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Available again for the first time since original release in 1974, Outernational Sounds proudly presents one of the deepest custom press jazz recordings of all – Jaman’s spiritualised and funky Sweet Heritage.The history of jazz is often told as though it was principally a history of releases and recordings. On those terms, it’s easy to mistake a small recorded footprint for obscurity or silence. But that is to put the cart before the horse, for the true history of the jazz is the story of the music as it was played night after night in the clubs, bars, concert halls and backrooms of cities and towns across America and the world. Only a tiny fraction of this living tradition ever makes it onto a recording. The far greater part is embodied in the musicians and their music as they play it and live it. And even though 1974’s Sweet Heritage is James Edward Manuel’s only release, the pianist and educator better known as Jaman has undoubtedly lived it.

Comme du vin, il est intéressant de mettre la musique à l'épreuve du temps. Mind Food a été composé et enregistré quelques 20 il y a des années, et c'est seulement maintenant qu'on sait si c'est un bon millésime. A l'origine, j'ai eu l'idée de créer de la musique pour un film imaginaire ou un film à sortir. Pendant cette période de ma vie, Je composais beaucoup pour des films en vedette, documentaires ou publicités. J'ai toujours aimé travailler sous la contrainte d'un scénario ou d'un réalisateur, mais je sais aussi que les meilleurs films sont souvent ceux où les images ont été assemblées sur une musique déjà partitionnée ou enregistrée. “L'affaire Thomas Crown” avec Steve Mc Queen & Faye Dunaway, qui est la principale référence pour les accords sur Mind Food, est l'un de ces rares films, où le réalisateur Norman Jewison a décidé de suivre le tempo de la partition de Michel Legrand et non l'inverse. Chassol qui apparaît sur ce disque a également travaillé avec moi à cette époque, en fait, ce fut l'un de ses premiers “travaux” aucun de nous n'aurait pu imaginer alors qu'il continuerait à produire un travail incroyable avec des gens comme Frank Ocean ou Solange, pourtant Chassol a toujours produit son propre matériel solo brillant, performances musicales et visuels comme Indiamore, Big Sun ou tout récemment Ludi.Pour la chanson “Inverno”, J'ai eu la chance de collaborer avec une chanteuse rare et précieuse, Green Gartside, leader du groupe légendaire Scritti Politti, dont l'album Cupidon & Psyché a changé ma jeunesse dans les années 80 et dont la voix douce et fragile préfigurait James Blake et autres, 30 ans plus tôt.Il y a aussi deux merveilleuses interprètes féminines, Niveau Rahoerson, chanteuse de jazz d'origine malgache pour “Les panneaux” et Gabriela Arnon, un New Yorkais basé à Paris, pour la seule pochette de l'album, la belle âme aux yeux bleus et le joyau du folk-jazz “Vivre vaut la peine d'être aimé” par les frères bostoniens David & Robin Batteaux, environ 1973.Aucune de ces musiques ne cherche à suivre les tendances actuelles, mais au lieu de cela veut délibérément ralentir le temps afin que vous puissiez reprendre votre souffle et sentir dans quelle direction le vent soufflera, J'espère que ce sera dans vos oreilles curieuses et attentives.

Allegedly Coltrane’s favourite singer, Andy Bey recorded as vocalist for Max Roach (“Members, don’t git weary”), Horace Silver (“Won’t you open up your senses”), Gary Bartz (“Celestial blues”) and Stanley Clarke in the late sixties/early seventies, released one solo album, and then disappeared from view for over 20 years. "Shades of Bey" (originally released in 1998) showcases his four-octave range, the intimacy of love songs and raw power of the blues on a mixture of standards (“Pretty girl”, “Some other time”), Latin (“O cantador”, “Drume negrita”), modern (Nick Drake’s “River man”), and a couple of original tunes. Available for the first time on vinyl, it features Andy on vocals and on piano, and appearances from Gary Bartz and Geri AllenAndy Bey's bass-baritone voice has aged over the last thirty-odd years, but it's aged well; he now sings in a husky drawl that sounds all the more warm and intimate for being a bit ragged around the edges. When he goes into falsetto, as on "Midnight Blue," athe sound is so dark that you don't recognize it as falsetto at first. This album peaks early on with "Like a Lover," a wistful love song with only the gentlest, sparest guitar accompaniment. But there are many other beautiful moments, the best of which always come on the slow numbers: the Billy Strayhorn classic "Pretty Girl," on which Bey sounds like Billy Eckstine with a weathered patina to his voice, and the surprising Nick Drake cover, the moody and intense "River Man." His vocal version of Thelonious Monk's "Straight, No Chaser" is fun, but it tends to expose the limitations of his range; however, he makes the uptempo "Believin' It" work beautifully -- Geri Allen's edgy, modernist piano contrasts nicely with Bey's effusive, bop-inflected delivery. (allmusic)

