Back catalogue: Funk Soul & Jazz

Review: The fourth edition in Original Gravity's Down In The Basement series, which gathers instrumental soul and swing cuts onto worthy 7" slabs, resounding the fervent 1960s decadal gap in which mod reigned supreme. With juleps flowing and kneecaps knocking, Abramo & Nestor bring newfangled electric pianistic swing with 'Dig It!', while a twinned "hit it!" injunction is heard from Floyd James & The GTs on the reissued 'Work That Thang'; James' voice is tubed and speed-delayed to terrific effect, achieving a sprung intonation. Curtis Baker brassifies the bonanza with the lively 'Fried Fish 'n' Collard Greens', while The Native Yinzer's exiting excitation 'The Hip Strip' quilts our ears with a mnemic, down-feathery Hammond-breaks bit.

Review: After the roaring success of his last outing here, the '3 Woman EP,' Art Of Tones is back on GAMM with a 12" that brings male ovals to the fore. They are all very different in style but all highly effective. 'International Truth' opens with strident and funky disco drums and noodling guitar lines with soulful tones lighting up the beats. 'Don's Expensive Afro' is a rework of a rare Afro-disco track with more expressive vocals instructing the floor to move. Last of all is a stunning reimagining of an overlooked Stevie Wonder gem, 'Stevland's Run', which is off-balance and unusual funk madness laden with psyched-out guitar work.

Review: Get yourself geared up for festival season with some fierce party starters certified with the Glitterbox stamp. Melvo Baptiste leads the charge with 'Sweat', a sizzling disco house stomper with Dames Brown giving the biggest diva energy on her show-stopping vocal. Lovebirds bring unbridled joy on the Philly string swoon and slinky b-line funk of 'Burn It Down', while Art Of Tones & Inaya Day keep it peak time on the sassy strutter 'Give My Love'. Young Pulse & Fleur De Mur complete the set with 'Smooth Sweet Talker', another bright and bold vocal cut par excellence.

Review: The latest addition to Echo Edits keeps the funk coming courtesy of Break Character who delivers two powerful tracks that are indicative of his unique approach, names to enhance each edit with extra layers of FX and beats. 'Cosmic Freaks' takes a 60s go-go rock groove and infuses it with Moog and Space Echo effects while paying homage to the psychedelic club sounds of Pierre Henry and JJ Perrey. 'Cherie Boca' then transports you in an instant to the funky samba rhythms of 70s Brazil with an extended edit and added beats to guide dancers from the favela to the beach. Two distinct styles, perfect for different vibes.

Review: Bobby Byrd's classic 'I Know You Got Soul' was originally recorded with James Brown's band The J.B.'s back in 1971 and soon became a club staple. It has endured in original form ever since but now it gets subtly reimagined by Mister Mushi. He offers a fresh, funky remix that's perfect for both crate diggers and DJ sets with the standout feature being the open drum break, which is a percussion lover's dream and has been designed to be sampled and looped for fun. Mister Mushi's impeccable mix stays true to the original funk spirit and the whole thing has been pressed on high-quality vinyl so it sounds superb.

Review: After the critically acclaimed Avoude (5 stars & 'Top of the World' on Songlines, Bandcamp top pick, Le Monde, BBC Radio, Pop Matters), Sol Power Sound proudly presents a scorching remix EP from West African psychedelic powerhouse Dogo du Togo & the Alagaa Beat Band. Rooted in Togo's deep cultural and Vodun traditions, Dogo's sound is reimagined here by a heavyweight lineup of producers. Captain Planet kicks things off with a percussive African house groove, while Sol Power All-Stars ask, What if Prince joined Dogo in 1983? The result? A synth-laced funk HIIT workout. Detroit icons John Beltran and Blair French bring Afro-Brazilian and deep house flavors, before Glenn Echo closes with a mind-bending 12/8 dub trip.

