Algerian, Moroccan and Egyptian records, the album was an anomalous release in their catalog. Karma was a convincing and unswerving statement following his stunning landmark debut LP (Cosmozouk Percussion).

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Incorporating African, Latin and West Indies styles (Gwoka, Mazouk, Biguine, Bel-Air, Bomba...) with cosmic synths swirling all over intense roots percussion. The songs are propelled with a spiritual Jazz vibe mixing with deep ethno-folk music from Martinique and Guadeloupe. The LP belongs to the same vein as as Marius Cultier, Louis Xavier or William Onyeabor for its totally original take on a hybrid music. - Bandcamp

Donald Byrd’s 1975 fusion classic Places and Spaces was the culmination of the legendary trumpeter’s vibrant latter Blue Note years. Byrd had begun recording for Blue Note in 1958, and over two decades evolved from a top-notch hard bop trumpeter into a pioneer of R&B/Funk fusion, leading the label’s own creative direction along a similar path. Byrd had begun to introduce elements of fusion to his music with his 1969 album Fancy Free and shadowed Miles Davis early-1970s moves with experimental sessions like Electric Byrd and Ethiopian Knights. It wasn’t until Byrd hooked up with visionary producer Larry Mizell for his 1972 album Black Byrd that a new sound coalesced: funky and sultry, sophisticated yet accessible, with intricate arrangements that allowed Byrd’s trumpet to soar over top. A string of commercial successes followed, reaching a creative peak with Places and Spaces, the fourth Byrd-Mizell collaboration which was co-produced by Larry and his brother Fonce Mizell. The album featured some of the most enduring hits this legendary creative team conjured up including “Wind Parade,” “Dominoes,” and “Places and Spaces,” all of which were sampled heavily by Hip Hop artists in the decades that followed. – Blue Note

There is a moment near the top of jaimie branch’s FLY or DIE LIVE, the new album recorded by the trumpeter’s quartet in Zurich, Switzerland on January 23rd, 2020, which feels like it bears the weight of both that specific pocket of time, and a prophecy for all that was soon to come. branch and her Fly or Die crew — cellist Lester St. Louis, double bassist Jason Ajemian, and drummer/percussionist/mbira player Chad Taylor — had just kicked off the concert at Moods, with the opening tracks off their then-new studio album FLY or DIE II: Bird Dogs of Paradise, the second of which, “Prayer for Amerikkka” is among the best political songs written during the Tr*mp Era, and when the moment in question pops off.

The multi-part “Prayer” begins as a goth-blues stomp, its moaning ghosts flying around the room. A week into a European tour and after three months of constant live performance, Fly or Die is at home in this new song’s contours, messing with its internal machinery while guiding its meaning. By now, “Prayer” had gained a tough spoken-word intro, bringing the context as it slowly gearshifts the intensity: “It’s a song about America,” off-the-cuffs branch while the band seethes behind her, “but it’s about a whole lotta places — ‘cause it’s not just America where shit’s fucked up...” Then arrives the climax, at once site-specific and far-reaching: “...and it’s not always time to be neutral, do you know what I mean?” The gathered Swiss crowd knows, understands, and responds vocally, as Taylor’s backbeats cue branch to bring the trumpet to her lips, and let out a high-pitched wail. Her horn doesn’t know what’s about to happen to our world, and yet, somehow, it does — with only the catastrophic details needing to be worked out. For the next 12 minutes, “Prayer” careens through its twists of wide-eyed racism and family separation, Ajemian and Taylor driving branch’s punk-jazz Morricone horn line. “This is a warning, honey…” cries the song, and over the ensuing 70 minutes, the band echoes its sentiment, filled with glee and terror. – Bandcamp

This album collection presents exclusive instrumental jazz versions of the tunes originally released on the Jazz Is Dead series with Roy Ayers, Marcos Valle, Gary Bartz and João Donato

Japanese Import!

