Search Results for:

SOUL JAZZ

Various Artists

Soul Jazz Records Presents Studio One Down Beat Special: Expanded Edition

    Soul Jazz Records’ ‘Down Beat Special’ is a rollercoaster Greatest Hits ride through many of the alltime classic tunes hand-picked from across the mighty vaults of, without doubt, Jamaica’s finest ever record label and pioneering powerhouse of reggae music.

    Seminal tracks such as Michigan and Smiley’s ‘Nice Up The Dance’, Dawn Penn’s ‘No, No, No’, The Wailers’ ‘Simmer Down’, The Eternals’ ‘Queen of the Minstrels’… and on it goes. Non-stop big tunes - ‘Down Beat Special’ is an essential primer to Studio One Records.

    Originally released as a one-off pressing limited edition (long-since deleted) 7” box set, this new edition is fully remastered and expanded to a massive 18 rare and killer cuts from the Studio One empire.

    Featuring The Skatalites, Jackie Mittoo, Bob Marley & The Wailers, Horace Andy, Alton Ellis, Lone Ranger and many more, the album features rare and classic tracks throughout.

    Newly commissioned sleevenotes by Noel Hawks (History of the Jamaican Recording Industry) featuring a track by track historical and musical analysis, label scans and more added to this fantastic collection.

    TRACK LISTING

    The Eternals - Queen Of The Minstrels
    Michigan And Smiley - Nice Up The Dance
    The Mad Lads - Ten To One
    Jackie Mittoo - Totally Together
    Horace Andy - Just Say Who
    The Skatalites - Addis Ababa
    Sugar Minott - Live Loving
    Lone Ranger - Can't Stand It
    Wailing Souls - I've Got A Burning Fire
    Bob Marley And The Wailers - Simmer Down
    Dub Specialist - Hooligan
    Alton Ellis - Your Heart Is Gonna Pay
    Roland Alphonso - Do It Good
    Wailing Souls - You Should Have Known
    Dawn Penn - No No No 
    Freddie McKay - You'll Be Sorry
    Alton Ellis - We Need Love
    Cornel Campbell - Best To Be Free

    David Lee Jr

    Evolution - 2024 Remastered Edition

      Drummer and composer David Lee Jr.’s stunning and rare album, ‘Evolution’ (1974), blends the deep experimentalism of John Coltrane and Sun Ra with the pulsating second-line and parade rhythms of New Orleans to create a stunning sonic and rhythmical tour de force.

      In a lineage of incredible New Orleans drummers, that includes James Black, Idris Muhammed and Zigaboo Modeliste of The Meters, and stretching back to Earl Palmer and Baby Dodds, David Lee Jr. stands out for his fire, experimentalism and an out-there-ness like no other.

      ‘Evolution’ is a super deep lost classic radical and groundbreaking deep spiritual jazz album. Originally released in New York in 1974 (400 copies only ever pressed!), the LP is an extraordinary one-off solo album, pressed on the artist’s own Supernal Records, a record company whose slogan, “Seeking creative progress,” and dedication “to peace and freedom” clearly displayed artistic intent over any commercial or marketled forces.

      David Lee Jr was born in New Orleans, and the deep experimental drum compositions featured on ‘Evolution’ are as rooted in this Southern city rhythmically as they are in the spiritual and metaphysical musical ideas of Afro-Futurist pioneers like Coltrane, Sun Ra and others.

      In the early 1970s, Lee Jr. headed off to New York, playing in Roy Ayers’ Ubiquity and later immersing himself in the thriving loft deep jazz scene, playing with Leon Thomas, Lonnie Liston Smith, Harold Alexander and Charles Rouse, and recording for a host of seminal deep jazz labels, including Strata-East, India Navigation and Flying Dutchman.

      Today, ‘Evolution’ remains one of the rarest and heaviest of all deep and spiritual jazz albums ever made.

      TRACK LISTING

      Revelation
      Spirit Voice
      Cosmic Vision
      Wymbo-Ngoma
      Regeneration
      Freedom Bells
      Acknowledgement
      Love Parable
      Nova Reflex
      Evolution (Initiation, Development, Enlightenment Determination, Illumination, Inheritance, Destiny)
      Cosmopolitan
      Second Line March
      Constant Search
      I Want Our Love To Always Last
      Mystic Sound

      Various Artists

      Soul Jazz Records Present: Studio One Roots - 2024 Repress

        Studio One Roots set the standard for Soul Jazz Records’ long-standing series of Studio One collections and features many of the classic artists from Clement 'Sir Coxsone’ Dodd’s mighty roster of reggae.

        This album includes Freddie McGregor, Willie Williams, Cornell Campbell, Alton Ellis, Devon Russell alongside some of the defining crack-session men groups of Jamaican reggae history - The Sound Dimension, Brentford All-Stars, The Skatalites, New Establishment and more. As ever the album is filled with a mixture of seminal cuts and super-rarities from the vast vaults of 13 Brentford Road.

        Stand-out tracks include Alton Ellis’s Blackish White, a surreal and powerful Afro-centric dream, Count Ossie Nyabinghi and Rastafarian drummers genre-defying interpretation of Booker T and The MGs ‘Meditation’, Willie Williams awe-inspiring versioning of the Skatalites' seminal Rastafari anthem Addis Ababa and many, many more.

        This album has been fully digitally remastered, analog cut and packaged complete with the following: Original sleevenotes by Lloyd Bradley (author of When Reggae Was King), compiled by Mark Ainley (Honest Jons), high-quality Soul Jazz mastering, wicked images of Count Ossie and the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari on the cover, and a rare image of Clement Dodd and musicians inside the studio at Studio One on the full colour inner sleeves.

        TRACK LISTING

        1. The Cyclones With Count Ossie – Meditation
        2. Cornell Campbell & The Brentford Rockers – Natty Don't Go
        3. Freddy Mcgregor With The Sound Dimension – Africa Here I Come
        4. Bunny & Skitter – Lumumbo
        5. Willie Williams & The All Stars – Addis A Baba
        6. L.Crosdale With Drummond Bago & The Rebel Group – Set Me Free
        7. Leroy Wallace & The New Establishment – Far Beyond
        8. Lennie Hibbert – More Creation
        9. Alton Ellis & The Sound Dimension – Blackish White
        10. Winston Jarrett & The Sound Dimension – Fear Not
        11. Devon Russell – Drum Song
        12. The Gaylads – Africa
        13. Black Brothers & The New Establishment – School Children
        14. Linton Cooper & The Brentford Disco Set – You'll Get Your Pay
        15. Sound Dimension – Congo Rock
        16. Zoot Simms – African Challenge

        Various Artists

        Soul Jazz Records Presents: Studio One Dub - 2024 Repress

          ‘Studio One Dub’ remains super-hard hitting, featuring classic and rare dub tracks from Studio One, many available on vinyl for the first time in over thirty years. ‘Studio One Dub’ includes the dubs of many classic tracks such as Horace Andy’s ‘Skylarkin’’, Johnny Osbourne’s ‘Truth and Rights’, John Holt’s ‘Hooligan’ and Freddie McGregor’s ‘Bobby Bobylon’, plus many more rare tracks.

          TRACK LISTING

          1. Dub Specialist – Bionic Dub
          2. Dub Specialist – Take A Ride Version
          3. Dub Specialist – Sky Rhythm
          4. Dub Specialist – Taurus Dub 2
          5. Dub Specialist – Hooligan
          6. Dub Specialist – Dub Rock
          7. Dub Specialist – Rastaman Version
          8. Dub Specialist – Jah Jah Version
          9. Dub Specialist – Creator Version
          10. Dub Specialist – Running Dub
          11. Dub Specialist – Hi Fashion Dub
          12. Dub Specialist – Pretty Version
          13. Dub Specialist – Race Track Version
          14. Dub Specialist – Spawning
          15. Dub Specialist – In Cold Blood Version
          16. Dub Specialist – Chase Them Version
          17. Dub Specialist – Feel The Dub

          Various Artists

          Soul Jazz Records Presents: Studio One Disco Mix - 2024 Repress

            Studio One's music in the 1970s took the label to new heights. The new style of Disco Mix brought many areas of Reggae together ­ Roots, Lovers, Disco and Dub all came together in extended form, re-versioning classic hits, experimenting with new studio technology, over-dubbing, syn-drums and more producing what many fans describe as the most creative and innovative phase in the history of the legendary Studio One Records.

            This Studio One Disco Mix album includes many sought after classic tunes only ever released in very small quantities (on Studio One's very first 12" records as well as it's infamous Music Lab 10"s out of New York) and consequently many of these track s have been unavailable since their day of release. Studio One Disco Mix features many of the classic Studio One artists such as Alton Ellis, Sugar Minott, Jackie Mittoo and Willie Williams (with his classic re-versioning of his own "Armigideon Time") alongside less well artists such as Doreen Schaeffer, Judah Eskender Tafari and George Dudley and many more.

            TRACK LISTING

            1. Lloyd & Devon – Push Push
            2. Judah Eskender Tafari – Rastafari Tell You
            3. Doreen Schaefer – Ain't Gonna Change My Mind
            4. Dub Specialist – Kampala
            5. George Allen – Be Wise Brethren
            6. Jackie Mittoo – Night In Ethiopia
            7. George Dudley – Gates Of Zion
            8. The Silvertones – Come Forward
            9. The Ethiopian – Muddy Water
            10. Willie Williams & Brentford Disco Set – Armagideon Time
            11. Willie Williams & Brentford Disco Set – Armagideon Time (version)
            12. Norma White & Brentford Disco Set – I Want Your Love
            13. Norma White & Brentford Disco Set – I Want Your Love (version)
            14. Alton Ellis – You Make Me Happy
            15. Suagr Minott – Love And Understanding
            16. Winston Francis, Jackie Mittoo & Brentford Roc

            Various Artists

            Soul Jazz Records Present: Studio One Lovers - 2024 Repress

              Lovingly compiled, this album features only the finest Lovers from Jamaica’s finest label. From Blues parties in London, Birmingham, Bristol etc Lovers Rock quickly became one of the UK’s finest-ever musical movements.

              Sweet harmonies, soulful reggae, love songs – the key ingredients of Lovers Rock - were all based on the revival of many of the classic Rocksteady harmony groups of the late 60s and early 70s, such as The Heptones, Carlton and The Shoes, Larry & Alvin, The Paragons, that Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd’s Studio One and rival Duke Reid’s Treasure Isle label produced hit after hit with as they fought for dominance in the dancehalls of Kingston.

              As well as these classic harmony groups, this album also features fine contributions from many of the reggae greats – Horace Andy, Alton Ellis, Bob Marley and The Wailers, Delroy Wilson – All artists who became stars at the legendary Studio One Records which Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records, describes as "The University of Reggae".

              TRACK LISTING

              1. Delroy Wilson – I Don't Know Why
              2. Basil Daley – Hold Me Baby
              3. Myrna Hague – Touch Me Baby
              4. John Holt & The Paragons – Darling, I Need Your Loving
              5. The Sharks – How Could I Live (1st Cut)
              6. The Mad Lads – Ten To One
              7. Jackie Mittoo – Reggae Magic (2nd Cut)
              8. Larry & Alvin – Your Love
              9. Freddy & Jenny – Too Long Will Be Too Late
              10. Alton Ellis – Let Him Try
              11. Albert Tomlinson – Don't Wait For Me
              12. Horace Andy – Got To Be Sure
              13. Carlton & His Shoes – Never Give Your Heart Away
              14. The Heptones – Ready To Learn
              15. Bob & Marcia – Really Together (No Strings)
              16. Ernest Wilson – Undying Love
              17. Bob Marley & The Wailers – I'm Still Waiting (1st Cut)
              18. Doreen Schaeffer – We're All Alone

              Various Artists

              Soul Jazz Records Presents: Studio One DJ's - 2024 Repress

                For this Studio One release we return to the roots of Reggae music-The Soundsystem. Throughout the late 1950s and 1960s Soundsystems played throughout the city of Kingston, Jamaica. As well as Sir Coxsone's Downbeat Soundsystem other famous Soundsystem operators included Duke Reid (the Trojan), Prince Buster, Tom the Great and King Edwards.

                These Soundystems were the birthplace of much of Jamaica's musical culture ­ Soundclashes, Dancehall and the idea of the Toaster who sang over records- theDJ. As ever Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd led the field and so for this release the focus is on DJ's at Studio One and features legendary toasters such as Denis Alcapone, Dillinger and Prince Far I as well as a host of rare material by lesser known artists. Also included is Count Machuki ­ the original DJ- the first man ever to speak over the mic-at Sir Coxsone¹s Downbeat Sound System- from where it all began.

                As Steve Barrow (author of The Rough Guide to Reggae/Blood and Fire Records) writes in the sleevenotes, Jamaican deejay music is the source for all Rap music: From Count Machuki talking over records on Sir Coxsone's legendary Downbeat Sound System this style would eventually travel to America when the Jamaican-born Kool Herc began playing at Block parties (a version of the Kingston Soundsystem parties) in the Bronx. Cutting up rare-groove classics for the first B-Boys to rap over, Hip-Hop was born and theDJ music that had started on the early Soundsystems of Kingston would go on to conquer the world!

                Studio One Records is the original Jamaican record label. Studio One Records started the career of hundreds of Jamaican artists from Bob Marley to The Skatalites, from Horace Andy to The Heptones. Studio One DJs (compiled by Mark Ainley) is the next in the series of releases where Soul Jazz Records are showcasing the music of Studio One, the label that literally defines Reggae.

                TRACK LISTING

                1. Count Machuki – More Scorcha
                2. Prince Francis – Rock Fort Shock
                3. Dennis Alcapone – Power Version
                4. Dillinger – Natty Kung Fu
                5. Jah Scotchie – Man Of Creation
                6. Jim Brown – Seen Him
                7. Jah Buzz – Love In The Arena
                8. Prince Francis – Street Doctor
                9. Lone Ranger – The Answer
                10. Prince Jazzbo – Crime Don't Pay
                11. Brigadier Jerry – Every Man A Me Brethren
                12. Big Joe – Version Of Rights
                13. Lone Ranger – The Big Match
                14. Jah Jesco – Warning
                15. Prince Far I – Natty Farmyard
                16. Charlie Ace & Scorcher – Father And Dread Loc

                Various Artists

                Soul Jazz Records Presents: Studio One Story - 2024 Repress

                  Spanning tracks from 30 years of Studio One releases, ‘Studio One Story’ is a roller coaster ride through many of the label’s finest moments and features many of the tracks that defined its history as well as Reggae itself. Tracks such as Alton Ellis’s ‘I’m Still In Love With You’, The Skatalites’ ska anthem ‘Guns of Navarone’ through to the Roots killer, The Abyssinians’ ‘Declaration of Rights’, to absolutely monster party tunes such as Michigan & Smiley’s ‘Nice Up The Dance’. It really doesn’t get any better than this.

                  TRACK LISTING

                  1. Theo Beckford – Easy Snapping
                  2. The Skatalites – Guns Of Navarone
                  3. Delroy Wilson – Dancing Mood
                  4. Michigan And Smiley – Nice Up The Dance
                  5. Heptones – Baby
                  6. The Abyssinians – Declaration Of Rights
                  7. Alton Ellis – I'm Still In Love With You
                  8. Tommy McCook – Tunnel One
                  9. Sugar Minott – Jah Jah Children
                  10. The Skatalites – Man In The Street
                  11. Dub Specialist – Banana Walk
                  12. Dennis Alcapone – Run Run
                  13. Larry Marshall – Nanny Goat
                  14. Brentford Allstars – Throw Me Corn
                  15. Lone Ranger – Love Bump
                  16. Jackie Mittoo – Freak Out

                  Various Artists

                  Soul Jazz Records Presents - 200% Dynamite! Ska, Soul, Rocksteady, Funk & Dub In Jamaica - 2024 Edition

                    Soul Jazz Records’ ‘200% DYNAMITE!’ set the benchmark for reggae-meets-funk compilations that has never been bettered. Jam-packed with reggae tunes that crossed over to become dancefloor hits, such as Tenor Saw’s soundboy anthem, ‘Ring the Alarm’, K.C. White’s classic cut of the seminal ‘No, No, No’ and Augustus Pablo’s ‘Rockers Rock’, ‘200% DYNAMITE’ explores the links between reggae, jazz, funk and soul.

                    Carrying on perfectly from ‘100% DYNAMITE’, this second compilation continues to trace the history of Jamaican reggae and the influence of American styles such as funk and jazz had on this music.

                    Featured here are serious funk and rocksteady tunes from the likes of The Skatalites and Johnny Osbourne through to Jamaican jazz from masters such as Tommy McCook and Byron Lee, as well as some serious dub from the likes of Augustus Pablo, King Tubby and Jackie Mittoo.

                    New bonus tracks on this updated 2023 edition include seminal dancehall party cuts Sister Nancy’s ‘One Two’ and Chaka Demus and Pliers’ ‘Murder She Wrote’, alongside classic soul to reggae covers including cuts of Marlena Shaw’s ‘Women of the Ghetto’ and Odyssey’s ‘Don’t Tell Me Tell Her’.

                    “In Soul Jazz’s outstanding ‘DYNAMITE!’ series, ‘200%’ is the head turner. The label has its finger on the pulse of the now just as surely as it does on that of the past.” - Pitchfork

                    TRACK LISTING

                    Augustus Pablo - Rockers Rock
                    K.C. White - No No No
                    Tenor Saw - Ring The Alarm
                    Johnny Osbourne - Bewitched
                    Pinchers - Agony
                    The Abyssinians - Mandela
                    Sister Nancy - One, Two
                    King Tubby Meets Tommy McCook And The
                    Aggrovators - King Tubby Dub
                    Chaka Demus & Pliers - Murder She Wrote
                    Johnny Osbourne - Ready Or Not
                    Jackie Mittoo - Earthquake
                    Sandra Reid - Don't Tell Me Tell Her
                    The Skatalites Meet King Tubby - Herb Man Dub
                    Kim Harriott - Woman Of The Ghetto

                    Beth Lesser

                    Dancehall - The Rise Of Jamaican Dancehall Culture - 15th Anniversary Edition

                      New edition of Beth Lesser’s seminal ‘DANCEHALL: The Rise Of Jamaican Dancehall Culture’. Features a new introduction by Duro Olowu.

                      15th anniversary edition on Soul Jazz Records of this now classic large format deluxe book - the definitive photography book and essential guide to Jamaican Dancehall in the 1980s, featuring 100s and 100s of amazing photographs, all with accompanying text, interviews and biographies.

                      ‘DANCEHALL’ is an essential reference book for anyone interested in Reggae and captures a previously unseen era of musical culture, fashion and lifestyle in stunning, vibrant colour.

                      Dancehall is a culture that encompasses music, fashion, drugs, guns, art, community, technology, and more. Born in the 1950s out of the neighbourhood soundsystems of Kingston, Dancehall grew to its height in the 1980s before a massive influx of drugs and guns made the scene too dangerous for many.

                      Today Dancehall remains at the centre of Jamaican musical and cultural life. From its roots in Kingston in the 1950s to its heyday in the 1980s, Dancehall conquered the globe spreading to the USA, UK, Canada, Japan, Europe and beyond.

                      In the early 1980s Jamaica was in the throes of political and gang violence - photographer Beth Lesser ventured where few other dared and this book is a never-before-seen record of the exciting, dangerous and vibrant world of Dancehall.

                      Living in Jamaica in the late 1970s and early 80s, Beth Lesser photographed and documented a cultural explosion as producers, singers, DJs and soundsystems who all made a living out of the slums of Kingston. With unprecedented access to the incredibly vibrant music scene during this period, Beth Lesser’s photographs are a unique way into a previously hidden part of Jamaican culture.

                      “Lesser’s book is a vibrant anthology of all that mattered; the soundsystems, singers, producers, singers and deejays.” - The Guardian

                      “This superb book of Beth Lesser’s photographs, supplemented by her emphatic text and wonderful candid interviews with many of the main players gives us a unique view straight to the heart of dancehall reggae.” - Steve Barrow, author of ‘Rough Guide To Reggae’

                      “This book features Dancehall and all its luminaries, with a backdrop of bass bins, heat-hazed colour and excellent knitwear, plus interviews, biographies and diversions into the music’s development.” - MOJO

                      “I love when I find a book that investigates a particular scene or sub-culture. Beth Lesser’s ‘DANCEHALL’ captures the Jamaican Dancehall culture of the 1980s with the same level of sincerity and curiosity that Brassai exhibited while capturing Paris nightlife in the 1930s.” - The Satorialist

                      Various Artists

                      Soul Jazz Records Present - Space Funk 2: Afro Futurist Electro Funk In Space 1976-84

                        You are about to embark on a new intergalactic journey into black space, fuelled by funk, powered by computers.

                        Soul Jazz Records’ new second collection of twisted hyperspace electro / funk ‘Space Funk 2: Afro Futurist Electro Funk in Space 1976-84’, continues its intergalactic journey. Featuring rare and off-the-wall space funk and electro rarities and obscurities, all released on small independent USA record labels in the late 1970s and 1980s.

                        Artists on this release include Alien Starr, Bobby Demo, Maggatron, Mid-City Crew, Tribe, Junie, Rich Cason and the Galactic Orchestra, and many more intergalactic space warriors.

                        The CD / 2LP comes in striking deluxe artwork featuring the radical African American model Pat Evans, who graced numerous album covers for The Ohio Players in the 1970s.

                        The space shuttle program has been altered, there are no star wars - only electro jam joyriders in space! Reactors are reacting, boosters are boosting, the countdown has started. This is space age bionic funk, programmed to make you dance.

                        TRACK LISTING

                        Alien Starr - Music-A-Lizer
                        Chance - Master Groove (Instrumental)
                        The Bobby Deemo Band - More Ounce Rap
                        Mack Simmons - Skin Tight
                        Maggotron - Computer Pop
                        Tribe - Vulcan Voyage
                        Command Performance - Breakdance
                        Junei - Let's Ride
                        The Graingers - Shine Your Light
                        Mid City Crew - Get Right
                        Chapter Three - Smurf Trek
                        X-Ray Vision - Video Control
                        Rich Cason And The Galactic Orchestra - Year 2001 Boogie
                        Frank James And Shadow - Summer Time

                        Various Artists

                        Soul Jazz Records Presents Holy Church Of The Ecstatic Soul - A Higher Power: Gospel, Funk & Soul At The Crossroads 1971-83

                          Soul Jazz Records’ ‘Holy Church of the Ecstatic Soul - A Higher Power - Gospel, Funk & Soul at the Crossroads 1971-83’ draws upon the extensive links between black American gospel music and soul music, showing how the sensibilities of gospel artists such as Shirley Caeser, Dorothy Norwood, Andrae Crouch and others crossed over into secular soul music during this period.

                          The album was first available as a long-sold out coloured vinyl edition for RSD 2023 and is now available on black double vinyl and for the first time on CD.

                          Many of the most successful soul artists - from Aretha Franklin to Al Green, The Staple Singers to Sam Cooke - all drew upon their upbringing in the church for their musical inspiration. This album discusses how important the links between the black church and soul music were in creating soul music and spotlights some of the many important (and also little-known) gospel artists who walked this line between sacred music and soul, funk and disco in the 1970s and early 1980s.

                          ‘Holy Church Of The Ecstatic Soul’ shows how sacred gospel music was at home with Stevie Wonder, Blaxploitation-style funk, and produced music celebrated both in New York’s underground discos (The Paradise Garage, Studio 54, etc) and later sampled by the likes of Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg and Mary J Blige.

                          “Curated with an obvious passion and sense of history, ‘Holy Church Of The Ecstatic Soul’ serves as the perfect intro to the funky spirituals that once served as the foundation for various schools of sound (Philly R&B, disco, soul) over the last 50 years.” - The Wire

                          TRACK LISTING

                          Andraé Crouch & The Disciples - Satisfied
                          Shirley Caesar - Jesus Children Of America
                          The Meditation Singers - Trouble's Brewin'
                          The Clark Sisters - You Brought The Sunshine
                          Dorothy Norwood - Let Your Feet Down Easy
                          Shirley Caesar - Jesus Is Coming
                          Swan Silvertones - If You Believe Your God Is Dead
                          The Alvin Darling Ensemble - Is There Anybody Here?
                          Roscoe Robinson - There's A Creator
                          Destiny - Nothing Can Stop Me Now
                          The Meditation Singers - Good Old Gospel Music
                          Keith Barrow - Everything Is Gonna Be Alright
                          Roscoe Robinson - Elijah
                          Dyson's Faces - Till I've Got This Feelin' Of Love
                          The Violinaires - The Upper Way
                          Leomia Boyd And The Gospel Music Makers - Higher In Jesus' Love
                          Keith Barrow - The Right Road Now

                          Various Artists

                          Soul Jazz Records Presents 'Miami Sound: Rare Funk & Soul From Florida 1967-1974' - 20th Anniversary Edition

                            New 20th anniversary edition of Soul Jazz Records’ long out-of-print ‘Miami Sound: Rare Funk & Soul from Miami, Florida, 1967-74’. The album has been unavailable for more than 15 years and is newly remastered.

