BBE Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Some four months after he lost his battle with cancer, BBE is releasing Paul 'Trouble' Anderson's final production - a fittingly joyous, upbeat and life-affirming cover of gospel standard "Happy Day" featuring the impassioned vocals of soul singer John Redmond. On the A-side of this 12" edition you'll find the "Classic Main Mix", a bouncy and rubbery fusion of soaring gospel vocals, bumping house beats, mazy organ solos, rubbery disco bass and clipped guitar riffs. It's superb all told, and a fitting final hurrah from one of the UK's most significant DJs of the past 40 years. Over on the flip you'll find the slightly more stripped-back "Classic Dub", where impassioned vocal snippets ride Anderson's killer groove, bouncy pianos and spacey synths.

Review: This year BBE will be offering up plenty of funk, soul and boogie gems from the vast vaults of Nigerian label Tabanisi Records. This, though, is an altogether different beast: a new pressing of a barely known 1986 recording of the investiture ceremony of an Eze-Nri king - a ritual that has sporadically been carried out by members of the Nri Kingdom for well over a thousand years (and possibly even longer). It makes for fascinating listening and consists of little more than infectious drum rhythms, occasional chants, and occasional hypnotic melodies played on a hand-made wooden flute. The music itself is highly rhythmic - as you'd expect - and rooted in traditions that could well pre-date Christianity.

Review: Rubbing shoulders with DJ Amir and 180 Proof Records, BBE Music present this celebratory compilation, fawning over the Strata Records' best and brightest releasees. 'Strata Records - The Sound of Detroit - Reimagined by Jazzanova' hears DJ Amir and Jazzanova shed the work of a Detroit jazz great into something much newer and fresher, through incredible nu-jazz retakes on classic Motor City standards from the likes of Lyman Woodard and Malauwi.

Review: From Kon's forthcoming compilation on BBE entitled Kon & The Gang, this 12? sampler features two cuts taken from the LP and an exclusive remix from Boston producer and mix engineer Caserta, namely "Timeless" (Caserta mix)" a tasty serving of super deep and low slung disco goodness. A more functional edit for DJ use follows on "Timeless" (remix - Caserta mix)". On the flip Truccy (better known as Compost's Rainer Truby and Corrado Bucci) present "Closer", a gorgeous slo-mo house jam with a rolling groove fetauring all the good stuff: swirling Rhodes keys, groovy congas and hypnotic vox.

Review: For the latest volume in their ongoing J-Jazz Masterclass series exploring the world of Japanese jazz, BBE has delivered the first ever reissue of Tatsuya Nakamura's formidable 1984 set Locus. The album itself has long been hard to find, even within Japan, and is considered by collectors to be one of those 'Holy grail' sets whose musical quality makes it worth tracking down. Across the four tracks, drummer and percussionist Nakumura is joined by a stellar cast of musicians to explore distinctively different takes on jazz-fusion, from heavy Latin influenced drum jams, to experimental ambient and colourful cuts that sit at different points in between.

Review: .For the latest volume in the label's essential J-Jazz Masterclass series of reissues, BBE has opted to deliver a new edition of a hard-to-find 1973 collaboration between American pianist Mal Waldron and Japanese trumpeter Terumasa Hino. Originally released only in Japan, it comprises two lengthy compositions (one by each artist) performed by the duo and talented sidemen Isao Suziki (upright bass), Motohiko Hino (drums), Takao Uematsu (alto sax) and Uzi Inamuro (percussion). Waldron's LP-opening composition adds alternating, increasingly hectic solos to a gradually intensifying groove (a formula the storied pianist used extensively during this period of his career), before morphing and mellowing as the suite progresses. Hino's 'Black Forest', meanwhile, is more up-tempo and horn-heavy, with oodles of extra percussion and expressive, mind-mangling solos aplenty.