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Bill Evans is one of the most influential pianists in the history of jazz. In his essay for the album package, journalist, author and jazz historian Marc Myers describes Evans’s career as comprising four distinct periods or stylistic phases. The first of these Myers describes as Evans’s “jazz apprentice years,” a period that extended from 1953 to 1961, during which time, he performed often as a sideman, but also began recording as a leader. The second period, which Myers styles Evans’s “swinging romantic” period spanned from 1961 through 1966, where he began to come into his own as a force in jazz. This was followed by a period Myers calls Evans’s “percussive poet” phase, which Myers maintains was propelled by the introduction of bassist Eddie Gomez into Evans’s musical milieu. The percussive poet period lasted until 1978. Myers refers to Evans’s artistic phase during the last four years of his life - from 1978 to 1982 as his “lost soul” years.

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This album captures Bill Evans at an important, yet relatively under-recorded time in his career. Myers describes it as an important document that sheds light on Evans’s transition from swinging romantic to percussive poet.

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And although Eddie Gomez was to remain a colleague of Bill Evans’s for many years and a collaborator with him on numerous recordings, because of the discovery of this album featuring the Evans trio with the addition of Jack DeJohnette, Myers believes that there is now a much more solid basis for considering this brief association as an important chapter in the Evans saga.

Viewed as a precursor of New Age sound art, Arduini was one of the first producers in Italy to use the Moog synthesizer and a mee ng with Bob Moog in New York only added to this obsession.

He produced a number of albums from this seaside idyl of electronic instruments and tape recorders, but Oasis stands out from the pack. Released in 1978, it became a cult classic for its experimental sounds and emotional expressions. Spiritual synth sounds cover the album in a dreamy haze, oscilla ng between ambient and psychedelic. Sparing deployment of the Roland rhythm box gives dance floor favourites ‘Disco Divina’ and ‘Oasis’ touches of space disco and even teases proto-house elements like the great Sun Palace. – Time Capsule

The world's first LP reissue with a sophisticated sound that makes soul, funk, and AOR fans groan and a high-quality funka soul band super rare board!

Stevie Wonder "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life", Tower of Power "Ebony Jam", and Earth, Wind & Fire's familiar "Can't Hide Love" are full of killer song covers!

The only work released in 1977 by the black-and-white and mixed 8-member funka soul band "Moon Pie" based in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. The original version is a collector's item that is famous for its rarity, but it is also highly evaluated for its high quality sound that made soul, funk, and AOR fans groan with its skillful performance and various arrangements! The contents are still the classic covers of the 70's such as Tower of Power (A1), Steely Dan (A4), Commodores (B1), and Creative Source (B4) that reproduces the arrangement of Earth, Wind & Fire as it is. Recorded on the cover! Among them, Stevie Wonder (A3) with the finest arrangement that ascends to the sky at once with the elegant samba tone of the midfield solo part from the slow Bossa is inevitable in agony! – P-Vine

Strut presents one of the most in-demand and significant albums from the archives of Jimmy Gray’s Black Fire Records, ‘Bow To The People’ (1976) by theatre collective Theatre West, based out of Dayton, Ohio.

Recorded at Arrest studios in Washington in ’76, ‘Bow To The People’ brought together songs from several of Theatre West’s best known plays including Bow To The People, The System and Black Love and unflinchingly explored serious issues around drug addiction, mental health and cultural awareness. “The whole idea of Bow To The People was to honour our black forefathers,” explains Dillard. “It was important to do that for the kids that didn’t know.”

Shelved following the original recording, the Bow To The People album eventually surfaced on a limited CD on Black Fire in 1993. Now receiving its first full international release, the album features the previously unreleased tracks ‘Man Of Many Means’ and ‘I Don’t Knpw Much About Love’ and has been remastered from the original tapes by The Carvery. - Strut

The definitive edition of Patrice Rushen’s landmark album from 1982, ‘Straight From The Heart’.