                            Soul Jazz Records’ ‘Miami Sound’ features rare and classic funk and deep soul from Miami, Florida between 1967 and 1974. The album brings together million-selling artists such as Gwen McCrae, George McCrae and Timmy Thomas alongside artists little known outside of the sunshine state such as James Knight and The Butlers, Frank Williams And The Rocketeers and All The People.

                            Miami funk, soul and disco was dominated by TK Records, founded by Henry Stone in the early 1970s. Through myriad associated record labels such as Alston, Blue Candle, Dash, Glades, Cat and more, TK Records made international artists out of Gwen McRae and her brother George McRae, Betty Wright and KC and The Sunshine Band, all in the mid-1970s crossover period between soul and disco.

                            The music on this compilation shows the roots of this Miami sound. All the artists and musicians on this album worked together throughout the heyday of TK Records, when it produced hit after hit on an almost daily basis. The house band (the equivalent to Motown’s Funk Brothers) included songwriters such as Clarence Reid (AKA Blowfly, the adult comedian), Casey Finch (KC from KC and The Sunshine Band) along with musicians Little Beaver, Frank Williams and Robert Moore. As well as being the in-house band, most of these artists also ran successful solo careers, making Miami one of the most musically creative hot spots in the USA.

                            The artists on this compilation include Helene Smith, Miami’s first lady of Soul, Frank Williams and The Rocketeers (featuring a very young Little Beaver on vocals), George McRae’s rare groove classic ‘I Get Lifted’ (written by Casey Finch), Timmy Thomas’ truly experimental track ‘Funky Me’, Gwen McRae’s classic ‘90% Of Me Is You’, as well as a host of practically unknown Miami artists who never managed to make it outside the city borders.

                            TRACK LISTING

                            All The People - Cramp Your Style
                            Helene Smith - You Got To Be A Man
                            George McCrae - I Get Lifted
                            James Knight And The Butlers - Funky Cat
                            Gwen McCrae - 90% Of Me Is You
                            Little Beaver - Funkadelic Sound
                            James Knight And The Butlers - Save Me
                            Joey Gilmore - Do It To Me One More Time
                            Helene Smith - A Woman Will Do Wrong
                            James Knight And The Butlers - Fantasy World
                            Timmy Thomas - Funky Me
                            The New Clarence Reid - Cadillac Annie
                            Frank Williams And The Rocketeers - The Spanish Flyer
                            Della Humphrey - Don’t Make The Good Girls Go Bad
                            Frank Williams And The Rocketeers - You Got To Be A Man
                            Joey Gilmore - Somebody Done Took My Baby And Gone
                            Little Beaver - I Love The Way You Love

                            Electric Chairs

                            So Many Ways

                              One-off Soul Jazz Records’ collectors Punk 45 pressing. Comes in fold out paper sleeve and specially silk-screened Punk 45 outer sleeve.

                              Electric Chairs’ ‘So Many Ways’ is post-punk / funk at its height in 1979 - tough rhythms, avant-garde, addictively hypnotic and hypnotic. Two hard to find bomb tunes.

                              Superb exact reproduction of this excellent postpunk / funk mini masterpiece by the Electric Chairs, who were Wayne / Jayne County and the Electric Chairs until Wayne / Jayne County, true to their own song, ‘Fucked Off’. The Electric Chairs included in their line-up Henry Padovani, who joined the group after being chucked out of a new band called The Police (replaced by Andy Summers).

                              However, it’s the production skills of David Cunningham that sets this apart from most punk / post-punk singles. At the time Cunningham was working with a stunning array of avant-garde artists including This Heat, Michael Nyman, David Toop and his own ‘experimental pop group’, The Flying Lizards.

                              Electric Chair’s ‘So Many Ways’ features on Soul Jazz Records’ ‘Punk 45: I’m A Mess’.

                              TRACK LISTING

                              So Many Ways
                              J’Attends Les Marines

                              Various Artists

                              Soul Jazz Records Presents 'Studio One 007 - Licenced To Ska' Expanded Edition

                                Soul Jazz Records release a new expanded version of ‘Studio One 007 - Licenced to Ska: James Bond and other Film Soundtracks and TV Themes’, originally only available as a long deleted 7” RSD box set.

                                This new edition is fully remastered and expanded to a massive 18 super rare and killer cuts from the Studio One empire.

                                Featuring The Skatalites, Lee Perry, Jackie Mittoo, Bob Marley, The Wailers, Roland Alphonso and The Soul Brothers - rare and classic tracks from Jamaica’s no.1 record label, Studio One.

                                Extensive sleevenotes discuss the connections between James Bond, Jamaica and Ska music. Jamaica was the setting for ‘Dr. No’, ‘Live and Let Die’, ‘The Man with the Golden Gun’ and the recent ‘No Time to Die’, and the home for Bond’s creator, Ian Fleming. There is also an extended essay on The Skatalites and their post modern love and ska-ification of all styles of music, from classical music to TV themes, from detective movies to ‘Fiddler on the Roof’.

                                Aside from the James Bond-related cuts, this album also includes killer tracks from the secret agent 1969 spoof, ‘Our Man Flint’, the Clint Eastwood-starring Spaghetti Western, ‘Hang ‘Em High’, the Brazilian movie masterpiece, ‘Black Orpheus’, and more besides.

                                TRACK LISTING

                                Jackie Mittoo And The Soul Brothers - James Bond
                                The Skatalites - Dick Tracy
                                The Soul Brothers - James Bond Girl
                                The Skatalites - Guns Of Navarone Roland Alphonso And The Studio
                                One Orchestra - From Russia With Love
                                The Soul Brothers - Thunderball
                                Jackie Mittoo - Hang 'Em High
                                The Soul Brothers - Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
                                The Soul Brothers - 007
                                Lee Perry And The Wailers - Pussy Galore
                                The Soul Brothers - Mr. Flint
                                The Skatalites - Ball Of Fire
                                The Soul Brothers - James Bond Danger Man
                                The Soul Brothers - Lawman
                                The Skatalites - Black Orpheus
                                The Skatalites - Exodus
                                The Skatalites - Dr. Kildare
                                The Soul Brothers - Fiddler On The Roof

                                Carver Area High School Seniors

                                Get Live '83 (The Senior Rap)

                                  Out of print for over 40 years, this is a true rare 12” party hip-hop classic, reissued by Soul Jazz Records.

                                  Absolutely stunning very rare old school party disco rap 12” performed by members of the Chicago public high school, Carver High.

                                  Originally released in 1982 on their own private press label, Challenger Records.

                                  The track is the opening highlight of Soul Jazz Records’ recent ‘Yo! Boombox’ collection and is featured here in its full glorious seven and a half minutes and comes complete with exact replica of the striking original hand-drawn artwork.

                                  TRACK LISTING

                                  Get Live ’83 (The Senior Rap)
                                  The Carver Senior Song (Class Of ’83)

                                  Hawksmoor

                                  Telepathic Heights

                                    This incredible new release follows a path along the electronic skyways first created by the German Krautrock electronic pioneers of the 1970s, such as Cluster, Ash Ra Tempel, Roedelius and Michael Rother.

                                    Hawksmoor is James McKeown. He first created Hawksmoor five years ago as an imaginary hauntological soundtrack, inspired by the six Hawksmoor churches in London. Further releases have followed on Environmental Studies, the cassette-only label Spun Out of Control, Castles in Space and The Library of The Occult.

                                    For his debut on Soul Jazz Records, Hawksmoor has created a fascinating blend of these two sensibilities – a love of German electronic music of the 1970s alongside the British retrofuturism and cultural memory bank aesthetic of hauntology - Ghost Box, Mount Vernon Arts Lab, Advisory Circle, Focus Group, etc.

                                    Using strictly modular synths (Moog Sub37), electronic drum rhythms and guitars, Hawksmoor creates an electronic landscaped music world that is both new and old, immediately identifiable and yet utterly unique.

                                    TRACK LISTING

                                    Cycloid
                                    Nuclear Kites
                                    Praxis
                                    Telepathic Heights
                                    Athanasia
                                    A Neural Interval
                                    Synesius
                                    The City Ships Of Alpha
                                    Dream Logic
                                    Abstract Machines

                                    Various Artists

                                    Soul Jazz Records Presents Studio One Classics - 2023 Reissue

                                      ‘Studio One Classics’: Spanning 40 years of the legendary label, this album is a celebration of the music of Studio One Records and features a who’s who of Jamaican Reggae: Bob Marley, The Heptones, Horace Andy, Sugar Minott, Don Drummond, Prince Jazzbo and more. Comes in the striking ‘Wailers’ sleeve.

                                      Various Artists

                                      Soul Jazz Records Presents Studio One Rocksteady - 2023 Reissue

                                        ‘Studio One Rocksteady’: With excellent sleevenotes by Lloyd Bradley (author of the classic book ‘Bass Culture: When Reggae Was King’), this album is dedicated to rocksteady at Studio One, as well as covering reggae soul and the birth of reggae. Featuring an all-star selection of artists: Ken Boothe, Marcia Griffiths, Jackie Mittoo, The Heptones, John Holt, Alton Ellis, Dennis Brown and more. “Soul Jazz’s excellent collection… even without the history, the importance, and the ins and outs, this music isn’t as much of an intellectual pursuit as it is a pleasure in every note… tremendously tight vocal arrangements… just chock full of creativity, developing a unique sound in every single.” - Pitchfork

                                        Various Artists

                                        Soul Jazz Records Presents Studio One Ska Fever - 2023 Reissue

                                          ‘Studio One Ska Fever’: A blistering collection of ska tunes from Clement ‘Sir Coxsone’ Dodd’s legendary Studio One Records, Jamaica’s foundation label of reggae music. Featuring classic cuts from the originators of Ska - The Skatalites, The Wailers, Lee Perry - alongside a heavy dose of superb rarities from the mighty vaults of 13 Brentford Road.

                                          Various Artists

                                          Soul Jazz Records Presents Studio One Women - 2023 Reissue

                                            ‘Studio One Women’: Ska, rocksteady, funky reggae, roots, dub mixes, disco mixes, they’re all here from the queens of the Jamaican music scene - Studio One Women features a wide mix of classics and obscurities from the finest female voices in reggae. Until now most of these tracks have only ever been available as extremely hard to find Jamaican 7” and 12” singles, and even if you were lucky enough to find them, they’d cost you a small fortune.

                                            Dansette Damage

                                            The Only Sound / New Musical Express

                                              Super cool one-off collector’s pressing in a fold out paper sleeve and specially silk-screened ‘Punk 45’ outer sleeve.

                                              Exact reproduction of this excellent two-sider (double B-side) ‘The Only Sound’ / ‘New Musical Express’, the debut punk single by Dansette Damage from Birmingham, originally released on the tiny Shoestring Records in early 1978.

                                              The tracks were produced incognito by Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin. “Robert put all needles in the red which is why it sounds so raw! Also, we couldn’t sing and you can hear Robert’s high falsetto at the top end, trying to keep us lot in tune!” said the band.

                                              Original copies of this record sell for over £100, so here is a chance to see and hear what all the fuss is about.

                                              Dansette Damage’s ‘NME’ features on Soul Jazz Records’ ‘Punk 45: I’m A Mess’.

                                              TRACK LISTING

                                              The Only Sound
                                              New Musical Express

                                              Trees Speak

                                              Mind Maze

                                                ‘Mind Maze’ is the new album by Trees Speak on Soul Jazz Records.

                                                ‘Mind Maze’ is, amazingly, Trees Speak’s fifth album to be released on Soul Jazz Records in the space of little over two years - an output matched only by the intensity of their music created during this short time.

                                                As with all their previous releases, ‘Mind Maze’ is a mind-boggling tightrope walk across an array of musical influences that seamlessly create the unique present-day world of Trees Speak.

                                                The band’s sound is characterized by a combination of German Krautrock motoricbeat rhythms, angular New York post-punk attitude, 60s spy soundtracks, psych, rock, jazz, and 70s synthesizers and vocoders. There is also a cosmic spatial awareness to their sound, both personal inner space and galactic outer space, as well as a wilful pushing of sonic boundaries.

                                                Trees Speak are a musical duo based in Tucson, Arizona, composed of Daniel Martin Diaz and Damian Diaz. Their music is heavily influenced by the cosmic magic of the natural desert landscapes of Arizona, creating a unique and captivating sound that is both experimental and innovative. ‘Mind Maze’ was recorded in Brooklyn, New York with special guests Gabriel Sullivan, Alex Pope, Craig Dreyer, Ben Nisbet and Stephani Guilmette.

                                                Here you will find the myriad sounds of 1970s German electronic music (everything from CAN to Cluster, Popul Vuh to Tangerine Dream); 1980s New York post-punk and synthcore (from No Wave to Suicide); John Barry’s 1960s movies, John Carpenter’s 1970s horror. You will also hear the influences of French and Italian progressive rock (Magma, Goblin) as well as cosmic, new age and experimental space soundscapes … an almost endless list of diverse influences that ebb and flow like an ocean of sound, in the process creating a truly unique soundscape that Trees Speak have made wholly their own.

                                                The name Trees Speak reflects their interest in the concept of using future technologies to store information and data in trees and plants, with the idea that trees communicate collectively. This interest in nature and technology, combined with their passion for experimentation, has led Trees Speak to create a truly one-of-a-kind listening experience that is both unique and engaging.

                                                If you ever wanted to hear CAN, Neu!, Destroy All Monsters, Pere Ubu, electric eels, John Cage, Liquid Liquid, Tangerine Dream, Suicide, Laurie Spiegel, Art Ensemble of Chicago, John Barry, Mother Mallard’s Portable Masterpiece Company, Sun Ra, Stockhausen, John Carpenter, Electro-Acoustic and Musique Concrète and Mars in one band, then this is it! Trees Speak are a band that defies categorization and offer an eclectic listening experience, both exciting and memorable.

                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                Barry says: Despite their blistering work rate, Trees Speak manage to consistently come up with the goods for 'Much More Known For A Great Compilation' behemoth Soul Jazz records. Their latest treads similar ground to the past few for the label but as ever branch out beautifully into a few subsidiaries of their extremely well-heeled kosmische groove.

                                                TRACK LISTING

                                                Mind Maze
                                                Minotaur
                                                Syndrome
                                                Sospetto
                                                Illusions
                                                Scanner
                                                Burner
                                                Rare Earth
                                                Pathways
                                                Skip Breath
                                                Odyssey
                                                Passage
                                                Signals
                                                Black Phone
                                                Mirror
                                                Stone Tape

                                                Bonus 7” (SJRLP527 Only)
                                                Seraphim
                                                Orpheus

                                                Various Artists

                                                Soul Jazz Records Presents 'Space, Energy & Light' - 2023 Reissue

                                                  Soul Jazz Records’ ‘Space, Energy & Light’ is a collection of music by early electronic and synthesizer pioneers (from the 1960s through the 1970s), mid-1970s proto-new age gurus and 1980s guerrilla DIY cassette-era electronic artists, spanning in total over a near 30-year time frame. These artists used electronic advancements in music technology as a means of exploring not only space and the idea of the future but also of looking inwards to the soul and of creating music in harmony with the natural world.

                                                  From computer software and hardware experimentalists and sound pioneers such as Laurie Spiegel and Kevin Braheny, as well as Mother Mallard’s Portable Masterpiece Company - the first synthesizer ensemble created in collaboration with Robert Moog - through to the earliest musique concrète experimentation of Tod Dockstader, the album shows how technological advancements and creative artistic expression went hand in hand.

                                                  In the mid-1970s artists Steven Halpern and Iaxos were instrumental in creating proto-new age music, experimenting in both the healing properties of sound and its relationship with the natural world. These artists also pioneered a new self-contained and underground DIY approach to music, creating their own record labels, forming new distribution networks (with albums sold in meditation centres, health food stores and ashrams) far away from the commercialism of the mainstream music industry. In the early 1980s after the revolution of punk, these DIY attitudes and ideas appeared once more in the growth of the distinctly anti-commercial and underground cassetteonly careers of artists such as Germany’s Stratis and Carl Matthews in Britain.

                                                  Album artwork includes some of the earliest photography of the Plieades star cluster dating from the 1880s.

                                                  “Listening to ‘Space, Energy & Light’ in one sitting is a bit like experiencing constellations exploding within constellations inside your brain.” - Record Collector

                                                  TRACK LISTING

                                                  J.B. Banfi - Gang (For The Rock Industry)
                                                  Michael Garrison - To The Other Side Of The Sky
                                                  Iasos - Lueena Coast
                                                  Carl Matthews - As Above, So Below
                                                  Tim Blake - Midnight
                                                  Stratis - By Water
                                                  Laurie Spiegel - Improvisation On A ‘Concerto Generator’
                                                  Mother Mallard’s Portable
                                                  Masterpiece Company - Ceres Motion
                                                  Michael Stearns - In The Beginning
                                                  Beverly Glenn-Copeland - Ever New
                                                  Richard Pinhas - Variations VII Sur
                                                  Le Thème Des Bene Gesserit
                                                  Tod Dockstader - Piece #1
                                                  Kevin Braheny - Ancient Stars
                                                  Steven Halpern - Starborn Suite (Part 1)

                                                  Various Artists

                                                  Soul Jazz Records Presents Studio One Funk - 2023 Reissue

                                                    18 years on from its original release, ‘Studio One Funk’ remains one of Soul Jazz Records’ most in demand Studio One titles.

                                                    ‘Studio One Funk’ is made up of rare and unreleased reggae funk from the vaults of Studio One. Ever since the birth of funk in America, the sound has been an ever-present ingredient in the melting pot of Studio One’s musical output.

                                                    The music on this release is a combination of originals, US covers and versions of existing Studio One cuts. Jackie Mittoo shows his appreciation for Booker T and The MGs, the studio group at Memphis’ famous Stax Records, with ‘Hang ‘Em High’, itself a cover of a film soundtrack by Dominic Frontiere. Incredibly this version has never before been released. Booker T’s super funky ‘Melting Pot’ is also covered by the little-known Underground Vegetables.

                                                    Other versions include Isaac Hayes’ classic Blaxploitation soundtrack ‘Shaft’, again by Cedric Im Brooks, another unreleased gem, straight from the tape master. Motown gets a look in with Alton’s stripped-down version of the Spinners classic, ‘It’s A Shame’, written by Stevie Wonder and Syreeta.

                                                    James Brown is apparent in spirit with the JBs-inspired groove on the super rare cut, ‘Now’, by Lee Arab. Lloyd Williams similarly does a fine Kingston-style version of the hardest-working man in showbusiness on ‘Reggae Feet’.

                                                    Version-wise, we have ‘Idleberg’, Cedric Im Brooks’ tough instrumental cut on Horace Andy’s seminal ‘Skylarking’. The little-known Prince Moonie gives us a rare DJ cut of another Horace Andy classic, ‘See A Man’s Face’.

                                                    Pablove Black’s cut of Sidewalk Doctor (aka Poco Tempo) is one of a handful of Studio One releases featuring Augustus Pablo’s trademark instrument, the melodica, played by Black himself.

                                                    Add to these original cuts from Studio One’s heavyweight session players, including Leroy Sibbles, Jackie Mittoo, Leroy Sibbles, Eric Frater, Leroy ‘Horsemouth’ Wallace, Richard Ace, Vin Gordon and more, and you have one of the finest selections of reggae and funk you will ever hear.

                                                    “An absolute treasure trove for the collector as well as being great for the ears and feet. Jackie Mittoo's 'Hang Em High' is worth the price of the album on its own.” - Echoes

                                                    “A superb collection that shows how much many Jamaican musicians were influenced by the heavy funk belting out of American studios from the early seventies onwards.” - Touch

                                                    “The most satisfying listening experience so far in the Studio One series.” - The Wire

                                                    TRACK LISTING

                                                    Cedric Im Brooks - Shaft
                                                    Alton Ellis - African Descendants
                                                    Pablove Black - Poco Tempo
                                                    Lloyd Williams – Reggae Feet
                                                    Jackie Mittoo - Hang ‘Em High
                                                    Cedric Im Brooks - Idleberg
                                                    Prince Francis - Beat Down Babylon
                                                    Lee Arab - Now
                                                    Soul Bros - 007
                                                    Prince Moonie - See A Man’s Face
                                                    Im And Sound Dimension - Love Jah
                                                    Leroy Sibbles - Do Your Thing
                                                    The Sharks - Music Answer
                                                    Underground Vegetables - Melting Pot
                                                    Devon Russell - You Found Heaven
                                                    Vin Gordon - Steady Beat
                                                    Alton Ellis - It’s A Shame
                                                    Roy Richards - Another Day
                                                    Delroy Wilson - Funky Broadway

                                                    Count Ossie & The Mystic Revelation Of Rastafari

                                                    Tales Of Mozambique - 2023 Reissue

                                                      Count Ossie is the central character in the development of Rastafarian roots music, nowadays an almost mythical and iconic figure. His importance in bringing Rastafarian music to a populist audience is matched only by Bob Marley’s promotion of the faith internationally in the 1970s.

                                                      Count Ossie’s drummers performed on the first commercially released single to integrate Rastafarian traditional music with popular music: the vocal group The Folkes Brothers’ groundbreaking song ‘Oh Carolina’, recorded for producer Prince Buster in 1959. In 1966 his drummers greeted the momentous arrival of Haile Selassie at Kingston airport.

                                                      His legendary jam sessions up in his Rastafarian compound in the hills of Wareika, Kingston, are famous for the many Jamaican musicians who attended including The Skatalites players - Roland Alphonso, Don Drummond, Johnny Moore, Lloyd Knibbs - and many others.

                                                      The Mystic Revelation of Rastafari formed in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1970, a union of Count Ossie’s Rastafarian drummers - variously known as his African Drums, Wareikas or his Afro-Combo - and the saxophonist Cedric Im Brooks’ horns group, The Mystics.

                                                      The Mystic Revelation of Rastafari are the defining group in bringing authentic Rastafarian rhythms into the collective consciousness of popular music, their unique music is at once rooted in the deep traditions and rituals of traditional drumming and chanting alongside a forward-thinking, even avant-garde, artistry influenced by the likes of John Coltrane, Sun Ra, Pharoah Sanders and other pioneering African-American jazz artists radicalised and charged by the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

                                                      TRACK LISTING

                                                      Sam's Intro
                                                      Tales Of Mozambique
                                                      Selam Nna Wadada (Peace
                                                      And Love)
                                                      No Night In Zion
                                                      I Am A Warrior
                                                      Wicked Babylon
                                                      Let Freedom Reign
                                                      Lock, Stock & Barrell
                                                      Nigerian Reggae
                                                      Run One Mil
                                                      Rasta Reggae
                                                      Samia

                                                      Cedric Im Brooks / Sound Dimension

                                                      Mun Dun Go / Heavy Rock

                                                        Massive double header of two killer instrumental anthems from Brentford Road in the latest in a series of special edition 12”s of all-time classic Studio One party bombs, available on super loud 12”. Cedric Brooks’ ‘Mun Dun Go’ was first released onStudio One / Bamboo in the UK in 1970, and is an incredibly hypnotic tune, with original copies extremely rare and fetching up to £600. Shortly after this recording, saxophonist Brooks went on to form The Mystic Revelation of Rastafari with Count Ossie. On the flip, The Sound Dimension’s ‘Heavy Rock’is one of the foundation instrumental tunes of reggae music, endlessly versioned by dancehall artists - a true anthem. 100% essential monster Studio One tunes that rock any dancefloor.

                                                        TRACK LISTING

                                                        Cedric Im Brooks - Mun Dun Go
                                                        Sound Dimension - Heavy Rock

                                                        Willie Williams

                                                        No One Can Stop Us Now

                                                          Willie Williams’ seminal ’No One Can Stop UsNow’ is a cover of Ashford and Simpson’s soul /disco classic ‘Ain’t No Stopping Us Now’, and is simply one of the greatest, most soulful reggae / disco cuts ever made. This is the latest in the series of special edition 12”s of all-time classic Studio One party bombs available on super loud 12”. First released on Studio One in 1979, this party anthem features the sublime keyboards of Jackie Mittoo alongside the awesome studio group, The Brentford All Stars (here working under the name The Brentford Disco Set). 100% essential monster Studio One tunes that rock any dancefloor

                                                          TRACK LISTING

                                                          No One Can Stop Us Now
                                                          No One Can Stop Us Now (Version)

                                                          Various Artists

                                                          Soul Jazz Records Presents Punk 45: I'm A Mess - 2022 Reissue

                                                            Initially released in a deluxe vinyl-only edition (now totally sold out), Soul Jazz Records’ ‘Punk 45: I’m A Mess!’ is now released in standard double album vinyl (and for the first time on CD).

