Review: TTeo - Lovexpress77 (Sonar Kollektiv)

Is this a re-issue from 1977? Is it a disco sample project? Is it something now? Well, it's all three and "the story of my Dad" says TTeo on the track 'Love Circus' from the brand new album, 'Lovexpress77'.

We know how good the single from a few months ago, '42H' (see review HERE), but TTeo's strange timewarp concept starts in 1970 when Fernando Antonio Capreoli, his Dad, left southern Italy to make his fortune; which took the first steps with being a drummer in the disco-funk-rock band 'Lovexpress' which led to tours of Scandanavia (1974-1979) as the the band was a mix of Italians and Scandinavians.

But this is no 'beyond the grave' story as his Dad found some tape recordings of these gigs and the quality was excellent so TTeo (aka Mattei Caoreli) was so inspired by this find, by sampling and reworking the original 'Lovexpress' he's produced a 12 track album for Sonar Kollektiv.

So with the back story to 'Lovexpress77' being almost as mad as Larry Levan's Joubert Singers’ “Stand On The Word" Remix, perhaps we shouldn't be surprised by the gospel-funk-house dance quality of 'Follow Me'; and then you've got that salsa boogie of 'Troppo Sexy' and the disco thrust of the title track - 3 great reasons to get the album in itself.

It's hard to believe that the band wasn't a huge group nearly 50 years ago if they were making tracks like 'Figli Delle Stelle' and 'Mi Fa Sofrire' as versions in English would have likely have made UK charts; actually, they'd probably been too good for that; thankfully the nu-disco/70s  revival means we're able to dance to this music today: 'Mi Fa Sofrire' is just great lounge-pop-boogie.

'Sometimes' features the vocals of Dalila Cabalera and is more in a off-Latin-house groove (bit of a grower as Slim Shady might say) and then again, there's an undercurrent throughout the album of DJ Shadow's 'Endtroducing......; that comes to the fore with the jazzy beats on 'Pantera'  and the closing track, 'A Bronx Tale' sounds like something Pink Floyd could have closed one of their albums with.

Of course, the cyncs with cynical eye might be thinking this is just a rouse to "get the band back together"/Sugarman bio-pic a la Sixto Rodriquez (RIP 8th August 2023) but that's because it's what cynics would think.  I'm more that convinced this is a young musician that was inspired by his Dad's musical past and wanted to celebrate it by using it as the inspiration to produce the best he could; and it's a ticket you'll want to get to jump onboard the Lovexpress77; next stop, the turntable? DJ booth?

Title: TTeo

Title: Lovexpress77

Release date: 24th November, 2023

Label : Sonar Kolletiv

Catalog Number : SK477D Digital / Bandcamp 

Review: David Hopperman – Mire (incl. Aytiwan, Diamond Dealer Remixes)(Deep In Your Soul)

When you're deep in the 'Mire', David Hopperman reached out to Deep In Your Soul to save him, from the leopard?

Well, perhaps not the leopard in the photo of the cover artwork but 'Mire', in original version with Aytiwan and Diamond Dealer remixes is something high on the list of "like it" - I hope that's the vocal?

If you're after Afro-house with Italo-Latin jazzdance influences, the original version is the one for you.

The Aytiwan is more of a stripped version with added synth swirl-bang and the 8 minute Diamond Dealer synthy bounce makes this an EP you can't ignore. 

Following on from the 'Kalaga EP' by PA NGU featuring Lhue Ntuza (another one with an Aytiwan remix, see review HERE) you can pick any version of 'Mire' to keep the dancefloor moving this fall.

Artist: David Hopperman

Title: Mire (incl. Aytiwan, Diamond Dealer Remixes) 

Release date: 24th November, 2023

Label : Deep In Your Soul

Catalog Number : DIYS014 Digital / Bandcamp 

Review: Irena Pavlović - The Soulful Heritage (A.MA Records)

From Serbia via Italy, pianist/composer/arranger Irina Pavlovic debut's her album 'The Soulful Heritage' [and don't be put off by the cover]. 

The soul heritage she bases this album of soul-jazz a la 60s French new wave/jazz quartet post-bop swing; don't be misled by the soft focus of the album cover.

Led by Irina (piano), the nine tracks mostly revolve around her and Ivan Radivojevic (trumpet,flugelhorn) Rastko Obradovic (tenor saxophone), Milan Nikolic (bass) and Dusan Novakov (drums)/Luka Jovicic (drums on track 1 and 5).

The title track features U.S. vocalist Dean Bowman (with some Dwight Trible style exercises; big fans of Dwight - see review HERE) and also the 'bone work of Corey Wilcox (and again, Cory turns up couple more tracks to feature) for a spell-binding 6 minutes that's equally at home with the swingin' Latin-bop of 'Arriba, Arriba' (love this one).

