Jazz Recommends Jazz August 2022

Review: A collaborative album between Russian artist Pavel Milyakov and Kyiv-based singer Yana Pavlova. Seven pieces compiled of minimalistic guitar loops, sax (including recordings by Alex Zhang Hungtai), dubby bass guitar and shadowy vocals. Mic noises, clicks and other sonic imperfections are a natural part of these tracks, as they are all composed with the use of random and unpredictable algorithms, purely improvised. Perfect soundtrack for the troubled summer days (and nights).

Review: Brazilian jazz vocalist Tania Maria is a true icon with a huge back catalogue of music behind her, but of course it sometimes helps if a diligent digger weaves a path through the reams of albums and pulls out a couple of the best. That's just what Soul Brother have done with this 7", looking back to Maria's 1983 album Come With Me and lifting a pair of pearlers for a fresh walk in the sun. 'Come With Me' is a sundown slinker, with Maria's airy tone gliding over the sprightly piano chords while on the flip 'Lost In Amazonia' is a joyous, scat-powered slice of jazz funk with incredible slap bass flex.

Review: Jazz collectors rejoice, as this incredibly rare and sought after 1975 release is finally getting its first western release. Previously a Japan-exclusive with soaring resale prices, now everyone can enjoy the bumping bass and clean brass of this Jazz-rock classic. The instrumentation is as crisp as they come from the very first note on 'Painted Paradise' with its head bumping saxophone solos. Inagaki's Soul Media crafted a soulful masterpiece at the height of Japan's obsession with American music in the 70s, with this record even including a cover of Kool & The Gang's 'Funky Stuff', turning the disco-jazz into a slow funk-filled jam. A much-needed repressing of a must-listen record.

Review: There are few finer alto-sax players in the world than Art Pepper. By the time of his death run 1982 his legacy was already assured after a fantastic run of albums such as his standout Art Pepper Meets The Rhythm Section. Plus 11 is right up there too, though: the 1960 jazz record saw Art work with an ensemble of 11 other musicians arranged by Marty Paich. It's one of a number dates the two played together that year but the only one with Pepper leading. Pepper's clarinet performance on 'Anthropology' and the alternate takes of 'Walkin'' are real standouts.

Review: Ethiopian jazz mastermind Kibrom Birhane presents his latest album 'Here And There', a spiritual-cosmic meditation on indeterminacy. With a full ensemble of brass, chordopone and voice, and with Birhane manning a good bulk of the instruments we hear (piano, organ, krar, talkbox), this project expands on Birhane's roots, drawing on his absorption of thousand-year-old Ethiopian orthodox chanting as a child, as well as his talent at handling the region's most esoteric instruments.

Review: Idris Ackamoor led The Pyramids from the early 70s, wielding his sax into parts unknown and creating some definitive Afrofuturist works in the process. At the truly spiritual end of the soul jazz spectrum, the concise catalogue of The Pyramids spans a short space of time but reaches far and wide. Now Strut have gathered together those early iconic works and remastered the three original LPs Lalibela, King of Kings and Birth / Speed / Merging, presenting them in a box set alongside an additional first-pressing of their live session for KQED TV in 1975. Packaged with a 12-page booklet featuring extended interviews with the group and a wealth of unseen photos, this is the perfect document of a groundbreaking force in spiritual jazz.

Review: Last year Impex released a high-end reissue of Friday Night In San Francisco, one of the most seminal recordings of acoustic guitar performance from Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin and Paco De Lucia. Now they're following that up with Saturday Night In San Francisco, a sequel to this landmark release painstakingly pieced together from original 16-track live session tapes by Al Di Meola and his team. Great care has been taken to capture the stunning musicianship at work from three of the all-time greats of acoustic guitar, and the album comes with a new essay and never-before-seen photos which deepens the experience for anyone wishing to celebrate raw musicality at its best.

Review: Extension was the last of three unique Blue Note sessions led by the singular saxophonist George Braith in the early 1960s. The album was rooted in soul jazz - with Grant Green (guitar), Billy Gardner (organ), and Clarence Johnston (drums) - but Braith's adventurous spirit led the music into unexpected realms on memorable originals like "Nut City." Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series is all-analogue, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Optimal.

Review: The elusive Minus Group was a mysterious outfit that was headed up by the multi-instrumentalist Enzo Minuti who is also known as Ezy Minus. They recorded this superbly good psyched-out and dubbed up masterpiece in 1981 and here both sides offer the same tune in different arrangements. There is more of an afro vibe to the opener with great sax and synth phrasings and vocals from a choir that are weirdly processed. On the flip is a more downtempo mix for Carribean and chilled out vies. They are both versatile and sure to liven up any club.