                                                            Soul Jazz Records’ long lasting ‘Punk 45’ series are high quality editions of early punk 45s. While previous editions have focused on the early days of punk in Los Angeles, Cleveland, Akron, France, and proto-punk, this new edition focuses on mainly do-it-yourself, or self-released 45s, all made in the UK in the early days of punk.

                                                            While only a handful of Punk 45s were released in 1976, the following two years produced an avalanche of them. Aside from the few punk bands who signed to major labels, many of these singles were self-released private press 45s or independent label 45s. With limited distribution and access to the media, many of these sunk without trace and were lost in history. This album features many of these independent punk 45 gems, lost nuggets of gold from the sea of time.

                                                            The bands featured here come from all across the United Kingdom. Here you will find The Drive, Scotland’s answer to the New York Dolls, Dansette Damage from Newcastle, Stormtrooper from the Isle of Wight and many more - a snapshot of some of the finest private press 45s ever made. Other bands include Cybermen, The Exile and Neon, as well as the early punk incarnations Johnny and The Self-Abusers (who later became Simple Minds) and The Killjoys (led by Kevin Rowland, who later formed Dexy’s Midnight Runners).

                                                            These are all one-off and super rare releases from bands that you have probably never heard of - totally hidden gems from the wastelands of the early days of punk. Totally in keeping with the spirit of the time, this is high octane and righteously independent.

                                                            TRACK LISTING

                                                            The Art Attacks - I Am A Dalek
                                                            The Drive - Jerkin
                                                            Johnny And The Self Abusers - Saints And Sinners
                                                            Trash - Priorities
                                                            The Carpettes - Help I'm Trapped
                                                            Stormtrooper - I'm A Mess
                                                            The Electric Chairs - So Many Ways
                                                            Social Security - I Don't Want My Heart To Rule My Head
                                                            Neon Hearts - Venus Eccentric
                                                            The Cybermen - Cybernetic Surgery
                                                            The Killjoys - Naive
                                                            The Reducers - Things Go Wrong
                                                            Johnny Moped - No One
                                                            Neon - Bottles
                                                            V2 - Speed Freak
                                                            The Exile - Fascist DJ
                                                            Lucy - Feel So Good
                                                            Machines - True Life
                                                            Dansette Damage - N.M.E.

                                                            Various Artists

                                                            Soul Jazz Records Presents Studio One Women - Anniversary Edition

                                                              Soul Jazz Records’ long out of print classic ‘Studio One Women’ collection is being re-released as a new 18th Anniversary edition.

                                                              18 years on from its original release, ‘Studio One Women’ remains one of the ‘Studio One’ series’ most in demand titles and, like all the earlier special coloured editions, is sure to sell out fast.

                                                              Ska, rocksteady, funky reggae, roots, dub mixes, disco mixes - they’re all here from the queens of the Jamaican music scene - ‘Studio One Women’ features a wide mix of classics and obscurities from the finest female voices in reggae.

                                                              Until now most of these tracks have only ever been available as extremely hard to find Jamaican 7” and 12” singles, and even if you were lucky enough to find them, they’d cost you a small fortune.

                                                              Marcia Griffiths and Rita Marley (here with her first group, The Soulettes, whose iconic image features on the cover) are two of Jamaica’s most famous female singers, hugely popular today. Both artists became internationally famous as The I - Threes (along with Judy Mowatt), Bob Marley’s backing singers alongside The Wailers. Also featured are Hortense Ellis, sister of Alton, who cut many smash hits on the island, and Jennifer Lara, a lady who had a long career with Studio One, singing on countless sides.

                                                              ‘Studio One Women’ refers not just to the small selection of artists featured here but also to those who took integral roles throughout the Studio One empire, starting with Doris Darlington, mother of Clement Dodd. Sir Coxsone’s Downbeat Soundsystem, which ruled the dancehalls of Kingston throughout the 1950s and 60s, started off as the musical entertainment for customers of Mrs Darlington’s Nannys Bar.

                                                              Clement Dodd often referred to his mother as ‘Jamaica’s first female DJ’, as she would play records at the bar whenever he was on trips to the US, hunting down R&B records. Other important women behind the scenes included Norma Dodd (wife of Clement), whose sleevenotes featured on many Studio One releases, and Enid Cumberland who, as well as being a successful artist (half of the duo Keith and Enid), taught harmony in the studio and ran the studio shop.

                                                              It would also be impossible not to mention Sister Ignatius, who ran the infamous Alpha Boys School for over 50 years, encouraging students which included Tommy McCook, Johnny ‘Dizzy’ Moore, Lester Sterling and Don Drummond, Theo Beckford, Cedric Brooks, Johnny Osbourne and countless other musicians and artists to excel at music, and many of whom became integral to the success of Studio One.

                                                              TRACK LISTING

                                                              Claudette McLean - Give Love Another Try
                                                              Jennifer Lara - My Man
                                                              The Soulettes - A Deh Pon Dem
                                                              Della Humphrey - Dream Land
                                                              Jennifer Lara - Consider Me
                                                              Denise Darlington - War No Right
                                                              Hortense Ellis - I’m Just A Girl
                                                              Angela Prince - No Bother With No Fuss
                                                              Jerry Jones - There’s A Chance For Me
                                                              The Soulettes - King Street
                                                              Jennifer Lara - Tell Me Where
                                                              The Tonettes - I’ll Give It To You
                                                              Marcia Griffiths - Tell Me Now
                                                              The Jay Tees - Come To Me
                                                              Angela Prince - You A Fool Boy
                                                              Jennifer Lara - I Am In Love

                                                              Steve Reid

                                                              Odyssey Of The Oblong Square - 2022 Reissue

                                                                New special one-off pressing gold CD / gold vinyl edition of this deep spiritual jazz classic.

                                                                Drummer legend extraordinaire, Vietnam conscientious objector, ex- Black Panther, Steve Reid has played with everyone from James Brown to Sun Ra, Fela Kuti and Miles Davis, was a friend of John Coltrane, worked at Motown and, in the latter part of his career, worked extensively with Kieran Hebden, following his path of a radical, revolutionary music up until his untimely death in 2010.

                                                                Soul Jazz Records are re-releasing this rarest release of deep heavyweight jazz by Steve Reid and The Master Brotherhood, entitled ‘Odyssey of the Oblong Square’, first released over thirty five years ago on Steve Reid’s own Mustevic Sound record label (where it came out in an edition of 1000 copies) and has been a serious collector’s album ever since.

                                                                Steve Reid became known worldwide for his radical collaborations with Kieran Hebden after they first recorded together on the Steve Reid Ensemble album, ‘Spirit Walk’, released on Soul Jazz in 2005, releasing five joint releases together in the following years.

                                                                Steve Reid is steeped in musical history and a true pioneer of US deep leftfield jazz. He played in Sun Ra’s Arkestra, was a Motown session drummer and backed James Brown at the Apollo. He was a Black Panther, imprisoned during the Vietnam war as a conscientious objector and lived in Africa in the early 1970s. Reid worked with Freddie Hubbard, Gary Bartz, Ornette Coleman, Lester Bowie, Fela Kuti, Leon Thomas, Miles Davis and many more in his long illustrious and groundbreaking career.

                                                                TRACK LISTING

                                                                1. Odyssey Theme
                                                                2. Deacon’s Son
                                                                3. Odyssey Sweet
                                                                4. Ginsameng

                                                                Various Artists

                                                                Soul Jazz Records Presents - Disco Reggae Rockers

                                                                  ‘Disco Reggae Rockers’ features wicked reggae disco versions of funk, soul and disco classics.

                                                                  This new album follows on from Soul Jazz Records’ earlier highly successful ‘Hustle: Disco Reggae’ and features reggae covers of classic songs by Earth, Wind and Fire, Michael Jackson, The Isley Brothers, Candi Staton, Curtis Mayfield and more, as performed by Derrick Harriott, Devon Russell, Hortense Ellis, Glen Adams, Dave Barker and others.

                                                                  The most straightforward definition of ‘Disco Reggae’ is to describe it as American disco and soul songs covered by reggae artists. But the relationship is binary – this is no mere subservient island appreciation of North American dominant culture but instead an example of the interweaving thread of Jamaican and American music that travels back and forth between the major cities of Kingston, London, Toronto, New York, Chicago and Philadelphia.

                                                                  TRACK LISTING

                                                                  Devon Russell - Move On Up
                                                                  Crashers - Flight To Jamaica
                                                                  Valerie Harrison - Fool’s Paradise
                                                                  Bill Campbell - For The Love Of You
                                                                  Risco Connection - It’s My House
                                                                  Dave Barker - Glow Of Love
                                                                  Derrick Harriott - Caught You In A Lie
                                                                  Hortense Ellis - Young Hearts Run Free
                                                                  Ed Watson And Brass Circle - Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’
                                                                  Devon Russell - We The People Who Are Darker Than Blue
                                                                  Seventh Extension - Reasons
                                                                  Derrick Harriott - Brown Baby
                                                                  Ed Watson And Brass Circle - Let’s Groove
                                                                  Pete Campbell & The Sunshine Girls - Don’t Let Love Get You Down
                                                                  Webby Jay - In The Rain
                                                                  Glen Adams Affair - Just A Groove

                                                                  The Mystic Revelation Of Rastafari

                                                                  Grounation - 2022 Reissue

                                                                    Like Sun Ra’s Arkestra and John Coltrane are to jazz, the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari are to reggae - the ultimate expression of roots music and Rastafarian ideology in reggae music, music functioning at a high level of spiritual consciousness combined with an equally avantgarde and forward-looking approach to sound.

                                                                    The group’s stunning, unique and groundbreaking 1973 album, ‘Grounation’, a mighty conceptual triple album (the first ever reggae triple) is, similar to Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’, a definitive all-encompassing cultural statement of its time and place. A sprawling album of raw and unique cultural expression that combined Rastafari consciousness with deep spiritual jazz music - an absolute and essential classic of Reggae music.

                                                                    The Mystic Revelation of Rastafari group came into existence at the start of 1970s, the union of two artists (and groups) of equal repute - Count Ossie and his African Drums and saxophonist Cedric ‘Im’ Brooks’ and his group, The Mystics. Both Ossie and Brooks were alumni from the great Studio One Records.

                                                                    Master drummer Count Ossie and his collective of Rastafarian drummers performed for Haile Selassie on his momentous visit to Jamaica in 1966. Cedric Brooks came out of the Alpha Boys School - the fertile breeding ground of musicians who dominated the Jamaican music scene from the 1960s onwards: Tommy McCook, Don Drummond, Johnny Moore, Headley Bennett, Johnny Osbourne, Yellowman, Leroy Smart, Bobby Ellis, Joe Harriott, Eddie Thornton, Vin Gordon, Rico Rodriguez, Owen Gray, Leroy ‘Horsemouth’ Wallace and more.

                                                                    The Mystic Revelation of Rastafari’s ‘Grounation’ is a massive opus, a work of profound musical genius that tells the story of Jamaica through music and words. The album is a cornerstone in the history of reggae, a unique and other-worldly album the like of which has never been made since.

                                                                    TRACK LISTING

                                                                    2CD / 3LP
                                                                    Bongo Man
                                                                    Narration
                                                                    Narration Continued
                                                                    Mabrat (Passin Thru)
                                                                    Poem
                                                                    Four Hundred Years
                                                                    Poem II
                                                                    Song
                                                                    Lumba
                                                                    Way Back Home
                                                                    Ethiopian Serenade
                                                                    Oh Carolina
                                                                    So Long
                                                                    Grounation
                                                                    Grounation Continued
                                                                    Bonus 7” Single (With Box Set Version Only)
                                                                    Blacker Black
                                                                    Grounation

                                                                    Fast Eddie

                                                                    Shake A Tail Feather

                                                                      Collection of the lost recordings of Fast Eddie, one of the most exciting live bands of the early 1980s Rhythm ‘n’ Soul-fuelled Mod Revival.

                                                                      From Billericay, the band followed in the wake of Thames Delta Blues pioneers Dr. Feelgood, originally playing raw, authentic R&B before expanding their sound to incorporate club soul and a broader palette of influences and sounds.

                                                                      Originally produced and managed by legendary label man and broadcaster Eddie Piller, founder of Acid Jazz, who released their first single on his first own Well Suspect marque in 1982.

                                                                      An exciting collection of Mod-Revival-era tunes, and an important document of the wider Mod Revival and Acid Jazz Records story.

                                                                      TRACK LISTING

                                                                      Shake A Tail Feather
                                                                      I Don’t Need No Doctor
                                                                      Sugar Coated Love
                                                                      Sweet Sensation
                                                                      Turn On Your Love Light
                                                                      Vicinity
                                                                      My Babe
                                                                      Ninety-Nine & A Half
                                                                      Out Of Sight
                                                                      Fever
                                                                      Keep Your Hands Off It
                                                                      Teenie Bit Of Your Love *
                                                                      Barefootin’
                                                                      Hit The Road Jack
                                                                      36-22-36
                                                                      Homework
                                                                      Treat Her Right *
                                                                      Land Of 1000 Dances *
                                                                      Little Suzy (Instrumental) *
                                                                      Help Me *
                                                                      * = CD Only Track

                                                                      Various Artists

                                                                      Soul Jazz Records Presents Studio One Music Lab

                                                                        This new Studio collection on Soul Jazz Records delves deep into a melting pot world of reggae and funk and dub created at the music laboratory of 13 Brentford Road, Kingston in the 1970s - an intense collaboration of crack musicians, singers, DJs and engineers under the guidance of producer Clement ‘Coxsone’ Dodd.

                                                                        Here you will find some of the deepest and rawest cuts to emanate out the Studio One factory - truly hypnotic rhythms, powerful funk guitar and bass, soaring horns and more interspersed with occasional vocals and toasting as musicians reach for the highest heights and deepest roots of reggae music.

                                                                        Some of these tunes here are rare and classic versions to seminal Studio One vocal cuts from the likes of Horace Andy and Hortense Ellis. There is also a wealth of cuts from simply the greatest musicians ever to come out of Jamaica (let alone Studio One). These include Jackie Mittoo, Roland Alphonso, Cedric Brooks, Ernest Ranglin and the Brentford All-Stars. You’ll find straight up funk bombs such as Lennie Hibbert’s mindblowing ‘Go For Yourself’ (sounding like The Meters meets James Brown), the Brentford All-Stars covering War’s classic ‘The World is a Ghetto’, and Jackie Mittoo showing how to make Cream’s ‘Sunshine of Your Love’ into a reggae funk bomb.

                                                                        All of these sit beside super-deep roots and dub cuts that exemplify together how Studio One was unique in Clement Dodd’s pioneering vision of reggae, the music created functioning with a continuous level of experimentation that blurred the lines between genres and pushed the outer limits of reggae music at all times. This album is deep.

                                                                        The album comes with extensive sleeve notes by Steve Barker

                                                                        TRACK LISTING

                                                                        Hortense And The Sound Dimension -
                                                                        People Make The World Go Round Version
                                                                        Leroy Wallace And The New Establishment -
                                                                        Far Beyond Version
                                                                        Sound Dimension - Face Man Version
                                                                        Fabian & The Vibes - Mother And Child (Part
                                                                        2)
                                                                        Lennie Hibbert - Go For Yourself
                                                                        Dub Specialist - Chainey Roots
                                                                        Brentford All Stars - The World Is A Ghetto
                                                                        The Jay Tees And Brentford Rockers -
                                                                        Forward To Jah (Part 2)
                                                                        Roy Richards - Summertime
                                                                        Lennie Hibbert - Snow Bird
                                                                        Pablov Black - Dread Head
                                                                        Cedric Im Brooks - Glory To Sound
                                                                        Jackie Mittoo - Lazy Bones
                                                                        Dub Specialist - Message From Dub
                                                                        Jackie Mittoo - Sunshine Of Your Love
                                                                        Roland Alphonso - Tenor Man Trip
                                                                        Ernest And The Sound Dimension - Surfin’

                                                                        Various Artists

                                                                        Soul Jazz Records Presents: Deutsche Elektronische Musik 2

                                                                          "A near-definitive guide to some of the world's most extraordinary music." - The Guardian

                                                                          ‘Deutsche Elektronische Musik 2’ is the second voyage into the world of Krautrock and German electronic music from the 1970s and early 1980s.

                                                                          Two double LPs (with over 2½ hours of amazing music) featuring a stunning line-up of seminal German groups, including Can, Faust, Popul Vuh, Neu!, Cluster, Amon Düül II and La Düsseldorf, as well as a host of lesser known and more obscure groups and artists, such as Agitation Free, Bröselmaschine, Niagara and many more.

                                                                          As well as the original pioneers, ‘Deutsche Elektronische Musik 2’ also features many of the second wave of German electronic artists and groups from the late 70s and early 80s (DAF, Asmus Tietchens, Rolf Trostel), who successfully connected new wave, minimal synth and a European post punk avant-gardism with the earlier more established Krautrock pioneers who began at the start of the 70s.

                                                                          Influenced as much by the electronic experimentalism of Stockhausen as the progressive rock of USA and UK underground rock, young German artists seamlessly created a new music with its own unique identity, which they ironically entitled Krautrock. By the end of the 1970s, with the arrival of new wave synthetics and complex drum machines, this music had mutated once again into new electronic visions reflecting a new Germany.

                                                                          TRACK LISTING

                                                                          Disc 1
                                                                          A.R. & Machines - Globus Im Selben Boot
                                                                          Can - Halleluwah
                                                                          Roedelius - Le Jardin
                                                                          Michael Rother - Karussell
                                                                          Michael Hoenig - Sun And Moon
                                                                          Agitation Free - You Play For Us Today
                                                                          D.A.F. - Co Co Pino
                                                                          Harald Grosskopf - Emphasis
                                                                          Amon Düül II - A Morning Excuse
                                                                          Conrad Schnitzler And Wolf
                                                                          Sequenza - Fata Morgana
                                                                          Bröselmaschine - Nossa Bova
                                                                          Eno, Moebius And Roedelius - Base & Apex
                                                                          Gila - In A Sacred Manner
                                                                          Wolfgang Riechmann - Himmelblau

                                                                          Disc 2
                                                                          A.R. & Machines - Als Hätt Ich
                                                                          Das Alles Schon Mal Gesehen
                                                                          Gila - Sundance Chant
                                                                          Neu! - Isi
                                                                          Pyrolator - Danger Cruising
                                                                          Sergius Golowin - Die Weisse Alm
                                                                          You - Electric Day
                                                                          Niagara - Gibli
                                                                          Rolf Trostel - Der Prophet
                                                                          Electric Sandwich - China
                                                                          Asmus Tietchens - Zeebrugge
                                                                          Faust - Krautrock

                                                                          Various Artists

                                                                          Soul Jazz Records Presents: Deutsche Elektronische Musik 2 - Part B

                                                                            "A near-definitive guide to some of the world's most extraordinary music." - The Guardian

                                                                            Soul Jazz Records’ ‘Deutsche Elektronische Music Volume 2’ is now available as two separate double LPs for the first time in over 10 years.

                                                                            ‘Deutsche Elektronische Musik 2’ is the second voyage into the world of Krautrock and German electronic music from the 1970s and early 1980s.

                                                                            Two double LPs (with over 2½ hours of amazing music) featuring a stunning line-up of seminal German groups, including Can, Faust, Popul Vuh, Neu!, Cluster, Amon Düül II and La Düsseldorf, as well as a host of lesser known and more obscure groups and artists, such as Agitation Free, Bröselmaschine, Niagara and many more.

                                                                            As well as the original pioneers, ‘Deutsche Elektronische Musik 2’ also features many of the second wave of German electronic artists and groups from the late 70s and early 80s (DAF, Asmus Tietchens, Rolf Trostel), who successfully connected new wave, minimal synth and a European post punk avant-gardism with the earlier more established Krautrock pioneers who began at the start of the 70s.

                                                                            Influenced as much by the electronic experimentalism of Stockhausen as the progressive rock of USA and UK underground rock, young German artists seamlessly created a new music with its own unique identity, which they ironically entitled Krautrock. By the end of the 1970s, with the arrival of new wave synthetics and complex drum machines, this music had mutated once again into new electronic visions reflecting a new Germany.

                                                                            The vinyl edition comes in two volumes of heavyweight, superloud vinyl double LPs, featuring full sleevenotes and text.

                                                                            TRACK LISTING

                                                                            A.R. & Machines - Als Hätt Ich
                                                                            Das Alles Schon Mal Gesehen
                                                                            Gila - Sundance Chant
                                                                            Neu! - Isi
                                                                            Pyrolator - Danger Cruising
                                                                            Sergius Golowin - Die Weisse Alm
                                                                            You - Electric Day
                                                                            Niagara - Gibli
                                                                            Rolf Trostel - Der Prophet
                                                                            Electric Sandwich - China
                                                                            Asmus Tietchens - Zeebrugge
                                                                            Faust - Krautrock

                                                                            Various Artists

                                                                            Soul Jazz Records Presents: Deutsche Elektronische Musik 2 - Part A

                                                                              "A near-definitive guide to some of the world's most extraordinary music." - The Guardian

                                                                              Soul Jazz Records’ ‘Deutsche Elektronische Music Volume 2’ is now available as two separate double LPs for the first time in over 10 years.

                                                                              ‘Deutsche Elektronische Musik 2’ is the second voyage into the world of Krautrock and German electronic music from the 1970s and early 1980s.

                                                                              Two double LPs (with over 2½ hours of amazing music) featuring a stunning line-up of seminal German groups, including Can, Faust, Popul Vuh, Neu!, Cluster, Amon Düül II and La Düsseldorf, as well as a host of lesser known and more obscure groups and artists, such as Agitation Free, Bröselmaschine, Niagara and many more.

                                                                              As well as the original pioneers, ‘Deutsche Elektronische Musik 2’ also features many of the second wave of German electronic artists and groups from the late 70s and early 80s (DAF, Asmus Tietchens, Rolf Trostel), who successfully connected new wave, minimal synth and a European post punk avant-gardism with the earlier more established Krautrock pioneers who began at the start of the 70s.

                                                                              Influenced as much by the electronic experimentalism of Stockhausen as the progressive rock of USA and UK underground rock, young German artists seamlessly created a new music with its own unique identity, which they ironically entitled Krautrock. By the end of the 1970s, with the arrival of new wave synthetics and complex drum machines, this music had mutated once again into new electronic visions reflecting a new Germany.

                                                                              The vinyl edition comes in two volumes of heavyweight, superloud vinyl double LPs, featuring full sleevenotes and text.

                                                                              TRACK LISTING

                                                                              A.R. & Machines - Globus Im Selben Boot
                                                                              Can - Halleluwah
                                                                              Roedelius - Le Jardin
                                                                              Michael Rother - Karussell
                                                                              Michael Hoenig - Sun And Moon
                                                                              Agitation Free - You Play For Us Today
                                                                              D.A.F. - Co Co Pino
                                                                              Harald Grosskopf - Emphasis
                                                                              Amon Düül II - A Morning Excuse
                                                                              Conrad Schnitzler And Wolf Sequenza - Fata Morgana
                                                                              Bröselmaschine - Nossa Bova
                                                                              Eno, Moebius And Roedelius - Base & Apex
                                                                              Gila - In A Sacred Manner
                                                                              Wolfgang Riechmann - Himmelblau

                                                                              Inell Young

                                                                              The Next Ball Game

                                                                                One of three monster New Orleans Funk 45s rereleased by Soul Jazz Records.

                                                                                Only ever exclusively available on the Soul Jazz Records site and long out of print, these new 45s are pristine loud dancefloor fillers housed in a Soul Jazz recycled card house bag.

                                                                                Inell Young’s searing vocal performance backed by the unbelievably funky James Black’s seriously awesome second-line syncopated drumming. The three funkiest drummers in the world are the Meters’ Zigaboo Modeliste, James Brown’s Clyde Stubblefield, and James Black.

                                                                                An awesome Eddie Bo arrangement and production. 100% essential.

