Vinyl - Latin Inspired

Born in Ipanema, schooled in bossa nova and steeped in capoeira’s heady blend of martial arts, dance and traditional music, Selva has some rich cultural credentials to draw from. But it’s his imagination and willingness to push the musical boundaries that gives him that individual edge within the swelling ocean of Brazilian pop. In previous bands he has worked with globetrotting rhythmicist and producer Maga Bo and in 2016 teamed up with Bruno Hovart (aka Patchworks) who according to Selva reminded him how to “dig those laid back Rio vibes”. It’s that partnership and their musical connectivity which sparked his second offering after 2017’s Natureza, the deceptively smooth but instantly uplifting Navegar.

Navegar is an album that deals in hope and optimism, it’s got endless bounce and energy, but it also underlines that getting to those good times is never easy … and that’s some achievement. – Back Seat Mafia

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. 

One of the best kept secrets of 70's bossa nova!

Extremely well crafted songs, oozing heartfelt lines and subtle arrangements all across the record. There's something so pure, honest and unpretentious about this - and we couldn't be more thrilled about this reissue.

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

Mochilla’s Timeless series reignites for RSD 2021 housed in full color gatefold jackets with the vinyl housed in printed inner sleeves. In 2009, Brian Cross (aka B+) organized a series of live events at the Luckman Fine Arts Complex in Los Angles. The Timeless series captured the lasting impact of several artists on the world of Hip Hop and beyond. Live fully orchestrated performances by Ethiopia’s Mulatu Astatke and Brazil's Arthur Verocai bookended the incredible Suite For Ma Dukes, a tribute to James "Dilla" Yancey, by Miguel Atwood-Ferguson. These superb quality live recordings, now long out of print, are back in effect for RSD 2021. On Mochilla Presents: Timeless Arthur Verocai the Brazilian composer/arrange leads a full orchestra through his self-titled 1972 release. The result was stunning. Having just witnessed the show captured on this recording MF DOOM remarked "A true master conductor. Just as incredible live as recorded" with Madlib saying "I could listen to this music every day for the rest of my life." - Sounds of the Universe

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

Ancestral Afro-Venezuelan rhythms meet futuristic Latin jazz, raw funk and Afrobeat on Raúl Monsalve y Los Forajidos’ exhilarating new ‘Bichos’ album for Olindo Records. Venezuelan bassist Raúl Monsalve leads an all-star ensemble of musical trailblazers including “the voice of Venezuela” Betsayda Machado, singer Luzmira Zerpa (Family Atlantica) and drummer Dave De Rose (Agile Experiments, Moloko, Mark Ronson).

Raúl Monsalve has dedicated much of his life to understanding and learning traditional Afro-Venezuelan music, and studying under some of its greatest proponents among the percussionists of his home country, whilst at the same time taking as much interest in the sounds emanating from the fearless edges of jazz, rock, African and early electronic music.

With producer/engineer/drummer Malcolm Catto (Heliocentrics, Quantic, Yussef Kamaal) behind the recording and mixing desk, Raul brought together a like-minded cast of friends from Venezuela, Paris and London, to help him create a fresh sound, capturing the essence of both the African and indigenous roots of Venezuelan music, and the forward-looking sounds of afrobeat, gritty Latin jazz and experimental electronic music. ‘Bichos’, Spanish for ‘vermin’, ‘bugs’, ‘beasts’ but also used in Venezuela to refer to someone as a “nasty piece of work”, draws all these strands together. The album uses a variety of animals, such as the mosquito, butterfly, pig, snake, rooster and flea, to represent a wide range of human qualities, like greed, hate, love & compassion, and their impact on Venezuelan and worldwide corruption & division, the strengths of friendship, family, collaboration, rebellion and survival.