Second time around for Arthur Verocai’s 2016 album “No Voo Do Urubu”, a set that remains the veteran Brazil artist’s most recent full-length excursion. It remains a superb set full of hazy, sun-kissed future classics that put a decidedly loose and languid spin on the 1970s MPB sound that he did so much to popularize. That means ear catching blends of samba, easy listening, folk, jazz-funk and smooth AOR. Highlights are plentiful throughout, from the gentle breeze of “O Tempo E O Vento” and the flute-laden, Azymuth-influenced shuffle of “No Voo Do Urubu”, to the big band samba sizzle of “Mina Terra Tem Palmeiras”, where Lu Oliveira adeptly delivers a memorable lead vocal. – Light In The Attic

Recorded in 1976, 'kellee' is the second album for the amazing lady soul singer after her debut album 'maiden voyage' released on black jazz records. Special Indeed

With stripped-back instrumentation and poignant emotion, the English singer’s latest release is a stopgap EP that punches above its weight.

On her 2018 debut Lost & Found, Jorja Smith presented a coming-of-age album on her own self-assured terms. Vivid lyrics and a flexible vocal range revealed the then-20 year old as a preternatural talent whose sleek songs speak to both small-scale romantic dramas and broad social and political ills; that year, she landed a coveted Mercury Prize nomination. Since then, the English R&B singer has kept a relatively low profile, providing the occasional guest feature while plugging away at a follow-up. Now Smith returns with the low-lit Be Right Back, a stopgap EP between albums with eight tracks from the cutting room floor. With its stripped-back instrumentation and forthcoming lyrics, Be Right Back proves that even Smith’s rejects are worthy of attention.

Be Right Back’s most appealing quality remains Smith’s voice, which stretches at will as she taps into various emotional states. She sings with insistence against echoing shouts on the moody “Digging” and flies up to a heady falsetto on “Weekend,” where her background vocals dovetail in operatic melodies. Be Right Back can at times feel like a minor expansion on Lost & Found’s melancholy moments, but Smith’s emotional acuity and resolute confidence prove that she’s still just getting started. – Pitchfork 

Canadian ensemble BadBadNotGood made their name by crossing genre. This seamless movement between style hit hard when they took hip hop into jazz and vice versa. Their latest album – and first with XL recordings – demonstrates them going back to their instrumental beginnings. Instead of looking at the now, they reflected the history and innovation of those that influenced them. To paraphrase Lamont Dozier, this is an album about going back to their roots.

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BadBadNotGood formed in 2010, moving between three and four members before establishing its current line up in 2015. The band, aka Alexander Sowinski (drums), Chester Hansen (bass) and Leland Whitty (guitar and woodwinds), met on the Humber College jazz program in Toronto. At the time, instead of working with traditional jazz standards, the group sidestepped and drew from hip hop and other contemporary genres to create a unique sound rooted in Black American music, but 2021’s Talk Memory pays homage to the musicians, composers and influences that first informed their work.

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One of the central driving forces behind their latest album was to capture some of the focus, energy and improvisation which is at the heart of their live shows. As they noted, a song is a living breathing thing that naturally changes and evolves as it is played in different settings. This is an album that plays with that thinking. After years of touring, the band paused, refreshed and looked at their history and experiences before starting out on their current instrumental project. A sense of reflection and renewed communication is at the heart of their current approach to making music, and the spark that led to the album’s pensive title Talk Memory. Instead of recording and then developing the tracks on tour, the band decided to slow down and rethink their creative process. By the time they entered the studio and recorded the improvised performances, they had already clearly approached the process of writing and composition. The approach was more intentional, had a longer gestation period and was created over two years. The speed of their compositions, performance and sound has shifted in fresh ways. Instead of improvising and growing their tracks on tour, that process happened in the studio.

