Review: Rejoicer and Nitai Hershkovits - Cinema Royal (Rhythm Section International)

What would an ECM album be like if it was done by Mulatu Astake under the supervision of Rudy Van Gelder and Lalo Schifrin? 

I don't know either but you'll recall Shay Hazan's album 'Wusul وصول' on Batov Records where we said that the killer track 'Sunflowers' (featuring the keys of Nitai Hershkovits) fades ,,, into a Mulatu afro-jazz groove (see review HERE) so this is an album we've bee with Nitai's long time collaborator Rejoicer is one we've looking forward to.

And to prove us right, 'Affair In Redondo' have been described as "a calm Mulatu in the jazz lounge watching a ITC screening" with 'Food Bowl' and 'Her, I' as the Afrobeat Fela versions.  

This years' Kruder & Dorfmeister of 'out there' where East Asian zithers and synths get funky on the big screen OST fronted by Nitai's piano backed with Rejoicer (aka Yuval Havkin); a veteran with releases on Stones Throw and Raw Tapes who adds the beats heritage to the project.

The more cinematic downtempo moments are captured on 'Apry's Velvet Dress' and some sort of waltz in the med, 'The Orchard Dreamer' (great to hear an accordion as always think of Daedelus on the MF Doom/Madlib track - also see Pro-Teens MF TEENS - see review HERE).

Hard to believe it's been over 10 years since Rhythm Section International started with Al Dobson Jr's Rye Lane project, FYI Chris and Prequal; particularly liked 'Midnight In Peckham' by Chaos in the CBD and with my tenuous South London connections, this label was a big influence of Futuristica Music/Jazz Chronicles playlists.

And they still are when in the Cinema Royal, sounds like a posh hotel where the piano lounge is the best you've ever heard. 

Artist:  Rejoicer and Nitai Hershkovits

Title: Cinema Royal 

Release date: 14th March, 2025

Label: Rhythm Section International 

Cat. No: RS068

Format: LP Vinyl / Digital / Bandcamp

Review: 6161 - 6161 (Severn Songs)

6161, known to his mum as Matt Stockham Brown, is releasing the album
'6161' on Severn Songs, run by the Bristolian trend setters Ishmael Ensemble.

You'll recall Ishamel Ensemble's album, 'Rituals' (see review HERE) but this is somewhat different.  Matt Stockham Brown has performed and recorded with some major international artists including Massive Attack, Gregory Porter along with Get The Blessing and Ghostpoet but as '6161' he's got some like minded jazzers on an album that's like the dark edges on Massive Attack and Get The Blessing.

Produced and mixed by Riaan Vosloo, who will known to fans from his regular collaborations with Benedic Lamdin and Nostalgia 77 (see review HERE) to even further back with his Impossible Ark work, will know that here is emerced in modern/experimental jazz.   He also adds additional electronics to Matt's drums, compostions and arrangements with Dan Moore's synths and four horn attack; Jake McMurchie and Sophie Stockham (tenor saxophones), Tom Taylor (baritone sax) and Peter Judge (trumpet).

Starting off with the powerful 'Sneakanon' Parts 1&2 for 10 minutes it's there with those Bristolian jazz influences that followed by the nearly as long 'Surge' Parts1&2. The horns, particularly the baritone sax adds an element of cathedral aurora that's darklyspiritual; particulary 'Surge' Part 1 as it builds to a foreboding climax before Part 2 starts as a heavy jazz Sabbath of twang.

The single 'UP' has more of a cinematic undercurrent, "evoking the spirit of a post-war ballroom with a waltzing rhythm that beckons dance." (an element that's in the Marshall Allen debut album 'New Dawn' - see review HERE; and he's old enough to remember many post-war periods).

Like jazz drummer Sebastian Rochford's previous bands, it's not all about the drums but there's a definite presence like 'Morag' that has that Get The Blessing (who started out as The Blessing with a live album from The Bell Inn, Bath in 2004 and released an update last year, live from the same venue).  

That said, the album ends on a couple of tracks, 'For Felix' and 'Prowl' that are harder jazz rock where Matt/the band do have the opportunity to show-off in Acoustic Ladyland meets Rip Rig & Panic way.    