Review: Once again landing in the mitts of jazz remastering master Kevin Gray, yet another milestone in the genre from Blue Note gets reissued. Louisiana tenor saxophonist Don Wilkerson made his debut on the label in 1962 with Preach Brother!, which featured Grant Green on guitar, Sonny Clark on piano, Butch Warren on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums. The foursome lend fearsome talent to Wilkerson's vision, which is a playful exercise in soul-jazz homing in on various vibe studies - loneliness filtered through the shake of a tambourine, city bustle conveyed via tss-tssing rides and swing.

Review: It's always worth checking the reissues offered up by Jazz Room Records, not least because there are few people more knowledgeable on the dancefloor friendly end of jazz than boss man Paul Murphy. Predictably, he's scored another coup here by securing the rights to reissue Jazzberry Patch's 1977 debut - a private-press jazz-funk gem that's long been a "holy grail" amongst collectors. Joined by virtuoso organist Mike Longo (who supplies liner notes) and a handful of guest percussionists, the Californian trio lay down a series of effortlessly funky, percussive and solo-rich workouts that should delight jazz-funk fans everywhere. The piece de resistance is undoubtedly the epic title track, which grooves, bobs and weaves over 20 mesmerising minutes.

Review: BBE continue their exploration of the imperious catalogue from Detroit-based jazz label Strata by unearthing a truly hidden gem. Sam Sanders' Mirror Mirror was never formally released, and that is in part because the legendary saxophonist's early brushes with the music industry inspired him to forge his own independent path. As such, some of his work never got the official release it deserved, and Mirror Mirror is a prime example. Even if the over-arching approach comes from jazz, there's a bias towards heavy grooves and song structures which makes much of the album land more as a deeply dug funk and soul classic. Just trip out on the melancholy beauty of 'Face At My Window' and you'll understand.

Review: Camae Ayewa is an omnipresent force these days. Even if she released just one or two things a year, her presence as Moor Mother is powerful enough to cut through the noise. But we've been spoilt recently, with the 700 Bliss album with DJ Haram still ringing in our ears. But here Ayewa runs the show on her own, although not without considerable input from the likes of Black Quantum Futurism, Mary Lattimore, Keir Neuringer, Orion Sun, Jason Moran, Melanie Charles and well, a whole lot more. Sonically, the album plays out like a thick stew of Black music, from jazz, blues, neo-soul and beats to free and spiritual jazz, running a full spectrum of emotion from darkened depths to exuberant highs. At this point there's no doubt the quality of the music when Moor Mother is attached to it, and this album more than lives up to the expectation.

Review: Reflections in Blue was recorded by the jazz drumming great Art Blakey and his Jazz Messengers in the Netherlands in 1978. It dropped on the Dutch label Timeless and at the time was regarded as one of his best in a number of years. It was later overshadowed by ensuing albums but remains a good one for the collection with Bobby Watson on alto saxophone, David Schnitter on tenor saxophone and Dennis Irwin on bass amongst other musicians. This reissue comes on heavyweight vinyl for an extra rich listening experience.

Review: Starting out as a group called The Dreams, Washington DC's Father's Children hit their stride in 1972, recording some early sessions before hitting the road around America. Unfortunately their career never quite gathered momentum despite releasing an album in 1979, but fortunately the masters from their early days were preserved and finally unearthed for a 2011 reissue on Numero. It's from this reissue that two of their finest early singles are pulled for this perfect soul nugget on Soul Direction, the slow and funky 'Everybody's Got A Problem' and the joyous, dreamy 'In Shallah'.

Review: The roots of Wilderness America lie in the burgeoning environmental movement of the mid-70s, when Emily DeSpain Polk reached out to David Riordan to pull together a project that would help fund conservation projects. The results when Riordan teamed up Peter Scott to create this nature-minded concept album were stunning, but the album only received a limited distribution in the tradition of private press releases. As such, it's since become a holy grail for collectors which finally gets the release it deserves via EBALUNGA!! From the sweet, funky lilt of vocal tracks like 'Metropolis' to moody instrumentals like 'Flight of The Egret', the quality is unerring and more than worthy of this faithful reproduction.

Review: South African drummer Tumi Mogorosi expands his horizons on the new album 'Group Theory: Black Music', adding a 9-piece choir to his band. The result is an ominous polyrhythmic chanter, following and upending the trailblazing styles of Max Roach, Elvin Jones and Art Blakey. A relatively new drummer with a more vivacious hand than most, he ensures that 'The Fall' is a gothic dirge for kit, organ and voice, while 'Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child' slows things down to a shadowed, veiled slow jam - with Gabi Motuba featuring on a belting vocal feature on the B-side's alternate version.