                                                                                TRACK LISTING

                                                                                The Next Ball Game
                                                                                Part Of The Game

                                                                                Various Artists

                                                                                Studio One Rockers - 2022 Reissue

                                                                                  Soul Jazz do it again with this awesome Studio One compilation that follows Jamaican music from ska, via rocksteady, reggae, deejay and dub to early dancehall. Featured here are many of the classic tracks from Studio One. From Dawn Penn's legendary "No, No, No" to classics such as Horace Andy's "Skylarking" and Marcia Griffith's "Feel Like Jumping". The Coxsone Soundsystem in the early 60s was one of the three main soundsystems operating in Jamaica alongside his competitors, Prince Buster and Duke Reid. The Studio One catalogue is possibly the largest in Jamaican music and this release is the first in a series of Studio One compilations on Soul Jazz Records. This album comes with an in depth interview with Mr C.S. Dodd, about how he set up and ran his record label in the 1960s and 1970s. Absolutely essential.

                                                                                  TRACK LISTING

                                                                                  1. Sound Dimension - Real Rock
                                                                                  2. Marcia Griffiths - Feel Like Jumping
                                                                                  3. Freddy Mcgregor - Bobby Babylon
                                                                                  4. Horace Andy - Skylarking
                                                                                  5. Lennie Hibbert - Village Soul
                                                                                  6. Brentford All-Stars - Greedy G
                                                                                  7. Johnny Osbourne - Truth And Rights
                                                                                  8. Ernest Ranglin - Surfin
                                                                                  9. Michigan & Smiley - Eye Of Danger
                                                                                  10. Dawn Penn - No, No, No
                                                                                  11. The Skatalites - Phoenix City
                                                                                  12. Prince Jazzbo - Crabwalking
                                                                                  13. Jackie Mittoo - Hot Milk
                                                                                  14. Lone Ranger - Badder Dan Dem
                                                                                  15. Cedric Brooks - Ethiopia

                                                                                  The Explosions

                                                                                  Garden Of Four Trees - 2022 Reissue

                                                                                    One of three monster New Orleans Funk 45s re-released by Soul Jazz Records.

                                                                                    Only ever exclusively available on the Soul Jazz Records site and long out of print, these new 45s are pristine loud dancefloor fillers housed in a Soul Jazz recycled card house bag.

                                                                                    You could buy the one original copy currently on the internet for £1,200… or buy this!

                                                                                    Seminal New Orleans Eddie Bo production from the near legendary group The Explosions, featuring the powerhouse funk soul sister vocals of Juanita Brooks.

                                                                                    Impossible to find, and also features the deep soul ballad ‘Teach Me’ on the B-side.

                                                                                    TRACK LISTING

                                                                                    Garden Of Four Trees
                                                                                    Teach Me

                                                                                    Brown Sugar

                                                                                    Black Pride

                                                                                      ‘Black Pride’ is the seminal Lovers Rock tune from Brown Sugar, pressed loud for the first ever time on this new one-off press edition 12” on Soul Jazz Records.

                                                                                      Brown Sugar formed in London in 1976, made up of teenagers Pauline Catlin, Caron Wheeler and Carol Simms. After Brown Sugar, Caron Wheeler became known worldwide as the vocalist in Soul II Soul, and Carol Simms launched a successful solo career under the name Kofi. 

                                                                                      ‘Black Pride’ was originally released on the Lovers Rock label, a fledgling reggae label formed by musicians Dennis Bovell and John Kpiaye and producer Dennis Harris. Brown Sugar were unique - not only were they one of the most important of the first wave of lovers rock groups, they were also the only group who managed to successfully blend together a reggae roots consciousness with a lovers rock sensibility. The classic ‘Black Pride’ perfectly reflects this unique sound.

                                                                                      STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                      Martin says: As lover's rock fever takes over one of the seminal hits of the genre is given a timely repress from the good folks at Soul Jazz

                                                                                      TRACK LISTING

                                                                                      A. Black Pride
                                                                                      B. Proud

                                                                                      Various Artists

                                                                                      Soul Jazz Records Presents Studio One Women Vol. 2

                                                                                        Soul Jazz Records follows up one of their most popular Studio One releases with a brand new selection of rare and classic releases by women in reggae. Featuring legendary artists such as Marcia Griffiths, Rita Marley and Hortense Ellis (with a guest appearance by her brother Alton), alongside a host of rarities from lesser-known names such as Nina Soul, Nana Mclean, Denise Darlington, Myrna Hague and also Doreen Schaeffer, a vocalist who was a founding member of The Skatalites.

                                                                                        There are notable covers, from Tyrone Davis’ soul classic ‘Can I Change My Mind’ to The Band’s 60s psychedelic classic ‘Turn Turn Turn’ in a rub-a-dub style. Doreen Schaeffer reversions Alton Ellis’s seminal ‘I’m Still In Love With You’, Nina Soul reversions the slack rocksteady anthem ‘Barb Wire’. A number of these tracks are almost impossible to find, and many have never been issued ever since their initial release.

                                                                                        The music on the album is of course 100% killer and features backing from all of the seminal groups at 13 Brentford Road, including The Skatalites, Sound Dimension, Soul Brothers and the Brentford All Stars, and ranges from ska, rocksteady, roots, lovers and more from the 60s, 70s and 80s. All produced by Clement ‘Sir Coxsone’ Dodd at Studio One Records, the number one sound in reggae music.

                                                                                        TRACK LISTING

                                                                                        Hortense Ellis - Can I Change My Mind
                                                                                        Marcia Griffiths- Melody Life
                                                                                        Myrna Hague - New World
                                                                                        Marcia Griffiths - Shimmering Star
                                                                                        Nora Dean - Heartaches
                                                                                        The Jay Tees - Buck Town Corner
                                                                                        Jennifer Lara - Turn Turn Turn
                                                                                        Doreen & Alton - I’m Still In Love
                                                                                        Doreen Schaeffer - Sugar Sugar
                                                                                        Denise Darlington - Feel So Good
                                                                                        Angela Prince - My Man Is Gone
                                                                                        Nana McLean - Till I Kissed You
                                                                                        Nina Soul - Barb Wire
                                                                                        Jackie And Doreen - Welcome You Back Home
                                                                                        Nina Soul - Sleeping Trees
                                                                                        Rita Marley - Friends And Lovers
                                                                                        Hortense Ellis - Secretly
                                                                                        Marcia Griffiths - You’re No Good

                                                                                        Dawn Penn

                                                                                        No, No, No

                                                                                          Stone-cold classic - the ultimate Studio One tune and the ultimate rhythm & blues / soul to reggae cut, as Dawn Penn vamps on Bo Diddley and Willie Cobbs. Floorshaking, speaker-busting seminal tune.

                                                                                          First time ever on 12”.

                                                                                          Cut super loud, and with a killer dub version on the flip.

                                                                                          STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                          Matt says: THE ORIGINAL RIDDIM!!! Depending on your age and however you got to this tune (there are many covers, but I'm sure The Fugees might be one of the most recognized) you may not have heard Dub Specialist's monumental (and earth shaking) dub. A timeless and as powerful a slice of dub as anything the genre has produced. It's one of those, every-home-needs-one records.

                                                                                          TRACK LISTING

                                                                                          Dawn Penn - No, No, No
                                                                                          Dub Specialist - Creator Version (No, No, No Dub)

                                                                                          The Winstons

                                                                                          Color Him Father

                                                                                            What do Tyler the Creator, Mantronix, Stetsasonic, DJ Shadow, Eric B and Rakim, Brand Nubian, Jay-Z and N.W.A. have in common? How about UK Apachi and Shy FX, DJ Zinc, Bukem, Ganja Kru, Lemon D Ice, Dillinga, Photek, 4-Hero, Congo Natty, Krome and Time, Roni Size, Skream and Shut Up and Dance? Not to mention The Prodigy, Squarepusher, Leftfield, Oasis, Aphex Twin, Calvin Harris, Dua Lipa, David Bowie, Primal Scream, Lady Gaga and Dizzee Rascal?

                                                                                            Answer: They have all sampled The Winstons’ ‘Amen, Brother’, the most sampled drum break in the history of music (over 5000+ according to whosampled.com), it has shaped the history of electronic music ever since its creation in 1969.

                                                                                            This is the official release of the Winston’s ‘Color Him Father’ album, out of print for fifty years on vinyl, a glorious, break-heavy album of soul, funk and gospel featuring the tracks ‘Color Him Father’, ‘Amen, Brother’ and loads more.

                                                                                            The fully remastered album is housed in exact-reproduction original sleeve and design and comes with 4 extra bonus tracks that the group released only as singles. There is also a very special one-off, first pressing only of this album that comes with an exclusive one-sided dubplate special 12” of ‘Amen, Brother’ featuring a specially extended break mix of the classic tune.

                                                                                            The Winstons’ ‘Amen, Brother’ was originally the B-side to ‘Color Him Father’, a superb soul tune released by a multi-racial group from Washington, DC, in 1969. The drum break was played by George GC Coleman, and the song was based on a Curtis Mayfield guitar riff. The soul connection was no coincidence. The Winstons were formed from the backing groups to both Otis Redding and Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions before they came into their own spotlight. The Winstons signed to Mayfield’s Curtom Records in Chicago in 1968. Drummer extraordinaire GC Coleman had already played with The Marvelettes, Otis Redding and Curtis Mayfield (and in the 1970s would play with the funk group Brick).

                                                                                            ‘Color Him Father’ became a million-selling Number 1 R&B hit single in the US and the following year The Winstons released their debut (and only) album, also entitled ‘Color Him Father’, on Metromedia Records, featuring both sides of the single alongside nine other excellent soul, funk, gospel and R&B cuts. Unfortunately, the group split up the following year, citing difficulties in touring the southern US due to their inter-racial line-up, and their sole album has long-since sunk into obscurity.

                                                                                            Fast forward nearly 20 years and the ‘Amen, Brother’ break was discovered by hip-hop producers after the song appeared on the seminal ‘Ultimate Breaks & Beats’ series of original breaks (alongside ground-breaking tracks such as James Brown’s ‘Funky Drummer’, The Incredible Bongo Band’s ‘Apache’ and Herman Kelly’s ‘Dance to the Drummers Beat’) in 1986. The track became the staple of hip-hop, with countless songs based on George GC Coleman’s epic six-second drum break.

                                                                                            Fast forward once more, this time to the UK at the start of the 1990s, and 100s of drum and bass producers began sampling and speeding up the ‘Amen, Brother’ break, adding reggae bass lines to create first jungle and then drum and bass, and by the 1990s the ‘Amen’ drum break dominated this new musical genre.

                                                                                            The Winstons’ ‘Color Him Father’ is a superb rare slice of soul, funk and gospel music that has changed the course of music over the last fifty years.

                                                                                            TRACK LISTING

                                                                                            CD / LP
                                                                                            Color Him Father
                                                                                            I’ve Gotta Be Me
                                                                                            The Chokin’ Kind
                                                                                            The Greatest Love
                                                                                            A Handful Of Friends
                                                                                            Everyday People
                                                                                            Love Of The Common People
                                                                                            Wheel Of Fortune
                                                                                            The Days Of Sand And Shovels
                                                                                            Birds Of A Feather
                                                                                            Only The Strong Survive
                                                                                            Traces
                                                                                            Amen, Brother
                                                                                            Say Goodbye To Daddy
                                                                                            Mama’s Song

                                                                                            Bonus 12” (SJRLP497 only)
                                                                                            Amen Brother (Extended Mix)

                                                                                            Various Artists

                                                                                            Soul Jazz Records Presents - Life Between Islands - Soundsystem Culture: Black Musical Expression In The UK 1973-2006

                                                                                              Soul Jazz Records’ new ‘Life Between Islands’ collection is inspired by the launch of Tate Britain’s exhibition of the same name. This landmark exhibition explores the links between Caribbean and British art and culture from the 1950s to now. ‘Soundsystem Culture: Black Musical Expression in the UK 1973-2006’, focuses on the most important Black British musical styles to emerge out of the distinctly Caribbean world of sound systems. The album features an all-star line-up including Dennis Bovell, Shut Up and Dance, Cymande, Digital Mystikz, Brown Sugar, Funk Masters, Janet Kay, Ragga Twins and more.

                                                                                              The album is a lightning-rod journey across Roots Reggae, Jungle , Jazz- Funk, Lovers Rock, Jazz, Dubstep and more. Much of Soul Jazz Records’ catalogue comes out of these genres and this album is partly an overview of some of Soul Jazz’s earlier releases (including Digital Mystikz’ long-deleted groundbreaking and now highly collectible single ‘Misty Winter’) alongside some choice rare and classic tunes that span over 30 years of sound system culture.

                                                                                              Many of the tracks represent how Black British artists defined their own identity, with songs such as Brown Sugar’s righteous ‘Black Pride’, ‘I’m In Love with A Dreadlocks’ and Tabby Cat Kelly’s powerful ‘Don’t Call Us Immigrants’. Aside from being musically rooted in the distinctly Jamaican-born phenomenon of the sound system, much of this identity is also shaped by the triangular relationship of being British-born, of Caribbean heritage, and with an equal love of African-American Jazz, Funk and Soul, as evidenced with many Lovers Rock reggae covers of American soul tunes (such as those of Jean Carn, William de Vaughan and Rose Royce featured here). This stateside influence can also be heard in groups such as the Funk Masters, a group formed by reggae radio DJ Tony Williams, whose jazz-funk music successfully crossed over into New York’s clubland, as well as the great Cymande, whose unique street-funk became staple material for numerous US hip-hop artists in the years that followed.

                                                                                              In the early 1990s, jungle and drum and bass artists took the essence of reggae’s soundsystem culture - MCs, dubplates, crews - and applied them to their own music, applying heavy reggae bass lines to intense double-speed drum breakbeats. At the forefront of this new movement were the duo Shut Up and Dance, working closely with The Ragga Twins, aka Deman Rocker and Flinty Badman, both MCs for North London’s infamous Unity reggae soundsytem. In the early 2000s, dubstep, spearheaded by Digital Mystikz, became the latest instalment in this ever evolving soundsystem culture.

                                                                                              STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                              Matt says: Dang this is good! Skilfully joining the dots of sound system culture from its very beginning till now would seem like a daunting task for anyone. But guided by the Black identity of the majority of Sounds, Soul Jazz offer up a catch-all release that takes us from roots reggae and soul to jungle and dubstep without ever losing sight of the subwoofer. A phenomenal collection which, by way of a few choicely licensed joints ("Misty Winter", "RK1" especially), should be a instant-buy for anyone with a penchant for UK dance music.

                                                                                              TRACK LISTING

                                                                                              Black Slate - Sticks Man
                                                                                              Dee Sharp - Rising To The Top
                                                                                              Asher Senator - One Bible 
                                                                                              Cymande - Fug
                                                                                              Digital Mystikz - Misty Winter
                                                                                              Winston Curtis - Be Thankful For What You’ve Got
                                                                                              Trevor Hartley - It Must Be Love
                                                                                              Shut Up And Dance featuring The Ragga Twins - Java Bass
                                                                                              Brown Sugar - Black Pride
                                                                                              The Terrorist - RK1
                                                                                              Black Harmony - Don’t Let It Go To Your Head
                                                                                              Pebbles - Positive Vibrations
                                                                                              The Ragga Twins - Ragga Trip
                                                                                              Janet Kay And Alton Ellis - Still In Love
                                                                                              Funk Masters - Love Money
                                                                                              Cosmic Idren - Compelled
                                                                                              Harry Beckett - No Time For Hello
                                                                                              Sandra Reid - Ooh Boy
                                                                                              Tabby Cat Kelly - Don’t Call Us Immigrants
                                                                                              Brown Sugar - I’m In Love With A Dreadlocks

                                                                                              The Gaylads & Sound Dimension

                                                                                              Africa / Congo Rock - 2021 Repress

                                                                                                Roots reggae sure-shots from the Studio One archive, produced by the legendary bossman Clement “Coxsone” Dodd. The yearning, bouncing skank of The Gaylads’ Africa launched from the top, and backed with another percussive beauty in Sound Dimensions’ instrumental staple, Congo Rock on the other side.

                                                                                                TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                Africa Congo Rock

                                                                                                Horace Andy & Dub Specialist

                                                                                                Skylarking / Sky Rhythm - 2021 Repress

                                                                                                  New, jukebox 7” pressing of Horace Andy’s classic Skylarking, backed with Clement “Coxsone” Dodd’s killer Sky - Rhythm as Dub Specialist on the other side.

                                                                                                  STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                  Matt says: One of two Studio One 7" classics represses this week. They don't really get much bigger than this do they? Plus new manufacturing improvements mean these singles sound better than they ever did. Housed in those tasty Studio One disco bag these are an absolute delight!

                                                                                                  TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                  Skylarking
                                                                                                  Sky Rhythm

                                                                                                  Johnny Osbourne & Prince Jazzbo

                                                                                                  Truth & Rights / Crabwalking - 2012 Repress

                                                                                                    Heavy roots reggae double header sporting Johnny Osborne’s classic Truth and Rights on one side and Prince Jazzbo’s heavyweight Crabwalking on the flip, both produced Clement “Coxsone” Dodd.

                                                                                                    STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                    Matt says: A Studio One classic back in stock after an eternal wait. They new pressings sound super clean and hefty. And housed in those lush Studio One 7" disco bags. What's not to love?!

                                                                                                    TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                    Truth & Rights
                                                                                                    Crabwalking

                                                                                                    Various Artists

                                                                                                    Soul Jazz Records Presents Studio One Groups - 2021 Reissue

                                                                                                      15 years on from its original release, ‘Studio One Groups’ remains one of the toughest of all the Soul Jazz / Studio One releases and features some of the biggest groups in the history of Reggae music, including Bob Marley and The Wailers, Toots and the Maytals and The Heptones, who all began their careers at 13 Brentford Road, under the guidance of the great producer and label owner Clement ‘Sir Coxsone’ Dodd.

                                                                                                      Featuring many, many classic and killer tunes from The Wailing Souls, Carlton and His Shoes, The Gladiators, The Ethiopians, The Mad Lads and more. ‘Studio One Groups’ brings together numerous classic artists alongside a number of rarities and delves into Studio One’s musical output in its prime in the 1960s and 70s, featuring Ska, Roots, Rocksteady, Dub and more. Clement Dodd’s role in launching and nurturing Reggae groups and singers is unsurpassed and Studio One’s success was due to Dodd’s ability to see talent, surround himself with it and nurture artists.

                                                                                                      Launching Bob Marley and The Wailers’ career at Studio One also meant housing Marley in a flat in the studio compound, as well as employing Marley in an A&R role, checking out the latest American soul and jazz 45s that came out for Studio One artists to cover. In similar fashion, Leroy Sibbles, lead vocalist with the Heptones, became the key in-house bass player after being taught from scratch by Jackie Mittoo.

                                                                                                      Studio One Groups were at the heart of the label’s success. The sweet threepart harmonies, so close to the heart of Jamaican music, can be heard throughout every stylistic change of Reggae music - Ska, Rocksteady, Roots and beyond - all of which are featured here in all their vocalised glory.

                                                                                                      The album comes with excellent informative sleevenotes by the author and Studio One discographer Rob Chapman, and exclusive photography including the stunning colour picture of Bob Marley and the Wailers on the front of the release.

                                                                                                      TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                      The Wailing Souls - Mr Fire Coal Man
                                                                                                      Righteous Flames - Solid Foundation
                                                                                                      The Gaylads - Give A Helping Hand
                                                                                                      The Bassies - Things A Come Up To Bump
                                                                                                      The Mad Lads - You Will Never Know
                                                                                                      The Clarendonians - You Can’t Be Happy
                                                                                                      The Consumates - What Is It Carlton And The Shoes - Happy Land
                                                                                                      The Viceroys - The Struggle
                                                                                                      The Maytals - I’ll Never Grow Old
                                                                                                      The Heptones - Get In The Groove
                                                                                                      The Royals - Pick Up The Pieces
                                                                                                      The Gladiators - Jah Jah Go Before Us
                                                                                                      Bob Marley And The Wailers - Love And Affection
                                                                                                      The Stingers - Down Presser International
                                                                                                      The Cables - Baby Why
                                                                                                      The Ethiopians - Owe Me No Pay Me
                                                                                                      The Purpleites - The Pressure Is On
                                                                                                      The Silvertones - Cheating And Lying

                                                                                                      The Explosions

                                                                                                      Hip Drop (Part 1)

                                                                                                        One of a series of three long out of print New Orleans funk 45's from Soul Jazz Records.

                                                                                                        The Explosions’ ‘Hip Drop’ is a seminal New Orleans party funk classic tune, featuring the phenomenal vocals of Juanita Brooks, the writing and production skills of Eddie Bo and the drums of James Black, the tightest funk drummer in the world! An absolutely stone-cold tune.

                                                                                                        TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                        Hip Drop (Part 1)
                                                                                                        Hip Drop (Part 2)

                                                                                                        Various Artists

                                                                                                        Soul Jazz Records Presents: CUBA: Music And Revolution: Culture Clash In Havana: Experiments In Latin Music 1975-85 Vol. 2

                                                                                                          Cuba: Music and Revolution: Culture Clash in Havana: Experiments in Latin Music 1975-85 Vol. 2 is the new album compiled by Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker (Soul Jazz Records) that takes off in exactly the same vein as the much-acclaimed Vol. 1 – exploring the many styles that came out of Cuba in the 1970s as Latin and Salsa mixed with heavy doses of Jazz, Funk, and Disco to create some of the most dancefloor-friendly music ever made!

                                                                                                          The album comes as a heavyweight 3xLP and deluxe 2xCD set, complete with extensive sleeve notes, and is jam-packed with heavy bass lines, synth and Wah-Wah guitar funk combined with the heavyweight percussion, powerful brass lines and the all-encompassing Latin rhythms of Cuban music known throughout the world.

                                                                                                          Much of the music on this album is featured in the deluxe large format book ‘Cuba: Music and Revolution: Original Cover Art of Cuban Music: Record Sleeve Designs of Revolutionary Cuba 1959-90’, released by Soul Jazz Books and also compiled by Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker (Soul Jazz Records), featuring the music and record designs of Cuba, made in the 30-year period following the Cuban Revolution.

                                                                                                          The music on this new album features a host of rarities from legendary Cuban artists such as Los Van Van, alongside Grupo De Experimentación, Farah Maria, Ricardo Eddy Martinez, Juan Pablo Torres, Grupo Sintesis and Orquesta Riverside, most of whose names remain largely unknown outside of Cuba but have long been favourite club tracks and secret-weapons in Gilles Peterson’s record boxes!

                                                                                                          The music on this album reflects the most cutting-edge of Cuban groups that were recording in Cuba in the 1970s and 1980s – all searching for a new Cuban identity and new musical forms reflecting both the Afro-Cuban cultural heritage of a nation that gave birth to Latin music and its new position as a socialist state. Most of the music featured on this album has never been heard outside of Cuba.

                                                                                                          Both Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker have been involved in Cuban music for more than two decades – Gilles Peterson with his many Havana Cultura projects for his Brownswood label and Stuart Baker with a number of Soul Jazz Records albums recorded in Cuba. This Soul Jazz Records album is released in conjunction with Egrem, the Cuban state record company, and has been put together after the many crate-digging trips that both compilers have made on the streets of Havana and beyond in Cuba stretching over a 20-year period, searching out rare and elusive original Cuban vinyl records. 

                                                                                                          STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                          Martin says: Though I've travelled extensively, I've not yet made it to Cuba, but with this great set of Latin grooves I feel it might be my next hunting ground.