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The band demonstrates a sense of emotional and poetic progress, not just technique and virtuosity. They consider themselves constant students, always listening and striving for new directions. Those new paths range from moments of cinematic pacing to distorted improvisation. The album is a kind of aural odyssey, with all the sense of psychedelic narrative that entails. It is about drawing on the energy of collaboration as I happens. The band recorded their latest work in analog studios, as an intentional way to stay present and experience without drawing from the internet for research or references. – Bandcamp

• Four Flies Records keep on researching Alessandro Alessandroni’s limitless archive, compiling this time an LP of tracks composed between 1972-1978

• All the tracks were previously unreleased and are presented here for the first time - a truly ‘Lost & Found’ treasure that sees the light for the first time!

• After the incredible success of Afro Discoteca (Four Flies Records, 2017), Pierpaolo De Sanctis compiles a 15-tracks LP of forgotten soundtracks and library music treasures from the Italian Maestro

• Jazz, Disco, Electronic music – there’s no genre Alessandroni hasn’t explored – this compilation testifying the incredible diversity of his production and immense musical mind – Four Flies Records

The “vivid contemporary sounds for a fresh visual image” make up the now canonised Synthesis from Alan Hawkshaw and Brian Bennett. These two greats go deeper than usual on this collection, and the end result is a synth concept record of sorts. Released in 1974, it’s an essential companion piece to their Synthesizer and Percussion LP, released on Themes International Music in the same year.

Like most of our favourite library records, Synthesis has that gloriously funky, “weird electronic music” vibe without ever being inaccessible. With the awesome ARP Odyssey at the fore, Hawkshaw and Bennett have created a blissed-out soundscape that, whilst laid back in all the right places, somehow remains heavy on the funk. It’s a sort of throbbing, proto-G Funk sound and you can find it on many of these low-lit basement workouts.
As with all ten re-issues, the audio for Synthesis comes from the original analogue tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis. We’ve taken the same care with the sleeves, handing the reproduction duties over to Richard Robinson, the current custodian of KPM’s brand identity. – Be With Records

The two sides of 1973’s Big Business / Wind of Change are mainly the work of the great Keith Mansfield but there’s a killer cameo each from Alan Hawkshaw and David Snell to help deliver “a thematic suite, diverse in mood, applicable to dramatic and environmental situations”. A Be With favourite and truly one for the heads.

As with all ten re-issues, the audio for Big Business / Wind of Change comes from the original analogue tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis. We’ve taken the same care with the sleeves, handing the reproduction duties over to Richard Robinson, the current custodian of KPM’s brand identity. – Be With Records

On June 11th, independent groove label Sdban Records will release Utopic Cities: Progressive Jazz in Belgium 1968-1979 featuring twelve essential compositions from a highly creative period in Belgian jazz. The release follows Sdban’s critically acclaimed Let’s Get Swinging: Modern Jazz in Belgium 1950-1970, released back in 2017.

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Utopic Cities is an eclectic selection of forward-thinking jazz from the Belgian underground, including the left-field fusion of Marc Moulin’s Placebo, Koen De Bruyne and Solis Lacus; the intense post-bop of Jacques Pelzer and Lou MacConnell; the cutting edge soul jazz of Philip Catherine and Open Sky Unit or the otherworldly avant-garde of Babs Robert and the Brussels Art Quintet. Recorded in the aftermath of the revolutionary year 1968, this music is the fruit of a highly creative momentum in Belgian jazz history that produced a unique sound which distinguishes itself from its American source of inspiration by an indefinable characteristic that can be hardly better described than ‘Belgian’. - Bandcamp

This album, released quietly in 1979, is Noriyo Ikeda’s first and only album. The title track, “Dream in the Streets,” was written and arranged by Tatsuro Yamashita; he also plays guitar and sings on the chorus. A great CITY POP record with a strong following! – Light in The Attic

An overseas New York recording work following the LA recording of the previous work “Tasogare”. David Sanborn is performing a saxophone solo, and New York musicians will give you an urban sound. Originally released in 1983. – Light In The Attic

After moving to New York City in 1978, Mikio Masuda crafted "Corazón" alongside composer / pianist Dave Matthews, notable collaborator of the likes of Nina Simone, Idris Muhammad, Yusef Lateef and Buddy Rich. Originally released on the japanese fusion jazz label Electric Bird in 1979, this also represents his first recording outside of Japan, at the famous Electric Lady studios in New York. The album features a cover of Carole King's "Corazón", Sadao Watanabe's tune "Samba Em Praia", the caribbean vibe "Ride On The Donkey", "Another Rainy Day In New York City"/"Love Talkin" played in the pure Bob James style, as well as a variation of Masuda's classic "Let's Get Together".