Recorded during Elektra’s drive for ‘sophisticated dance music’ as many jazz artists created their own arrangements of disco and boogie, the sessions marked a progression for Patrice as she began exploring sonics as much as songwriting. “I was looking at different ways to experiment with the sounds on my records. Synths widened the palette available to us.”

Singles from the album included ‘Breakout!’, ‘Number One’ and the global hit ‘Forget Me Nots’. “Bassist Freddie Washington played the bassline during a jam at my family’s house. I caught it, we kept messing around with the groove, then I developed the lyrics and chorus. It was just about recognising that moment when it came up.”

Strut’s new reissue of ‘Straight From The Heart’ is released on 9th April 2021. LP and CD are presented in their full original artwork and feature bonus 12” versions of the album’s singles including a previously unreleased extended mix of ‘Tired Of Being Alone’. Package includes rare photos by Bobby Holland and a new interview with Patrice Rushen. All tracks remastered from the original tapes by Technology Works. – Strut 

If you were whiling away the summer in Switzerland in the late 20th century, which was the year to take a break from the fondue and chocolate and catch Nina Simone at her very best at the Montreux Jazz Festival? This double CD, culled from five appearances between 1968 and 1990, gives a good idea of the answer. It also serves as a history of a ferocious talent, whose career was torn between the demands of showbusiness fame, her support for black civil rights and her personal problems – not least the long-undiagnosed bipolar disorder.

The show, like pretty much everything here, has been available before, but the existing Montreux 1968 album commands eye-watering prices on Discogs. For anyone who saw Simone only in her declining years (and I’ve never seen a car-crash of a set quite as excruciating as her slot at the Bishopstock Festival in Devon in 2001), here’s a reminder of a mighty talent at her peak. – London Jazz News

Takeru Muraoka, a saxophonist who played an active part in a group that symbolized the times, including Hideo Shiraki Quintet, Terumasa Hino Quartet, Count Buffaloes led by Akira Ishikawa, and Freedom Unity. He pursued a cutting-edge musicality while in the mainstream and led the Japanese jazz scene. As a sideman, he wields a number of works, while leaving leaders such as Takeru and Ride and Tie, who have a strong presence in the era as if to wedge. – Jazz Music Archives

Eight 1978 leader songs by saxophonist Takeru Muraoka, who was also active in the count buffaloes and freedom unity led by Hideo Shiraki quintet, Terumasa Hino quartet, and Akira Ishikawa, are from the Deep Jazz Reality series supervised by Yusuke Ogawa of Koenji record shop Universounds. Recurrence ♪ Innovative groove feeling, emotional melody, sharp sound image. A masterpiece in which all songs are listened to, incorporating the electric elements of fusion disco boogie. – Library Records

No-Wave meets Krautrock in the desert!

Trees Speak are Daniel Martin Diaz and Damian Diaz from Tucson, Arizona, and their music often draws on the cosmic night-time magic of Arizona’s natural desert landscapes.” So says their official website. Fair enough. But it can’t be denied that plenty of classic European influences have found their way into their sound as well. Anyone familiar with even the slightest bits of krautrock will hear that sound all over their work, particularly their latest album, PostHuman.

Diaz and Diaz fully immerse themselves in the hypnotic style that formed the sound of classic bands like Can, Popol Vuh, and Neu!, but they tweak that genre just enough to make it sound unique and refreshing.

PostHuman – which is housed in brilliant, retro artwork that seems perfectly suited to the LP gatefold format – also comes with a 7” single that contains “Hidden Machine”, another slice of spacey, futuristic jazz, and “Machine Vision”, a mix of Tangerine Dream-inspired synths and more of those driving, krautrock beats. Trees Speak are a band that wear their influences on their sleeves. But their list of influences is so long that it never feels derivative or repetitious. Those Arizona deserts contain plenty of inspiration; hopefully, there’s much more of it to come. – Pop Matters

Everything is mysterious!

