Back catalogue: Funk Soul & Jazz

Review: In the mid 1990s, Kent Soul uncovered Joe Evans' master tapes and were thrilled to discover the unreleased gem 'A Broken Heart Cries' by The Pretenders - note, no relation to Chrissie Hynde and co. The track quickly caught the attention of Crossover DJs, who picked it up from Kent Soul's CD release, precipitating an avalanche of demand. This soul quartet is mostly recognised these days as but a wooden limb on Evans' everlasting music-mogul marionette, but their brilliance spans many an exquisite 7" and 12" released during the late 60s and early 70s, mostly on the Newark label Carnival Records. The boy-girl group commanded loose but masterful drumming and vintage, summery harmonies, with the A-side especially seeming to reflect a mood of hidden satisfaction in heartbreak. Now seizing the opportunity to bundle it in with the group's equipotent ballad 'For The Rest Of My Days,' Kent Soul do well to support both songs' first-ever UK vinyl release.

Review: Gilles Peterson remains a man with his finger firmly on the pulse and this is another album to prove it: International Anthem is a special double compilation highlighting the renowned DJ and curator's deep connection with Chicago's celebrated contemporary jazz label. Featuring selections drawn from Peterson's BBC 6Music, Worldwide FM and syndicated shows, the collection showcases standout tracks from the label's first decade and also included is an exclusive, previously unreleased live recording from Worldwide FM. Pressed on "Frozen Lake Michigan" coloured vinyl, this Record Store Day exclusive is part of International Anthem's "IA11" series-celebrating 11 years by honouring their past while shaping the future of boundary-pushing global sounds.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***


A fresh compilation album documents the best of the late 70s disco-funk-jazz-everything band Phyrework, synthesising a pyrotechnist's hand and a cutting engineer's ear. The Texan group were signed to Mercury in 1978 and released a hotly acclaimed debut album, and while their talents matched the likes of Sly And The Family Stone and Earth, Wind & Fire, they remained criminally under-world, resulting in the band's disbandment after the release. So this is a salvaging effort worth your while; a whopping nine of the songs have never been heard before, and only a complementary two appeared on the original early 80s single. All produced by Michael Cooper of Con Funk Shun, the likes of 'My Funk', 'Never Felt Like This' and 'What Happened To Us' command an extra jerkiness and synthweight bolshiness not nailed by many of their much-more-famous contemporaries.

Review: Pianist. Conductor. Composer. Impressario. Extraordinaire. We could probably leave it at that with Piero Piccioni, but for the sake of clarity let's get clear. One of Italy's most prolific film composers of the mid-late-20th Century, this monolith of big band and jazz wrote more than 300 movie scores in his career, and also lays claim to membership of 013, the first jazz outfit broadcast in his home country following the fall of Fascism in 1944. Born in Turin, one of the epicentres of Italian music, Cadaveri Eccellenti was a 1977 crime thriller about Lino Ventura, Italy's top homicide detective, who is investigating the assassination of a judge. Full of intrigue, mystery, and tension, not to mention that underlying sense of sexiness which seems to pervade European flicks of this era, by now you can probably imagine how cool the score is.

Review: French house DJ and record producer Stephane Pompougnac adds another tranche of slick, DJ-able downtempo to the Hotel Costes series, which has carried on strong on Wagram Music since 1999. The lounge compilation series is named after the Paris hotel in which Pompougnac first cut his teeth, and this sixth edition was released way back in 2017, albeit with a different front cover (though swapping the exact image out, Pompougnac has kept consistent in his penchant for featuring nubile young feminine visages on his front covers). 'The Brazilian Hipster' and 'Work That Body' kick off this edits comp with a fiery steeze-before-sleaze, emphasising slung downtempos and unbuckled grooves.

Review: Helping define the sound of luxury lounge music in the late 90s and 2000s, Stephane Pompougnac's Hotel Costes series merged downtempo, house, and chillout music with blase sophistication. Synonymysing his sound with the Paris venue's opulent yet intimate atmosphere, the Place Vendome adjacent venue proved a hit for its chic bar-lounge a and stylish international crowd, offering an indulgent escape into dimly lit, decorous elegance. Arresting and pinning the historic tail on the works of such artists as Thievery Corporation and Gatan Project, the series, started in 1999, was instrumental for the apres-coup recognition of a sound. Highlights on the ninth edition including the minimal swing hop of 'One' and the brass-led dub derelictions of 'Con Mi Sombra'.