                                                                                                          TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                          CD1
                                                                                                          1. Juan Pablo Torres Y Algo Nuevo - Y Que Bien (4.24)
                                                                                                          2. Orquesta Los Van Van - Por Que Lo Haces? (4.10)
                                                                                                          3. Los Latinos - Quemando (2.46)
                                                                                                          4. Farah María - Amame Y No Pienses Mas (4.13)
                                                                                                          5. FA 5 - Muevete Con Las Fuerzas Del Corazon (5.53)
                                                                                                          6. Tambores De Enrique Bonne - Como Arrullos De Palma (2.47)
                                                                                                          7. Ricardo Eddy Martinez - Expresso Ritmico (4.11)
                                                                                                          8. Los Papines - Solo De Tumba Y Bongo (5.31)
                                                                                                          9. Grupo Sintesis - Aqui Estamos (2.31)
                                                                                                          10. Los Van Van - Llegada (2.08)
                                                                                                          11. Grupo Raices Nuevas - Baila Mi Guaguancó (5.02)

                                                                                                          CD2
                                                                                                          1. Luis Carbonell - La Rumba (3.53)
                                                                                                          2. Orquesta Riverside - En Casa Del Trompo No Bailes (3.02)
                                                                                                          3. Juan Formel & Los Van Van - Llegue, Llegue (5.51)
                                                                                                          4. Grupo Los Yoyi - Tu No Me Puedes Conquistar (3.09)
                                                                                                          5. Los Papines - Para Que Niegas? (4.23)
                                                                                                          6. Grupo De Experimentación Sonora Del ICAIC - Cuba Va! (3.06)
                                                                                                          7. Raul Gomez - Luces En La Pista (4.40)
                                                                                                          8. Los Brito - El 4-5-6 (2.50)
                                                                                                          9. Leo Brouwer - Tema De El Rancheador De La Naturaleza (1.37)
                                                                                                          10. Ricardo Eddy Martinez - La 132 (4.23)
                                                                                                          11. Los Reyes 73 - Finalizo Un Amor (3.37)

                                                                                                          A
                                                                                                          1. Juan Pablo Torres Y Algo Nuevo - Y Que Bien (4.24)
                                                                                                          2. Orquesta Los Van Van - Por Que Lo Haces? (4.10)
                                                                                                          3. Los Latinos - Quemando (2.46)
                                                                                                          4. Farah María - Amame Y No Pienses Mas (4.13)

                                                                                                          B
                                                                                                          1. FA 5 - Muevete Con Las Fuerzas Del Corazon (5.53)
                                                                                                          2. Tambores De Enrique Bonne - Como Arrullos De Palma (2.47)
                                                                                                          3. Ricardo Eddy Martinez - Expresso Ritmico (4.11)

                                                                                                          C
                                                                                                          1. Los Papines - Solo De Tumba Y Bongo (5.31)
                                                                                                          2. Grupo Sintesis - Aqui Estamos (2.31)
                                                                                                          3. Los Van Van - Llegada (2.08)
                                                                                                          4. Grupo Raices Nuevas - Baila Mi Guaguancó (5.02)

                                                                                                          D
                                                                                                          1. Luis Carbonell - La Rumba (3.53)
                                                                                                          2. Orquesta Riverside - En Casa Del Trompo No Bailes (3.02)
                                                                                                          3. Juan Formel & Los Van Van - Llegue, Llegue (5.51)

                                                                                                          E
                                                                                                          1. Grupo Los Yoyi - Tu No Me Puedes Conquistar (3.09)
                                                                                                          2. Los Papines - Para Que Niegas? (4.23)
                                                                                                          3. Grupo De Experimentación Sonora Del ICAIC - Cuba Va! (3.06)
                                                                                                          4. Raul Gomez - Luces En La Pista (4.40)

                                                                                                          F
                                                                                                          1. Los Brito - El 4-5-6 (2.50)
                                                                                                          2. Leo Brouwer - Tema De El Rancheador De La Naturaleza (1.37)
                                                                                                          3. Ricardo Eddy Martinez - La 132 (4.23)
                                                                                                          4. Los Reyes 73 - Finalizo Un Amor (3.37)

                                                                                                          The Lloyd McNeill Quartet

                                                                                                          Washington Suite - Vinyl Reissue

                                                                                                            Soul Jazz Records’ new oxblood red coloured vinyl LP (plus download code) issue of this very rare deep spiritual jazz album, first released as a private-press album in 1970 on flautist Lloyd McNeill’s own Asha Record label in Washington DC. Lloyd McNeill is an African-American flautist, painter, poet and photographer born in Washington D.C., in 1935. His multi-disciplinary creative life led to encounters and friendships with Nina Simone, Picasso, Eric Dolphy, Nana Vasconceles and other legendary cultural figures. Lloyd McNeill’s hypnotic ‘Washington Suite’ was originally commissioned as a piece of music for the Capital Ballet Company, in Washington. 

                                                                                                            McNeill grew up through the era of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s and his life and work is a reflection of those ideals. In the mid-1960s he moved to France where he became friends with Picasso, working with a number of émigré-jazz musicians whilst living in Paris. In the late 1960s he taught jazz and painting workshops at the New Thing Art and Architecture Center in Washington. In the 1970s he travelled throughout Brazil and West Africa studying music and taught music anthropology in the US.

                                                                                                            TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                            1. Home Rule
                                                                                                            2. Just 71% Moor
                                                                                                            3. 2504 Cliffborne Pl.
                                                                                                            4. Fountain In The Circle
                                                                                                            5. City Triptych
                                                                                                            6. Fountain In The Circle (Part 2)

                                                                                                            Lloyd McNeill

                                                                                                            Tori

                                                                                                              Soul Jazz Records’ CD / LP reissue of this very rare album, first released as a private-press LP in 1978 on flautist Lloyd McNeill’s own Baobab Record label in Washington, DC. The album has been out-of-print for 43 years and is lovingly remastered by Soul Jazz Records.  ‘Tori’ is a stunning album that blends Brazilian and Latin flavours with deep Spiritual Jazz. The album features a strong line up which includes legendary Brazilian figures such as Dom Um Romao, Nana Vasconcelos and Dom Salvador alongside jazz heavyweights such as Buster Williams, Howard Johnson, John La Barbera and more. These A-team musicians were all regulars in McNeill’s long-running and highly successful resident live group in New York, all set up to blend deep jazz, Brazilian and Latin music together. 

                                                                                                              Lloyd McNeill is an African-American flautist, painter, poet, and photographer born in Washington, D.C. in 1935. His multidisciplinary creative life led to encounters and friendships with Nina Simone, Picasso, Eric Dolphy, Nana Vasconceles and other legendary cultural figures. 

                                                                                                              Lloyd McNeill’s hypnotic ‘Washington Suite’ was originally commissioned as a piece of music for the Capital Ballet Company, in Washington DC. McNeill grew up through the era of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s and his life and work is a reflection of those ideals. In the mid-1960s he moved to France where he became friends with Picasso, working with a number of émigré-jazz musicians whilst living in Paris. In the late 1960s he taught jazz and painting workshops at the New Thing Art and Architecture Center in Washington. In the 1970s he travelled throughout Brazil and West Africa studying music and taught music anthropology in the US.

                                                                                                              TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                              1. O Mercado (Brazilian Market)
                                                                                                              2. Tori (Segment One)
                                                                                                              3. Tzigane
                                                                                                              4. Tori (Segment Two)
                                                                                                              5. Sambinha
                                                                                                              6. Time Still / Passaro - Pifaro (Flute Bird)
                                                                                                              7. Tori (Segment Three)
                                                                                                              8. Tranquil

                                                                                                              Various Artists

                                                                                                              Soul Jazz Records Presents Cold Wave #2

                                                                                                                Soul Jazz Records new ‘Cold Wave #2’ is a new collection of current electronic artists who have all been shaped by the early European cold wave artists of the late 70s and early 80s.

                                                                                                                These first artists created new electronic musical landscapes as well as pursuing a stubborn D-I-Y aesthetic, often releasing material on cassette and pioneering use of lo-fi technology, primitive drum machines and home-recording techniques. As part of this continued evolution today many of the artists featured here also self-release their own material, run labels, publish fanzines, or are part of wider musical collectives.

                                                                                                                Aside from the first electronic, no wave and post-punk artists cited as influences - Suicide, Patrick Cowley, The Normal, Martin Hannett, Laurie Anderson, Public Image - this new generation of artists also show an exquisitely open source of electronic and disparate influences, everything from Underground Resistance to Purcell, from Scientist to New Beat and more besides.

                                                                                                                Most of the featured artists are based in Europe and include Krikor from France, Beta Evers and L.F.T. from Germany, Lena Willikens, Job Sifre and De Ambassade from the Netherlands, Toulouse Low Trax from Germany, Dave I.D. and Broken English Club from the UK and V.C.V.S from Georgia. All of the bands featured here make distinctive contemporary music out of the 80s roots of the first cold wave movement.


                                                                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                Patrick says: If you've been paying attention to the fringe shit Matt and I have been pushing for the last five or so years, you should be well acquainted with the cuts on this killer Soul Jazz comp. Part 2 is just as its twin, boasted certified bangers from Lena, Tolouse Low Trax. De Ambassade and Job Sifre.

                                                                                                                TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                                Lena Willikens - Howlin Lupus
                                                                                                                Beta Evers - Hiding
                                                                                                                L.F.T. - Stay Away From The Light
                                                                                                                Job Sifre - At Least We Try
                                                                                                                De Ambassade - Niet Van Mij
                                                                                                                Tolouse Low Trax - Rushing Into Water
                                                                                                                V.C.V.S. - Hum
                                                                                                                Dave I.D. - Help Starts
                                                                                                                Broken English Club - Vacant Cars
                                                                                                                Krikor Kouchian - Deserver Dub

                                                                                                                Various Artists

                                                                                                                Soul Jazz Records Presents - Fire Over Babylon: Dread, Peace And Conscious Sounds At Studio One

                                                                                                                  Soul Jazz Records’ new Studio One collection ‘Fire Over Babylon: Dread, Peace and Conscious Sounds at Studio One’ features a stellar selection of 70s roots music - classic and rare tracks recorded at Clement Dodd’s musical empire at 13 Brentford Road in the 1970s.

                                                                                                                  Rastafarian-inspired Roots music was an ever-important aspect of Studio One’s output from the start of the 1970s onwards and this album features many of the groundbreaking groups and artists that established the sound of Jamaica during this decade and beyond.

                                                                                                                  Featured here are seminal artists such as Freddie McGregor, The Wailing Souls, The Gladiators, Horace Andy, Devon Russell, Cedric Brooks, Count Ossie and Judah Eskender Tafari alongside a host of lesser-known rare cuts made at Studio One from artists such as The Prospectors, Viceroys and Pablove Black.

                                                                                                                  Studio One and founder Clement Dodd’s connection with Rastafarianism dates back to the early 1960s, with Dodd accompanying members of the Skatalites up to the hills of Kingston to listen to the music of the Rastafarian Count Ossie and his drummers. The album sleevenotes discuss how Clement Dodd’s musical links, as well as his role in heading the most important record label in Reggae, are in many ways linked to the beliefs of Rastafarianism.

                                                                                                                  TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                                  Freddie McGregor - I Am A Revolutionist
                                                                                                                  The Silvertones - Burning In My Soul
                                                                                                                  Wailing Souls - Without You
                                                                                                                  Devon Russell - Jah Jah Fire
                                                                                                                  Trevor Clarke - Sufferation
                                                                                                                  The Gladiators - Sonia
                                                                                                                  Judah Eskender Tafari - Always Trying
                                                                                                                  The Viceroys - Ya Ho
                                                                                                                  Im And Count Ossie - Give Me Back Me Language And Me Culture
                                                                                                                  The Gladiators - Serious Thing
                                                                                                                  The Prospectors - Glory For I
                                                                                                                  Wailing Souls - Things And Time
                                                                                                                  Pablove Black - Inner Peace
                                                                                                                  The Gladiators - Peace
                                                                                                                  Horace Andy - Mr. Jolly Man
                                                                                                                  Wailing Souls - Rock But Don’t Fall
                                                                                                                  Albert Griffiths And The Gladiators - Righteous Man
                                                                                                                  So Many Problems - The Viceroys

                                                                                                                  Various Artists

                                                                                                                  Soul Jazz Records Presents Studio One Roots - 20th Anniversary Edition

                                                                                                                    This is the new 20th Anniversary edition of one of Soul Jazz Records’ classic Studio One releases, now available as a special one-off blue double vinyl pressing.

                                                                                                                    ‘Studio One Roots’ set the standard for Soul Jazz Records’ long-standing series of Studio One collections and features many of the classic artists from Clement ‘Sir Coxsone’ Dodd’s mighty roster of reggae. This album includes Freddie McGregor, Willie Williams, Cornell Campbell, Alton Ellis and Devon Russell alongside some of the defining crack session men groups of Jamaican reggae history, including The Sound Dimension, Brentford All-Stars, The Skatalites, New Establishment and more. As ever the album is filled with a mixture of seminal cuts and superrarities from the vast vaults of 13 Brentford Road.

                                                                                                                    Stand-out tracks include Alton Ellis’ ‘Blackish White’, a surreal and powerful Afro-centric dream, Count Ossie Nyabinghi and Rastafarian drummers’ genre-defying interpretation of Booker T and The MGs ‘Meditation’, Willie Williams’ awe-inspiring versioning of the Skatalites seminal Rastafari anthem ‘Addis Ababa’ and many, many more.

                                                                                                                    This album has been fully digitally remastered, analogue cut and packaged complete with original sleevenotes by Lloyd Bradley (author of When Reggae Was King), compiled by Mark Ainley (Hones Jons), high-quality Soul Jazz mastering, fantastic images of Count Ossie and the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari on the cover and a rare image of Clement Dodd and musicians inside the studio at Studio One on the full colour inner sleeves.

                                                                                                                    “The music of this compilation is of a rare, rare beauty and is essential to anyone's reggae collection” - All Music

                                                                                                                    TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                                    The Cyclones With Count Ossie - Meditation
                                                                                                                    Cornell Campbell With The Brentford Rockers - Natty Don’t Go
                                                                                                                    Freddie McGregor With The Sound Dimension - Africa Here I Come
                                                                                                                    Bunnie & Skitter - Lumumbo
                                                                                                                    Willie Williams With The All Stars - Addis Ababa
                                                                                                                    L Crosdale With Drum Bago & The Rebel Group - Set Me Free
                                                                                                                    Leroy Wallace With The New Establishment - Far Beyond
                                                                                                                    Lennie Hibbert - More Creation
                                                                                                                    Alton Ellis With The Sound Dimension - Blackish White
                                                                                                                    Winston Jarrett With The Sound Dimension - Fear Not
                                                                                                                    Devon ‘Soul’ Russell - Drum Song
                                                                                                                    The Gaylads - Africa
                                                                                                                    Black Brothers With The New Establishment - School Children
                                                                                                                    Linton Cooper With The Brentford Disco Set - You’ll Get Your Pay
                                                                                                                    Sound Dimension - Congo Rock
                                                                                                                    Zoot Simms - African Challenge

                                                                                                                    Various Artists

                                                                                                                    Soul Jazz Records Presents Rocksteady Got Soul

                                                                                                                      Soul Jazz Records’ new Studio One release ‘Rocksteady Got Soul’ is a collection of uplifting and superb rocksteady and soulful reggae from the late 1960s and early 1970s.

                                                                                                                      Studio One is the number one label in the history of reggae and the album features - as ever with Studio One - an impeccable and unbeatable line-up of reggae superstars, all soaring at the height of their creative powers. Alton Ellis, John Holt, The Heptones, Jackie Mittoo, The Ethiopians, Lee Perry and more.

                                                                                                                      The album is a mix of classic tunes and rhythms alongside rarities that were released in a dazzlingly complex web of Studio One labels and issues, deftly navigated with new sleeve notes from author and Studio One authority Rob Chapman, plus exclusive photography.

                                                                                                                      TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                                      Alton Ellis - It’s True
                                                                                                                      The Heptones - You Turned Away
                                                                                                                      The Gladiators - Mr Sweet
                                                                                                                      The Jail Breakers - Work It Up
                                                                                                                      Lee Perry & The Gaylads - Run Rudie Run
                                                                                                                      The Heptones - Young Generation
                                                                                                                      Jackie Mittoo - Good Feeling
                                                                                                                      C. Marshall - I Need Your Loving
                                                                                                                      Alton Ellis - I’ll Be Waiting
                                                                                                                      The Clarendonians - The Tables Gonna Turn
                                                                                                                      Ken Parker - When You’re Gone
                                                                                                                      Sound Dimension - Traveling Home
                                                                                                                      Errol Dunkley - Get Up Now
                                                                                                                      John Holt - My Heart Is Gone
                                                                                                                      Freedom Singers And Larry Marshall - Monkey Man
                                                                                                                      The Ethiopians - Let The Light Shine
                                                                                                                      Im And David - Money Maker
                                                                                                                      The Viceroys - Lose And Gain

                                                                                                                      Various Artists

                                                                                                                      Soul Jazz Records Presents Two Synths, A Guitar (And) A Drum Machine - Post Punk Dance Vol. 1

                                                                                                                        Soul Jazz Records’ new ‘Two Synths, A Guitar (And) A Drum Machine’ is a new collection of current DIY post-punk shaped by the mutant sounds of no wave, punk funk and New York Noise bands from the late 70s and early 80s that collided with the world of underground dance music found at the Paradise Garage, Mudd Club in New York City (ESG, Arthur Russell, Bush Tetras, Talking Heads, Suicide, Liquid Liquid).

                                                                                                                        Other influences cited here include Manchester and Sheffield’s industrial post-punk sounds of the 1980s (Joy Division, Cabaret Voltaire, Gang of Four) as well as the 1970s German electronic experimentalism of Cluster, Neu!, Harmonia and Can.

                                                                                                                        Featured artists from around the globe include Los Angeles DIY band Automatic, New Fries from Toronto, artist/music collaborators Toresch from Germany, Susumu Makai from Japan/UK, Vex Ruffin from the Philippines/California and Madmadmad, Gramme, Tom of England and other UK groups.

                                                                                                                        That all the bands featured here manage to make distinctive contemporary music out of these 80s roots is testament to the wide range of other musics that are seamlessly absorbed into a modern melting pot of sound - hip hop, the electronic European avant-garde, rave culture and more.

                                                                                                                        TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                                        Automatic - Too Much Money
                                                                                                                        Zongamin - Underwater Paramid
                                                                                                                        New Fries - Lily
                                                                                                                        Vex Ruffin & Fab 5
                                                                                                                        Freddy - The Balance
                                                                                                                        Ixna - Somebody Said
                                                                                                                        Leroy Duncann - Dream River
                                                                                                                        Tom Of England - Neon Green
                                                                                                                        Toresch - Tocar
                                                                                                                        Becker & Mukai - La Rivière Des Perles
                                                                                                                        Gramme - Discolovers
                                                                                                                        Niagara - Ida
                                                                                                                        Charles Manier - Sift Through Art Collecting People
                                                                                                                        Black Deer - Baseball Shorts
                                                                                                                        Madmadmad - Hot Disco
                                                                                                                        Wino D - Untitled

                                                                                                                        Various Artists

                                                                                                                        Soul Jazz Records Presents Cuba: Music And Revolution - Culture Clash In Havana - Experiments In Latin Music 1975-85 Vol. 1

                                                                                                                          ‘Cuba: Music and Revolution’ is a new album compiled by Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker (Soul Jazz Records) that explores the many new styles that emerged in Cuba in the 1970s as Jazz, Funk, Brazilian Tropicalia and even Disco mixed together with Latin and Salsa on the island as Cuban artists experimented with new musical forms created in the unique socialist state of Cuba. The album comes as a deluxe double CD and heavyweight triple vinyl, complete with extensive sleeve notes, jam-packed with heavy basslines, synth and WahWah guitar funk combined with the heavyweight percussion, powerful brass lines and the all-encompassing Latin rhythms of Cuban music known throughout the world.

                                                                                                                          The album is released to coincide with the massive new deluxe large format book ‘Cuba: Music and Revolution: Original Cover Art of Cuban Music: Record Sleeve Designs of Revolutionary Cuba 1959-90’, which is also compiled by Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker (Soul Jazz Records) and which features the music and record designs of Cuba, made in the 30-year period following the Cuban Revolution. The music on this album features legendary Cuban groups such as Irakere, Los Van Van and Pablo Milanés, as well as a host of lesser known artists such as the radical Grupo De Experimentación, Juan Pablo Torres and Algo Nuevo, Grupo Monumental and Orquesta Ritmo Oriental, groups whose names remain largely unknown outside of Cuba owing to the now 60-year old US trade embargo which remains in place today and which prevents trade with Cuba - and thus most Cuban records were only ever available in Cuba or in ex-Soviet Union states.

                                                                                                                          The music on this album reflects the most cutting-edge of Cuban groups that were recording in Cuba in the 1970s and 1980s - who were all searching for a new Cuban identity and new musical forms that reflected both the Afro-Cuban cultural heritage of a nation that gave birth to Latin music - and its new position as a socialist state. Most of the music featured on this album has never been heard outside of Cuba. Both Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker have been involved in Cuban music for more than two decades - Gilles Peterson with his many Havana Cultura projects for his Brownswood label and Stuart Baker with a number of Soul Jazz Records albums recorded in Cuba. This Soul Jazz Records album is released in conjunction with Egrem, the Cuban state record company, and has been put together after the many crate-digging trips that both compilers have made on the streets of Havana and beyond in Cuba stretching over a 20-year period, searching out rare and elusive original Cuban vinyl records.

                                                                                                                          STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                          Barry says: Following on from *that* gorgeous book with all of the beauty in it is the musical collection of the same. Compiled by some of the greatest selectors around on the scene, this is a fascinating and superb collection of groovers, shakers and under-appreciated heavy hitters.

                                                                                                                          TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                                          Grupo Irakere - Chequere Son
                                                                                                                          Conjunto Rumbavana - El Son Del Campeon
                                                                                                                          Juan Formell & Los Van Van - Mi Ritmo Caliente
                                                                                                                          Grupo Monumental - Mi Son Caridad
                                                                                                                          Grupo De Experimentación Sonora Del ICAIC - Sondeando
                                                                                                                          Las D'Aida - Con Cadencia Y Con Dulzura
                                                                                                                          Juan Formell & Los Van Van - Y No Le Conviene
                                                                                                                          Pablo Milanés - Te Quiero Porque Te Quiero
                                                                                                                          Emíliano Salvador - Luna Wanestain
                                                                                                                          Los Reyes 73 - Un Lamento Hecho Cancion
                                                                                                                          Eduardo Ramos - Vocación Revolución
                                                                                                                          Grupo Mounmental - Hasta Las Cuantas
                                                                                                                          Los 5 U 4 - Solo Esta Musica
                                                                                                                          Grupo De Experimentación Sonora Del ICAIC - Canción Con Todos
                                                                                                                          Orquesta Los Van Van - Yo Se Que Van Van
                                                                                                                          Grupo Mounmental - Nadie Se Siente Cansado
                                                                                                                          Orquesta Ritmo Oriental - Maria, Baila El Son
                                                                                                                          Juan Pablo Torres Y Algo Nuevo - Rompe Cocorioco
                                                                                                                          Los Reyes 73 - Grandes Amigos
                                                                                                                          Paquito D'Rivera - La Patica
                                                                                                                          Grupo De Experimentación Sonora Del ICAIC - Grifo
                                                                                                                          Raúl Gómez - Dacapo
                                                                                                                          Grupo Irakere - Juana 1600

                                                                                                                          Enrique Rodríguez & The Negra Chiway Band

                                                                                                                          Fase Liminal

                                                                                                                            Enrique Rodríguez and the Negra Chiway Band group have an instantly powerful and unique sound that is reminiscent of the ensembles of Sun Ra and his Arkestra as well as Horace Tapscott and his Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, one that channels the righteous spirits of Alice Coltrane, John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp and McCoy Tyner together with a stunning Latin rhythmical and new consciousness and percussive energy. Added to this are elements of the Samurai film soundtracks of Akira Kurosawa, Popol Vuh’s musical spirituality (especially their work with film director Werner Herzog), Tibetan Buddhism and over-blowing chants, all combining to give a truly unique new sound.

                                                                                                                            Enrique Rodríguez is a composer, percussionist, keyboardist and producer from Santiago, Chile, whose work shows many similarities with the music featured on Soul Jazz Records’ recent collection ‘Kaleidoscope - New Spirts Known and Unknown’, featuring new forward-looking jazz artists including Mathew Halsall, Theon Cross, Emma-Jean Thackray and Makaya McCraven.

                                                                                                                            Like all these artists, Rodríguez’s work is a progressive and experimental fusion of earlier influences that combine into a new and definitely 21st Century ground-breaking sound that, on account of its South American setting, give the group its truly unique feeling. Hypnotic modal piano riffs, powerful brass and flutes, an army of Latin percussion instruments and addictive vocal chants all combine in this powerful mix of radical 60s Afro-centric jazz, Eastern spirituality and cosmology and Latin American rhythmical movement.

                                                                                                                            TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                                            Dónde?
                                                                                                                            Descenso
                                                                                                                            Vindakalla-Welukan (Autoconfrontación)
                                                                                                                            No Quiero Seguir Así
                                                                                                                            Acabar De Conocerse
                                                                                                                            Paso Firme
                                                                                                                            Dónde? (Alt. Take)

                                                                                                                            Trees Speak

                                                                                                                            Shadow Forms

                                                                                                                              Trees Speak are Daniel Martin Diaz and Damian Diaz from Tucson, Arizona and their music often draws on the cosmic night-time magic of Arizona’s natural desert landscapes. ‘Trees Speak’ relates to the idea of future technologies storing information and data in trees and plants - using them as hard drives - and the idea that Trees communicate collectively.

