L’Orange are a band led by the drummer Nelson Schaer, and they produce a sumptuous jazz that is a heady mix of acid and downtempo. It’s relaxing, but intriguing, listening.
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The legendary Habibi Funk will be releasing another scorching release on October 10, 2022. The release will feature a singer called Maha, who hails from Egypt and who worked with Salah Ragab’s Cairo Jazz Band as their main vocalist. There is an amazing backstory you can find on the release’s Bandcamp site, but the most important paragraphs can be read below: Some years ago, we had released “Al Massrieen,” music which is the passion project of their composer, Hany Shenoda. Most of the music of this band was released by the Sout El Hob label and after our reissue they…
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The avant-garde music scene lost an incredible talent in the form of Jaimie Branch, who passed away on August 22nd at the age of 39. The blog’s friend, Noël Akchoté offers a lovely tribute album by transcribing the trumpeter’s work into works for solo acoustic guitar. It’s a raw album even by improv standards.
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Our friends at Fancy Music are releasing consistently good music in the contemporary classical, jazz and progressive rock fields. Ivan Grebenschikov composes music which manages to combine all three genres effortlessly, and adds in free jazz, rock and Latin American music into a fine stew.
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Mad About Records has produced a South African jazz artifact that is finally getting the wider recognition it deserves. The Four Sounds features bassist Basil Moses, who worked with such stellar local artists as Dollar Brand, and his brother Clifford, who croons on the songs Beautiful Katrina and The “Goema” Dance, which is in fact Don’t Close Your Eyes.
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Organist Joey DeFrancesco passed away yesterday, leaving perhaps the most impressive background of any jazz organist in the past 20 years or so. Here is a list of artists he worked with: Miles Davis, Houston Person, John McLaughlin, David Sanborn, Arturo Sandoval, Larry Coryell, Frank Wess, Benny Golson, James Moody, Steve Gadd, Danny Gatton, Elvin Jones, Jimmy Cobb, George Benson, Pat Martino, Tony Monaco, John Scofield, Lee Ritenour, Joe Lovano, as well as session work with Ray Charles, Bette Midler, Janis Siegel, Diana Krall, Jimmy Smith, and Van Morrison. As I turned 52 a few days ago, it’s shocking to…
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Our friends at Parasounder Magazine out of Tehran offer a great introduction to jazz in Europe and Iran through their podcast, JazzBuzz. In this episode, you will hear some fine music, an interview with guitarist Ali Lotfi and more jazz notes, all in Farsi. I’m proud to support my friends and their music explorations.
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Ukrainian saxophonist Olexandr Shapoval performed a gem of a jazz concert that was lost for 45 years is now available to hear. From our friends at Soundohm’s website: “In winter 1976, a few years before Olexandr Shapoval headed up the well-known band Vodogray, a jazz band called Shapoval Sextet recorded three pieces “Kobzareva Duma” in live at the Donetsk Jazz Festival. The tape has been lost for almost 45 years, until now. The most radical, experimental and psych jazz recording from the Ukrainian Soviet-era found to date. Composed and arranged by, flutes, saxophone: Oleksandr Shapoval Trumpet: Oleg Anapolsky Electric organ, piano: Oleg Kosko Guitar, spoken words: Igor Kruchinenko…
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As I’ve been stewing over this release for well over a month now, it’s exciting to finally announce that today, this scorching compilation is finally available on vinyl and download from our friends at WeWantSounds. In fact, the only depressing thing about this gem is that I can’t hear it on vinyl yet as I’m currently in Belgrade, Serbia, waiting to see where I move to next before settling down back in the Czech Republic. Normally, I’ll either place my own personal thoughts about a music, or use clippings from a press release, but the Saravah story needs a bit…
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Brazil’s finest living export (to my ears, anyway) has been quite active over the past few years, but it’s nice to see some forgotten releases getting some exposure. The personnel on this album plays some wonderfully, uniquely Brazilian fusion. Hermeto Pascoal: Bandola, Piano, Teclados (Keyboard), Flugelhorn, Harmonium, Flauta Baixo (Bass Flute), Craviola, Acordeom (Accordion), Bombardino, Clavinet, Piano CP-80 Jovino Santos Neto: Piano, Flauta (Flute), Piccolo, Harmonium, Piano Rhodes Itiberê Zwarg: Baixo (Bass), Tuba Carlos Malta: Flauta (Flute), Piccolo, Sax Soprano, Sax Tenor, Sax Alto, Sax Baritone Marcio Bahia: Bateria (Drums), Percussão (Percussion) Pernambuco: Percussão (Percussion)