Kensuke Ide and his mother ship finally broke the silence, the second album for the first time in 5 years! The long-awaited LP version of You Ishihara's sound-produced problematic work by You Ishihara, who is often called the best of the year! The innovative sound that will surprise all listeners is the madness of Incubus or Taoyuan Township! No, that's exactly the "mystery of 2020" !! That first album was just a notice! The biggest problem in 2020 and a masterpiece! - P-Vine

Japanese reissue of this rare latin soul-jazz delight on P-Vine! Ricardo Marrero & The Group's underground favourite 'A Taste' from 1976 is a truly funky-Latin masterclass, highly recommended! Previously reissued on Jazzman in 2009 in very limited quantities, this holy grail gets a reboot in 2021 on P-Vine with top notch quality. 

If ever a record called be called a lost masterpiece then this record more than deserves that epithet. First released on an obscure French label in the 1970's it might have sunk further into obscurity and left no trace of it's passing but somehow a handful of copies turned up in various Jazz shops in London where it was snapped up by DJ Paul Murphy who was then playing to the embryonic jazz dance scene, based at the very first Jazz Room club: The Horseshoe in London's Tottenham Court Road, a decaying, seedy, sticky carpeted old West End ballroom that had seen better days. This and a select few records in a similar vein were being played to an appreciative audience who demanded tough raw percussive rhythms overlaid with some furious jazzy soloing and whenever this record hit the turntable it left even the most demanding groover sated. – On Bandcamp

The band Dengue Fever have managed to build a career out of their obsession with Cambodian pop music of the 1960s and ’70s, and with this compilation, they’ve generously allowed fans to sample their treasure trove of rare recordings, rescued from battered cassettes brought back from visits to Southeast Asia. The music on Electric Cambodia: 14 Rare Gems from Cambodia’s Past more closely walks a middle ground between the distinct melodic and vocal style of traditional Cambodian music and the insistent rhythms and electric instrumentation of Western pop and rock; instead of suggesting Asian folk music with some American pop added to the mix, these tunes tend to offer a more equal fusion of the two styles, and the creative and cultural mashups result in some inspired combinations. Highlights include the bright, kinetic sound of Ros Sereysothea’s “I Want to Shout” (complete with a killer guitar solo), the assured R&B shuffle of “Shave Your Beard” from the same act, “Give Me One Kiss” by Dara Chom Chan, which recalls an Asian girl group backed by a ska band, and several cuts from Pan Ron, including the polished but driving garage rock of “Don’t Speak,” some heavily rhythmic psychedelia with “Jombang Jet,” an appropriately melodramatic cover of Sonny Bono’s “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)” dubbed “Snaeha,” and an untitled number that features some deadly fuzztone riffs Link Wray would admire. – On Bandcamp

Håkon Kornstad, a shining jewel in the Jazzland roster, brings his unique skillset to the fore on "Out of the Loop”. Recorded during the 2020 pandemic lockdown in Sofienberg Church in Oslo, the album carries the listener through many textures across its tracks, often sounding electronically created - yet all sounds are generated by saxophone, or are provided by Håkon's rich tenor voice. The Flutonette - essentially a flute with a saxophone reed mouthpiece - also makes appearances, further diversifying the sonic palette, as does the kalimba.

"Out of the Loop" offers us a record of a musician-singer-composer who is clearly in a golden period of productivity and development in his career, a fact all the more surprising considering the time during which much of it was composed and all of it was recorded. The album's title not only puns on Kornstad's use of looping electronics, but offers the listener a chance to stop the world and get off it for a while in a warm, friendly space, filled with the joy of musical exploration. – On Bandcamp

Antonio L. Newton AKA Tony Newton (born 1948) is a multi-instrumentalist from Detroit, MI who began his professional career at the age of thirteen, playing bass guitar with blues legends like John Lee Hooker and T-Bone Walker. Discovered by Motown executive Hank Cosby while playing the Detroit blues circuit at the age of 18, he became the touring bassist with Smokey Robinson and the Miracles on the famed 1965 European ‘Motown Review’ tour. Within two years, Newton became the Miracles’ musical director.