So that's finale is quite different from the opening tracks and it's a bit of a journey, you could say the only way is 'UP' for 6161

Artist: 6161

Title: 6161

Release date: 14th March, 2025

Label: Severn Songs

Cat. No: -

Format: digital / Bandcamp

Review: Charles Petersohn - Children Of Zu Zu EP (Compost Records)

'Children of Zu Zu' featuring Roberto Di Giola and the People of Tla'aga Samoa was released as a 'Short Version' single and everyone in the YATM office was saying, "where's the long version?"

Producer/DJ/Singer Charles Petersohn told me, "I am really excited, to be released at one of my favourite Labels" and that's not surprising as you'll recall the single was his first release in 18 years (see review HERE).

So 'Children Of Zu Zu (Long Version)' at nearly 7 minutes long is even more perfect than the short versions' "echoes of Lonnie Liston Smith's 'Space Princess' on a visit to Jimi Tenor's Philophon studios with a touch of ragas going on, it's almost transglobal; but in a 'Compost Records' underground way.."

Di Giola is also featured on 'Schmettrlinge Im Bauch' that really covers the inspiration of, "Smooth deep house, different kinds of jazz and jazznotjazz, African rhythms, Brasil batucada, psychedelic funk poetry, inspired by Dr. John and most of all the space music and afrofuturist philosophy of Sun Ra and his Arkestra" and it's a springtime classic already.

With two perfect tracks, he does it again with 'Love In Space' (Part 1 ft. Jana) and 'Love In Space' (Part 2 ft. Harold Pop & Lu).  And there's an alternative version of  'Schmettrlinge Im Bauch' plus, can you believe it? 'Myth Versus Reality' actually features the Sun Ra Arkestra (couldn't have been better timed with the Marshall Allen debut album, 'New Birth' recently being released - see review HERE).

But hang on, what is Zu Zu Music?  We'll, 'Zu Zu Music' that features Mickey Nether, AdaSoul and Narjara Thamiz tells us.

This album is like the equilavent of Kahil El'Zabar's remix project of 20 years ago where he got some of the Art Ensemble of Chicago with remix/edits by Afro/Jazz/house luminaries Henrik Swartz and Osunlade to give the dancefloor touch.

This is just perfect and there's bonus digital tracks but you'll really want the vinyl. 

BUY LINK: https://CompostRecords.lnk.to/CharlesPetersohn-ChildrenOfZuZuEP

Artist: Charles Petersohn

Title: Children Of Zu Zu EP

Release date: 14th March, 2025

Label : Compost Records

Catalog Number : CPT648-1/-3

Format:  Vinyl 12" / Digital / Bandcamp  

Review: 44th Move - Anthem (Black Acre)

'Anthem' by 44th Move, a collaboration between Alfa Mist and Richard Spaven, where their individual jazz influences include experimental neo-classical plus hip-hop roots.

Both artists have played with a host of London's must hear jazzman with Alfa Sekitoleko appearing on recordings with Yussef Dayes and Jordan Rakei whilst Spaven has worked with Flying Lotus, Goldie, Robert Mitchell's Pancea and in the trio 3iO (best known for the cover version of 'Teardrop') and in Spaven's 5ive (the Jazz Re:Freshed project).

So no surprise that these nine tracks are very jazzy; Alfa being very 'Bob James' on the keyboard at times and particularly 'Anthem' which is the most immediate track. 

'Free Hit' (with an 'Outro') is for the Thundercat fans as it's Madlib 'sample' territory on the keys, and perhaps more so with a 'Northern' brass band like horn sound.

Equally, as James is one of the most sampled musicians in hip-hop, again no surprise that Quelle Chris (he mostly of Bastard Jazz) turns up on a track, 'The Move') which fits in with the rest of the album. 

Expect 'next thing' for this release, especially as the Yussef Dayes (drums) / Henry Wu (keys/synths) partnership as Yussef Kamaal has disbanded (would that have been the inspiration for 'Second Wave'?)

