Review: Desert Raven - Nkosi Ya Wolo EP (Ostowana)

There's no stopping the Ostowana team as Desert Raven's love of creating soundscapes with layers of emotion, depth and extened build-ups and climaxes is exposed on this brand new track, 'Nkosi Ya Wolo'.

So different the label's last release, Enskyver's 'Amnay EP' feat. Salah Fafah (see review HERE) but then again, not as the original is a proper fusion of Afro-house, WOMAD and spoken word/rap/poetry.

The Maris remix is a harder version of the original and Purple Tape's orgainic house is the straight from the rain forest to the dancefloor.

These guy's are speaking musically like 'men' (in a good way, like a insightful Bruce Lee) and DJs can't wait to play this out.

Artist: Desert Raven Feat. Seguya Sadam & Exit Onli 

Title: Nkosi Ya Wolo  EP (Original / Maris  & Purple Tape Remix)

Release date: 29th March, 2024

Label: Ostowana

Catalog Number: OST051

Format: Digital

Review: Bruno Montrone Trio - Unaware Beauty (A.MA Records)

A.MA Records search for 'Unaware Beauty' has paid off with the unveiling of the Bruno Montrone Trio's new album.

Not strictly a trio album as Bruno Montrone (Piano), Giulio Scianatico (Double Bass) and Joe Farnsworth (Drums) are joined by special guests Serena Grittani on vocals and the alto sax of Sarah Hanahan on 4 (two each) of the nine tracks.

You may recognise Farnsworth's name as the New Yorker has played with all the main jazz cats from Horace Silver, Lou Donaldson, McCoy Tyner and Pharaoh Sanders (including a 2003 recording session of the all-time classic, 'The Creator Has A Master Plan') and many more.  And that links in nicely with the opening track as 'Edward Lee' is a heavy swing bopper with Hanahan blowing for all her worth and Bruno's getting some McCoy Tyner style bang for his buck. In trait hie repeats on 'The Hodgepodge' (a word you don't hear that much these days and a great title) and Farnsworth showing off his 'live' skills (and obligatory solo on 'Bau Blues').

Variety you ask? Well, the downtempo soothing of the title track has the gentle breeze of Serena's whispy vocals to accompany the trio al la ECM before a climax ending with the other track, 'When Or Where' being the total contrast of a late nite standard.

Is this varied enough for a 'trio' jazz album?  No, what we need is th piano lounge cool bossa of 'Riflessiva' that's over 6 minutes long as al a Silver-esque does Charity Shop Classics (and that''s not a bad thing as an unaware beauty of jazz trio - keep you're eyes open for some Monty Alexandere Trio I say) and another fantastic ending. 

And you in the Backroom!  Hanahan can seriously blow as if the creator has a master plan and has gone out to lunch at the same time! Forge, Curtis, Peterson, Beadle and everyone else, you need to get  'Phrygian Sound Connotation' as the best 8 minutes you're likely to hear this year.

Parts of this album could happily sit next Jamie Cullum, spiritual jazz or A.MA Records' last release, Two Things Of Gold' (see review HERE) along with some straight edged jazz which all adds up to a great Good Friday freeling on this release day. 

Spring seems to have finally sprung with this release as 'Wide Awake' affirms. Thbese guys are bound to be at a jazz festival in the summer and you'd bonkers to miss 'em or not get this beauty of an album now you're fully aware of how good it is.

P.S. Many thanks to DJ Bob Hill again and hope he''s enjoying his sabbatical from Illicit Grooves radio show.

Artist: Bruno Montrone Trio

Title: Unaware Beauty

Release date: 29th March, 2024

Label : A.MA Reforged / A.MA Records

Catalog Number : CD / Digital / Bandcamp 

Review - The Elephant - In The Room (Original Cultures)

This is BIG! It's Elephant and their album, 'In The Room' - it is the album that's literally, the elephant in the room that everyone will be talking about.

The Elephant is a trio of Gabriele Mitelli (Trumpet), Pasquale Mirra (vibraphone) and Cristiano Calacnile (drums/percussion) who, individually, well known on the Italian jazz scene, but this is a new style of jazz trio.

Possibly thick skinnned as 'In The Room' is their own thing of out there electronic hip-hop world-folk downtempo jazz that sidesteps it's way to Sun Ra worshipers.  