On the album, we are presenting you today (Novaphonia from 1987) the listener is treated to something UNIQUE (and this is not an overstatement). Newton really puts the ‘multi’ into multi-instrumentalist, playing the synthesizers, the electric bass and the drum machine. Experimental is the keyword here, sounds vary from psych/trance (almost like a soundtrack from a space movie), to funk, fusion, rock, R&B, soul and jazz. Novaphonia has both elements of Tony Newton’s impressive musical past and his vision for the future.

Spacious synths, unusual instruments and an all-around cosmic approach make this an ‘out of this world’ and VERY intriguing album. Resonant, sonically rich, sonorous, colorful, mind-expanding sounds are what one should expect from the 20th century Novaphonic sound developed to its greatest extent. These harmonies are innately pleasing to the human ear, mind and nervous system.

Explore new musical frontiers intended to catapult the listener towards new dimensions…this is an album that just begs for a special place in your record collection! – Tidal Waves Music

Edition no. 1 of label Effortless Audio’s compilation series - housed in a sleek double LP in Vinyl featuring waxy and jazzy sounds along with a selection of dreamy beats. 

In 2017, we visited Sudan for the first time personally and was lucky to meet Sharhabil in his house in Omdurman. Despite being in his mid 80s he’s still very active and mentally sharp with a vivid memory filled with artistic achievement from his musical work to his work as a comic artist, something he his equally known for in Sudan. The following year we featured his song “Argos Farfish” on our first compilation. And what a song it is! Driven by an an electric guitar, horns and Sharhabil’s energetic yet smooth voice it’s a personal favorite on this release. Why this release is only coming out now? I really can’t tell you! But at least finally here it is. The king of jazz is holding court. – Habibi Funk Records

Radio Juicy proudly introduces British producer Sugi.wa dropping his debut album "Romantic" that he recorded from head to toe, vocals, instruments and effects all come from deep within like an ode to that blue sentimental feeling. Taking inspiration from old school R&B, Soul, Jazz and Blues music but more precisely from that first slow you danced with a partner when you were a kid. Like a lingering feeling Romantic talks to that special place in your heart where you keep memories of your romantic life. Get ready to vibe on this one all night long on your own or with your partner. Things are bound to get heated. – Radio Juicy

'More Energy Fields, Current' is a definitive new peak in the recorded continuum of prolific producer/percussionist Carlos Niño. Featuring heavy contributions from many of the most exciting instrumentalists in the creative music constellation of Los Angeles (of which Niño’s has been a central force for over 2 decades), the album collects 10 pristine gems of collaborative communication helmed by the Southern Californian sage, elegantly presented in his unique “Spiritual, Improvisational, Space Collage” style.

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Starting with the subtle invitation of “Pleasewakeupalittlefaster, please…” (accompanied by the liner note from Niño: “We’re all in this together. I look forward to living in a much higher, much more conscious, harmonious state, here, with You, on this Magical Planet Earth.”), a gorgeously-keyed canonic infinity by pianist Jamael Dean articulates an Earth-loving, universalist ethos that imbues the entire 44 minute program. While the sonics shift and evolve, gracefully placed in patient order across subsequent track highlights “Nightswimming” (featuring Dean and Dntel on modular synth), “Thanking the Earth” (featuring multi-instrumentalists Sam Gendel and Nate Mercereau, whom Niño has been working and bonding extensively with in recent years), “Salon Winds” (featuring Jamire Williams on drums and Aaron Shaw on flute), and “Togetherness” (featuring Dean and Devin Daniels on sax), the naturalist sentiments established in the exposition remain potently present. – Bandcamp

Pacific Northwest isolation mixed with wide-eyed ambition, a strong sense of family and the gift of music proved to be quite the combination for teenage brothers Donnie and Joe Emerson. Originally released in 1979, Dreamin’ Wild is the sonic vision of the talented Emerson boys, recorded in a family built home studio in rural Washington State. Situated in the unlikely blink-and-you-missed-it town of Fruitland and far removed from the late 1970s punk movement and the larger disco boom, Donnie and Joe tilled their own musical soil, channeling bedroom pop jams, raw funk, and yacht rock.