And, a couple of years ago we featured Natalie Duncan at the start of another wave of Bristolian musicans (you'll recall she was the fan of Richard's "drum styling") and Black Acre (based in Bristol) are releasing this very Gilles Peterson 'Worldwide' / London modern jazz album so expect that BBC 6 Music, Jazz FM et al will be supporting this record. 

Artist: 44th Move

Title: Anthem

Release date: 14th March, 2025

Label: Black Acre

Cat. No: TBC

Format: 12" Vinyl / Digital / Bandcamp

Review: Kirk Degiorgio - Elate EP (Cyphon Recordings)

Fans of Kirk Degiorgio and Cyphon Recordings have been looking forward to this since it was first announced and to say they are elated now that it is upon us - yes it's the Elate EP!

Now you'll recall we mentioned in the Loxodrome (aka Jimpster) EP review last November (see HERE) Cyphon Recordings that thier previous releases had included DJ Rocca, Yuu Udagawa (see review HERE), Ben Sun (who has just had a new album out himself this month, see review HERE) and Kirk Degiorgio (As One).

Kirk's 'Living On The Frayed Edge' came out in March last year on the label but when it comes to 'Seven Minutes Of Funk' and 'Five Minutes Of Dub' along with 'Lost' and the title track 'Elate', you can just tell from the titles that this is a deep collection

Kirk and Jamie 'Jimpster' Odell have musicall grown up over many years and neither would let the other down when it comes to dancefloor excellence; 'Elate' has even that acid vs. piano house melody that'll get a big reaction whenever it's played.

YATM stalkers will know that we've had a bit of a 'Yoga In Dub' spotlight recently (well, January is all about getting fit/back to the gym) but what's far better is the space ship travelling synths on 'Five Minutes of Dub' that backed up with the proper Detroit techno-acid of 'Seven Minutes Of Funk' (and vice versa).

You'll need a bit of chill from 'Lost' after all that and when you think it was only last month that we had Synaptic Voyager's 'Dawn Till Dusk EP' (see review HERE), this is a perfect companion/follow-up.

P.S. For a different side of Kirk, check out 'Modal Forces' / 'Percussive Forces' (see review HERE),

Artist: Kirk Degiorgio 
Title: Elate EP 
Release date: 14th March, 2025
Label: Cyphon Recordings
Catalog Number  -
Format: Digital / Bandcamp

Review: Pedro Ricardo - PEDRO002 (Pedro's House)

Pedro returns sounds like an album title in itself, 'Pedro's House' sounds even better. But his latest EP is called 'PEDRO002' and thankfully they tracks are far more inspired.

Regular readers will know from experience that all at YATM, we love a new album and when it came to Pedro Ricardo's 'Soprem Bons Ventors' on Soundway (see the review HERE) along with the 'Single of the Month', 'Déhéba (see review HERE), we were "all in" on the project!

That was two years ago and whilst this new release on his own label has lost some of that leftfield some Cinematic Orchestra vibe there's still evidence of the multi-instrumentalist's "take of a modern dance of Hermeto Pascoal flamenco jazz-folk-house" with a trip hop jump to DJ Shadow influence with fusionist tendancies.

This 5-track release covers all the above bases kicking off with the jazzy piano-synth 'battle' of 'Solway System' vs '28 or 5 to 4' which is perfect 03:55 am festival soundtracking.

'In The Attic' standing out as the one for jazz-house-warpdom with the others bouncing from post-dubstep/bruk.  Ironically, 'In The Attic' has the least Bugz (In The Attic) references, 'Knockup Stream' shows best how this can work on today's dancefloor.

We're told Pedro is know form taking risks - from house to techno ('Maracuyá_Matanzas')  - and this is another EP that falls between popular genre definitions which makes it all the more essential!

Artist: Pedro Ricardo

Title: PEDRO002

Release date: 11th March, 2025

Label : Pedro's House

Catalog Number : PEDRO002

Format:  Vinyl 12" / Digital / Bandcamp

Review: JKriv - Intuition EP (Razor-N-Tape)

How can one person be so busy?  Intuitively, there's one person that can tell you the answer, Razor-N-Tape's JKriv as he releases another must-have EP.

