jazz funk
EP Review: John Beltran presents Sol Set – Love Revolution EP
With Love Revolution, John Beltran’s Sol Set project returns in fine form, delivering a sun-drenched, deeply musical EP that radiates warmth and groove. Rooted in Brazilian jazz-funk but stretching comfortably into soulful house, Latin rhythms, and downtempo bliss, this latest chapter in the Detroit-based collective’s journey feels both timeless and joyfully present—a record made for golden …
Album Review: Emma-Jean Thackray – Weirdo; Grief grooves with funk-fueled resilience.
Emma-Jean Thackray’s new album Weirdo is a bold, technicolour triumph — deeply personal, fiercely original, and bursting at the seams with groove-laden jazz funk. Self-produced, self-performed, and self-mixed in the solitude of her South London flat, it’s the work of a visionary artist refusing to compromise. Across 17 tracks, Weirdo is a kaleidoscopic journey through …
Album Review : Adam Ben Ezra – ‘Heavy Drops’ : funky and reflective jazz fusion from the irrepressible bassist.
Jazz musician and ‘YouTube sensation’ may seem an unlikely combination but double-bass player Adam Ben Ezra straddles both camps with a natural ease. A self-taught multi-instrumentalist, born in Israel and now based in Portugal, he’s played throughout Europe and the US over the last decade with such luminaries as Sarah Jane Morris, Mike Stern, Pat …
Album Review: The Offline –‘Les Cigales’ : Seductive soundtrack grooves with an analogue funk foundation.
Curiouser and curiouser, here’s the return of the illusive and slighty mysterious persona known as The Offline (aka Hamburg based guitarist/producer Felix Müller) with a quirky new EP ‘Les Cigales’. Keeping in line with The Offline line, this new release finds him digging through the crates from classic soundtrack to obscure library music, dusty funk …
Album Review: Dora Morelenbaum – ‘Pique’: a dynamic new MPB voice which really delivers.
Anyone who caught Bala Desejo’s set-of-the-day at WOMAD UK in the summer would’ve already noted the dynamic Dora Morelenbaum flying in the front line of this exuberant nu-tropicalia band. A vocalist, instrumentalist and composer she’s been at the epicentre of the surge of MPB powering out from Rio in the last few years, not only …
Album Review: Mörk – Still Dreamin’: shape-shifting soul-jazz energy from the Budapest band.
Okay so we know that as far as new scenes go Rio gets touted as the upcoming centre of 21st century tropicalia pop and Geneva continues to excel in pushing its very individual avant / post punk refresh. Well, it now seems that Budapest may be building up to having its own moment with its …
Track/Video : MPB new wave mover Dora Morelenbaum previews incoming album with the lush and lyrical ‘Essa Confusão’.
The jet-stream of MPB may stretch right back to the sixties but it keeps powering onwards with singer/songwriter Dora Morelenbaum right there at the epicentre of this latest surge. She’s an artist steeped in a weighty musical heritage with parents, composer Jacques and vocalist Paula, having CVs which include work with Tom Jobin, Gal Costa …
Album Review : Don Glori – ‘Don’t Forget To Have Fun’ : Fresh, funky and inspired soul jazz from the revitalised and relocated multi-instrumentalist.
Now this is a bit different. An album of contemporary instrumental music shaped within the mundane pressures of the day to day, paying the rent, food on the table, making ends meet. Don Glori (aka Gordon Li) is a producer, multi-instrumentalist and composer originally out of Melbourne who has detached from Naarm’s vital scene to …
Album Review: Benjamin Samuels – ‘Dissensation’: New name, nu jazz, new thrills – an album set to make an impact.
Straight after any hugs or handshakes the first thing musicians ask each other when they meet up is ‘Are you busy’? For sax-player, clarinettist and composer Benjamin Samuels the answer for some time now has been a ‘yes’. He’s worked with Californian fusionist Balkan Bump and Brighton’s own global beat pioneer Seb Taylor (aka Kaya …
Track/Video : Bristol’s mysterious Claude Cooper returns with the stomping retro-blast of ‘Stay A While’
So Claude Cooper is back with us. You should remember a couple of years ago this illusive, apparently Bristolian producer and Bedminster beatmaster delivered the essential ‘Myriad Sounds’ LP, a rugged funky jazz extravaganza that took the Rip Rig and Panic spirit to new levels of potency. The clues to the greatness were always there …