[engl] Strut presents the brand new album from cosmic jazz travellers The Pyramids, led by saxophonist Idris Ackamoor, ’An Angel Fell’. “I wanted to use folklore, fantasy and drama as a warning bell,” explains Ackamoor. “The songs explore global themes that are important to me and to us all: the rise of catastrophic climate change and our lack of concern for our planet, loss of innocence and separation... but positive themes too, the healing power of music, collective action and the simple beauty of nature. ”Produced by Malcolm Catto of The Heliocentrics, the album was recorded during an intense week at Quatermass studios in London and is one of the deepest, richest works yet from a band reaching their highest creative peak since the early ’70s. The Pyramids originally came together in 1972 at Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio where teachers included renowned pianist, Cecil Taylor. After forming in Paris and embarking on a “cultural odyssey” across Africa, the group recorded three independent albums, ‘Lalibela’ (1973), ‘King Of Kings’ (1974) and ‘Birth / Speed / Merging’ (1976) and became renowned for their striking live shows, mixing percussive, spiritual and space-age jazz with performance theatre and dance. After migrating to San Francisco, they disbanded in 1977. 35 years later, the band reunited in 2012 following growing demand for their music from vinyl collectors.

[engl] Influential jazz collective Idris Ackamoor and The Pyramids return with an epic new opus, ‘Shaman!’, featuring a fresh line-up including original 1970s Pyramids member Dr. Margaux Simmons on flute, Bobby Cobb on guitar, long-term associate Sandra Poindexter on violin, Ruben Ramos on bass, Gioele Pagliaccia on drums and Jack Yglesias on percussion. The band transitions from the political and social commentaries of 2018’s acclaimed ‘An Angel Fell’ into more introspective themes. “I wanted to use this album to touch on some of the issues that we all face as individuals in the inner space of our souls and our conscience,” explains Ackamoor. “The album unfolds over four Acts with personal musical statements about love and loss, mortality, the afterlife, family and salvation.” Evolving around Ackamoor's intricate compositions, the album takes us effortlessly across moods and emotions through a series of expansive, extended pieces. Starting with ritual, soul-searching, and masculine vulnerability on the title track, the band explores timeless existence on ‘Eternity’ and mourns the sudden loss of loved ones in the prescient ‘When Will I See You Again?’, a track which gains new relevance amidst the current COVID-19 crisis. Ackamoor pays tribute to his mentor Cecil Taylor on the angular ‘Theme For Cecil’ and renders homage to the ancestors on ‘Salvation’ and ‘The Last Slave Ship’, recalling the last ship to bring slaves to the US from Africa, the Clotilda. The superb ‘Virgin’ is an anthem of forgiveness, new beginnings and self-healing.

[engl] Ivan Bonacic is a Croatian saxophone player, flutist and composer. Fans of modern jazz will adore his debut album named Kraken.