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Now available on vinyl for the first time since its original release as a limited edition of 500 copies with japanese OBI strip. - Bandcamp

Leobardo Acosta Quintanar was born in Huetamo, Michoacán in 1925. He was a notable drummer, composer, arranger, and orchestrator.

In 1970, he recorded a last LP for Capitol with a small combo formed with some of his closest peers. The sound engineer for these sessions, Rogiero Silva, recalls that it happened in the night time. Leo was always very demanding in his studio hours with all of his musicians and that he did not tolerate mistakes or setbacks, but he was fully relaxed and enjoying this one very much. For this last LP, entitled “ACOSTA” but known as "El Leon”, all the compositions are originals, unlike his previous albums where the labels required him to record at least 6 songs that were hits on the popularity charts.

The genius of this album lies in Leo's ability to synthesise the influence of jazz and funk fusions with Latin rhythms, well dominated by him. The stand out “Rencorosa”, has strong influence of “Evil Ways” by Willie Bobo, via Santana. “Noches de Viaje” is a superb mid tempo funk, one of the best examples of its kind and the funny dialogues in “Carga Pesada“ denote the atmosphere of Leo's nightclub life, drum solo included. “Melodía de Amor Eterno" shows a more spiritual jazz side where the Hammond B3 by Mario Patrón and the Sax tenor by Tomás “La Negrita” Rodriguez take center stage. Unfortunately the album went unnoticed on the radio and sold poorly, despite the fact that two 45rpm records were released as promotional items: Rencorosa / Noches de viaje and Rosa Rosita / Mi Guitarra.

Mad About Record proudly presents, for the first time worldwide, the reissue of this cult record, one of the rarest in Latin Jazz. - Mad About Records

In the early 1970′s, Brazilian popular music was approaching a high water mark of creativity and popularity. Artists like Elis Regina, Chico Buarque and Milton Nascimento were delivering top-shelf Brazilian pop, while tropicalists Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil and Os Mutantes (see World Psychedelic Classics 1) were entertaining the college set with avant-garde fuzz-pop poetry.

Enter Tim Maia with a massive cannonball into the pool. It was the only dive Tim knew. Standing just 5’7 (6′ with the Afro) Tim Maia was large, in charge and completely out of control. He was the personification of rock star excess, having lived through five marriages and at least six children, multiple prison sentences, voluminous drug habits and a stint in an UFO obsessed religious cult. Tim is also remembered as a fat, arrogant, overindulgent, barely tolerated, yet beloved man-child who died too young at the age of 55. – Luakabop

Get On Down proudly presents another top-notch vinyl reissue, from their long-running series of collaborations with James Brown's famed 70s funk label People Records. 

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As the 1970s wore on, the classic funk sounds that had defined James Brown's backing band, The J.B.'s, gave way to the rise of disco music. Fred Wesley and his collective of musicians couldn't resist the chance to make their mark, releasing Hustle With Speed in 1975, with Charles Bobbit and Don Love producing, and the godfather himself, James Brown co-writing and providing arrangements. Hustle With Speed didn't cross over like the band had hoped it would, but it was nonetheless remarkable album, featuring The J.B.'s signature funky style married with disco to exciting effect. All the while there's still plenty to be had for the funk die-hard, from the brass blow-out jam "Here We Come, Here We Go, Here We Are", to the trombone-heavy "All Aboard The Funky Soul Train", to the powerhouse opening salvo that is "(It's Not The Express) It's The JBs Monaurail".

