Usha Uthup’s crazy record Blast-Off (1984) is somewhat of an oddity in her otherwise impressive discography. The Indian jazz singer did cool solo records like Scotch and Soda and Live in Nairobi and did many Bollywood and Tamil film songs whenever there were English lyrics or a need for a singer skilled in the jazz [...]
This cool record was made in Indonesia, 1966. All tracks are composed by Puspa herself. There are some indigenous sounding songs, some soft r&b and a couple of jazz songs. I particularly like the track Lagu Untukmu a lot. It sounds like an exotic version of Nina Simone, sung with a deep voice and with [...]
Produced by Lansdown’s Denis Preston the line up on this 500 micron raga led blast off includes: Amancio D’Silva, John Mayer and Alan Branscombe in conjunction with a host of highly accomplished Indian players. No titles, beginning or end, both sides take the raga route extending, developing and guiding the ear deep into a trance. [...]
I don’t know very much about Madagascar, apart from the fact that it’s flora and fauna is unique due to the separation of the Island from the African mainland in ancient times. Also, I understand the language Malagasey is amazingly enough of the Malayo-Polynesian family and bears resemblance to the language of Borneo. With all [...]
Carlos Malcolm and his Afro-Lamaican Rhythms rock out on 11 tracks, infusing jazz and mento with the ska sound. Favorites include the title track, “Wings Of A Dove”, “Skokian” check out “Tiptoe”
Boogaloo and jazzy too, this Alegre release doesn’t turn up often. Produced by Pancho Cristal for a division of Roulette. I’m digging “Fat Papa’s Descarga”, “Boogaloo-Mania”, the groovy “Fat Papa” and jazzy “Either You Have It Or You Don’t”
1984 French pressing, nice Congolese easy jazz with one more grooving track, “Jungle Spirit”
I picked this up in Springfield, MO on a recent Ozark vacation. A great little store called “Stick it in Your Ear” had this staring at me from the $1.98 piles near the front. I didn’t even notice that Mulatu was a sideman on it until i got home. Great all the way through, but [...]
I took this record in a trade for my shop, and was a little iffy about it. The pressing was weird and so was the music. It sat around for $25 until one day I decided to give it a good hard listen, and it f*cking floored me. Some of the most beautiful playing imaginable. [...]
What makes this double-LP from 1977 special is it perhaps the earliest appearance of backing tracks to many of the avant-garde films in Canada. They were composed and sequenced (if you can call it that)using the earliest synthesizers and/or tape manipulation techniques. The compositions date from 1951 (!) – 1972, early in the game indeed.
Born to Nigerian parents brought to Algeria, percussionist Guem grew up playing traditional music and trance rhythms from an early age. His family soon initiated him into the secrets of the diwan–ceremonies where many of the participants enter a state of trance. The influence of the diwan is fully evident in this mellow and beautifully [...]