[engl] Mondays at The Enfield Tennis Academy, x2 LPs of long-form, lyrical, groove-based free improv by acclaimed guitarist & composer Jeff Parker's ETA IVtet. Recorded live at ETA (referencing David Foster Wallace), a bar in LA’s Highland Park neighborhood with just enough space in the back for Parker, drummer Jay Bellerose, bassist Anna Butterss, & alto saxophonist Josh Johnson to convene in extraordinarily depth-full & exploratory music making. Gleaned for the stoniest side-length cuts from 10+ hours of vivid two-track recordings made between 2019 & 2021 by Bryce Gonzales, Mondays at The Enfield Tennis Academy is a darkly glowing séance of an album, brimming over with the hypnotic, the melodic, & patience & grace in its own beautiful strangeness. Room-tone, electric fields, environment, ceiling echo, live recording, Mondays, Los Angeles. Jeff Parker's first double album & first live album, Mondays at The Enfield Tennis Academy belongs in the lineage of such canonical live double albums recorded on the West Coast as Lee Morgan’s Live at the Lighthouse, Miles Davis' In Person Friday & Saturday Night at the Blackhawk, San Francisco & Black Beauty, & John Coltrane's Live in Seattle. While the IVtet sometimes plays standards &, including on this recording, original compositions, it is as previously stated largely a free improv group —just not in the genre meaning of the term. The music is more free composition than free improvisation, more blending than discordant. It’s tensile, yet spacious & relaxed. Clearly all four musicians have spent significant time in the planetary system known as jazz, but relationships to other musics, across many scenes & eras —dub & Dilla, primary source psychedelia, ambient & drone— suffuse the proceedings. Listening to playbacks Parker remarked, humorously & not, “we sound like the Byrds” (to certain ears, the Clarence White-era Byrds, who really stretched it). A fundamental of all great ensembles, whether basketball teams or bands, is the ability of each member to move fluidly & fluently in & out of lead & supportive roles. Building on the communicative pathways they’ve established in Parker’s -The New Breed- project, Parker & Johnson maintain a constant dialogue of lead & support. Their sampled & looped phrases move continuously thru the music, layered & alive, adding depth & texture & pattern, evoking birds in formation, sea creatures drifting below the photic zone. Or, the two musicians simulate those processes by entwining their terse, clear-lined playing in real-time. The stop/start flow of Bellerose, too, simulates the sampler, recalling drum parts in Parker’s beat-driven projects. Mostly Bellerose's animated phraseologies deliver the inimitable instantaneous feel of live creative drumming. The range of tonal colors he conjures from his extremely vintage battery of drums & shakers —as distinctive a sonic signature as we have in contemporary acoustic drumming— bring almost folkloric qualities to the aesthetic currency of the IVtet's language. A wonderful revelation in this band is the playing of Anna Butterss. The strength, judiciousness & humility with which she navigates the bass position both ground & lift upward the egalitarian group sound. As the IVtet's grooves flow & clip, loop & repeat, the ensemble elements reconfigure, a terrarium of musical cultivation growing under controlled variables, a tight experiment of harmony & intuition, deep focus & freedom. For all its varied sonic personality, Mondays at The Enfield Tennis Academy scans immediately & unmistakably as music coming from Jeff Parker‘s unique sound world. Generous in spirit, trenchant & disciplined in execution, Parker’s music has an earned respect for itself & for its place in history that transmutes through the musical event into the listener. Many moods & shapes of heart & mind will find utility & hope in a music that combines the autonomy & the community we collectively long to see take hold in our world, in substance & in staying power. On the personal tip, this was always my favorite gig to hit, a lifeline of the eremite records Santa Barbara years. Mondays southbound on the 101, driving away from tasks & screens & illness, an hour later ordering a double tequila neat at the bar with the band three feet away, knowing i was in good hands, knowing it would be back around on another Monday. To encounter life at scales beyond the human body is the collective dance of music & the beholding of its beauty, together. —Michael Ehlers & Zac Brenner

[engl] Joao Donato is a legend of Brazilian jazz and Latin music and here we have his either legendary debut album from 1962. The well skilled performance speaks of a great routine each musician has but there is so much fire and hunger to be found within the compositions. You will experience rather relaxed slow jazz tunes with an obvious bossa nova groove and a leading piano that takes off from the backing rhythm by drums and standing bass. On the other hand there are tunes with wicked piano staccato lines and a powerful rhythmical drive that still roots in Latin music but shoots forward on a ray of energy. The tunes are well composed and have a memorable structure that distinguishes them from the beginning free jazz hype back in the day. Joao Donato and his mates in the trio were jazzers but also songwriters. Catchy melodies were as important as a great and skilful performance. The combination of both sides of jazz and the crossover with Latin sounds makes this a special album which got followed by many for certain but it still stands out as a landmark. If you feel that it is time for an equally relaxed but exciting jazz record to enchant you here we go with a sweet reissue of a classic from the early 60s. Joao Donato and his trio play it rather smoothly but their passion hits you automatically after a short while listening. And even the slower tunes offer enough twists and turns that leave you feeling amazed.

[engl] There’s not another album on the planet that sounds even remotely like vibraphonist Khan Jamal’s eccentric, one-of-a-kind masterpiece, Drum Dance To The Motherland. Thirty years after its release, the album’s tapestry of sound, fearless abstractions, relentless grooves, cool swing, flashes of ecstasy, & pan cultural embrace remain powerful & beyond category. One of only three albums released on the Philadelphia-based Dogtown label, it was barely distributed beyond the city’s limits when it came out in the early ‘70s. Finally available again, a really stunning document of musical exploration, a classic session. In its improbable fusion of free jazz expressionism, black psychedelia, & full-on dub production techniques, Drum Dance remains a bracingly powerful outsider statement fifty years after it was recorded live at the Catacombs Club in Philadelphia, 1972. Comparisons to Sun Ra, King Tubby, Phil Cohran & BYG/Actuel merely hint at the cosmic otherness conjured by The Khan Jamal Creative Arts Ensemble & by sound engineer Mario Falana's real-time enhancements. Clearly, the members of the Khan Jamal Creative Arts Ensemble saw African American music as a continuum that stretched from the Motherland through the blues, R&B, jazz, & free jazz, & they prided themselves on mastering the continuum. In the early ‘70s, these were fairly new ideas, but they had taken firm root in Philadelphia. The search for an African American music that is modern & culturally progressive but rooted in an African tradition is the music’s heart & soul. Its connection to the specific African American community in Philadelphia is its immediate inspiration. “My ancestors eventually show up in my music every time i play,” Jamal says. “I’ve always said that my backyard is Africa.” Originally issued by Jamal in 1973 in an edition of three hundred copies on ‘Dogtown’ records, Drum Dance To The Motherland was effectively a myth until eremite’s 2005 CD reissue. With the master tapes long vanished, the audio was transferred at Sony Music's 54th street studio from a minty copy of the original LP. Includes an insert with Ed Hazell's detailed telling of Drum Dance's incredible history. Under License From Eremite Records.