Founded in 2012 by DJ's & producers JKriv and Aaron Dae, Razor-N-Tape can't keep up wiith all the JKriv releases, remixes and edits.  He's so prolific but don't think that means there's any less thought goes into them as he's so focused on the dancefloor.

'Intuition' consists of the instrumental 'Zone 1',  'Blueprint', 'Paula's Dance' featuring Pahua, 'Blueprint' and the title track featuring Megatronic (who is soon to .

feature on Freerange Records - talk about timing).

The EP is crammed full of warm dancefloor sounds as Mexican singer Pahua adds her vocals to a 'tribute' to Larry Heard, ‘Zone 1’ its an ode to David Morales’ Red Zone 90s remix catalog with its deep acid synths and a Italo-piano-acid-jazz-gospel house party that's 'Blueprint'. 

But if you think vocoder vocals have had their day, you need to get under 'Sparky's Magic Piano' and the Grace Jones like spoken word walking groover on 'Intuition' that's way too good and way too short.

When you know that this was completed at the end of last year when JKriv was undergoing chemotherapy it's even more impressive and this will help a speedy recovery.

BUY LINK: https://www.juno.co.uk/products/jkriv-megatronic-pahua-intuition-ep-vinyl/1069736-01/

 

Cover artwork by The Myno

Artist: JKriv

Title: Intuition EP
Release date: 14th March, 2025
Label : Razor-N-Tape.
Catalog Number : TBC
Format :  12" - 4 track vinyl / Digital / Bandcamp

Review: Michele Fattori + Marcello Sebastiani - Monks And The Third Man (Notami Jazz)

You've got to know what you're taking on if you take on a tribute project to Thelonious Monk, a jazz maverick in an era of mavericks, so what was Michele Fattori & Marcello Sebastiani thinking as a 8 track duo album - without piano!?

Well you can see why a duo that's already made a name for themselves as free/improvisational artists (see previous album 'Gavagai' that focused on Mingus and Miles) would want to 'test' themselves in the form of Thelonious Monk, a musician that was known as a man of time and space, black and white (keys), tune and angst; in short, a leader of jazz thinking and unthinking - jazz not jazz as someone once said.

With Fattori on electric guitar and Sebastiani on double bass they guide through versions of the hits/standards, 'About Round Midnight', two version of 'Blue Monk', 'Epistrophy' whilst ending on a Fattori composition, 'The Third Man Blues'.

Perhaps the biggest tribute is 'The Third Man Blues' as between guitar greats Grant Green, George Benson, Pat Methany, Wes Montgomery, James Blood Ulmar (and many more) and blues avant-garde.

If you are unware of Thelonious Sphere Monk, pianist/composer/legend, he hasn't been on this planet for over 20 years but his spirit and legacy are still with us, most notably as 'Straight No Chaser'. You can pick any of his albums to stand testiment to this. I recently got CDs of his 1961 tour to Japan from 1961: who was touring Japan in 1961? As a quartet!

And I suppose that's what Michele and Marcello have done in their own way as i. this is beautifully recorded, the sound is so sharp and clean: like lotus blossom (as it's springtime) and ii. in the words of a well known talent show host, they've made these tracks their own. Especially the opener 'Cantus' in their arrangement along with 'Reflections' and 'Pannonica' without going totally free.

'Epistrophy' works really well it's on the edge of discordant in harmony at the same time showcasing how well these two work as a duo; there might be a touch of Italian phasing in there too!

You'll recall that the label has previous with this 'tribute' style, as The Freestones' 

'Our Experience (Remembering Jimi Hendrix)' (see review HERE) but this new album is totally different to that and just as fitting, if not more so.  PS. Note, this 'Third Man' is nothing like the film theme.

Artist: Michele Fattori + Marcello Sebastiani 

Title:  Monks And The Third Man 

Release date: 3rd March, 2025

Label : Notami Jazz

Catalog Number : TBC

Format:  CD Edizioni NOTAMI

Review: Joseph Malik with Kameelah Waheed - My Whole World (The Variant Issue Orchestra 'L'Opera Noir' Mixes) (Ramrock Red)

"I introduced Kameelah on Ramrock Red on 5th May, 2020 with 'Holding On' then 'America The Beautiful'...and then the rest is history! That's when Honey Dijon bagged her for her album, then Kenny Dope etc etc!!"

