• Music

    Makoto Kubota & The Sunset Gang

    February 11, 2022 - By 

    We Want Sounds! is on a roll!  They started off the year with a stunning collection of funk which I had the absolute joy of reviewing a coupe of weeks ago, and now this! Dixie Fever is a collaborative effort from guitarist Makoto Kubota, along with Takashi Onzo on bass, Yosuke Fujita on guitar/mandolin, Keni Inoue on lead guitar, Hiroki Komazawa on pedal steel guitar, and Kubota himself on guitar.  The secret sauce in this album comes from co-producer Haruomi “Harry” Hosono, and this work, mixing American swamp funk, blues, music from the Hawaiian islands and their own local influences from…

  • Music

    Bernard Purdie – Purdie Good!

    February 6, 2022 - By 

    Imagine having a resume working with the following acts: James Brown, The Beatles, Jeff Beck, Hummingbird, Steely Dan, Aretha Franklin,Gil Scott-Heron, King Curtis, The Rolling Stones, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Randy Brecker, Quincy Jones, Hall & Oates, Isaac Hayes, Cat Stevens, Hair and Larry Coryell among so many others. Bernard “Pretty” Purdie is something akin to an institution in modern drumming. This album, reissued by Prestige Records, is one of his more mellow jazz excursions.  The sound is meaty, and it shows off a pleasant finesse he has with percussion.  His touch is about as golden as it gets as…

  • Music - Uncategorized

    Various Artists – Mainstream Funk: Funk, Soul, Spiritual Jazz 1971-1975

    January 28, 2022 - By 

    From the label’s Bandcamp site: Wewantsounds continues its collaboration with Bob Shad’s formidable label Mainstream Records, to present a selection of 12 turntable-friendly tracks recorded between 1971 and 1975 and showcasing the label’s superb blend of Spiritual Jazz, Funk and Soul by the likes of Buddy Terry, Sarah Vaughan, LaMont Johnson and Johnny Coles. Most of the tracks are released on vinyl for the first time since their original release in the early 70s. What makes this comp so incredibly tasty is the heavy spiritual jazz vibe crossing wires with Melodie’s that easily evoke singers like Marvin Gaye’s most crucial…

  • Music

    Kiyoshi Yamaya, Toshiko Yonekawa, Kifu Mitsuhashi – Wamono Groove: Shakuhachi & Koto Jazz Funk ’76

    December 21, 2021 - By 

    Traditional Japanese instruments meet rare groove??  Yes, please! From Wamono’s Bandcamp site: Following the already classic Wamono A to Z trilogy, we are delighted to present an exceptional collection of jazz funk / rare groove tunes recorded in the mid-seventies at the Nippon Columbia studios by three giants of Japanese music: arranger Kiyoshi Yamaya, koto legend Toshiko Yonekawa and shakuhachi master Kifu Mitsuhashi. The album is slated for release on January 28, 2022.

  • Music

    Various Artists – Lèspri Ka : New Directions in Gwoka Music from Guadeloupe 1981​-​2010

    December 1, 2021 - By 

    This compilation released by Time Capsule Records is going to be stunningly good.  From the release’s Bandcamp site: The innovative, radical soul of Guadeloupe explored across thirty years of contemporary gwoka music, released by Time Capsule and Séance Centre. As Guadeloupean vocalist and composer Marie-Line Dahomay writes in her liner notes to the compilation, gwoka is more than a style of music, it is “a way of living and thinking.” Rooted in the social, musical and ritual practices of enslaved African people and their descendants on Guadeloupe, gwoka has always sought to express the spirit of independence and resistance authentic…

  • Music

    The Scorpios – Let’s Go

    November 27, 2021 - By 

    The Scorpios are a Sudanese/British Afrobeat band with an incredible pedigree.  Regia Ishag, the band’s singer, is the daughter of the guitarist of one of Sudan’s funkiest bands, The Scorpions (obviously not the German hard-rock band bearing the same name). This new generation band maintains the funkiness of their forefathers and adds jazz, more funk and a more general Afrobeat element to the music.  It’s rapturous and made for the dance floor or the wedding ceremony equally.

  • Music

    Şatellites – Seni Sen Olduğun İçin Sevdim

    November 26, 2021 - By 

    Batov Records, based out of Tel-Aviv, Israel, is producing some funky and hard-hitting music, and this 7-inch by Şatellites simply rocks.  The title song of this single is a cover from Arabesque rock legend Hakkı Bulut is a driving jam which is described as a tune “with the force of The Stooges crossed with The JBs.” The second track is an instrumental which is also engaging, but passes too quickly, as I would have loved to hear so much more from it.

  • Music

    High Pulp – Motel Money (feat. Takuya Kuroda)

    September 15, 2021 - By 

    High Pulp hail from Seattle, Washington and are currently being published by Anti- Records, best known for releasing albums by Tom Waits, Neko Case and Antibalas.  This sounds like none of them, and it caught my attention in a most pleasant way. Motel Money is a single track, and it’s a burner.  This is an instrumental track, and it mixes in everything from avant-garde jazz to beat-driven R&B to psychedelic synthesizer-heavy electronica, as their release page indicates.  Add to this the stellar trumpet playing by Takuya Kuroda, and you have something that can equal any of the nu jazz bands…

  • Music

    Various Artists – Cameroon Garage Funk

    July 21, 2021 - By 

    Analog Africa produces yet another astounding compilation.  Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait a while for this one, because the release date is scheduled for September 3, 2021.  Still, considering the high quality of pretty much everything this label has produced, I’m expecting some fine music. Over on the Bandcamp release page, a question that had been in mind for a while has been answered.  How could Cameroon, with a rich musical history, be so poorly represented?  As it turns out, there was no infrastructure so speak of, so promotion outside the country would have been impossible in those days. From…

  • Music

    Muito Kaballa Power Ensemble – Mamari

    July 16, 2021 - By 

    Fiddling around on the Youtube stream today as I have the house to myself, I came across a video of this album, and within the first second or so, I got hooked into a mix of Malian blues, funk, Cuban rhythms and a general Afrobeat vibe.  Muito Kaballa are a nine-piece band based in Cologne, Germany, and the label releasing this charmer is Rebel Up Records, a fine imprint out of Belgium.