[engl] Sometimes a work of art comes unintentionally from a place from deep within the soul. It meanders and flops onto a table and sits and waits for its birth. The album begins with "Wait Till The Stars Burn", a planetary ode to the Sun. The second track "Tribute to the Pharoahs Den", is a requiem for Danny Ray Thompson (R.I.P.) of the Sun Ra Arkestra, his music and legacy now floating above us in the infinity of space. Both tracks and featuring Marshall Allen and Knoel Scott (of the Sun Ra Arkestra). The song "Theme of Yahya" was a song I wrote for Yahya El Majid who played for many years with the Arkestra. I met Yahya in 2005 during my first meeting with the Arkestra. He shared many stories with me about the teachings of Sun Ra, the discipline he learned from him, and the many adventures he had all over the world travelling with the Arkestra. He told me these tales while playing a chinese harp, jamming to the sounds of Tuvaan Throat Singers, while burning a large amount of frankincense and myrrh. When I recorded the song I had four harps panned in stereo to form a sonic flower. When Yahya heard the track he telephoned me and told me that he was really moved by the piece and was proud of me. Yahya had been struggling for years with cancer and sadly passed away late August, 2020. I did not realize that my tribute to him would become a requiem, and it means the world to me that he was able to hear his tribute before he left the planet. The album ends with a requiem for Hal Willner (R.I.P.) whose devotion to celebrating the weird and insane was like an insatiable thirst leading to deep introspection and joy in harmony and sonic dissidence. These compositions have all come from this place inside my bipolar, seroquil ridden mind. It is as much a tribute to the great composers who have inspired me; Alice Coltrane, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Philip Kelan Cohran, Bernard Herrmann, Ennio Morricone, Miles Davis, Sun Ra, John Carpenter, Quincy Jones, Old Bollywood, Film Noir, to name just a few. In my 23 years of being a composer of music I have had the great opportunity to score several films all of which never got any commercial fame. These films were made from the blood and sweat of film directors and their crews who tirelessly made incredible documents that were ultimately ignored by humanity. But that never stopped them nor will it stop me. These tracks are from the infinite celluloid that runs deep in my mind, body and soul. In my lifetime i never thought i would see the deaths of "Celluloid" or "analog recording". I refuse to accept the coroner reports on said fatalities, so here is my offering to the canon of cinematic overtures and analog self-preservation, for the films in our heads yet to be made.

[engl] Eight new beguiling Mulelid compositions expertly balancing energetic, often rhythmically complex and harmonically rich music with beautiful and evocative melodies. It's not all about Mulelid though, bassist Hegge (31) and drummer Winther (28) effortlessly conjure additional layers, tones and textures, incorporating a sense of calm; an unhurried yet constantly unfolding sound world which can be said to be distinctively Scandinavian, most typically heard in Hegge's sole composition "Bruremarsj (Wedding March)". Kjetil André Mulelid grew up in the small village of Hurdal, and started playing the piano when he was nine, after hearing Chopin on the stereo. In highschool he had the good fortune of studying with some inspiring piano teachers. Later he did a bachelor degree in jazz performance at NTNU in Trondheim, again being blessed with top teachers, such as Erling Aksdal, Vigleik Storaas and Espen Berg. He is also a member of jazz quartet Wako. Bjorn Marius Hegge has been making waves on the Norwegian jazz scene lately, with his quintet's debut album "Hegge" winning a Norwegian Grammy. He also has his own trio with pianist Oscar Grönberg and young drummer ace Hans Hulbækmo.