Review: A modern lunar take on jazz and disco, Jazz On The Moon hears Italian producer Paolo Fedreghini moonwalk backwards through live horns, bass, synth and guitar for a crisply produced six-track EP. Opening with original NASA-issue intercom vocals from the 1968 moon landing, 'Interstellar' crafts a moonscape of Harmon-muted trumpet and avant-garde growls, while expansive electro-funk opens out on the title track and 'Distant Planet', by which point a tonal shift is underway. The vibe is increasingly P-funky, erring desolate on the interluding 'Outer Space', before we wind up purblinded by the light side of the mood on closers 'Groove Odyssey' and 'Cosmic Funk'.

Review: Over the years, France's Favorite Recordings has been very good at sniffing out lesser-known European gems from the disco and boogie era, mostly for superb and must-check compilations. Recently, they decided to make some of these licensed obscurities available on a series of 12" singles, where a louder, club-heavy cut is preferable to DJs. The latest sees them offer-up two lesser-known Belgian gems produced in the mid 1980s by future new beat don Tony Baron. Jonathan Jr's 'Hanging On To You' is warm, shuffling and synth heavy, with the artist's soulful and jazzy lead vocal sitting alongside squelchy synth-bass, Nile Rodgers style guitars and post-electro beats. Special Occasion's 'Flying To Santa Barbara', meanwhile, sits somewhere between 80s soul, AOR synth-pop and sax-sporting B-movie soundtrack goodness.

Review: On limited reissued 7" comes the title track from The Lost Generation's 1973 debut album. The Chicago soul/r&b group formed in the early 1970s amid irruptive uncertainties and changes in the USA. Their name reflected this anxious mood, and their music drew on many similar emancipatory subjects and projects, bottling the tense, civil fronts formed between American communities in the 1960s. "Fighting, crying, bleeding, dying" resound in call-responsive bel canto on this lead album cut, which grieves the losses and disenfranchisements suffered during the Civil Rights era. With a horizon-gazing front cover and burgeoning sound, this irrefutably hopeful soul anthem suggests all is not lost.

Review: Disco Donuts strike back with a back-to-back pose in the vein of pivotal disco-funk remixing from local edits master Mister Mushi. Once an out-letter of releases on his own Mushi 45 imprint, through which we heard many another reissue by the likes of Afro Breed and The Ethiopian Brothers, this second of two new migrations over to the Disco Donuts label proves a versatile sound and approach to his craft. The A-sider here features a mechanically reproducible instrumental version of Chic's 'Good Times' mashed up with Ronnie Hudson's 'West Coast Poplock', providing equal doses of freshness and reconnaissance.

Review: Turkish artist Peki Momes wowed listeners last autumn with her debut 45, 'Goc Mevsimi', and she now returns with yet another double-sider single promising such captivations of the cochlea once more. Here she brings a fresh spin on the classic Marcos Valle tune 'Estrelar' with 'Yildiz'; retaining the original's vibrant energy, her new Turkish-langauge rendition dreams of the stars, sun, and moon. 'Bahar', on the flip, offers a psychic disco anthem at the moon's noon, with its distinctive chorused, peak-vibrato high Rhodes helping transmute a theme of political strife into a tranquil midnight fandango.

Review: The one and only Mr. K presents a two-sided treat here starting with Janice McClain's underrated 1983 disco track and featuring a smooth, laid-back groove that blends steppers vibes with mid-tempo Philly soul. Written by McClain's uncle Milt Tennant and Thom Page, it captures a classic sound that is further enhanced by McClain's heartfelt vocals. This edit trims the rare 12" version for a 7" debut with pristine sound and the B-side flips to a fresh take on 'Brazil', which was a 1975 hit by the Ritchie Family. Mr. K's edit extends the vamp section, offering a full, uninterrupted four minutes of irresistible disco joy.