So it's easy to see how they'd get Rob Mazurek to do Jack Kerouac jazz-poetry  on 'What? You Don't Like A Beauty?'  And then there's Rob's best bud, Damon Locks (he of Damon Locks' Black Monumet Ensemble, Exploding Star Orchestra and "Chicago visual artist, musican and sound artist", Damon Locks.ont the more experimental "Tom Waits" in a rain forest on 'The Elephant'.  

Talking of rain forests, 'Cherry In A Box' is a bit Don Cherry meets Miles and Bill Laswell re-working 'Panthalassa' and then on a Stereolab influence, "Hey Mary", Cristina Donà shines with her original maths a la One + One = Love.  Her fans include Robert Wyatt and Robert Elm who are as disperate couple of Bobs as you're likely to find.

You may recall Mitelli and Mazurek's cosmic jazz collab 'Star Splitter' (2019: Cleen Feed) but The Elephant is as big as an Italian jazz's Azymuth, if they where Miles, Gary Burton and Airto who touch ECM/nu-jazz and Carlos Niño at at the same time.  

Like I say, it's BIG and you won't ever forget it.

Artist: The Elephant

Title: In The Room

Release date: 29th March 2024

Label: Original Cultures

Catalog Number: OCLP006 Vinyl / Digital / Bandcamp

Review: V/A - Mr Bongo Edits Volume 2 : Luke Una (Mr Bongo)

 "Like getting your money's worth?" you've heard on the adverts. Mr Bongo is thinking the same way in this days of austerity by getting Luke Una on the edit for 24 minutes of funky fun on the dancefloor. 

We know Luke from this legendary DJ status and his compilations, Luke Una Presents É Soul Cultura (see review HERE) and more recently, Transmission Towers (see review HERE) but this is a bit different as he's let us into his world of 'secret weapons' with a  longer and tweaked version of 'Love Games' (Thandi Zulu & The Young Five) and rare jazz dancer, 'Plum' by Lionel Pillay. 

The A-side is typical of Luke as it's an odd mix of 80s disco boogie (Pure Energy) done in heavy South African style whilst the B-side, South African again, that starts all heavy organ jazz-soul al a Lonnie Smith and then mutates into this piano house banger that's really hot jam - would love to have a Brian Auger mix. The orignal of 'Love Games' is only 40 years old and 'Plum' is even older which goes to testifies to Luke's knowledge/digging abilities. 

Both tracks are stunners and a fitting follow-up to Vol. 1 by Danny Krivit from a couple of years ago which is already a collector's item so don't hang around on Vol. 2 is our advice. 

Artist: Thandi Zulu & The Young Five / Lionel Pillay 

Title: Mr Bongo Edits Volume 2 : Luke Una 

Release date: 29th March, 2024 

Label : Mr Bongo 

Catalog Number : MRB12061 

Format : 12" / Digital / Bandcamp

Review: Various Artists - Klinkhamer Records Vol. 2 Compiled by Michel Veenstra (BBE Music)

Whilst Michel Veenstra might sound like that name of the next PDO Dutch Darts wunderkind, he is the ears behind the second compilation following the 'If... Music presents You Need This: An Introduction To Klinkhamer Records'.

Definitely for fans of Jazz, Jazz-Funk, Jazzdance, Spiritual Jazz, this is heavy as the prices that'll you'd have to pay for the original vinyl releases of these tracks; that's if you could find them of course - but if you've got a couple of bob, Michel and his brother Stephan run the shop in Groningen and/or the world famous biggest record fair in the world, known as the Utrecht Record Fair where they've had a stall since the 90s.

Starting with the Norwegian jazz singer Anne-Marie Giørtz, 'Philosohy' (taken from the 1983 album 'Breaking Out' before the emphasis of jazz takes over with Urban Hanson gives us all a lesson in what flute club fusion is all about on 'Sengakuji'.

And i've forgive the band called Afrodisax just because, in addition to thier track here called 'On a Winter's Day (A Love Song)' they did another track called 'The Silence Of A Candle In The Darkness Of An Attic' (any chance of that on Vol. 3?). And the equally awful cover of the 1980s Dave Plaehn's 'Smokin' album for the soft rock, flutely folk of 'For You (I'd Undo Anything)' that could equally fit Paul Hillery's compilations like 'Once Again, We Are The Children Of The Sun (see review HERE).

Roger Ekman's 'Du är frisk' is similar in it's ‘Folk Funk & Trippy Troubadours’ nature.