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Songs from Hustle With Speed would take on lives of their own decades after the album's release, through sampled appearances in tracks by Jay-Z, Nas, Eric B. & Rakim, Ultramagnetic MCs, EPMD, and many more.

Sun Ra’s Arkestra was at its most radical during this period, alternating simple chants with very outside playing and dense ensembles. Although no precise date is given, these five cuts are thought to have been documented circa 1967-1968 by Sun Ra (piano) and his Arkestra in New York City, where the band was in residence at the time.

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First released in a limited edition color vinyl for Record Store Day 2014, this title is now widely available on audiophile-grade black vinyl, pressed at Pallas Group in Germany. It’s a must have for any serious avant garde jazz fan. – ORG Music

Here To Stay was the second album from Detroit soul singer Darrell Banks. Banks was a one-semi-hit wonder who was killed by a policeman less than a year after Here to Stay was released. – VMP

Here to Stay is a Nexus point—and arguably the Nexus point—in the conversation between the Memphis soul sound of Stax Records (which released this album via its Volt imprint) and the more polished, pop-oriented Detroit soul sound, as epitomized by Motown. Banks was a vessel for Stax to try to make albums that would appeal to people buying thousands of Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross records, a performer who could, with his gravely, powder-keg voice—along with authentic Detroit musicians and production, recorded in Detroit—bridge the gap between the then preeminent modes for soul music, and bring Stax more of the mainstream commercial success experienced by Motown. Banks never accomplished that feat, and neither did Stax, for that matter. But Here To Stay got close. - VMP

The ultimate collector's board pursued by soul-funk-rare groove freaks all over the world is the world's first official LP reissue with an original jacket!

One of the best in the collection of Sadar Bahar, known as one of the world's leading collectors / DJs, and also includes the blockbuster funk "Open Soul" that is essential for heavy play!

Released in 1976 by Chicago's local label Stage Productions, this is the only album by a six-member soul band led by the four Burton brothers, and most of the original albums are on the market. It is no exaggeration to say that it is the ultimate collector's album that everyone wants once, such as always exceeding US $ 1000 even when it is traded without any trouble! A spectacular and groovy funk "OPEN SOUL" (B1) that uses all the B-sides of the record for more than 20 minutes, the finest funky tune "Let's Get With The Beat" (A5) and the killer instrument "Hurt Perversion" Even if you go through the whole album such as (A3), it is one that is full of things to listen to! – P-Vine

Another stellar soul excavation reissued on P-Vine!

Easy, Mellow soul from The Ultimates – an obscure east coast group with a really heavenly sound! The bulk of the album is from the group's only album – The Ultimates From The Beginning – recorded in 1969 with a warm and groovy harmony approach, of the sort that many other groups would begin working in during the 70s. There's a great quality to the vocals on the tracks – smooth, but with just a few crackles – in a mode that humanizes the tunes nicely, and gives them a feel that reminds us a bit of groups like The Delfonics or The Whatnauts. Titles include "She Went Away", "You're My Lady", "I Just Can't Stand It", and "Girl I've Been Trying To Tell You".

First Reissue in over 20 years! With the original copy fetching silly prices, it’s a big delight to have this rare funk & soul record reissued on P-vine in top quality! Sweet soulful harmonies and instrumentation all over these grooves, lyrical content close to the heart and an all-around sing-along vibe. Lovely!  

Not so much an album as it is a master class in the art of funk percussion, Soul Drums is the quintessential Bernard "Pretty" Purdie LP, an unstoppable rhythm machine made all the more memorable by its fiercely idiosyncratic production. Paired with pianist/arranger Richard Tee, guitarists Eric Gale and Billy Butler, bassist Bob Bushnell, and tenorist Seldon Powell, Purdie creates a suite of deep funk grooves notable for the sheer insistence of their energy as well as the remarkable imagination and skill of their beats, all topped off with echo-chamber-like production that underscores the music's visceral punch. It is virtually impossible to listen to Soul Drums without nodding your head and tapping your foot -- and physical response, not thoughts or words, are its most sincere praise. – All Music