Review: Chicago has had a strong re-edit culture since the days when Ron Hardy and Frankie Knuckles were defining house music culture in the mid 1980s. Rahaan, who has been one of the more storied members of the global re-edit scene for the last two decades, is undisputedly the Windy City's current scalpel-edit king - as his ongoing series of reworks on Hot Biscuit Recordings emphatically proves. Here he adds two more fine revisions to his bulging discography. A-side 'For Dancing & Singing' sees the veteran DJ/producer apply his Midas touch to a vintage 60s funk jam, making most of the sampler-ready breaks and groove, while flip side 'The Galaxy' - our pick of the pair - is a soaring and spacey 70s disco workout piled high with percussion, jaunty piano motifs and suitably intergalactic synth sounds.

Review: Rolling Recordings from Antigua makes its debut here with a first release under the guise of Rock Star Heroes who offer up a couple of hard-to-find and previously unreleased funky disco influenced club bound instrumentals of out and out rock classics from one of the worlds best known stadium bands. These are perfectly designed for the club and collide rock, funk, disco and more into fresh forms. Opener 'Undercover Of The Night' popular with the likes of DJ Harvey and is a slice of raw, hard-hitting groove magic with organic percussion and live drums laden with funky guitar riffs and lively chord work that brings the whole thing to life. On the flip is an instrumental version of 'Miss You' which still has all the swagger of the iconic original with sultry harmonica luring you to the floor where the masterful drums and guitars will keep you moving.

Review: This record comes at a sad time, as Marlena Shaw passed away in January 2024, the New York born soul singer with her unmistakable voice leaving a long list of amazing credits and performances when she departed. This magnificent double 7" focuses on her early years in the late 1960s, work she did on the highly influential Cadet label just before she moved to Blue Note. 'California Soul', 'Liberation Conversation', 'Let's Wade In The Water' and 'Woman Of The Ghetto' are all soul classics by the late songbird, and all gathered togethere here into one unmissable EP.

Review: Jazz maestro and Ezra Collective founding member Joe Armon-Jones presents his most ambitious solo project to date, released on his own fledgling imprint Aquarii Records. After a six-year gap since his last solo album, Turn To Clear View, Armon-Jones has spent his time touring, building a studio, and collaborating with icons of UK jazz, including Liam Bailey, Fatima, Prince Fatty, and Mala over a string of politically-charged EPs. Now All The Quiet promises an august jazz opera in two parts, and so coming complete with an interval, crossing twixt jazz, funk, dub, hip hop, and soul, the album is entirely written, produced, and mixed by Armon-Jones himself, and manifests as the first of a two-part album, featuring guests Nubya Garcia, Oscar Jerome, and Goya Gumbani.

Review: Scruscru recently launched a new label called Tunes Delivery and it's back with another banger here in the former of LTF's Fine Tuning album. It comes hot on the heels of some sublime Soviet jazz-funk sample madness on previous works and it's again, it's a proper masterclass in production. These are deep-cut funk sounds with cooling organ chords, hints of Money Mark vibes and psyched-out synths, wah-wah guitars and plenty of rawness to keep things authentic and timeless. The jazzy flutes of 'Bokeh' make it one of our favourites here but there isn't a single bad jam, truth be told.

Review: Renowned DJ and selector MURO is a Jedi-level compiler and this new collection of his delves into Victor's extensive archives to spotlight a world of Japanese jazz, fusion and AOR. It take sin plenty of internationally known names like Yasuko Agawa on the sunset sounds of 'L.A. Night', Sadistics who offers the more psyched out guitar leans of 'On the Seashore', Yuji Ohno's neo-Balaeric bliss-out 'The Dawn of Seychells' and Hiroshi Fukumura's soul soothing Ry Ayres-style melodies on 'White Clouds.' These are luxurious sounds and timeless tracks with MURO's signature funky perspective making this a brillaint choice for brighter, warmer days.