                                                                                                                              Trees Speak’s new album ‘Shadow Forms’ is a blend of 1970s German electronic and ‘motorik’ Krautrock instrumentals (think Harmonia, Can, Cluster, Popul Vuh, Neu!), haunting and powerful 1960s and 1970s soundtracks (think Italian prog rock Goblin and John Carpenter horror movies, Morricone and existential John Barry spy movies), together with a New York no wave electronic synth and guitar analogue DIY-ness (think Suicide, anything on Soul Jazz’s ‘New York Noise’ series or Eno’s ‘No New York’). Trees Speak segue together all these elements into ‘Shadow Forms’, which follows on from their critically acclaimed debut album ‘Ohms,’ released on Soul Jazz Records less than six months ago.


                                                                                                                              STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                              Barry says: 'Shadow Forms' is a perfectly balanced juxtaposition of grooving, angular kosmische and haunty, soundtrack sort of business. We get little bursts of jazzy instrumentation and smooth-flowing psychedelia, all brought together with a deftness of touch and a keen ear for melody.

                                                                                                                              TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                                              ‘Shadow Forms’
                                                                                                                              Large Array
                                                                                                                              Tear Kisser
                                                                                                                              Those Who Know
                                                                                                                              Transforming
                                                                                                                              Automat
                                                                                                                              False Ego
                                                                                                                              Communication
                                                                                                                              Crystal System
                                                                                                                              Agonize Signal
                                                                                                                              Magick Knives

                                                                                                                              Bonus 7” (SJRLP457)
                                                                                                                              Outtake
                                                                                                                              Transmitter

                                                                                                                              Theon Cross / Pokus

                                                                                                                              Candace Of Meroe / Pokus One

                                                                                                                                Soul Jazz Records’ new album ‘Kaleidoscope – New Spirits Known and Unknown’ brings together many of the ground-breaking artists involved in the new jazz scene that has developed in the UK over the last few years.

                                                                                                                                Soul Jazz Records release an exclusive one-off pressing double-headed 12” single featuring Theon Cross and Pokus on the same day as the ‘Kaleidoscope’ album release.

                                                                                                                                Exclusive to independent retailers.

                                                                                                                                TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                                                Theon Cross - Candace Of Meroe
                                                                                                                                Pokus - Pokus One

                                                                                                                                Soul Jazz Records’ new album ‘Kaleidoscope – New Spirits Known and Unknown’ brings together many of the groundbreaking artists involved in the new jazz scene that has developed in the UK over the last few years.

                                                                                                                                Featured artists include Matthew Halsall, Yazmin Lacey, Ill Considered, Tenderlonious, Theon Cross, Emma-Jean Thackray and many, many more in this ground-breaking release.

                                                                                                                                As well as sharing a pioneering spirit in these new artists’ approach to frontier-crossing musical boundaries, a further theme of this album is that many also share a determination to independent practices – and most of these artists’ recordings featured here are either self-published or released on independent labels. While the attention of this new wave of jazz artists up until now has been London-based, this album shows how this movement is spread across the whole of Britain (and indeed beyond).

                                                                                                                                ‘Kaleidoscope – New Spirits Known and Unknown’ shows that while there is commonality in these artists’ approach to music, there is a wide variety of styles – from deep spiritual jazz, electronic experimentalisation, punk-edged funk, uplifting modal righteousness, deep soulful vocals and much more.

                                                                                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                Emily says: It’s been a breathless few years for British jazz, with essential new artists appearing by the day on a plethora of labels up and down the country. Thankfully Soul Jazz are here to help us keep track, taking stock of the scene on this bumper triple vinyl collection.

                                                                                                                                TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                                                A
                                                                                                                                1. Matthew Halsall & The Gondwana Orchestra - When The World Was One (7.38)
                                                                                                                                2. Yazmin Lacey - 90 Degrees (4.16)
                                                                                                                                3. Hector Plimmer - Communication Control (3.04)

                                                                                                                                B
                                                                                                                                1. Ill Considered - Long Way Home (Live At The Crypt) (8.03)
                                                                                                                                2. The Expansions - Mosaic (6.58)
                                                                                                                                3. Chip Wickham - Red Planet (5.44)

                                                                                                                                C
                                                                                                                                1. Levitation Orchestra - Odyssey (9.26)
                                                                                                                                2. Emma-Jean Thackray’s WALRUS - Walrus (2.47)
                                                                                                                                3. Tenderlonious And The 22a Arkestra - The Shakedown (6.18)

                                                                                                                                D
                                                                                                                                1. Joe Armon-Jones & Maxwell Owin Featuring Nubya Garcia - Tanner's Tango (4.48)
                                                                                                                                2. Collocutor - Gozo (6.02)
                                                                                                                                3. Makaya McCraven - Untitled (3.14)

                                                                                                                                E
                                                                                                                                1. Nat Birchall - Ancient World (9.50)
                                                                                                                                2. Ruby Rushton - Moonlight Woman (9.05)

                                                                                                                                F
                                                                                                                                1. Ebi Soda - Dimmsdale (3.11)
                                                                                                                                2. The Cromagnon Band - Thunder Perfect (5.12)
                                                                                                                                3. SEED Ensemble - Mirrors (7.38)

                                                                                                                                BONUS 7" SINGLE (With Indies Exclusive Vinyl Only)
                                                                                                                                A. Vels Trio - Yellow Ochre (Part 1) (3.04)
                                                                                                                                AA. Ishmael Ensemble - Kito's Theme (4.15)

                                                                                                                                Various Artists

                                                                                                                                Soul Jazz Records Presents Black Riot: Early Jungle, Rave And Hardcore

                                                                                                                                  Soul Jazz Records’ ‘Black Riot: Early Jungle, Rave and Hardcore’ is a brand new collection of heavyweight ragga influenced hardcore jungle tracks from the early 1990s. Dark and heavy. Featuring classic and seminal tracks from the likes of Levictus and Krome & Time alongside a host of rare and little-known ragga and junglist hardcore tunes, featuring the likes of Babylon Timewarp’s hypnotic ‘Durban Poison’, Rhythm For Reasons’ mad ‘The Smokers Rhythm’, The Freaky rave-y breakbeat sound of ‘Time and Age’, Trip One’s super dark ‘Snowball’ and loads more. Expect super heavy basslines, equally heavy twisted ‘Amen’ drum loops, even heavier ragga vocals. Original jungle style - roots and culture - from the earliest days of drum and bass.

                                                                                                                                  Included with the first edition of the ‘Black Riot’ vinyl and CD is a free graphic mini-novel ‘Black Riot: The Mysterons save Planet Earth from the Xatheroid Angels’. This is the third collaboration between writer Paulo Parisi and Soul Jazz Records. This new graphic story continues the story of black electronic dance music - this time set in London circa 1992 - from Soul Jazz’s earlier ‘Invasion of the Killer Mysterons’ (Jamaican electronic dub, co-compiled by Kevin Martin (The Bug)) and ‘Mysterons Invade the Jackin’ Zone’ (about Chicago acid and experimental house 1986-93).

                                                                                                                                  STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                  Matt says: In a year when some serious questions were asked about the whitewashed narrative of Britain’s dance floor history, Soul Jazz go back to the start of the Hardcore Continuum to celebrate the black artists pushing the boundaries of system rinsing sounds.

                                                                                                                                  TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                                                  Rhythm For Reasons - The Smokers Rhythm
                                                                                                                                  Babylon Timewarp - Durban Poison
                                                                                                                                  The Terrorist - RK1
                                                                                                                                  DJ Dubplate - Tings A Go On
                                                                                                                                  Leviticus - Burial (Lovers Rock Mix)
                                                                                                                                  The Freaky - Time And Age
                                                                                                                                  Trip One - Snowball Remix
                                                                                                                                  DJ Krome & Mr. Time - Ganja Man
                                                                                                                                  New Vision - Way Of Life
                                                                                                                                  DJ Dubplate - Original Rubadubstyle
                                                                                                                                  Hi Fi Power - Chill Out (Raggafunks U)
                                                                                                                                  Nu Jacks Featuring Ivory Ranks - House Sensation

                                                                                                                                  Trees Speak

                                                                                                                                  Ohms

                                                                                                                                    When the band Trees Speak, coming out of nowhere, released an exclusive one-off 100-pressing white label 45, described as Can/Neu! meets Liquid Liquid, it sold out so quickly (in less than 30 minutes) that Soul Jazz Records decided to release their album almost immediately. Soul Jazz Records rarely release new music but found the music of Trees Speak’s album ‘Ohms’ so stunning and to have so many elements of music that they admired that they felt compelled to release it. The group Trees Speak are from Tucson, Arizona and create new music that sounds like German Krautrock meets no wave/post-punk and psych rock - music for fans of Cluster, Tangerine Dream, Can, Neu!, Silver Apples and early Kraftwerk.

                                                                                                                                    The album ‘Ohms’ sounds at times like a tripped out and moody John Carpenter/Goblin/Morricone soundtrack that seamlessly segues into propulsive, ‘motorik’ Krautrock instrumentals loaded with fuzzy, hypnotic mellotron, synths and analogue effects, as well as elements of Art Ensemble free jazz, and all at times reaching a kind of post-rave psychedelia. More recent comparisons would include Beak> and Ghost Box who draw upon similar themes and styles. Trees Speak are Daniel Martin Diaz and Damian Diaz plus musicians from the Tucson, Arizona scene such as Giant Sand, XIXA and James Hunter. 

                                                                                                                                    STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                    Barry says: A very rare 'New Album' outing from the venerable Soul Jazz here with the thumping, krautrock majesty of 'Ohms'. Like if Kraftwerk got off those bloody podiums long enough to rail a significant slug of ketamine and break the cones on their amplifiers. ACE.

                                                                                                                                    TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                                                    CD
                                                                                                                                    Soul Sequencer
                                                                                                                                    Nitrous Cross
                                                                                                                                    Shadow Circuit
                                                                                                                                    Blame Shifter
                                                                                                                                    Spirit Duplicator
                                                                                                                                    Nobody Knows
                                                                                                                                    Sadness In Wires
                                                                                                                                    State Of Clear
                                                                                                                                    Sleep Crime
                                                                                                                                    Knowing
                                                                                                                                    Splendid Sun
                                                                                                                                    Ohms
                                                                                                                                    Out Of View
                                                                                                                                    Psychic Wounds
                                                                                                                                    Silicone Emotions
                                                                                                                                    Octave Cycle
                                                                                                                                    Witch Wound

                                                                                                                                    LP
                                                                                                                                    Soul Sequencer
                                                                                                                                    Nitrous Cross
                                                                                                                                    Shadow Circuit
                                                                                                                                    Blame Shifter
                                                                                                                                    Spirit Duplicator
                                                                                                                                    Nobody Knows
                                                                                                                                    Sadness In Wires
                                                                                                                                    State Of Clear
                                                                                                                                    Sleep Crime
                                                                                                                                    Knowing
                                                                                                                                    Splendid Sun
                                                                                                                                    Ohms
                                                                                                                                    Out Of View
                                                                                                                                    Psychic Wounds
                                                                                                                                    Silicone Emotions
                                                                                                                                    Octave Cycle

                                                                                                                                    Kollington Ayinla And His Fuji €

                                                                                                                                    Blessing

                                                                                                                                      Kollington Ayinla’s celebrated 1978 album "Blessing" is a rare lost classic of Nigerian Fuji music and features Ayinla’s sharp political lyrics together with his new band Fuji ’78. "Blessing" blends the heavily percussive style of Fuji music with a stunning array of modern instruments, including synthesizers, Bata drums and guitars, to create one of the most forward-thinking and heavily danceable sounds ever to come out of Nigeria - a highly successful mixture of profound Fuji rhythms and Fela Kuti-style Afrobeat.

                                                                                                                                      Kollington Ayinla ranks alongside his friend and competitor Ayinde Barrister as the two most important artists to dominate Fuji music from its inception in the 1970s through to the 1990s by which time it had grown to become one of the most popular dance genres in Nigeria. At the start of the 1980s Ayinla started his own record company, Kollington Records, to release his music and remains to this day an extremely prolific artist, having recorded over 50 albums, most of which have never been released outside of Nigeria.

                                                                                                                                      This is a one-off pressing (1000 copies) of this unique piece that has only ever previously been released in Nigeria. 

                                                                                                                                      TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                                                      E Ye Ika Se
                                                                                                                                      Oromo Adie Fo
                                                                                                                                      Ko S’Ohun Tan O Le Fi Gberaga
                                                                                                                                      Adio Shile
                                                                                                                                      Won Ti Gbe Oye Fun Mi
                                                                                                                                      Pataki L’Omo
                                                                                                                                      To Ba Jisoro Mi
                                                                                                                                      Engineer Olatunji / Iya Suna
                                                                                                                                      Odun Titun De
                                                                                                                                      Ao Toro Emi Gesa Fun Enia
                                                                                                                                      Ki Aiye Ma Gbagbe Mi

                                                                                                                                      ‘Apala: Apala Groups in Nigeria 1967-70’ is the first ever collection of Apala music to be released outside of Nigeria. The album focusses on a wide selection of recordings made in Nigeria in the 1960s, a time when Apala music was at the height of its popularity. Apala is a deeply rhythmical, hypnotic and powerful musical style that combines the striking nasal-style vocals and traditions of Islamic music, the Agidigbo (thumb piano) and the equally powerful drumming and percussion rhythms and techniques of the Yoruba of Nigeria.

                                                                                                                                      The most significant figure in Apala music is undoubtedly Haruna Ishola, who features throughout this album. Ishola holds an almost mythological status in his role as populariser of Apala music in Nigeria. Ishola’s singing was believed to be so powerful that, without proper restraint, it could kill the recipient of his music. Apala is a popular music that also functioned as a form of cultural resistance - Apala music involved no western instrumentation and is sung in the Yoruba language, its aesthetic an implicit cultural rejection of the British Empire’s colonial rule over Nigeria which lasted from 1901 until independence in 1960.

                                                                                                                                      Apala music was popular and widely accepted in Nigeria due to its philosophical and profound lyrical content alongside the complex rhythmic patterns of this heavily percussive style, which highlighted many of the percussion instruments of south-west Nigeria. Apala is one of a number of popular urban styles of music that came out of Nigeria in the 20th Century and sits alongside the more well-known (in the West) styles of Fuji, Highlife, Juju and Afrobeat. Of these modern forms Apala remains perhaps the most ‘roots’ style (sometimes described as ‘neotraditional’) due to the authenticity of its sound. It has similar Islamic roots to other neo-traditional styles of Nigeria - including Waka and Sakara - examples of which are also included on this collection contextualising the music of Apala. These recordings were originally made and released locally by Decca and EMI Records as well as a variety of independent labe

                                                                                                                                      TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                                                      Haruna Ishola And His Apala Group - Ewure Ile Komoyi Ode
                                                                                                                                      Adebukonla Ajao And Her Group - Aboyin Ile
                                                                                                                                      Rapheal Ajide And His Apala Group - Adura Fun Osiwowo
                                                                                                                                      Haruna Ishola And His Apala Group - Orin To Mo Gbon Wa
                                                                                                                                      R.A. Tikalosoro And His Group - Agilinti Lomu
                                                                                                                                      Adebukonla Ajao And Her Group - A.B.D. Alawiye
                                                                                                                                      Haruna Ishola And His Apala Group - Asa Ko Gbodo Wole Gbeiyele
                                                                                                                                      Adeleke Aremu & His Group - Egbe Arowolo
                                                                                                                                      Haruna Ishola And His Apala Group - Rufai Baolgun
                                                                                                                                      R.A. Tikalosoro And His Group - Kiniun Kuro Leran Amu Sere
                                                                                                                                      Haruna Ishola And His Apala Group - S. Aka
                                                                                                                                      Adebukonla Ajao And Her Group - Lekele Bale
                                                                                                                                      Kasumu Adio And His Apala Group - Odale Ore
                                                                                                                                      Ayisatu Alabi And Her Group - Oko Lolomo Jimoh Agbejo Bo Ogun And His Group - Oriki Ibeji
                                                                                                                                      Ayisatu Alabi And Her Group - Omo Olobi
                                                                                                                                      Rapheal Ajide And His Apala Group - Orin Aje
                                                                                                                                      Adebukonla Ajao And Her Group - Sunday Babayemi

                                                                                                                                      Various Artists

                                                                                                                                      Soul Jazz Records Presents - Nigeria Soul Power 70

                                                                                                                                        Soul Jazz Records’ ‘Nigeria Soul Power 70’ album showcases the influence of funk, rock and disco on Nigerian music during the 1970s. Originally released as a nowlong- out-of-print collectors’ 7” box, this fully expanded album release now also includes extra tracks from Sonny Okosuns, Wings, Chief Kollington Ayinla and more.

                                                                                                                                        While for many people the fusion of funk and jazz music with Nigerian rhythms and aesthetics began with Fela Kuti and his afro-beat sound, in fact this can be traced further back to the phenomena of the 1960s Nigerian artists and house bands in nightclubs and hotels who interpreted US soul and pop music with a local flavour and none more so than Geraldo Pino, the ‘African James Brown’ who features heavily in this collection. Other similarly inspired Nigerian funk and soul artists featured here included Tony Grey and his Ozimba Messengers and Don Bruce and The Angels.

                                                                                                                                        ‘Nigeria Soul Power 70’ includes a number of tracks from the group Wings originally known as BAF (Biafran Air Force) Wings, an army band formed during the Biafran civil war in Nigeria. The groups’ heavy mixture of funk, rock and African styles was popular among many Nigerian groups at the time.

                                                                                                                                        Beneath the shadow of the few Nigerian artists who signed international recording deals in the 1970s - Fela Kuti, King Sunny Ade, Chief Ebenezer Obey - lies of vast wealth of largely undiscovered musical transmutation and cultural cross-pollination and included here are heavy afro-funk/rock and disco tracks from artists such as the legendary Sonny Okosuns as well as rare cuts from little-known outside of Nigeria - groups such as Colomach and MFB. Most of these obscure artists signed to major labels in Nigeria in the commercial slipstream that opened up as Philips, Decca and EMI tried to emulate the international success of the big three international Nigerian artists.

                                                                                                                                        Finally featured here is Kollington Ayinla, one of the co-founders of Nigerian Fuji music, who gives us perhaps the heaviest of all tracks on this album. Ayinla is the great moderniser of the Fuji sound and in the late 1970s began adding Bata drums and synthesizers to his authentic music to create a powerful and heavy new fusion of traditional and modernist aesthetics, embracing both new technology and experimentation while rooted firmly in Nigerian historical lineage.

                                                                                                                                        TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                                                        Geraldo Pino - Shake Hands
                                                                                                                                        Sonny Okosunds Ozziddi - Dance Of The Elephants
                                                                                                                                        The Wings - We'll Get Home
                                                                                                                                        Alhaji (Chief) Prof. Kollington Ayinla - E Ye Ika Se
                                                                                                                                        Colomach - Kassa Kpa Sama Kpa
                                                                                                                                        Geraldo Pino - Heavy Heavy Heavy
                                                                                                                                        MFB - Beware
                                                                                                                                        Tony Grey And The Ozimba Messengers - You Are The One
                                                                                                                                        Sonny Okosuns - Oba Erediauwa I
                                                                                                                                        The Wings - Single Boy
                                                                                                                                        Geraldo Pino - Power To The People
                                                                                                                                        Original Wings - Igba Alusi
                                                                                                                                        Don Bruce And The Angels - Sugar Baby
                                                                                                                                        Geraldo Pino - Africans Must Unite

                                                                                                                                        Willie Williams

                                                                                                                                        Armagideon Time (Disco Mix)

                                                                                                                                          Massive Studio One anthem alert!

                                                                                                                                          Willie Williams’ roots rock reggae classic "Armagideon Time" - the rare extended Disco Mix version - split into two sublime heavyweight slices and cut super-loud on a 12” single.

                                                                                                                                          Produced by Studio One supremo Coxsone Dodd, this is a huge reggae anthem on the classic ‘Real Rock’ rhythm, famously covered by The Clash and sampled by KRS One, The Fugees and many more.

                                                                                                                                          A dancefloor devastating reggae party bomb! Every deejay needs a copy....


                                                                                                                                          STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                          Matt says: A well-known classic every self-respecting reggae fan should own, you can't be these extended versions and immaculately pressed 12" versions.

                                                                                                                                          TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                                                          Armagideon Time (Disco Mix Vocal)
                                                                                                                                          Armagideon Time (Disco Mix Version)

                                                                                                                                          Airto Moreira

                                                                                                                                          Soul Jazz Records Presents Airto: Samba De Flora

                                                                                                                                            Soul Jazz Records re-release Airto Moreira’s classic album ‘Samba de Flora’, out of print for 30 years ever since its original release in 1988.
                                                                                                                                            The impact of Airto Moreira in both the world of American jazz and in Brazilian music is unparalleled. At the start of the 1970s Airto was invited to join Miles Davis’ groundbreaking ‘electric’ group, which with albums such as the seminal ‘Bitches Brew’ helping Davis regain his title from John Coltrane as the most important jazz artist of all time.
                                                                                                                                            Two years later Airto helped establish two of the most important jazz fusion groups of all time: Weather Report, with Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul and Miroslav Vituous; and Return to Forever, with Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and Flora Purim.
                                                                                                                                            Airto Moreira also began his solo career in the USA in 1970 and alongside his wife, the singer Flora Purim and Brazilian artists such as Hermeto Pascoal, Sivuca, Deodato, Raul de Souza, Azymuth, all played a major part in the Latinised sound of American jazz fusion throughout the 1970s. By this time Airto established himself in the USA in the 1970s, he had already had a formidable career back in Brazil in the 1960s as an important figure in the Bossa Nova movement, which soon after spread throughout the world. Airto played in a number of important groups during this time - Quarteto Novo Sambalanco Trio and Sambrassa Trio (all of with Hermeto Pascoal) - which proved to be three of the most ground-breaking groups of this era.
                                                                                                                                            The album ‘Samba de Flora’, including the seminal jazz dance title track, is a masterpiece of jazz and Brazilian fusion and features Airto Moreira alongside Flora Purim, fellow Brazilian artist Raul de Souza and heavyweight USA jazz musicians Alphonso Johnson, percussionist Don Alias (from Stone Alliance), Cuban conga player Cachete and Argentinian pianist Jorge Dalto.
                                                                                                                                            The album was originally released on the small independent Montuno Record label (which was run out of the unassuming Record Mart record store situated in the Times Square underground subway station!) and has been unavailable for many, many years.
                                                                                                                                            This album is fully remastered and re-released by Soul Jazz Records for the first time ever.

                                                                                                                                            TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                                                            Parana
                                                                                                                                            Samba De Flora
                                                                                                                                            La Puerta
                                                                                                                                            Dedos
                                                                                                                                            Yanah Amina
                                                                                                                                            El Fiasco
                                                                                                                                            Mulambo
                                                                                                                                            Latin Woman

                                                                                                                                            Soul Jazz Records release this stunning new collection featuring music influential to the artist Keith Haring.

                                                                                                                                            The art of Keith Haring is today one of the most recognisable of any visual artists of his generation, defining 1980s New York during an intense period when downtown artists and musicians collaborated like never before. Haring’s musical inspiration took in the punk/dance downtown sounds of clubs like The Mudd Club, underground disco at Larry Levan’s Paradise Garage, as well the early days of hip hop and electro.

                                                                                                                                            The album is released to coincide with the opening of the first major exhibition in the UK of Keith Haring’s work at Tate Liverpool, which runs for the next six months.

                                                                                                                                            Haring’s many friends included Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, Madonna, Fab Five Freddy, William Burroughs, Jenny Holzer, Yoko Ono, Grace Jones, Larry Levan, Futura 2000.

                                                                                                                                            The music here includes the work of a number of Haring’s close friends, including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Yoko Ono, Larry Levan, John Sex and George Condo (The Girls), as well as healthy dose of rare disco, early electro and New York punk/dance tracks.

                                                                                                                                            STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                            Barry says: Where a lot of Soul Jazz compilations focus on a genre, or a precursor of that genre, Haring's affiliated acts read like the toilet walls of CBGB, Paradise Garage and the Mudd Club. It's a brilliantly varied but cohesive snapshot of the 80s in music and art incorporating art-rock, electro and the burgeoning hip-hop scene. Absolutely essential.