[engl] An organist, a saxophonist and a drummer – the classic organ trio has been arousing special expectations to Jazz listeners since the glory days of Jimmy Smith, Groove Holmes and the McDuffs and McGriffs. The organist can spread out, the saxophonist can follow him and the drummer swings and provides the groove “in the pocket”. With their album “B-3 Vol.1” the Hanoverian Lutz “Hammond” Krajenski aka krajenski. on the B-3 organ, Ben Kraef from Berlin on the saxophone and Peter Gall from southern Germany on the drums break new ground even if the old path of the Hammond-infected Blue Note refinement always remains in view. Kraef-Krajenski-Gall do their thing and that very consistently. They play with the different readings of the format with reflections from Jimmy Smith to Larry Young. They play with expectations and play around clichés with sophisticated twists and tongue-clicking rhythmic and harmonic treasures. We owe this resurrection of the classic format “Hammondtrio” to three musicians who are gliding to revitalize jazz history. Lutz “Hammond” Krajenski – It is no coincidence that it has been nicknamed “Hammond” since the first career steps. His organ collection now includes 15 instruments; ascending trend. Not only is he a brilliant instrumentalist, he also made a name for himself as an arranger for his own big band as well as for other ensembles and artists. Clients included musicians such as Tom Jones, Randy Crwaford, Mousse T., Ulrich Tukur, Sarah Connor and Inga Rumpf. Krajenski became known to a wide audience primarily as an arranger, pianist and musical director for Roger Cicero. His two fellow musicians on “B-3 Vol. 1” both studied in New York and belong to the crème de la crème of the German Jazz scene. The award-winning Berlin saxophonist Ben Kraef has played with greats such as Lalo Schiffrin, Archie Shepp, Phil Woods and John Abercrombie. His debut album “Berlin-New York” was released in 2010 by Act (with sidemen John Patitucci, Marcus Gilmore and Rainer Boehm). Drummer Peter Gall, on the other hand, has already shone alongside luminaries such as the Kurt Rosenwinkel Trio, the NDR Big Band, The New York Voices, Take 6, Web Web, Thomas Quasthoff, Nils Landgren, Max Herre, Joy Denalane and the Dieter Ilg Trio.

[engl] For Macedonian world music group Luboyna, creating boundary-breaking music is a way of life. Over the course of 15 years, it has wilfully broken boundaries and conventions within its entertaining song structures. In doing so, Luboyna has been successfully navigating the musical opposites of composition and improvisation both in the studio and live and has expanded what is generally known as Balkan Music. While its heart and soul are deeply and firmly rooted in Macedonia and its music traditions, the band’s musical worldview has always been evidently eclectic. Mac music is the foundation and Luboyna successfully brings a lot of various musics into that foundation. Influences from across the pop, jazz, improv, electronica, and soul realm abound, all held together with unbounded enthusiasm, addictive melodies, and hooks. The band’s album Radio Luboyna which marks the Luboyna’s 15th anniversary reflects all of that and much more.

[engl] Even half a Mal is more greatness than many people out there could take. Mel Waldron was another 1950s master of hard bop jazz and finds himself in illustrious company on his 1957 debut album. John Coltrane and Sahib Shihab are masters of tenor and alto saxophone and jazz freaks break into a sweat of joy when they hear these names. Coltrane alone could be a reason to fall in love with this record. You can always hear his very original kind of playing the tenor. No wonder that first pressings of this gem of an album go for 250 USD and even more in fine conditions. It might be a lesser known participation of the great John Coltrane with another bandleader but as he glows permanently on this album the rest of the musicians do the same. The band goes full throttle when needed but there are also thought provoking slow tunes generating an atmosphere of melancholy when Waldron makes his piano sing a dark ballad while the drummer barely stands out and just backs up the whole composition with a low key beat linked to the equally reluctant bass line. Trumpet and tenor come in play after a while to moan wearily on top of that reduced rhythmical pattern. Dark and smoke filled bars in a nameless American metropolis are exactly, what associate with these haunting melodies. And out of a sudden the band gains pace and the whole atmosphere becomes more and more cheerful. The grooves are swinging and good for a dance or two. The leading instruments alto sax, tenor sax and trumpet chatter frolicsome like a bunch of youngsters on a night out in town. These changes of atmosphere are one of the strong points of this record. Another is the overall tight interplay of all instruments. These cats were hard-nosed veterans of the jazz genre taking the 1940s dance club sounds to another level. Bebop turns into hard bop and this album shows the dignity in such a crystal clear way.

[engl] Mandala made only one eponymous album, recorded in 1971 but released only in 1976. A very rare and influential album, featuring future members of Grupo Um (Nazário and Zeca Assumpção who also played with Hermeto and Egberto Gismonti) and Pau Brasil (Nelson Ayres) – two seminal bands from the Brazilian instrumental scene of the 80s. The sound is a mix of Jazz Fusion with a Brazilian footprint – with a dash of psychedelic atmosphere and the spiced influence of oriental music.