“Bichos” is not only a superb introduction to Raúl Monsalve, but also to a swathe of incredible musicians you might still be unfamiliar with. It’s also a brilliant window into the rich musical seam of Venezuelan music, and an excellent look at how it might interconnect with wider musical parallels. - Olindo

The leaders of exotica’s turn-of-the-21st-century revival make their vinyl debut with Aloha Got Soul in 2021. Hot Like Lava collects the group’s top instrumentals for an exhilarating, paradisiacal ride through the world of tiki subculture. Don Tiki debuted from Honolulu in 1997 with the album, The Forbidden Sounds of Don Tiki, featuring the legendary Martin Denny in what would become one of his final recordings before his passing. Deepening Don Tiki’s roots is the band’s percussionist and bird caller, Lopaka Colon, son of exotica’s founding member, Augie Colon. – Light in The Attic

Super obscure New York Latin Jazz superbly produced by Eddie Drennon of the massive Disco hit of the early 1970's "Let's do the Latin Hustle".

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Drennon was also a well known arranger and producer on the underground Latin Circuit and produced this way out, leftfield and very different to the typical "Salsa" style release current at that time. Some very jazz oriented playing on top of the "El Barrio" Vox Pop sounds of the streets and underlaid with some funky and fiery latin percussion.

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"Suite Guaracha" was picked up on by the London Ibiza crew in the 90's and the Ursula 1000 & Gamm Nu-Jazz crew in the 2000's, played all over the alternative club circuit but has still managed to stay under the radar since then, but now a staple of the Worldwide Sound appearing on DJ Playlists in the hippest spots from Tokyo to Hamburg, New York to Barcelona.

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Very different from the usual run of the mill late 70's Fania outings which might be a clue as to it's somewhat unique sound stylings. Funky, gritty, raw, fat jazzy and spooky backing vocals.

It's Strictly Jazz Room!

– Bandcamp

Altercat proudly presents the definitive reissue of one of the crown jewels of South American jazz. Essentially the brainchild of Argentinian jazz’s leading figure Jorge López Ruiz, the project Viejas Raíces marked Lopez Ruiz’s departure from the traditional forms of jazz.

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Tip! The trio that recorded this album, consisting of López Ruiz joined by his life-long friend drummer Pocho Lapouble and gifted Chilean pianist Matías Pizarro, created a thrilling blend of jazz and Uruguayan candombe, surrounded by an undeniable cinematic feel spurred by López Ruiz’s long experience in the soundtrack field. When read as one element, the cleverly chosen combination of group name and album title (in English: ‘Old Roots of the Colonies of the River Plate’) readily hints at the kind of sounds the listener will be challenged with when diving into this LP.

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Recorded in 1976 in the wake of the “Proceso de Reorganización Nacional”, the bloodiest period of dictatorship in Argentina, the album was initially frowned upon by critics and public alike, both still firmly rooted in jazz traditionalism and obviously not ready for the new ideas that musicians like López Ruiz were experimenting with. Despite being a commercial flop upon its release, the album has been enjoying a growing reputation over the last two decades, acclaimed by jazz enthusiasts who value it from a different historical perspective and embrace its experimentation during this revolutionary period of change.

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Fourty-five years after its release, the album receives the Altercat treatment with a much deserved deluxe reissue, with sound direct from the master tapes and an accompanying 12-page booklet with previously unpublished pictures and bilingual liner notes telling everything you ever wanted to know about the album and those who made it possible.

Buena Vista Social Club’ is both the name given to this extraordinary group of musicians and the album, recorded in just seven days in 1996 in Havana’s 1950s vintage EGREM studios. It was clear from the atmosphere of the recording sessions that something very special was taking place. However, no one could have predicted that Buena Vista Social Club would become a worldwide phenomenon – awarded a Grammy in 1997 and, at 8 million copies, outselling any other record in the same genre.

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The acclaim of the original album has elevated the artists (including Ibrahim Ferrer, Eliades Ochoa, Compay Segundo, Rubén González & Omara Portuondo) to superstar status, inspired an award-winning film by Wim Wenders, and has contributed to popularising Cuba’s rich musical heritage. Produced by Ry Cooder for World Circuit, the timeless quality of the music and the sheer verve of the veteran performers have ensured that this will go down as one of the landmark recordings of the 20th century.