Ending with possibly the most well known/prolific recording artist included in the album, the Jakarta born Dutch pianist/composer René Van Helsdingen (possibly because he was represented on Vol. 1 with the 'classical'-jazz track 'Offshore Sounds')

Whilst it's not quite the D-Jazz I was predicting at the beginning of last year, the album is just as cool and essential as Vol. 1 (and easy to see the If...Music connection with Jean-Claude (see review HERE) but this a a bit more European with vocal track in English, Swedish and French.

Artist: Various Artists 

Title:  Klinkhamer Records Vol. 2 Compiled by Michel Veenstra

Release date: 29th March, 2024

Label : BBE Music

Catalog Number : BBE

Format: 2xLP / CD / Digital / Bandcamp 

Review: Dj Toner Q4rtet - Camina feat. Erik Truffaz (Tangential Music)

Dj Toner and Erik Truffaz go way back to their days as the Domestic Jazz Collective and the 2021 Dj Toner Q4rtet album, 'Blessed Are The Weird People' so how weird is the new single, 'Camina'?

As it's Easter, they'll be lots of 'Camina' talk this time of year; especially, Camino de Santiago (other relegious prilgrims are available).  But that's not what we'll,be thinking about here.

For fans of Swiss born Truffaz's jazz horn, who is not shy of working with 'weird' people like Murcof and Syl Johnson,  That's in addition to releasing his own music, like the 2007 album 'Arkhangelsk' and last years 'Rollin'', both on on Blue Note.  So he's got form mixing the jazz with the hip-hop; albeit, I did see him live some years ago with, at the time teen icon, Ed Harcourt!

And Erik's cool Miles Davis tone al la "we got the jazz"/MC Solaar suits Dj Toner's beats (also check out 'Affective Computing','Natural Love' and the Grandmaster Jazz supergroup, 'Free-Remix').

There's a new album promised, 'OutSide' with a further nine tracks; seems ideal for fans of DJ Shadow (but not his 'The Outsider' period); 'Camina' has got a touch of the southern Cal. Latin scratchin' and a walkin' about it.  

As Dj Toner (aka Antonio Herrera) himself might say, Cadizfornia Dreamin'.

More Dj Toner Q4rtet please. 

Artist: Dj Toner Q4rtet

Title: Camina feat Erik Truffaz 

Release date: 28th March, 2024

Label: Tangential Music

Catalog Number: Digital  

Review: Transmission Towers - Sparse (É Soul Cultura)

Fancy some warped 70s Roy Ayers' Ubiquity that's sparse by name and 'Sparce' by Transmission Towers.

You'll recall Ayers' proto house 'Virgin Ubiquity: Unreleased recordings 1976–1981' (BBE), well this has that beathy "slo-mo.. Detroit-flavoured deep house" with a bit of 80s Compu Rhythm programing

It's all the rage at Luke Una's gaff, É Soul Cultura as the Theo Parrish remix he didn't.  

Coming out on an album, 'Transmission One' by the TTs (as us fans called 'em, but Mark Kyriacou and Eleaor Mante by their friends and family).

Artist: Transmission Towers

Title: Sparce

Release date: 27th March, 2024

Label: É Soul Cultura

Cat. No: ESOUL0193BT108

Format: Digital / Bandcamp

Review: Eleonora Claps - 10PM

You don't get many London-based/Milan-born singer-songwriter/drummers to the pound/kilo these days and in Eleonora Claps, it's something to contemplate.

'10PM' consists of ten original songs recorded as a trio of Eleonora (vocals, drums, percussion), John Crawford (piano and Wurlitzer) and Andy Hamill (bass), "the difficult second album", has been lauded by London Jazz News after the album launch at Jazz Cafe POSK on 22nd March.

We're fans of a jazz trio album, especially ones with Italian connections, like Bruno Montrone Trio's 'Unaware Beauty' (see review HERE) but having Ms. Claps on vocals and backing vocals gives this more Jamie Cullen style pop appeal, especially as the lyrics are in the rights of passage / midlife crisis / reflections on youth / growing up / "life" envelope.

The vibe can be smokey club (do you remember them?) to lounge bar - do love a slow Latin smoocher ('I Got Dreams' - the longests track on the album featuring piano and keyboard) than the more intense 'Contemplate' or the quirky/honesty of 'Scene' (that's a bit of a grower).

My Italian vocabulary is probalby a tad lighter than Dom Servini's (Wah Wah 45s and now JazzFM) so I have no idea was 'Il Tempo Che Passa' is about but it's lovely; somewhat like when Deborah Jordan sings in Italian. And that's backed up with another, 'E Sera'.  