                                                                                                                                            TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                                                            2CD 
                                                                                                                                            B Beat Girls - For The Same Man
                                                                                                                                            Damon Harris - It’s Music
                                                                                                                                            Pylon - Danger
                                                                                                                                            The Jonzun Crew - Pak Man (Look Out For The OVC)
                                                                                                                                            Funk Masters - Love Money
                                                                                                                                            John Sex - Bump And Grind It
                                                                                                                                            Sylvester - Over And Over (12" Disco Mix)
                                                                                                                                            The Girls - Jeffrey I Hear You
                                                                                                                                            Johnny Dynell And New York 88 - Jam Hot (Rhumba Rock)
                                                                                                                                            Talking Heads - I Zimbra
                                                                                                                                            Art Zoyd - Sortie 134 (Part 2)
                                                                                                                                            Class Action - Weekend (Larry Levan Mix)
                                                                                                                                            Adiche - Chuka-Ja (Get Ready)
                                                                                                                                            The Girls - The Elephant Man
                                                                                                                                            The Golden Flamingo Orchestra - The Guardian Angel Is Watching Over Us
                                                                                                                                            Gray - Cut It Up High Priest
                                                                                                                                            Extra T’s - E.T. Boogie
                                                                                                                                            Convertion - Let’s Do It
                                                                                                                                            Yoko Ono - Walking On Thin Ice
                                                                                                                                            Fab 5 Freddy - Change The Beat

                                                                                                                                            3LP
                                                                                                                                            B Beat Girls - For The Same Man
                                                                                                                                            Damon Harris - It’s Music
                                                                                                                                            Pylon - Danger
                                                                                                                                            The Jonzun Crew - Pak Man (Look Out For The OVC)
                                                                                                                                            Funk Masters - Love Money
                                                                                                                                            John Sex - Bump And Grind It
                                                                                                                                            Sylvester - Over And Over (12" Disco Mix)
                                                                                                                                            Johnny Dynell And New York 88 - Jam Hot (Rhumba Rock)
                                                                                                                                            Art Zoyd - Sortie 134 (Part 2)
                                                                                                                                            Adiche - Chuka-Ja (Get Ready)
                                                                                                                                            Class Action - Weekend (Larry Levan Mix)
                                                                                                                                            Gray - Cut It Up High Priest
                                                                                                                                            The Golden Flamingo Orchestra - The Guardian Angel Is Watching Over Us
                                                                                                                                            Extra T’s - E.T. Boogie
                                                                                                                                            Fab 5 Freddy - Change The Beat
                                                                                                                                            Convertion - Let’s Do It
                                                                                                                                            Yoko Ono - Walking On Thin Ice

                                                                                                                                            Various Artists

                                                                                                                                            Soul Jazz Records Presents Brazil USA 70: Brazilian Music In The USA In The 1970s

                                                                                                                                              All of the music featured on this new Soul Jazz Records collection was created by Brazilian artists in the USA in the 1970s. In the early 1970s North American jazz musicians were eager to work with upcoming Brazilian musicians. Miles Davis invited Airto Moreira to join his new ‘electric’ band, Dom Um Romao (part of Sérgio Mendes’ legendary Brazil ‘66 in the 1960s) joined the fusion group Weather Report, Flora Purim and Airto both became a part of Chick Corea’s new project Light As A Feather, Wayne Shorter collaborated with Milton Nascimento, George Duke recorded Brazilian Love Affair and so on. With all the attention placed on them from these important jazz artists, North America became the new musical playground for a large number of these Brazilian artists - Airto Moreira, Flora Purim, Sérgio Mendes, Luiz Bonfá, Eumir Deodato, João Donato and many others. 

                                                                                                                                              Most of these musicians had already experienced success through the earlier popularity of bossa nova in the 1960s, either at home in Brazil or in the USA. However, by the end of the 1960s, many Brazilian artists had left their own country, as the military dictatorship became progressively more authoritarian and repressive. In the USA, through their critically acclaimed work for Miles Davis, Weather Report, Light As A Feather etc., all of these artists were now given reign to explore new musical terrains away from the restrictions of both a musical genre and a state censor back in Brazil.  

                                                                                                                                              This collection brings together some of these finest works and comes complete with extensive notes that explains the path these musicians took from Brazil to the USA and shows the political and musical links between Brazil and the USA that created the conditions for this unique fusion of these two distinct cultures, North American Jazz and Brazilian music, that occurred in the 1970s. 

                                                                                                                                              The CD contains large 40-page outsize booklet all housed in Soul Jazz slipcase. The double LP comes in a deluxe gatefold complete with digital download code, full sleevenotes and exclusive photography.

                                                                                                                                              TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                                                              1. Airto - Samba De Flora
                                                                                                                                              2. Duke Pearson And Flora Purim - Sandalia Dela
                                                                                                                                              3. Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '66 - Batucada (The Beat)
                                                                                                                                              4. Deodato - Skyscrapers
                                                                                                                                              5 .Milton Nascimento - Catavento
                                                                                                                                              6. Airto - Tombo In 7/4
                                                                                                                                              7. Luiz Bonfá - Bahia Soul
                                                                                                                                              8. Dom Um Romao - Braun- Blek-Blu
                                                                                                                                              9. Moacir Santos - Kathy
                                                                                                                                              10. João Donato - Almas Irmãs
                                                                                                                                              11. Sivuca - Ain't No Sunshine
                                                                                                                                              12. Milton Nascimento - Rio Vermelho
                                                                                                                                              13. Tamba 4 - Consolation (Consolação)
                                                                                                                                              14. Flora Purim - Moon Dreams
                                                                                                                                              15. Dom Um Romao - Escravos De Jo
                                                                                                                                              16. Airto - Andei (I Walked)

                                                                                                                                              Various Artists

                                                                                                                                              Soul Jazz Records Presents Fashion Records: Style & Fashion

                                                                                                                                                Soul Jazz Records present this new collection of music from the great Fashion Records, one of the most important and iconic, independent reggae labels to come out of the UK, running from 1980 for nearly 20 years. In that time Fashion released hundreds of records that successfully reflected - and indeed set - the changing styles and perspectives of reggae music in the UK, from UK dancehall and lovers rock in the 1980s through to the mighty rise of jungle in the second half of the 1990s.

                                                                                                                                                While nearly all other UK reggae labels focused on releasing Jamaican music, from the early days of Island and Trojan in the 1960s, through Island and Virgin in the 1970s and Greensleeves that came up in the 1980s, Fashion’s focus was firmly on music produced in the UK. This unique British perspective shaped both lyrical content and musical fashion. And like all the great music labels, from Studio One to Blue Note, Fashion was able to create a significant roster of its own artists. Amazingly for a small independent label, a number of Fashion artists achieved mainstream UK chart and crossover success, including Laurel & Hardy, Smiley Culture and General Levy. But although this success was welcomed, crossing over into the mainstream was never the main focus for label owners Chris Lane and John McGillivray (who also runs the successful Dub Vendor record shop), whose starting point was always primarily focused on producing quality music first.

                                                                                                                                                In the early 1980s, Fashion Records captured the rise of the emerging British dancehall scene in its ascendency. The large roster of first generation British-born artists and MCs on the label, including General Levy, Papa Face, Smiley Culture, Bionic Rhona, Asher Senator, Laurel & Hardy, Top Cat and many more, often gave a unique and sometimes humorous British lyrical perspective to Fashion releases, discussing everyday subjects, from police harassment to road safety.

                                                                                                                                                Throughout much of the 1980s and into the 1990s Fashion continued to release an almost relentless array of UK dancehall releases as well as continuing with lovers rock and the occasional dub releases. Then, in the mid-90s, with the dancehall and reggae releases still coming on strong, Fashion released a superb series of early jungle tracks linking Jamaican and British MCs and dancehall artists with young jungle mixers, remixers and producers. By this time dancehall artists General Levy and Cutty Ranks had become the staple vocal samples of literally hundreds of white label jungle records and Fashion took advantage of this, often getting young producers to work in exchange for sample clearances.

                                                                                                                                                This album is a subjective and scatter-gun ride through some of the many unique and heavyweight tracks to come out of the Fashion stable - some classics, some lesser-known, all 100% killer.


                                                                                                                                                TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                                                                Papa Face Featuring Red Man - Dance Pon De Corner
                                                                                                                                                Dee Sharp - Let’s Dub It Up
                                                                                                                                                Cutty Ranks - Limb By Limb (DJ SS Remix)
                                                                                                                                                General Levy - Mad Them
                                                                                                                                                Laurel & Hardy - You’re Nicked
                                                                                                                                                Bunny General - Played By This Ya Sound
                                                                                                                                                General Levy & Hard ‘n’ Pure - Wikkeda!!
                                                                                                                                                Carlton Lewis - Small Talking
                                                                                                                                                Poison Chang - Shot Fe Bust (Marvellous Cain Remix)
                                                                                                                                                Dee Sharp - Rising To The Top
                                                                                                                                                Papa Face With Keith Douglas - DJ Jamboree
                                                                                                                                                General Levy - Heat
                                                                                                                                                Carlton Lewis - Sweet Soul Rocking
                                                                                                                                                Top Cat - Ruffest Gun Ark (DJ Rap Mix)
                                                                                                                                                Papa San - DJ Business
                                                                                                                                                Papa Face & Bionic Rhona - To The Bump
                                                                                                                                                Cutty Ranks - As You See It
                                                                                                                                                Janice Walker - You’ll Never Need Somebody
                                                                                                                                                Asher Senator - Bubble With I

                                                                                                                                                Various Artists

                                                                                                                                                Soul Jazz Records Presents ‘Bunny Lee: Dreads Enter The Gates With Praise’

                                                                                                                                                  Soul Jazz Records presents this new collection featuring the heavy 70s roots reggae of Bunny Lee - a living legend, one of the last of the great Jamaican record producers who helped shape and define reggae music in the 1970s from a small island sound into an internationally successful musical genre.

                                                                                                                                                  From teenage fan to young record plugger for Duke Reid, Sir Coxsone and other early pioneering Jamaican musical entrepreneurs, Lee has spent his whole professional life inside the Kingston music industry. In the 1970s he rose up to become one of the major record producers in Jamaica alongside Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry and the other ‘small axe’ producers who broke the dominance of the ‘big tree’ producers that had ruled Jamaican music in the 1960s.

                                                                                                                                                  Featuring some of the heaviest Jamaican artists, including Johnny Clarke, King Tubby, Dillinger, Prince Jazzbo, Tommy McCook, The legendary Aggrovators (featuring Sly and Robbie), The Mighty Diamonds and more, the album is a rollercoaster ride of rare, deep and classic 1970s roots, dub and DJ sounds.

                                                                                                                                                  During this era, ‘flying cymbals’, crashing reverbs, dark echoing thunderclap gunshots and other ‘implements of sound’ filled his record productions as Bunny Lee explored the outer limits of dub with his friend King Tubby in the mix on wild versions that accompanied any 45. A Bunny Lee record provides a creative and mysterious hidden guide to reggae music itself, a double-sided three-minute intangible history lesson etched in wax.

                                                                                                                                                  Bunny Lee was one of the first Jamaican producers to travel to England in the late 1960s, at the beginning of the nascent British reggae music industry as record companies such as Trojan, Pama and others began licensing Jamaican music in the UK to supply the expanding West Indian communities living up and down England. Lee encouraged other Jamaican producers to do the same, including Lee Perry, Harry J and Niney The Observer and also became a conduit between the British music industry and numerous younger Island-based producers - a frequent flyer reggae ambassador, a musical courier exchanging tapes for royalties.

                                                                                                                                                  Bunny Lee’s first recordings in the late 1960s were mainly rock steady but as the 70s approached the music soon began to mutate and slow down into ‘reggae’ as the sound became heavier, more rootsy and the sound itself began to change with the explosion of dub.

                                                                                                                                                  Lee was at the forefront to this dramatic musical shift into roots reggae and by this time had become a major producer, capable of working with whoever he chose as world-famous singers, DJs and musicians lined up to work with the charismatic man. Lee also employed a fluid but stable set of crack session musicians who he named The Aggrovators.

                                                                                                                                                  Most of the recordings featured here come from the mid 70s, a time when Bunny Lee was definitely in the zone, releasing heavyweight singles at an almost unstoppable rate. Bunny Lee’s career stretches over five decades and he has upwards of 2,000 production credits on vinyl.

                                                                                                                                                  This album comes with extensive sleevenotes, an interview with Bunny Lee and exclusive photography.

                                                                                                                                                  STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                  Matt says: The 'flying cymbals' pioneer gets properly exhibited by the Soul Jazz firm here - possibly the most in-depth, all inclusive collection to date of this skilled dub creative.

                                                                                                                                                  TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                                                                  Johnny Clarke - Enter Into His Gates With Praise
                                                                                                                                                  King Tubby Meets Tommy McCook and The Aggrovators - The Dub Station
                                                                                                                                                  Gene Rondo - Why You Do That
                                                                                                                                                  Vin Gordon & The Aggrovators - Magnum Force
                                                                                                                                                  Jackie Edwards - So Jah Seh
                                                                                                                                                  The Aggrovators - So Jah Seh Dub
                                                                                                                                                  Jah Youth - Principle And Dignity
                                                                                                                                                  King Tubby Meets Tommy McCook and The Aggrovators - King Tubby Dub
                                                                                                                                                  Jah Stitch - Real Born African
                                                                                                                                                  The Aggrovators - African Love Call
                                                                                                                                                  Gene Rondo - A Land Far Away
                                                                                                                                                  The Uniques - Queen Majesty
                                                                                                                                                  Johnny Clarke - Time Will Tell
                                                                                                                                                  The Aggrovators - Drums Of Africa
                                                                                                                                                  Winston Wright - Marvelous Rocker
                                                                                                                                                  The Mighty Diamonds - You Should Be Thankful
                                                                                                                                                  King Tubby, Prince Jammy And The Aggrovators - A Thankful Version
                                                                                                                                                  Dillinger - Check Sister Jane
                                                                                                                                                  Prince Jazzbo - The Wormer
                                                                                                                                                  The Uniques - You Don't Care For Me
                                                                                                                                                  Shorty The President - Natty
                                                                                                                                                  Dread Have Ambition
                                                                                                                                                  King Tubby And The Aggrovators -
                                                                                                                                                  This A The Hardest Version

                                                                                                                                                  Various Artists

                                                                                                                                                  Soul Jazz Records Presents - Studio One: Black Man's Pride 3

                                                                                                                                                    This is the latest installment of Soul Jazz Records’ on-going collection of Rastafarian music at Studio One, featuring classic material from legendary roots and culture artists The Gladiators, Horace Andy, Freddie McGregor, Sugar Minott and the Wailing Souls, alongside a superb selection of rarities from Sir Coxsone’s musical empire made up of one-off and practically unknown Rastafarian artists who recorded on myriad Studio One off-shoot labels in the 1970s - The Manchesters, Mellodies, The Nightingales and others.

                                                                                                                                                    In this new collection, we see that once again the prescient Clement Dodd was a man who saw the wider picture. In the 1960s it was Sir Coxsone who identified the creative potential of The Wailers, Toots and the Maytals, Heptones, Burning Spear and many, many others. In the 1970s Studio One released an untouchable selection of the finest as styles moved from reggae to deejay to dub and, in the latter half, the emergence of dancehall.

                                                                                                                                                    What is also clear is that throughout this era Studio One released an incredible amount of roots music and not just the most commercially obvious. For alongside the career-building catalogues of Burning Spear, The Wailing Souls, The Gladiators and so on, one needs to be an ardent Studio One collector to know some of the truly raw Rastafarian music featured here. Groups such as The Manchesters or The Nightingales feel as if they were recorded straight out of the churchical chants of the mansions.

                                                                                                                                                    Black Man’s Pride explains the links between the ideology of Clement Dodd at Studio One and the Rastafarian faith, which was the creation of Afro-Jamaicans and concerned above all else with a black consciousness and empowerment, a rediscovering of the personal and racial identity of black people. The movement began in the 1930s and, in tandem with this black consciousness, called for a rejection of the British imperial culture that dominated Jamaica, while creating an identity based on a re-appropriation of an African heritage.

                                                                                                                                                    The Rastafari movement was like a pivot, bringing together and balancing many vectors of ideologies. Marcus Garvey’s Back to Africa movement, trades union discourse, anti-colonialism and nation independence, maroon self-definition and independence, the spirit of African rebellion in the Caribbean. For Clement Dodd, a black man and producer growing up in Kingston in this era, Rastafari was simply a part of his everyday world - from witnessing Count Ossie’s grounations to the faith of many Jamaican artists at Studio One - from the Skatalites onwards.

                                                                                                                                                    Featured here alongside these classic and rare tracks from Studio One are new and extensive sleeve notes with track-by-track notes by Rob Chapman, author of the acclaimed Downbeat Special and Never Grow Old Studio One books.

                                                                                                                                                    TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                                                                    Horace Andy - Conscious Dreadlocks
                                                                                                                                                    The Gladiators - A Prayer To Thee
                                                                                                                                                    Freddie McGregor - Beat Down Babylon
                                                                                                                                                    The Manchesters - Selassie Bandman
                                                                                                                                                    The Mellodies - Dread Oppression
                                                                                                                                                    Big Joe - Jah Jah Help Us 
                                                                                                                                                    Horace Andy - Oh Lord Why Lord
                                                                                                                                                    Lloyd Jones & The Super Natural Six - Get Up And Try
                                                                                                                                                    Wailing Souls - Can't Catch Me
                                                                                                                                                    The Nightingales - Jehovah
                                                                                                                                                    Alphonso Stewart - Its No Secret
                                                                                                                                                    Errol Dunkley - Satisfaction
                                                                                                                                                    Mr Manchester - Give Natty Dread Glory
                                                                                                                                                    Sugar Minott - Wrong Doers
                                                                                                                                                    Noel Campbell & The Gladiators Band - Sufferation
                                                                                                                                                    African Brothers - No Cup No Brock
                                                                                                                                                    Zoot Simms - When The Time Comes
                                                                                                                                                    Glen Miller - Whey No Dead

                                                                                                                                                    Various Artists

                                                                                                                                                    Soul Jazz Records Presents Soul Of A Nation: Jazz Is The Teacher, Funk Is The Preacher

                                                                                                                                                      ‘Soul Of A Nation: Jazz Is The Teacher, Funk Is The Preacher’ is a powerful new collection of radical jazz, street funk and proto-rap made in the era of Black Power (1969-75).

                                                                                                                                                      This is the second ‘Soul Of A Nation’ album released by Soul Jazz Records to coincide with the exhibition ‘Soul Of A Nation - Art In The Age Of Black Power’, critically acclaimed and enormously successful when it opened at the Tate Modern in London last year (as was Soul Jazz Records’ accompanying first album ‘Soul Of A Nation: Afro-Centric Visions In The Age Of Black Power 1968- 79’). The blockbuster international exhibition is now at the Brooklyn Museum, New York, travelling to Los Angeles in 2019.

                                                                                                                                                      This new album features a number of important and ground-breaking African-American artists - The Art Ensemble Of Chicago, Don Cherry, Funkadelic, Gil Scott-Heron and more - alongside a host of lesser-known artists all of whom in the early 1970s were exploring new Afrocentric poly-rhythmical styles of music - radical jazz, street funk and proto-rap - while at the same time exploring the Black Power and civil-rights inspired notions of self-definition, self-respect and self-empowerment in their own lives.

                                                                                                                                                      During this era African-American jazz musicians ripped up traditional definitions - rejecting the term ‘entertainer’ to redefine themselves instead as ‘artists’. They worked outside of the mainstream music industry perceiving this artistic relationship to be fundamentally exploitative and politically flawed. Artists instead formed their own pan-arts community-centric collectives, set up their own record labels, ran concerts in alternative performance spaces - art galleries, parks, lofts, community centres - all as a way of taking control of their own creative destinies.

                                                                                                                                                      At the start of 1960s jazz musicians had embarked on an intense period of musical experimentation as artists John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry sought to dismantle the traditional definitions of jazz by creating new music that broke free from its establishment shackles. By the end of the 1960s, forward-thinking African-American jazz musicians had absorbed the ideas of this radical and avant-garde path but also began to introduce many new elements - not just civil rights concepts of freedom but also black power ideas of self-respect, righteousness and anger.

                                                                                                                                                      Their music developed into a radical and intense Afrocentric mix of jazz, funk, soul and street poetry, all in search of a new musical language that could better represent artistic African-American cultural expression.

                                                                                                                                                      All of the featured artists here were involved in this search in different ways; A shared sense of Afrocentric collectivism joined the dots between the deep avant-garde experimentalism of The Art Ensemble Of Chicago (here featuring soul singer Fontella Bass singing the powerful ‘Theme de Yoyo’) to the hyper funk psychedelia of George Clinton’s Funkadelic.

                                                                                                                                                      The poetry of Gil Scott-Heron and Sarah Webster Fabio performed with a backdrop of street funk and heavyweight percussion laid down the template for the birth of rap. The Har-You Percussion Group, a group of young Harlem teenagers, showed how government-sponsored social initiatives helped create great art and music. Gary Bartz and The Oneness of Juju offer spirituality and cosmology. Collectives like The Pharaohs and Detroit’s Tribe add deep jazz and street funk in equal measures.

                                                                                                                                                      Influenced and radicalised by Black Power and civil rights, all these artists were involved in creating - in the words of the Art Ensemble Of Chicago - ‘Great Black Music: Ancient To Future’.

                                                                                                                                                      STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                      Millie says: This compilation has collected all the best tunes from the funk/soul genre from Gil Scott-Heron to Baby Huey. Spread over three LP's, this is a feast for the ears!

                                                                                                                                                      TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                                                                      Art Ensemble Of Chicago - Theme De Yoyo
                                                                                                                                                      The Har-You Percussion Group - Welcome To The Party
                                                                                                                                                      The Pharaohs - Damballa
                                                                                                                                                      Baby Huey - Hard Times
                                                                                                                                                      James Mason - Sweet Power, Your Embrace
                                                                                                                                                      Byron Morris And Unity - Kitty Bey
                                                                                                                                                      Funkadelic - Nappy Dugout
                                                                                                                                                      Rashied Ali & Frank Lowe - Exchange Part 2 (II)
                                                                                                                                                      Gary Bartz NTU Troop - Celestial Blues
                                                                                                                                                      Oneness Of Juju - Space Jungle Funk
                                                                                                                                                      Sarah Webster Fabio - Work It Out
                                                                                                                                                      Tribe (Wendell Harrison & Phillip Ranelin) - Beneficent
                                                                                                                                                      Gil Scott-Heron - Whitey On The Moon
                                                                                                                                                      Don Cherry - Brown Rice

                                                                                                                                                      Various Artists

                                                                                                                                                      Soul Jazz Records Presents - Studio One Freedom Sounds: Studio One In The 1960s

                                                                                                                                                      "Studio One Freedom Sounds" is the new collection from the nation's favourite one-stop shop, focusing on the intense period in the second half of the 1960s when Studio One’s vast and unbeatable output of ska, soul, rock steady and reggae made it literally one of the hottest musical empires in the world.

                                                                                                                                                      During this highly successful period, Clement ‘Sir Coxsone’ Dodd released hundreds and hundreds of superlative singles seemingly on an almost daily basis, in the process making huge stars out of Jamaican singers such as Alton Ellis, Delroy Wilson, The Wailers, Slim Smith, Jackie Opel and many more.

                                                                                                                                                      Powered by the finest in-house musicians working in Jamaica, whether it was The Skatalites, Jackie Mittoo’s Soul Brothers, The Sounds Dimension or The Soul Vendors, Studio One functioned as hit factory on the scale of Motown in the USA, shaping and defining reggae music for decades to come.

                                                                                                                                                      Singlehandedly Studio One’s founder Clement Dodd was able to create the most successful vertically-integrated record company that Jamaica had ever known with pressing plant, printers, studio, shops and sound systems all running at once, with over 50 employees and hundreds of artists working with Studio One during this time.

                                                                                                                                                      "Studio One Freedom Sounds" tells the story of Studio One in the 1960s with a stunning set of ska, soul, rock steady and reggae killer tunes as well as informative sleevenotes and track-by-track info by Noel Hawks.