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Spurred on their high school’s music program, Donnie and Joe received a further push from their lifelong farmer father, who drew up a contract stating that he’d support his sons lofty ambitions with their very own recording studio as long as they focused on original material, sage advice for a man with zero experience in the music business. After taking out a second mortgage to help cover costs, Don Sr. also built his children a 300-capacity concert hall (dubbed Camp Jammin’) replete with ticket booth, stage, and fully functioning snack bar. The only problem was that the projected audience never quite materialized, despite a prime time TV profile entitled “The Rock And Roll Farmers” from nearby Spokane, Washington. Even the Emerson brother’s school pals were nonplussed at their privately pressed long player; hand distributed to local music stores, but not as far as Seattle, five hours away from their rural home. Somewhat rejected by the muted response, but never surrendering, both Donnie and Joe continued down a musical path and are still active as performers today.

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This rare slice of bedroom-funk gets the usual Light In The Attic treatment with newly remastered audio, detailed liner notes, and expanded original album art with loads of photos from the Emerson’s collection. Be sure to also check out the short documentary (above), Rock and Roll Farmers. – Light In The Attic

Aurorae’ was released in 1991 by Dip in the Pool, which has been re-discovered from around the world, as proven by a reissue of the album ‘On Retinae’ from an overseas labels two years ago, which was the first on vinyl! Incorporating the essence of various genres in the age of change in the 90’s in terms of music, the hybrid pop is still alive with the arrangement’s eclecticness, changing from the typical style of Dip in the Pool.

This little-known album by New Orleans-born drummer Idris Muhammad (1939-2014) was originally recorded for THERESA at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in New Jersey on September 12, 1980 with George Coleman & Pharoah Sanders on tenor saxophones & Ray Drummond on bass.

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The six powerful tracks include originals from Muhammad & Drummond and an impressive version of Billy Eckstine's 'I Want To Talk About You' featuring Sanders. 'Kabsha', which is dedicated to Muhammad's youngest daughter, is recommended to anyone who appreciates inventive and passionate modern jazz.

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Drummer Idris Muhammad's strongest jazz date as a leader. Muhammad, who had often been heard in funky or more commercial settings, really excels in this sparse setting, showing off what he learned from hearing bands in his native New Orleans. In addition, both the underrated Coleman and Sanders are heard in top form, stretching out on originals, basic pieces, and "I Want to Talk About You" (during which Sanders lets out a few trademark screams so everyone knows that he is not John Coltrane). Highly recommended. Scott Yanow/AMG – Pure Pleasure Records

Ocean Moon is a solo project from Jon Tye of Seahawks. A long time explorer of the sounds of spaciousness, having released the ambient classic LP iO in 1994 as MLO, Crystal Harmonics is a document of Jon’s latest discoveries. An ambient/new age/modern classical library suite for KPM, this is inter-dimensional music for mind, body and spirit.

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Island Visions, the recent collection of music from Seahawks for KPM, touched on the deeper, more spatial side of music and led to Jon exploring this territory in greater depth, again for KPM, under his Ocean Moon alter ego. This time he brought along some of today’s most visionary musicians: Jon Brooks (The Advisory Circle / Ghostbox) for his intuitive melodic mastery, Seaming To (Graham Massey’s Toolshed) for her extraordinary vocal talents, Steve Moore (Zombi) for his sophisticated and inventive rhythmic sensibility and Richard Norris (The Grid) for his sensitive and deeply resonant ambience. The initial recordings were made at The Centre Of Sound in Cornwall, with the collaborators various contributions coming from London, Derbyshire and the US.