And then 'Working' (a song for Mums everywhere) and 'Renegades' have a North Sea/European Festival vibe about them; perhaps it's Eleonora vocal sound; and the backing vocals, make this sound mutch deeper than a trio..

Crawford and Hamill sound perfect in this set up and the album deserves a round of applause (I must be the first person to spot that?)

P.S. Check out her first album 'Stars' that's mostly the same line-up and there's a couple of great covers. 'Time After Time' and 'Dear Prudence'!

Artist: Eleonora Claps Trio 

Title:  10PM

Release date: 15th March, 2024

Label : Independent

Catalog Number : -

Format: CD / Digital / Bandcamp

Review: On-Ly - Wonderlust (La Sape Records)

Don't go anywhere this year until you've got 'Wunderlust' by On-Ly out on La Sape Records.

This is a magical mix of jazz-fusion spiritual boogie funk soul and jazz rock; Weather Report, Herbie Hancock's Headhunters, Jeff Beck (fusion period) spring to mind but Santana and other West Coasters, Mars Volta (at their less rocky and more proggy end) and Bob James (at his harder edge - bearing in mind, folks used to dance to Mr James' catchy tunes back in the day); let's throw in Jaco whilst we're at it.

It's only six track but they all pack a punch and for a debut album; On-Ly being the solo and collaborative name of pianist/producer Joshua Smeltik, this is easily going to be debut album of the year.

Not heard anything approaching the fusion brilliance of this for years and it's going to open up a few people eyes and wallets!  An essential purchase. 

Artist: On-Ly 

Title:  Wonderlust 

Release date: 22nd March, 2024

Label : La Sape Records

Catalog Number : SAPE029

Format: LP / Digital / Bandcamp 

All tracks composed and arranged by Joshua Smeltink.

On-Ly (Joshua Smeltink) - Fender Rhodes (track 6), Bechstein Model-A 1912, Keys, Synthesiser, Trumpet.
Daniel Waddingham - Electric Guitar.
Ash de Neef - Electric Bass.
Phil Stroud - Congas/Percussion.
Bryce Zelno - Drums.

Engineer: Joshua Smeltink.
Co-Engineer: Phil Stroud.
Produced by Joshua Smeltink.
Mixed by Joshua Smeltink.

Recorded at Casa Del Canning over two dates in April and November 2022 in Melbourne, Australia.
Cover Art: Adam Parata.
Album Design: Luke Ebert.

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Review: Aki Takase Trio - Song For Hope (BBE Music)

I've just checked that we don't say this everytime that there's a new release on BBE from the J-Jazz Masterclass series, "this is the best todate" but let's say it now; 'Song For Hope' by Aki Takase Trio is the best yet!

Back in 1982 when this album was originally released, The Special's 'Ghost Town' had already been No. 1 in the UK and after all the clubs had been closed down, perhaps there was a need for a 'Song For Hope'; well things couldn't have got much worse which is where we are today worldwide?

So what we needed was a night out to see a live jazz trio with Takase leading on piano, Nobuyoshi Ino (bass) and out favourite drummer of all time, Takeo Moriyama.

You'll recall the Moriyama's 'Live At Lovely (see review HERE) with his quartet, well he almost steels the show on the massive 13 minutes of 'Mountain Forest' (even getting a "whoop" out of the crowd!  An ENJA recording of thier debut at the Berlin Jazz Festival)

Clearly, Aki a child prodege at a very early age who went onto study free spirits like Mingus and Coleman before moving to New York and play with names like Lester Bowie, John Zorn and Dave Liebman (who appeared on Aki's 1981 album, 'Minerva's Owl). This 'freedom' on 'Song For Hope' is obvious on 'Mountain Forest' but the restraint, love and yes, hope that shines through on the three other tracks; 'Minerva's Owl', 'Monologue' and the title track.

As you might have guessed, the German recording is close to perfection such that you almost feel you are there. And you'd so want to be as she shows off perhaps a little on 'Monologue' but apparently she's been living in Berlin since 1988 and has played with the Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra.

Even though she's in her 70s, I wonder if the J-Jazz masterminds, Tony Higgins and Mike Peden could get her to come to the London Jazz Festival this year?

For completists, I understand that this recording is the full 5th November 1981 performance, there are no bonus tracks or 'extras' so this is it, ad it's magnificent.

Recorded live at the Berlin Jazz Festival on November 5th, 1981

Artist:Aki Takase Trio 

Title:  Song For Hope

Release date: 22nd March, 2024

Label : BBE Music

Catalog Number : BBE677

Format: LP / Digital / Bandcamp