That's Jo Wallace (Ramrock Records) exclusively tell us how she found out about the talent of Kameelah Waheed.

And to believe it's been nearly two years since we were introduced to Kameelah Waheed on what is now the Will Brock/Sumsuch classic, 'Don't Know Where I'm Going' (see review HERE) but Variant Issue Orchestra have taken her to the church with "Rev" Joseph Malik on the vocals and instrumental mixes of 'My Whole World'.

Originally on Joseph's 'Proxima Ebony' album (see review HERE) along with Kameelah's other appearance on 'Be A Lion' (that also came out as single, see review HERE), the message of human failings in 'My Whole World (Is Fallin')' with hope of rising again (in a good way).

But hang on, does this sound suspiciously like last months' 'My Whole World (Variant Issue Orchestra Mixes)'?  Yes it does and all still apply but this time.... it's even more variant as the orchestra goes 'L'Opera Noir' giving the spoken "next level Gil Scot-Heron" what's been describel as 'sombre'.  It's certainly deep as centre stage performance and, as I said last time, "Prepare to be mesmerized"; be prepared to be more mesmerized as this is like the MacBeth version where 'ld Bill has gone on a charabanc from Sratford to Dudley.

Joseph Malik's 'Proxima Ebony Variant Issue' album lauch is on Saturday 15th March at Ebinburgh's Voodoo Rooms with an amazing DJ line-up in support - check it out HERE.

Artist: Joseph Malik with Kameelah Waheed 
Title:  My Whole World (The Variant Issue Orchestra 'L'Opera Noir' Mixes)
Release date: 7th March, 2025
Label: Ramrock Red Records
Cat. No: RRR075
Format:  Digital / Bandcamp

Review: Fred Everything - Love, Care, Kindness & Dubs (Lazy Days Recordings)

Lazy Days Recordings' re-imagination of 'Love, Care, Kindness with Dubs, Alternate takes and remixes' is as mesmerising as the original.

At a time when we're all raving about Clive From Accounts, remembering the remix of  Fred Everything's 'Soul Love feat. Stereo MC’s (see review HERE and Clive From Accounts' YATM interview HERE) here's the 'extra' album to follow 'Love, Care, Kindness' original that came out last May (see review HERE)

Packed with the great and the good, from the Atjazz Galaxy Aart Remix of 'Asolee', different mix of 'Never' featuring Robert Owens (that's already had the remix treatment by Osunlade and Waajeed, see review HERE) and our favourite James Alexander Bright, a Lazy Dub of 'Breather' (don't forget the orginal, see review HERE and the Rocco Rodamaal Remixes, see review HERE).

So even the keenest of fans might be wondered what else is there in this album? Well, there's the instrumental of 'Hope Is On The Horizon' that can then focus on flute and the funky keys, a proper dub of 'A Long Coming' and a new arrangement of 'Evening Ghost' made at the MUTEK festival in Montreal by Fred.

And talking flute gang, 'Broken Flute Thing' is a brand new previously unreleased track and the instrumental version of 'A Long Time Coming' of previously used as an backing track for an interview with Dom Servini's Jazztronics show on Jazz FM (see below)

If you've got the original album, the new of these 'companion' version is a no brainer to follow it up and get this, if you've not got it, if you start with this one, you want be disappointed and it stands as a great album on its out merits.

Click To Play (up/down arrows to skip tracks)

BUY LINK: https://fanlink.tv/lovecarekindnessdubs

PS. 'Asolee' is also featured on the Colour & Pitch February Mix

Colour and Pitch · Colour and Pitch Sessions with Sumsuch - February 2025

Artist:  Fred Everything 

Title:  Love, Care, Kindness & Dubs 

Release date: 7th March, 2025

Label : Lazy Days Recordings

Catalog Number : LZLP20

Format: Vinyl / Digital / Bandcamp