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The supremely serene electronic flute and bells of “Crystal Drift” ease us into our journey and we take our next steps with “Rainbow Ripples” as it gently folds space with arpeggiated synth swells and delicate machine beats. Light vocal tones, bells and breath FX on “And Breathe” keep us going, accompanied by synth drones and billows of electric piano. – Be With Records

This is some serious top shelf material out of Baltimore and a certified masterclass in sweet symphonic soul. Optimistics was originally released in 1970 on Turbo and it’s every bit as essential as The Chi-Lites, The Delfonics and The Moments yet nowhere near as known. Those original copies are ridiculously rare and, of course, the prices are equally ridiculous.

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Optimistics is a killer LP throughout, beloved of discerning hip-hop producers worldwide and routinely championed by the legendary Pete Rock. The genius George Kerr has handled the production on what is an album of beautiful, naïve soul for mind and body. It’s bursting with goodness and, like the best of its genre, it radiates a heart-breaking ambience that cuts right to the core. The whole LP is a winning blend of slow, spine-tingling ballads and joyously upbeat tracks. It’s a case of A+ vocals, melodies and harmonies over beautiful playing and arrangements. It deserves to be canonical.

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This fresh reissue has been mastered with the usual care by Simon Francis and cut by the legendary Pete Norman. The artwork has been lovingly reproduced by the Be With team. Optimistics should be known to a much wider audience. We’ve hopefully gone some way towards rectifying that. – Light In The Attic

The camera goes slowly down a road. In the distance we see a cabin and walk in its direction. Through its window, a bonfire lights the place. We are gradually invited in. In the main room, there are scattered books, a guitar, a bottle of whiskey. The camera moves to the back door. Outside, there is a couple dressed in yesterday's clothes. We pass them by and head to the lake, seen in the background. As we approach its waters, we get lost in the vastness of our thoughts.

The scene described above is fictional and could figure in some production that flirts with noir, nouvelle vague or some other work that emphasizes the simple moments of life. It could also synthesize the universe of Moons, a project idealized by André Travassos which started as a personal project and became a band. Moons is now releasing its second album, “Thinking Out Loud”.

Lost somewhere between Nick Drake's melancholy, Bon Iver's lo-fi sound, Bob Dylan's classic folk, Wilco's sophisticated country arrangements, with a cool twist that echoes Mazzy Star, Moons unites all these influences and creates songs that dialogue with different art languages. A painting by Matisse? A Godard movie? David Lynch? Bukowski's literature? It all resonates in the band's chords.

With these references in their minds and hearts, André Travassos (voice, guitar and autoharp), Bernardo Bauer (voice and bass), Digo Leite (voice, harmonica, banjo and guitar), Felipe D'Angelo (voice, keyboard, piano and guitar), Jennifer Souza (voice and guitar), Tiago Eiras (drums and percussion) and Victor Magalhães (keyboard, piano and synths) conceived “Thinking Out Loud” in a very organic way and realised it with Leonardo Marques, who recorded, mixed, mastered and co-produced this work at his Ilha do Corvo Studio. – Bandcamp

Caiphus Semenya, AKA Mr Letta Mbulu, is a South African legend, and Listen To The Wind, his iconic debut album, is simply a superb modern-soul/boogie album. It’s also incredibly rare, especially in good condition, so Be With is delighted to present this reissue.

Listen To The Wind is stylistically diverse but the ingredients are never diluted. There are elements of boogie, soul, funk and jazz, all shot through with pan-African flavour, and moving effortlessly from uptempo floor fillers to more meditative, slower soulful tracks. Produced by Caiphus himself, he makes full use of a stellar line up of session musicians including Nathan East, Michael Stanton, Sonny Burke and Paulinho DaCosta. And of course, there are Letta’s show-stopping vocals. To our ears, Listen To The Wind is just one big party, and lord knows we need that more than ever right now.

All that’s missing is you. – Be With Records