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To celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the album’s recording, producer Ry Cooder and World Circuit’s Nick Gold have gone back to the original tapes and into the archive to produce this Deluxe Remaster package, featuring previously unheard tracks from the original 1996 recording sessions, previously unseen photos, and new liner notes. – Buena Vista Social Club

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

Following the success of Psych Funk 101, Egon presents Joel Stones’ Brazilian Guitar, Fuzz Bananas. If Psych Funk 101 was the freshman seminar in global-psychedelic grooves, then this album should serve as a master class for those entranced by the funky, heavy psychedelic wonders of the Tropicalia movement and all that it spawned.  Each song contained on this album has never been reissued, and has been restored from the best source possible and remastered for near-perfect sound quality.  – Stones Throw

It's safe to say that starting a jazz album with a version of Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog" was quite a daring deed, to say the least. In Argentina -- back in 1977.

And yet this is something a musician with the career of Jorge Navarro could afford. Navarro belongs to a generation of musicians who shaped the history of jazz music in Argentina, starting already in the mid-50s alongside other renowned jazzmen such as Lalo Schifrin, Leandro "Gato" Barbieri, "Baby" López Furst or Jorge López Ruiz.

This tightly-knit group of musicians often looked abroad and followed the dominant current in the US, going through swing and be-bop phases, but towards the end of the sixties many started to develop their own identity, a tendency that intensified in the early 70s.

In Argentina, "con polenta" is an expression used to describe something with great energy or strength -- which perfectly defines the mood for the album. As many other musicians, most notably Schifrin and Barbieri (who enjoyed a huge international success and would only sporadically return to Argentina), Navarro had just left the country and spent several years in the USA, returning to his homeland full of energy and new ideas, which translated into his debut solo album. A rocking blend of Jazz and Funk, the album unexpectedly kicks off with a groovy cover of Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog" and includes equally wicked takes on compositions by Eumir Deodato, Keith Jarrett and Joe Farrell, as well as two self-penned originals and a funky number by Roberto Valencia, who's in charge of percussion in the album.

"Soul Bossa Nova" is a popular instrumental, composed and first performed by musician and record producer Quincy Jones. It appeared on his 1962 Big Band Bossa Nova album on Mercury Records.

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Jones said that it took him twenty minutes to compose the piece, which features prominently a cuíca (responsible for the distinctive "laughing" in the first bars). Roland Kirk was the flute soloist, Lalo Schifrin was the pianist, Chris White was the bassist, Rudy Collins was the drummer, and Jerome Richardson was the alto flutist. The album liner notes do not specify the brass players. - Wikipedia

Classic Brazilian album from 1977, featuring the incredible 'Não Adianta’ and a brilliant cover of Jorge Ben’s 'Que Nega É Essa’.

Luiz Carlos Fritz (Fritz Escovão), João Parahyba and Nereu Gargalo aka Trio Mocotó are most well-known as Jorge Ben Jr.'s backing band. They played on several seminal Jorge Ben LP’s – his self-titled from 1969, Força Bruta in 1970 and Negro É Lindo in 1971.

Trio Mocotó were also key players in the development of the 'samba rock’ sound – a fusion of samba, soul and rock influenced by music from the USA. – Mr Bongo

Far Out Recordings issue some never-before-released demos from legendary Brazilian band, Azymuth. Since their debut album in 1975, Azymuth have risen to rank alongside the world’s greatest jazz, funk and fusion artists. These previously unheard recordings took place between 1973-75 at Bertrami’s home studio in the Laranjeiras district of Rio de Janeiro. Essential!

"Incredibly unique concept album from the one and only, Tom Zé. As featured in Rolling Stone magazine's 100 Greatest Brazilian Albums of all-time list (2007). 

One of Ze’s finest albums in our opinion, originally released by Continental Brazil in 1976 – a tough one to find at a good price in its original form now.

‘Estudando do Samba’ (or ‘Studying The Samba’) is a post-Tropicalia studio experimentation laiden with layers of hypnotic percussion, effects & samples that deconstructs the ‘samba’ form. Recorded during what was arguably his most creative period.

David Byrne found the record in Rio in the late 90’s and included several songs on his Tom Ze collection for Luaka Bop a few years later. At that time Tom was not recording or touring much; playing low-key shows in Sao Paulo and contemplating a move back to Irará to work at a service station owned by one of his cousins. Byrne’s project helped to reignite his career and he hasn’t looked back since." - Mr Bongo

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