We said with the recent A.MA release by Two Pots Of Gold (see review of 'Two Pots Of Gold' HERE) that they are on a departure from previous "straight jazz" and this album does seem to edge to some of the previous releases by the Schema label.

And it's not just Schema, but let's just pick on their 'house' trombonist, Gianluca Petrella as he set a tone in Italy and now Mr. Wilcox, who might only appear on 3 tracks, is definitely a star of this show with 'Podednik (The Victor Of Belgrade)' and the bangin' avant-blues march of 'Reviving Blast'.

There's big respect to Blue Note/Pretege/Riverside et al especially as Novalov's drums can swing-bop-simmer; there's a couple of slower tracks, like the rive gauche of 'My Return' that Irina plays the electric piano and Obradovic and Radivojevic get a chance to have a workout.

Nikolic's bass also gets to feature on the tender duet with Irena 'My Tree' and featured on 'Look Above' and then there's Irina's soft to heavy hands on the piano for the powerful 'Dawn In The Warfield'.

Back on the album cover; it's a shame that they couldn't do a Yusef Lateef syled 'Jazz For The Thinker' cover as the Podednik is a war monument statue in Belgrade; and as that's such a great track.

But that'll be my minute gripe as this album is much more than a soul-jazz tribute and whilst Irena is the leader, I hope that the core of this group is able to keep together as they clearly work so well together and support each other.

Many thanks again to DJ Bob Hill of the Return Of The Illicit Groove for keeping us up to date with all things jazzy/acid jazz.  

PS. Yusef Lateef's album, 'Jazz For The Thinker' is the hard bop/modal classic from 1957 featuring  Lateef on tenor and flute, Curtis Fuller on trombone, Hugh Lawson piano, Ernie Farrow bass, and Louis Hayes drums.

Artist: Irena Pavlović

Title: The Soulful Heritage

Release date: 24th November, 2023

Label : A.MA Records

Catalog Number : CD / Digital / Bandcamp 

Review: Espen Horne - The Anatomy Of Serene Eloquence (Wah Wah 45s)

You'll have noticed from SM postings that Wah Wah 45s head honcho has been smoching around various northern European locations with Norway's finest, Espen Horne.

Little wonder as these two go back a long way and the label is releasing Horne's first solo album for yonks.

As you might guess from the cover, it's very much in the northern folky landscape of his roots together with the soul-jazz-Latin-hip-hop influences that he's lived with for decades.

We loved the single that came out, 'Bergen Sunrays' featuring Selim Mutic (see review HERE) but you're not going to get stuck in a genre groove here.

Not sure that you can put a track like 'Belle Époque' into any one 'bag' but I'm thinking 

mark the bag up as 'brilliant'.

And then 'Den Franske Gitaren' (featuring Aich) is in English on a jazzy post-dn'b jazz tip that's

followed by 'Don't Fall Asleep' as a soul-reggae track as it features Faye Houston (of 

Resonators fame who have released no less than 3 stunning albums on Wah Wah 45s).

But if there is a stand out track(s), it's the tracks that feature Olav Wöllo's 'tropicallia' that's kinda 60s Jazzanova but totally intoxicating atmospheric jazz-folk?

Long time fans like Gilles Peterson, Craig Charles and Robbie Vincent as now joined by the 

next generation of influencers like Cerys Matthews, Deb Grant/Tom Ravenscroft as it's 

definitely, the best time to investigate 'The Anatomy Of Serene Eloquence'; don't fall asleep on this one! 

 

Artist: Espen Horne

Release: The Anatomy Of Serene Eloquence

Release Date: 17th November, 2023

Label: Wah Wah 45s

Catalog Number: Digital / BANDCAMP

Review: Chip E ft. Kid Enigma - Hold Me Back - Remix EP (F*CLR Music)

F*CLR 30th release makes you want to be transported to Chicago house loft roots, so much so, you'll need to 'Hold Me Back'.

Kid Enigma's last couple of releases have been on Tech House label, Sink or Swim; 'Run It Back' and 'Out Of My Mind' but this new release is very him but back in the day with Chip E.

'Hold Me Back', in all it's five versions, is in ya face, no holds barred jackin' 'n' a-rockin' hip-house.  Any rap with the line, "smell the coffee, push that cup of tea aside" has my vote.

Long enough for a long a speedy turbo trainer workout (Ed. could do with 20 minute version?) but I really like the heavy organ on the original mix.

Chip E has been an influence for a very long time ago being at the start of house and jack with Joe Smooth and Frankie Knuckles; 5 years ago, his Xmas party was supporting Marshall Jefferson!  Kid Enigma has been a kid since he was DJing at 15 years old and his peace and love message on this track is infectious, especially as we've got remixes the team of DJ Paul Funk and Quinten De Rozario going above and beyond.  Love the DJ Paul Funk 'Dubstrumental' and  'Voacuda Mix' (I do hope that there's a full on instrumental take me to Rio batucada coming our way) and Quinten's mix is as bouncey as any old skool classic.