                                                                                                                                                      TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                                                                      Don Drummond & The Skatalites - Rain Or Shine
                                                                                                                                                      The Gaylads - Morning Sun
                                                                                                                                                      Delroy Wilson - Just Because Of You
                                                                                                                                                      Alton Ellis - Sunday Coming
                                                                                                                                                      Jackie Opel - I Am What I Am
                                                                                                                                                      Peter Tosh - I Am The Toughest
                                                                                                                                                      Delroy Wilson - Get Ready
                                                                                                                                                      Mr. Foundation - Timo-Oh
                                                                                                                                                      Roland Alphonso & The Soul Brothers - Provocation
                                                                                                                                                      Leroy & Rocky - Love Me Girl
                                                                                                                                                      Slim & Delroy - Look Who Is Back Again
                                                                                                                                                      The Skatalites - Spread Satin
                                                                                                                                                      Barrington Spence - Contemplating Mind
                                                                                                                                                      Ernest Ranglin - Psychedelic Rock
                                                                                                                                                      Bob Marley & The Wailers - Destiny
                                                                                                                                                      Roland Alphonso - Reggae In The Grass
                                                                                                                                                      Zoot Simms - We Can Talk It Over
                                                                                                                                                      Jackie Mittoo - Hi Jack

                                                                                                                                                      This new edition of Soul Jazz Records’ ‘The World Of Arthur Russell’, the seminal collection of Arthur Russell’s essential music, is released on heavy deluxe triple vinyl and deluxe tip-on Japanese style CD edition.
                                                                                                                                                      This album brings together some of Russell’s best-loved and most accessible works including his wide-ranging music, both solo and in groups, including Dinosaur L (the essential ‘Go Bang’), Loose Joints (the equally classic ‘Is It All Over My Face’) as well as rarities such as the 7” only ‘Pop Your Funk’, Indian Ocean’s ‘Schoolbell / Treehouse’, Lola’s ‘Wax The Van’ and more.

                                                                                                                                                      Arthur Russell’s music effortlessly crossed musical boundaries making it timeless. His dance music credentials are faultless and this collection features mixes from Larry Levan, Françcois Kevorkian and Walter Gibbons. Similarly, his songwriting, musicality and performance skills are equally cherished, as composer Philip Glass wrote, “this was a guy who could sit down with a cello and sing with it in a way that no one on earth has ever done before or will do again.”

                                                                                                                                                      When Soul Jazz Records’ ‘The World Of Arthur Russell’ first came out in 2003, Russell’s music had slipped into near obscurity. Nearly 15 years later there are over a dozen releases of his music, reissues of his original albums and more. ‘The World Of Arthur Russell’ is the classic first collection of his work available once more.


                                                                                                                                                      TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                                                                      Dinosaur L - Go Bang (Francois Kevorkian Mix)
                                                                                                                                                      Lola - Wax The Van
                                                                                                                                                      Loose Joints - Is It All Over My Face (Larry Levan Mix)
                                                                                                                                                      Arthur Russell - Keeping Up
                                                                                                                                                      Arthur Russell - In The Light Of The Miracle
                                                                                                                                                      Arthur Russell - A Little Lost
                                                                                                                                                      Loose Joints - Pop Your Funk
                                                                                                                                                      Arthur Russell - Let's Go Swimming (Walter Gibbons Mix)
                                                                                                                                                      Dinosaur L - In The Cornbelt (Larry Levan Mix)
                                                                                                                                                      Arthur Russell - Treehouse
                                                                                                                                                      Indian Ocean - Schoolbell/Treehouse (Walter Gibbons Mix)

                                                                                                                                                      Konkere Beats

                                                                                                                                                      Yoruba! Songs & Rhythms For The Yoruba Gods In Nigeria

                                                                                                                                                      Soul Jazz Records’ latest album ‘Yoruba! Songs & Rhythms For The Yoruba Gods In Nigeria’ is newly recorded in Lagos, Nigeria. The album is co-produced by Soul Jazz Records label head Stuart Baker and Laolu Akins (founding member of the legendary 1970s Nigerian Afro-Funk/Rock group Blo).

                                                                                                                                                      ‘Yoruba!’ features an array of local master drummers led by Olatunji Samson Sotimirin and singers (featuring the lead vocals of Janet Olufanmilayo Abe) performing heavyweight Afro-rhythms, with talking drums, Bata and Dundun drums and a mass of percussion in these deep spiritual and sacred songs used to honour and worship the traditional and ancient Yoruba gods in Nigeria, West Africa.

                                                                                                                                                      The enormous impact of Yoruba and West African music and culture is worldwide - from the first Afro-centric explorations of African- American jazz musicians in the 1950s such as Art Blakey, Randy Weston and Dizzy Gillespie, the explosion of Nu Yorican Latin music in New York City starting in the 1960s - Mambo, Boogaloo, Latin funk and soul - through to the sacred and powerful Afro-derived music of the religions of Santería in Cuba, Candomblé in Brazil and Voodoo in Haiti, which all came into existence on account of the Atlantic slave trade which began over 400 years ago. On a wider scale West African music remains the primary root of all African-American musical forms - from New Orleans jazz to Bronx rap, gospel, soul and more.

                                                                                                                                                      This album features songs honouring the Nigerian gods of the Yoruba traditional religion - Yemoja, Obatala, Ogun, Sango and others - as well as a selection of instrumental cuts focusing on the Bata and Dundun drums.

                                                                                                                                                      The album comes complete with extensive text and photography. 40- page outsize booklet / gatefold double vinyl and inners showing the influence of Yoruba culture throughout the world and the social and historical context for the music contained here.

                                                                                                                                                      TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                                                                      Homage To Yemoja
                                                                                                                                                      Homage To Esu
                                                                                                                                                      Sakara Instrumental
                                                                                                                                                      Ensemble
                                                                                                                                                      Homage To Obatala
                                                                                                                                                      Eulogy To Amila
                                                                                                                                                      Homage To Sango
                                                                                                                                                      Agbe Gbe-Wadele
                                                                                                                                                      Eulogy To Ori-Ola
                                                                                                                                                      Bata Drums Ensemble
                                                                                                                                                      Homage To Osun
                                                                                                                                                      Eshere
                                                                                                                                                      Dundun Instrumental
                                                                                                                                                      Ensemble
                                                                                                                                                      Homage To Ogun

                                                                                                                                                      Various Artists

                                                                                                                                                      Soul Jazz Records Presents - Dancehall: The Rise Of Jamaican Dancehall Culture

                                                                                                                                                        Soul Jazz Records are releasing a new 2017 edition of their classic album ‘Dancehall: The Rise Of Jamaican Dancehall Culture’. This long-out-of-print collection is now available as a double CD and triple vinyl. The album is a lightning-flash collection of all-time classic and definitive dancehall classics as well as a stellar selection of more obscure tracks. Featuring Yellowman, Tenor Saw, Sister Nancy, Ini Kamoze, Chaka Demus & Pliers, Michigan & Smiley, Super Cat, Cutty Ranks, Eek-A-Mouse, Gregory Isaacs and more, this album features non-stop floor-filling party tune rockers throughout. ‘Dancehall’ is released to coincide with the new 2017 edition of the stunning 400+ photos deluxe coffee table book ‘Dancehall: The Rise Of Jamaican Dancehall Culture’, featuring Beth Lesser’s amazing ‘Dancehall’ photography (also newly published by Soul Jazz Records). This book has become the definitive cultural reference book for Jamaican dancehall and features hundreds of killer photographs, extensive text and interviews with many of the artists. 

                                                                                                                                                        STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                        Patrick says: Soul Jazz can always be relied upon to pack a comp full of heat, and this dancehall collection has all the greats on here. Yellowman, Sister Nancy, Ini Kamoze, Super Cat – you name ‘em, they’re on here. Plus, we get “Murder She Wrote”. Mega!

                                                                                                                                                        TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                                                                        Yellowman - Bam Bam
                                                                                                                                                        Tenor Saw - Pumpkin Belly
                                                                                                                                                        Reggie Stepper - Cu Oonuh
                                                                                                                                                        Chaka Demus And Pliers - Murder She Wrote
                                                                                                                                                        Pinchers - Agony
                                                                                                                                                        Michigan & Smiley - Diseases (3.31)
                                                                                                                                                        Ini Kamoze - World A Music
                                                                                                                                                        Junior Murvin - Cool Out Son
                                                                                                                                                        General Echo - Arleen
                                                                                                                                                        Cornel Campbell - Boxing
                                                                                                                                                        Cutty Ranks - Chop Chop
                                                                                                                                                        Lone Ranger - M16
                                                                                                                                                        Super Cat - Trash And Ready
                                                                                                                                                        Gregory Isaacs - Soon Forward
                                                                                                                                                        Jacob Miller & Trinity - I'm Just A Dread / One Shut
                                                                                                                                                        Eek A Mouse - Wa Do Dem
                                                                                                                                                        Sister Nancy - Only Woman DJ With Degree
                                                                                                                                                        Trinity - Uptown Girl
                                                                                                                                                        General Echo - Track Shoes
                                                                                                                                                        Cornel Campbell - Mash You Down
                                                                                                                                                        Horace Ferguson - Sensi Addict
                                                                                                                                                        Clint Eastwood - Jump And Pawn

                                                                                                                                                        ‘Black Man’s Pride’ is the striking new Studio One collection of deep righteous reggae, featuring Horace Andy, Alton Ellis, The Gladiators, Sugar Minott, The Heptones, Freddie McGregor, Cedric Brooks & more.

                                                                                                                                                        While the righteousness of blackness is at the heart of the Rastafarian faith, this collection illustrates how black pride remained a central theme, if not the defining essence, at the very core of all the music created at Studio One Records under the direction of Clement ‘Sir Coxsone’ Dodd.

                                                                                                                                                        In order to understand the centrality of black identity in the music created at Studio One, we need look no further than Clement ‘Sir Coxsone’ Dodd who created the first black-owned record company in Jamaica.

                                                                                                                                                        In similar fashion Alton Ellis’s defining ‘Black Man’s Pride’ brings up emotions that are at the heart of many of these uplifting songs. Alton Ellis’ birthplace was the Trench Town ghetto of Kingston, also the birthplace of The Wailers, Ken Boothe and many other Studio One luminaries.

                                                                                                                                                        Clement Dodd established a musical empire firmly rooted by the core musicians working at Studio One, many of whom came out of the Alpha School for Wayward Boys, essentially an orphanage run by Roman Catholic nuns, whose luminaries include Don Drummond, Johnny Moore, Leroy ‘Horsemouth’ Wallace, Cedric Brooks, Vin Gordon, Tommy McCook & more.

                                                                                                                                                        Many of the songs featured here come from the transitory phase in reggae at the start of the 1970s, after the exhilaration of Ska and following the cooling down of Rocksteady.

                                                                                                                                                        While reggae awaited the arrival of roots, Studio One’s vocalists were already producing some of the moodiest music imaginable.

                                                                                                                                                        Here are 18 heavyweight tunes, both classic cuts and super-rare tunes.

                                                                                                                                                        TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                                                                        Alton Ellis - Black Man's Pride
                                                                                                                                                        Horace Andy - Child Of The Ghetto
                                                                                                                                                        Dennis Brown - Created By The Father
                                                                                                                                                        The Gladiators - Roots Natty
                                                                                                                                                        The Classics - Got To Be Cool
                                                                                                                                                        The Nightingales - Rasta Is Calling
                                                                                                                                                        Glen Miller - Love & Understanding
                                                                                                                                                        Sugar Minott - Woman Shadow
                                                                                                                                                        Lloyd Jones & The Super Natural Six - Red In A Babylon
                                                                                                                                                        Dudley Sibley & The Soul Gang - Love In Our Nation
                                                                                                                                                        The Heptones - Equal Rights
                                                                                                                                                        Glen Miller - You Must Be Love
                                                                                                                                                        Winston Jarrett - Up Park No Mans Land
                                                                                                                                                        Cedric Im Brooks - Why Can’t I
                                                                                                                                                        Larry Marshall - Let's Make It Up
                                                                                                                                                        Freddie McGregor - Children Listen To Wise Words
                                                                                                                                                        John Holt - Build Our Dreams
                                                                                                                                                        Johnny Osbourne – Forgive Them

                                                                                                                                                        Various Artists

                                                                                                                                                        Soul Jazz Records Presents: Soul Of A Nation

                                                                                                                                                          Soul Jazz Records’ new release ‘Soul Of A Nation: Afro-Centric Visions In The Age Of Black Power - Underground Jazz, Street Funk & The Roots Of Rap 1968-79’ is released in conjunction with a major worldwide art exhibition, ‘Soul Of A Nation: Art In The The Age Of Black Power’, which takes place at the Tate Modern, London, UK (July-Oct 2017) and The Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA.

                                                                                                                                                          The album shows how the ideals of the civil rights movement, black power and black nationalism influenced the evolvement of radical African-American music in the United States of America in the intensely political and revolutionary period at the end of the 1960s following the assassinations of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King and the rise of the Black Panther party.

                                                                                                                                                          Featuring ground-breaking artists such as Gil Scott-Heron, Roy Ayers, Don Cherry, Oneness Of Juju, Sarah Webster Fabio, Horace Tapscott, Phil Ranelin and many others, ‘Soul Of A Nation’ shows how political themes led to the rise of ‘conscious’ black music as new afro-centric styles combined the musical radicalism and spirituality of John Coltrane and radical avant-garde jazz music alongside the intense funk and soul of James Brown and Aretha Franklin and the urban poetry and proto-rap of the streets.

                                                                                                                                                          The ‘Soul Of A Nation’ exhibition draws on the links between Black art forms - art, music, poetry - and how they came together during the civil rights and black power era as part of the wider black arts movement across the United States.

                                                                                                                                                          Iconic African-Amercian revolutionary figures such as Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Angela Davis, John Coltrane and Muhammad Ali all appear in the radical artworks of Barkley L. Hendricks, Romare Bearden, Norman Lewis, Lorraine O’Grady and Betye Saar.

                                                                                                                                                          Stuart Baker (founder of Soul Jazz Records) will appear on the panel for a ‘Soul Of A Nation: Art In The Age Of Black Power’ discussion at the gallery as part of the show.

                                                                                                                                                          STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                          Barry says: This really is a fascinating and varied look into the start of an international appreciation of hip-hop, soul and funk. With more mellow afrobeat pieces segueing beautifully into more traditional fare, and even including some highly politically charged spoken-word accompaniments, this is yet another win for the Soul Jazz camp.

                                                                                                                                                          TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                                                                          Gil Scott-Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
                                                                                                                                                          Mandingo Griot Society With Don Cherry - Sounds From The Bush
                                                                                                                                                          Roy Ayers Ubiquity - Red, Black And Green
                                                                                                                                                          Philip Cohran And The Artistic Heritage Ensemble - Malcolm X
                                                                                                                                                          Sarah Webster Fabio - Sweet Songs
                                                                                                                                                          Phil Ranelin - Vibes From The Tribe
                                                                                                                                                          Horace Tapscott With The Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra - Desert Fairy Princess
                                                                                                                                                          David Mcknight - Strong Men
                                                                                                                                                          Joe Henderson - Black Narcissus
                                                                                                                                                          Oneness Of Juju - African Rhythms
                                                                                                                                                          Doug Carn - Suratal Ihklas
                                                                                                                                                          Duke Edwards And The Young Ones - Is It Too Late?
                                                                                                                                                          Carlos Garnett - Mother Of The Future

                                                                                                                                                          Various Artists

                                                                                                                                                          Boombox 2 - Early Independent Hip Hop, Electro And Disco Rap 1979-82

                                                                                                                                                            Soul Jazz Records’ ‘Boombox 2’ is a new selection of early rap music from the period 1979 - 83, with barely a household name in sight. Featured here are some the earliest hip hop records that came out of New York City following the enormous commercial success of the first ever rap record, ‘Rapper’s Delight’ by the Sugarhill Gang, in September 1979. Artists and producers alike tried to jump aboard the new commercial possibilities of hip hop. By the end of the year there were 30 hip hop singles, all released by independent New York labels. The following year there were over 100 more and so on.

                                                                                                                                                            ‘Boombox 2’ tells the story of how hip hop went from its evolutionary roots in the Bronx through DJs Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa through to its second phase where veteran music producers - Paul Winley, Peter Brown, Joe Robinson and others - all based in Harlem, began to put rap on vinyl for the first time.

                                                                                                                                                            Harlem is also where the separate worlds of disco and hip hop met through the styles and influence of earlier ‘uptown’ DJs - DJ Hollywood and Eddie Cheba. In similar fashion these veteran Harlem-based producers instinctively tapped into a long lineage of African-American rhythm and blues, soul and disco.

                                                                                                                                                            STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                            Patrick says: "Well I went to the hat store today and I bought myself a hat! Ha ha ha ha!" Soul Jazz take us to Harlem with a second survey of the nascent hip hop scene. It's lino time!

                                                                                                                                                            TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                                                                            Harlem World Crew - Let’s Rock
                                                                                                                                                            Lonnie Love - Young Ladies
                                                                                                                                                            Kool DJ A.J. - Ah, That’s The Joint
                                                                                                                                                            Terry Lewis & Wild Flower - The Peoples Message Take Two
                                                                                                                                                            Rappers Rapp Group - Rappin’ Partee Groove (Club Version)
                                                                                                                                                            Eddie Cheba - Lookin’ Good
                                                                                                                                                            MC Rock Lovely - One Time Two Time Blow Your Mind
                                                                                                                                                            Little Starsky - Dancin’ Party People
                                                                                                                                                            Manujothi - Shake Your Body
                                                                                                                                                            Busy Bee - School Days
                                                                                                                                                            T.J. Swann, Pee Wee Mel & Swann Controllers - Maximus Party
                                                                                                                                                            Margo’s Kool Out Crew - Death Rap
                                                                                                                                                            Grand Master Chilly T & Stevie G - Rock The Message Rap
                                                                                                                                                            Zoot II - Dr. Ice Rap

                                                                                                                                                            Featured here is a new collection spanning Studio One’s dancehall period - singers and deejays on classic Studio One rhythms, studio and electronic wizardry from the Brentford Road headquarters, lots of rare 12” singles, all effortlessly brought together to nice up the dance.

                                                                                                                                                            When Clement ‘Sir Coxsone’ Dodd first ruled the dancehalls of Kingston in the 1950s, fighting off the soundsystem competition of Duke Reid, King Edwards and others, few could imagine how far the reign of Studio One would last. However, the emergence of dancehall as a distinct style of reggae at the end of the 1970s, as upstart competing producers began recording vocalists and deejays performing over replayed classic Studio One rhythms, in many ways made the influence of Clement Dodd’s vision more omnipotent than ever before (and lasting to this day).

                                                                                                                                                            Not surprisingly, Clement Dodd’s creativity and business acumen made him quick to respond to this musical phenomenon - he soon began voicing the new stable of Studio One singers and deejays, such as Sugar Minott and Lone Ranger, over original classic Studio One rhythms recorded in the late 1960s - by producing some of the most innovative, time-bending and creative music of his career.

                                                                                                                                                            This album comes as CD with slipcase, super-loud, super-heavy triple vinyl with free download code.

                                                                                                                                                            TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                                                                            Ernest Wilson - Why Oh Why
                                                                                                                                                            Johnny Osbourne - Lend Me The Sixteen
                                                                                                                                                            Windel Haye - Haunted House
                                                                                                                                                            Green Tea & Chassy - Ghetto Girl
                                                                                                                                                            Johnny Osbourne - Time A Run Out
                                                                                                                                                            Lone Ranger - Noah In The Ark
                                                                                                                                                            Devon Russell - Thanks And Praise
                                                                                                                                                            Brentford Disco Set - Rebel Disco
                                                                                                                                                            Doreen Schaffer - I Don’t Know Why
                                                                                                                                                            Slim Smith - Lonely Lover
                                                                                                                                                            Field Marshall Haye - Roots And Herb Style
                                                                                                                                                            DJ Dawn & The Ranking Queens - Peace Truce Thing
                                                                                                                                                            Jim Brown - Cure For The Fever
                                                                                                                                                            Sugar Minott - Peace Treaty Style
                                                                                                                                                            Lloyd Robinson - It Deep
                                                                                                                                                            Barry Brown - Far East
                                                                                                                                                            Windel Haye & Captain
                                                                                                                                                            Morgan - Flood Victim
                                                                                                                                                            Ernest Wilson - Pick Them Up

                                                                                                                                                            Various Artists

                                                                                                                                                            Invasion Of The Mysteron Killer Sounds

                                                                                                                                                              Kevin Martin (aka The Bug / King Midas Sound) and Stuart Baker (Soul Jazz Records) have put together a unique project bringing together new, exclusive and in demand digital music by electronic futurists Harmonic 313, Diplo, Roots Manuva, South Rakkas Crew,The Bug and more, alongside a killer selection of Jamaican digital and electronic scientific dub and dancehall. Exclusive new tracks and mixes by Harmonic 313, Stereotyp, Federation; in demand tracks from the likes of Roots Manuva, Diplo and South Rakkas Crew; the toughest digital and twisted rhythms from legendary producers King Jammy, Steely and Clevie, Sly Dunbar, Prince Jazzbo, King Tubby, Firehouse Crew and more all feature on this unique release.

                                                                                                                                                              The double album comes in special edition heavyweight deluxe hardcover 2CD card casing complete with a deluxe graphic novel by Italian comic book designer Paolo Parisi (whose books include subjects as diverse as John Coltrane and Chernobyl). This specially commissioned graphic novel is a science fiction vision of the future of digital music, featuring King Tubby, Steely & Clevie, Jammy, Jazzbo, complete with Alien Sound Lord Abductors, Aural Freedom Fighters and Digi-Dub Voyagers.


                                                                                                                                                              TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                                                                              CD ONE:
                                                                                                                                                              1. Steely & Clevie ‘Streetsweeper’
                                                                                                                                                              2. Lenky & Sly ‘Now Thing’
                                                                                                                                                              3. Ricky Ranking Ft. Roots Manuva ‘Doogoo Dub’
                                                                                                                                                              4. Dave Kelly ‘The Return’
                                                                                                                                                              5. Annex Crew ‘Summerbounce’
                                                                                                                                                              6. Federation Sound ‘Flatlands (Brooklyn Dub Mix)’
                                                                                                                                                              7. Lenky ‘Diwali Riddim’
                                                                                                                                                              8. Team Shadatek ‘Yoga Riddim’
                                                                                                                                                              9. Stereotyp Ft. Alley Cat ‘Modern Times’
                                                                                                                                                              10. The Grynch Ft. Tippa Irie ‘Electro Agony In Dub’
                                                                                                                                                              11. Fira ‘Hummer Version’
                                                                                                                                                              12. Diplo ‘Diplo Rhythm’
                                                                                                                                                              13. Harmonic 313 ‘Bazooka Riddim’
                                                                                                                                                              14. Ward 21 Productions ‘Pit Bull’
                                                                                                                                                              15. Redlight ‘M.D.M.A’.
                                                                                                                                                              16. The Bug ‘Aktion Dub’

                                                                                                                                                              CD TWO:
                                                                                                                                                              1. Fat Eyes ‘Clothes Pin Rhythm’
                                                                                                                                                              2. Steven Ventura 4 Kings Of Kings ‘Throw Your Hands Up Version’
                                                                                                                                                              3. Sly Dunbar And Christopher Birch ‘Corners Boy’
                                                                                                                                                              4. David Jahson ‘King Of Kings Dub’
                                                                                                                                                              5. Fat Eyes ‘Steel Plate’
                                                                                                                                                              6. South Rakkas Crew ‘Red Alert’
                                                                                                                                                              7. Parara And McCoy ‘Them Can’t Hold Yuh Gal Version’
                                                                                                                                                              8. King Tubby ‘Fat Thing Version’
                                                                                                                                                              9. World Beat ‘Gold Mine’
                                                                                                                                                              10. Andre ‘Suku’ Gray (Jammys) ‘Sign Rhythm’
                                                                                                                                                              11. Henfield And Shadowman ‘Babatunde’
                                                                                                                                                              12. Firehouse Crew ‘No False Hair’
                                                                                                                                                              13. Computer Paul ‘World Talk’
                                                                                                                                                              14. Fat Eyes ‘Overdose’
                                                                                                                                                              15. Prince Jazzbo ‘Great Stone Version’
                                                                                                                                                              16. Kickin’ Productions ‘What You Gonna Do’
                                                                                                                                                              17. Pliers (Bonner Productions)’ I’m Your Man Dub’
                                                                                                                                                              18. Wiz Kidz ‘Team In My Heart Version’
                                                                                                                                                              19. Jammys ‘Jam 2’ James (Jammys) ‘Peenie Peenie’


                                                                                                                                                              Latest Pre-Sales

                                                                                                                                                              158 NEW ITEMS

                                                                                                                                                              E-newsletter —
                                                                                                                                                              Sign up
                                                                                                                                                              Back to top