[engl] Mariah was a Japanese outfit in the field of art pop, way back in the very late 70s and early 80s with 5 albums up their score from 1980 to 1983. The album from 1979 entitled as "Mariah" was actually made before the band Mariah was formed, and was released as a solo album by Yasuaki Shimizu. The album at hand is the fifth and for the time being last album in this row, released as a double vinyl back in 1983. Original copies, that are at least in very good condition, are hard to find. The brand new reissue on Everland, unlike the original and the first vinyl reissue from 2015, comes housed in a thick and artfully designed gatefold sleeve with OBI, which finally does justice to the progressive spirit of the music you will find here. The musical basement of Utakata No Hibi is a fusion of dreamy synthesizer pop and haunting new wave music, that could be found all around the globe back in 1983. In the vein of TEARS FOR FEARS or more adventurous DAVID BOWIE stuff, with a touch of KRAFTWERK or even BRIAN ENO here and there, but all this gets spiced up with an atmosphere of Japanese traditionalism, with a few bits and pieces from the old music from this Far East island, which sounds so magic to us Westeners. The progressive, wacky art pop of this project was led by the popular Japanese composer and musician Yasuaki Shimizu, a relentlessly exploratory saxophonist who even dared to rework Johann Sebastian Bach’s cello suites for saxophone. As brilliant as this man is, the music on „Utakata No Hibi“ turns out to be. And the master himself approved and much appreciated the brandnew remastering of this album by assisting a highly professional team of sound engineers who dusted off the ancient tape reels. For certain the record sounds and feels 80s through and through, electronic to the very rhythmical bone of each song sugar coated with catchy melodies that resemble Japanese classic and Enka music, which is a kind of folksy pop music. The listener gets directly drawn into a feverish dream of steaming Far Eastern cities and their darkest and most depraved corners where you find everything cheap in sleazy bars and unlighted backyards and alleys. The next moment he strolls through a beautiful Japanese park surrounded by a sea of blossoms. This change in mood and style you will experience in the sparsely instrumented tune „Shisen“, which indeed comes closest to classic Japanese folk tunes without any too catchy and pop oriented melodies. But we certainly find these harmonies allover the album. Some tunes even feel like ancient BEACH BOYS compositions and Brian Wilson creations played by a then contemporary electronic pop act and sung in Japanese. An amazingly colorful album with songs that are based on solid substance rather than cheap pop structures. This is music for the bold listeners and music lovers and this awesome reissue should quickly find it’s way into the record collections of 80s synth and art pop aficionadoes. Yasuaki Shimizu did what he wanted with MARIAH, pushed the borders of popular music further than anybody would have thought. Listen to a track like „Shonen“ with a repetitive rhythm pattern that hypnotizes you and somehow silky melodylines by saxophone and synth piano upon which a female voice sings in a very spiritual way. Praising pop or whatever this can be called, it is sheer magic put in music. I wonder if this would have made it into the charts back then, but you never know. It is a piece of musical art that shall be listened to. Grab your copy now!!!

[engl] Mutima is the debut album led by bassist Cecil McBee recorded in 1974 and first released on the Strata-East label. In his review for AllMusic.com Michael G. Nastos called it "A landmark recording in early creative improvised modern music" and states "McBee as a pure musician has staggering technique, rich harmonic ideas, and an indefatigable swing, but it is as a composer that he is set apart from other musicians of this mid-'70s era… Mutima (translated as "unseen forces") undoubtedly solidified his stature and brilliance as a major player". Dustygroove.com now calls it: “A great bit of spiritual soul jazz – and one of the few albums as a leader recorded by the legendary bassist Cecil McBee! Cecil's joined here by a large group of players that includes Billy Hart on drums, George Adams on tenor, Onaje Allen Gumbs on piano, Jimmy Hopps on percussion, Art Webb on flute and Dee Dee Bridgewater on vocals – adding in just a touch of soulful color to the record as she did on a few other 70s sides like this.” Plus: “The music's got that essential Strata East sound, with a rich and spiritual vibe on all tracks, and slight bits of funk hiding somewhere in the mix! Tracks are long and freely expressive – but never too outside, either.” A long lost classic we call it. And this latest reissue is the best vinyl version ever since it first appeared almost 45 years ago!

[engl] Highly sought–after British Jazz–Rock with some vocals thrown in by NormaWinstone. Love Songs was recorded at Tangerine Studios, 1970, and it is sorefreshing, choral and utterly distinctive with a staggeringly good group ofmusicians led by Westbrook and Surman. A mix of the melodic and the wistful, backed by a groovy beat, reissue now available for this classic masterpiece.