Hot on the heels of the label's Andrew Sant/Kameelah Waheed monster, 'Love Honor Respect' there's a huge positive vibe at F*CLR that we all need right now; so don't get on your bike, don't hole back, DANCE!

Artist: Chip E ft Kid Enigma 

Title:  Hold Me Back (DJ Paul Funk and Quinten De Rozario Remix) EP 

Release date: 17th November, 2023

Label : F*CLR Music .

Catalog Number : FCLR030

Format :  Digital / Bandcamp

Review: Various Artists - 25 Years Of Aficionado (Re:Warm)

We've had some heavy jazz of the site recently so it seems a good time to celebrate 25 years of the underground Manchester club night 'Aficionado' run by Jason Boardman & Moonboots.

Killer tunes by rock god (well, Focus) guitarist Jan Akkerman with his dreamy Axelrod-esque verson of 'Ode To Billy Joe', top jazz-funk bassist Stanley Clark's 'Desert Song' that's so  cool along with Alain Debray's 'Concierto de Aranjuez' (you'll know the tune if not the name) make you think, what sort of club was this in Madchester!

Well, it seems like a cross of lounge meets Peterson and Trunk expecially with a digital 'exclusive' of 'Cool Bright Northern Morning', 'Mudd's 'Summer In The Wood' and The Superimposers' jangley 'Seeing Is Believing'.

The more you listen to this, you want to get that time machine set to late 90s and do the loungin' house coat vibe before your time (Ed. and open toed sandals?)  You'd definitely want to spend time on the beach with the Lissvik remix of 'Honey Mine' by Korallreven and the exceptional Laetitia Sadier (she of Stereolab fame) on Girogio Tuma's post-Baleraric-dub 'Through Your Hands Love Can Shine'; reggae-synth on the beach you might say.

When you need some high class downtempo, ambient, soul, disco, jazzy, soft-rock reggae Balearic's, you need the affection of '25 Years Of Aficonado' to get together and do it again.

But you said, "Peterson", OK so you've got the jazzy trip hop of Teacher, vibrazone-ish 'Shine' by Kalimba and First Word orginals, The Haggis Horns'. 

Warm have just celebrated their 24th Birthday party themselves (with LTJ Bukem of all people) and have released Paul 'Sun Child' Hillery's 'Folk, Funk & Trippy Troubadours' Vol. 2 and an X-PRESS2 remix set of David Kitt's 'Till The End' (see album review HERE) so it's anybodies guess what'll be coming next?

Aritst: Various Artists

Title: 25 Years Of Aficionado 

Release date: 17th November, 2023

Label: RE:WARM 

Cat. No: RE:WARM 017

Format: 2xLP / CD / Digital

Review: Searchlight ft [ K S R ] & Tolü Makay - Can We Go Back/Breath/We Could Be More Remixes ft. Atjazz / Wipe the Needle / Afroforce (Fallen Tree 1Hundred)

The weekend starts here under the seachlight with a host of dancefloor wizards.

If you're keeping up with Fallen Tree 1Hundred, they really champion post-d'n'b modern soul UKG and Searchlight (aka Zero T and Beta 2) have picked three top producers/remixes to re-work tracks from their debut album.

Must say, the agility of the Atjazz remix on 'Can We Go Back' with nu-jazz bruk shuffle is more than stunning and worthy of any DJ set.

Talking BRUK, Afroforce (aka Mark Force and Orin Afronaut - did you see what they did there), re-live BITA on a deep 'Breath'

The opener 'We Could Be More' featuring [ K S R ] (soul singer from Manchester not a YouTuber) get another BRUK student, Lee Gomez (aka Wipe The Needle) that sounds even more BITA than the Bugz themselves: especially on the instrumental which sounds so good.

This definitely could be more, say if they all team up with label mates Natalie Duncan (see review HERE) or Degrees Of Freedom (see review HERE) for what would be one hell of a Gilles Peterson 'Worldwide' re-union.

Artist: Searchlight ft Tolü Makay

Title:  Can We Go Back/Breath/We Could Be More Remixes ft. Atjazz / Wipe the Needle / Afroforce EP

Release date: 17th November, 2023

Label: Fallen Tree 1 Hundred

Cat. No: FT1H023

Format: Digital / Bandcamp

Review: Twospeak - Fictions (None More Records)

Twospeak's third album, 'Fictions' is getting a wider audience with its release on None More Records this week.

We've been constantly impressed by None More Records, especially Joe Woodham's 'Worldwide Weather' (see review HERE) and the jazz-dub-reggae of Monzanto Sound (see review HERE) but it's clear that they do like a modern prog-jazz-rock as Twospeak have more that a forked tongue going on.

