jazz 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 …
Album Review : We Are Busy Bodies reissue three mid-seventies SA Jazz gems from sax supremos “Mankunku” and Makhalemele.
The irrepressible curators at We Are Busy Bodies continue to tap into the energised seventies South African jazz eco-system with three more illuminating re-issues in their significant As-shams archival series. For some time now WABB have worked in close collaboration with Johannesburg based As-shams (aka The Sun) label, bringing the historic imprint’s burgeoning back catalogue …
Album Review: The Offline – ‘La couleur de la mer’ : Ingenious cinematic soul funk with a fresh plot.
So the soundtrack to an imaginary film makes a return in the hands of Hamburg composer/guitarist The Offline (aka Felix Müller) with his new album ‘La couleur de la mer’ (out now via Deep Matter/Root Records). No that doesn’t mean that this intriguing release clunks through a heavy narrative that will one day make the …
News/Tracks: Coming soon – two lo-fi funk lost gems ‘Thrust’ and ‘Thrust Too’, kickstarting an overdue retrospective of Wilbur Niles seminal grooves.
A label that does the crate digging for you, Toronto’s We Are Busy Bodies have announced a gold dust reissue series shining a light on the work of guitarist/producer Wilbur Niles. Much sampled but seldom celebrated this lo-fi funk luminary based in Cleveland, Ohio made infectious groove music crackling with unrestrained soul, jazz and rock …
News/Track/Video : Jazz-funk fusionists Caixa Cubo preview new album ‘Agôra’ with hot-stepping single ‘Sábado’.
Need pepping up then Sao Paulo trio Caixa Cubo may help with the sharp grooved energetic funk of their new single Sábado. Channeling the racy pace and dynamism of their home city, Henrique Gomide (keys), João Fideles (drums) and Noa Stroeter (bass) never look back as they switch and swerve through this bustling jazz fusion/samba …