Review: This compilation is a vibrant celebration of Gnonnas Pedro, the legendary Beninese composer and musician. Spanning his career from 1967 to 1985, it showcases Pedro's remarkable versatility and eclectic musical palette; featuring 21 tracks that traverse genres with ease, from the Afrobeat energy of 'Pas De Petard' and 'L'Indomptable Gnonnas Pop' to the salsa rhythms of 'Tembleque' and the soulful grooves of 'How Much Love Naturally Cost'. Pedro's music is a fusion of influences, blending traditional African sounds with funk, soul and Latin flavours and highlights here include the irresistible 'Dadje Von O Von Non', the funky 'Yiri Yiri Boum', and the soulful 'Bailando Mi Solo'.

Review: A collection that blends classic soul, jazz, and rhythm & blues with a touch of British mod flair, this is the 11th album from the British veterans. From the outset, the album demonstrates the band's ability to capture emotion with the haunting saxophone and reflective vocals on 'How Many Times', which sets a powerful tone for what follows. The title track delivers an uplifting, seventies-inspired anthem, combining brass, hand percussion and heartfelt harmonies that evoke the essence of Isaac Hayes and Stevie Wonder. Tracks like 'Everything & All I Want' and 'Cut Me Loose' highlight the band's versatility, drawing influences from artists such as Paul Weller and Fela Kuti. The latter, featuring JP Bimeni's stunning vocals, delivers a funky, rhythm-driven groove. Meanwhile, 'Close To Where You Are' is a beautiful love dedication with its soulful brass arrangements and dreamy trumpet segments. The album also explores more introspective moments with 'Fix You Up', which exudes a relaxed, jazzy vibe, while 'The Beat I Know' offers a peaceful, bass-driven composition with serene vocals from Sheree DuBois and Carmy Love. Other tracks like 'When Worlds Collide' and 'Reach Out' deliver elegant slices of rhythm and blues. The band's ability to mix emotion with impeccable musicianship is on full display. The closing track, 'Summer Song,' featuring the legendary Omar, is a poignant tribute to overcoming life's challenges, closing the album on a deeply reflective note. The Revival of Survival is a stunning, soulful journey that will leave listeners eagerly demanding more.

Review: Also known as "Portland's Pillar Of Soul", Ural Thomas is a widely esteemed Portland based r&b singer-songwriter and musician, active since the 1950s. Still going strong over almost three-quarter century's worth of performing and releasing, Thomas' breathtaking oeuvre comes to a recent head on this latest LP+7" via Cairo, 'Nat Ural'. Eschewing his latest incarnation with backing The Pain (making up Ural Thomas and the Pain), which was formed after a long hiatus, we return to Thomas' solo sensibility here. A new LP backed up by a sneaky extra 7", Thomas' distinctive, homely brand of strutting vocal soul is once more put on display here.

Review: Heavyweight champions of the compilation world, Numero Group, defend their undisputed title once more with this collection of greats from San Antonio mogul Abe Epstein's Dynamic label. In its heyday, it became a hub for soulful music with its flagship band the Commands scoring a hit in 1966 with 'No Time For You.' Their success led to 20 more singles over 30 months and Epstein's inclusive studio welcomed a diverse racial mix of Texas talent which in turn created a melting pot of sound. This collection reflects that across 28 gems from groups like the Tonettes, Little Jr. Jesse & the Tear Drops and Bobby Blackmon & His Soul Express all exploring different soul niches.

Review: Paul Weller is perhaps one of the best non-soul musicians to ask to compile a rare soul compilation. Rather than documenting soul music as it proliferated in the 1960s, Ace Records' soul aim was to capture a genre, fashion and style as one man saw it in retrospect, in light of his involvement in the mod revival of the mid 1970s. Weller would later go onto form and front The Jam, but in late 1974, shortly before his involvement in the punk movement, he was about none of that business at all. Punk partly grew on febrile tissues of mod, which was in turn an offshoot of 60s soul; and it is true that we may hear a foetal form of the sound in the brasher cuts on this record, be it Billy Stewart's 'Summertime' or James Carr's 'Pouring Water'. Also clock Brother To Brother's 'In The Bottle', a super-early drum machine blues gem perfect for the house heads.