There's a hybrid of Portico Quartet, 70s prog a la Camel/Soft Machine with an added hard edge of, say, We Jazz.  

Twospeak are led by Ronan Perrett (sax) with Mike De Souza (guitar), Joseph Costi (keys, synths) and Ben Brown (drums). who have played in many a jazz group.

All tracks seven tracks are instrumentals (Ed. perhaps they should give Norma Winstone a call, apparently she's popular again) and each is based on artwork, be it painting, sculpture, literature or film.  There does seem to be a 'cinematic' Isotope running through the tracks, especially the opener 'Keep The Aspidistra Flying' and the moody, 'The Tower Of Blue Horses'.

As a band, they seem more than happy to go 'out-there', 'For Henry Moore (Reclining Figure 1984)' being an exceptional update of a Zappa/Henry Cow hybird and then pull back with the dreamy progression of 'An Astrologer's Day' with some echos of 'A Love Supreme'.

Cover artwork to match the Canterbury 'art school' vibe expect to hear on all the trendy jazz shows from Jez to Gilles, Patrick to Colin etc.

Artist: Twospeak

Title: Fictions

Release date: 17th November, 2023

Label: None More Records

Cat. No: -

Format: digital / Bandcamp

Review: Kenneth Jimenez - Sonnet To Silence (We Jazz Records)

We Jazz are expanding!  Not like you and me, but, more accurately, expanding their artist horizons as they release an album by Costa Rican/Brooklyn based Kenneth Jimenez. 

Leader/bassist/composer/photograph joins  Angelica Sanchez (p), Gerald Cleaver (d) and Hery Paz (sax) on 7 tracks that echo some 60s free-jazz roots.

With a Latin influence but not too the obvious extent of a Carlos Garnet / Gato Barbieri / Chick Corea / McCoy Tyner to a more 'Copenhagen 1963' sound a la Cherry, Shepp, Coleman et al - particularly, 'Barrio Sur' and the modal-flutey 'Dia Laboral' that showcases all of the band really well. 

'Sonnet To Silence' is a curious title (Ed. no doubt why they wanted it?) for a jazz album that's got some ambient moments (like  'El Pato') but is more of an intriguing combination - if you like, We Jazz in New York; as for the very lucky 'Ojo de Buey' and the very busy ' 'Mr Shipping' I'd say it's, "taking The Comet Is Coming to John Coltrane's back yard".

I'm sure that one day We Jazz will take over Village Vanguard for a festival season and when they do, the Kenneth Jimenez Quartet should top the bill.

Artist: Kenneth Jimenez

Title: Sonnet To Silence

Release date: 17th November, 2023

Label : We Jazz Records

Catalog Number : WJLP51

Format: LP / CD / Digital / Bandcamp 

Review: A08 - Waiting For Zion (Compost Records)

We've already had a taste of the 'new' A08 (formerly known as AFRICAINE 808) with the single 'Life' and 'Sunset' on Compost Records, but wait 'til you here the rest of the album!

As mentioned previously, (see review HERE) that since they were releasing albums/12" on the seminal New York label Golf Channel there been a sideways step more to a Afro-tech-Carrib-dancehall-dub as the two Berliners,  Dirk Leyers and DJ Nomad bring us twelve tracks on the album called 'Waiting For Zion'.

Whilst the title sounds like it it should be all roots-reggae-dub, the album that features artists from Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, Trinidad as well as Germany, is electronic,jazzy and world: just chcek out the title track to get you hooked.

'Yamahaica' and 'Sunset' are more reggae dub and at the other extreme, 'Kisumu Bound Bus (Nyatiti Mix) and  'Water' twist into electronic West African Hi-Life a little lik the Afro-percussive 'Life'.  

You get this idea that there's no over-ridding genre to put this album in.   At times it reminds me of version of David Walters' 'Soul Tropical' (see review HERE) crossed with the Best Seven Records (the old Berlin-based sub-label of Sonar Kollektiv run by DJ Daniel W. Best), and others, something I could DJ, put in mixtapes, dance to or just listen at home with. 

Another two tracks that also stand out, dancehall-esque, 'I Want More' and 'Big City Blues' that's one's big band funky Afro-rock-rap more than blues. Jazzdance you say? I say too, along with some Italo/Jap house with the incredible, 'Pomolemouse' (just when i was thinking, "how can you pick a favourite track!") along with a 808 style Miami Vice style dub with 'Nineoneone'.

It's stunning stuff and definitely the best double album of the year and just to repeat, A08 perform live either as a Soundsystem as Dirk Leyers and DJ Nomad or as a live act with live percussion: I'd book 'em now as they are going to be very busy.

Artist: A08

Title: Waiting For Zion

Release date: 17th November, 2023

Label : Compost Records

Catalog Number :  CPT 620 LP / CD / Digital / Bandcamp   .