[engl] Sixteen never-before-reissued R’n’B and Early Soul Stompers, compiled by Jordi Duró.

[engl] Active as a professional DJ in Japan since the late eighties, DJ Yoshizawa Dynamite is also a renowned remixer, compiler and producer. An avid record collector and an expert of the Wamono style, Yoshizawa published the Wamono A to Z records guide book in 2015 which instantly sold–out. The book unveiled a myriad of beautiful and rare records from a highly prolific, but still then unknown, Japanese groove scene. After many years working as a record buyer for several stores, DJ Chintam opened his own Blow Up shop in 2018 in Tokyo’s Shibuya district. A member of the Dayjam Crew and a specialist of soul, funk, rare groove and disco music, Chintam is also an expert of the home–brewed Wamono grooves. He supervised and wrote the Wamono A to Z records guide book together with Yoshizawa. With this first volume of the Wamono series, our two DJs here guide you through some of the best and rarest jazz funk and rare groove tunes produced in Japan between 1968 and 1980. Put the needle on the record, turn up the volume and dig right now into the Wamono sound – the cream of the Japanese funk, soul, rare groove and disco music developed throughout the years since the end of the sixties in Japan!

[engl] Here?s one very rare early 80?s soul and boogie LP, as clean original copies now fetch well over $500, if you can find it... This brand new and first official reissue ever contains the now classic modern soul dancer ?Not About That (Show Me Some Respect)? alongside some very attractive ballad material for the more dedicated soul fans. The elusive Van Jones from Pughsville, VA continued to record - as he did since 1976 - several 7? and 12? singles into the decade. But this highly sought after album from 1981 is widely considered as the definitive moment in his short though fruitful recording career. - Marc Janssen, www.everland-music.com

[engl] First time since decades reissued on vinyl! 1957 was a year when jazz music faced another renewal from the already traditional bebop style towards more progressive territories with mystical melodies and more playful structures. Free jazz was already in sight but nobody could name it yet. The post bop movement and modal jazz came up and somewhere in between lies this record by cult saxophonist Yusef Lateef who had already released quite a few records by the time ?Jazz mood? came to birth. Some more adventurous and mystical melodies go hand in hand with relaxed and groovy classic bebop excursions from the schoolbook of modern jazz after 1950. But there is a certain dynamic coming with the music. Something that shows you the hunger for progression and the craving for new ground to explore. So you will find well familiar melodylines here played by a saxophone that is always close to break out of the standards. And the interplay of all instruments is just fantastic, right on the spot, tight and still free in certain moments. Yusef Lateef and his band paint pictures and tear your mind open to blow magic into your soul. There are passages here and there that go beyond the standard phrases and deprive you of your breath due to the passionate and lusty performance. All in all ?Jazz mood? is a melodic album and creates a dim and thought provoking atmosphere. Another killer true jazz album from the 1950s before the great freakout began, still easy to consume for mainstream listeners but also inspiring enough for the hipsters.

[engl] This record has first been released in 1956 as ?Byrd jazz? with Donald Byrd as declared band leader but there were several versions of it over the years. The last reissue has been about three decades ago and so it is more than time to go for another fresh print of this back row classic of the 1950s jazz scene. On these recordings we get some floating and grooving hard bop with an ever pulsating rhythm section, dueling tenor sax by Lateef and trumpet by Byrd plus solo slots for bass, drums and piano. The leading instruments generate a cheerful atmosphere and make this live album a blissful experience for every lover of the mid 50s hard bop sound. The passion of the musicians grabs the audience immediately and when the melodies pour out of your speakers you will be captured as well by this pure essence of jazz. Far from later modal and even free jazz monoliths these catchy tunes are quite easy to follow. The band is tight and this is a great advantage. Every note, every beat of the drums sits in the right place as if they have always been there and just had to be made audible by the band. It is indeed like the sculptor who already sees the glyph within the block of marble and just sets it free. The music plays itself through the instruments. Haunting and relaxed passages, cool melodies put into memorable structures. A classic among the hipsters and beatniks with their goatbeards, metal-rimmed glasses and berets drinking, tripping and philosophizing to the sound of this and many other albums that were made from jazz aficionados for their kind.