Finally reissued ! Vibro Success Intercontinental Orchestra was an extraordinary group from the Central African Republic, founded by the sax player Rodolphe 'Beckers' Bekpa, also known as Master Békers, in the late 60's. The band achieved surprising domestic success after Beckers introduced the first drums to the Congolese Rumba rhythm. His innovation proved to be wildly popular so they were hired as the resident band of “ciel d’Afrique au Km5”, a night club in Bangui. The club was renowned as the temple of the Olympic Réal football team's fans and that visibility propelled them into becoming the official national orchestra.1970 marked beginning of the band's international fame . Their fame spread beyond national borders until they became so popular that invitations began to arrive from nearby countries like Cameroon and Chad, the former of which the band would then tour that same year. The success of their performances prompted a further tour in 1972. According to Rodolphe Bépka, the audience enthusiasm Vibro encountered was bewildering. "We filled the old military stadium in Yaoundé in 1970, in 1972 the new Amadou Haïdjo stadium ... We are running with great success in the cities.” Their popularity was also growing in Chad, where they would tour several times through the early and mid 70's.Towards the end of 1976, Vibro Success decided to take their music global and introduce Central African music to listeners worldwide. It worked. The turning point came in Nigeria. There the group achieved extraordinary success, with live performances followed by contracts with local labels like Scottie and Ben/Clover resulting in hit releases. Most of their LP's were originally released on this later label, Ben Limited, owned by Ben Okonkwo.Ben, also known as Clover Sounds, brought a great number of the biggest bands from the country to market, bands like The Apostles, Akwassa,The Doves, Aktion, The Visitors, Mansion, Folk 77 and many others. Nearly all those groups started their recording careers in the label's studios based in the commercial heart of Aba, Abia State, one of Southeastern Nigeria’s largest cities. Aba at that time was a flourishing city, an important crossroads of people and culture with an intensive and active and cutting edge live music and nightlife.But after that golden era the group began to lose its popularity. In the 1980's they returned to Bangui and resumed their old-time gigs in dance halls there - only to realize that their music didn't have the appeal it used to. Making matters worse, the domestic economic downturn accelerated, forcing the orchestra to slowly end its activities . Vibro Succès Intercontinental Orchestra disappeared at the end of the 80s and most of its members died in the 90s.We discovered this LP during our first trip to Nigeria in 2016. While traveling in the east to meet up with a musician, we stopped for a night in a village. As often happens in Nigeria, information has a way of traveling fast. The news that a couple of white guys looking for records had arrived in the village the day before spread like light. When we awoke, we found a couple of elderly music lovers in the hall of our hotel with a little pile of records for sale. The nice cover of the “Drunkard” album was right on top!At first we thought it was just another really good soukous album made by Vibro Success but after we heard “Drunkard” - we knew we had stumbled onto something very special. That was the “easy” part. Soon after, we had the idea of reissuing this LP and that was a bit harder. There were no credits on the cover and not much information about Vibro Succès. We started to ask to our friends to ask around, see if somebody knew them or the producer. That's when sadly we discovered that Ben Okonkwo had passed. So with no leads to follow and seemingly without any possibility of making progress on the matter, we "gave up" and returned to Italy.A couple years later, in the summer of 2019, we found ourselves again in Aba. This time we had the chance to meet Nnamdi Okonkwo, the eldest son of the late Ben Okonkwo. After Nnamdi's mother and family agreed, he was glad to cooperate with us for the re-release of this special album.One of the foundational beliefs of Dig This Way Records is to work hard and try to do everything possible to bring back this rare, unknown music to market, allow people to enjoy these beautiful, vibrant vibes!

Hot and groovy jazzfunk that turns every dancefloor into a simmering witch cauldron on Side A, meeting silky soul pop ballads on Side B. A catchy and memorable affair that will give you goosebumps as long as you are a fan of funk and soul on the threshold from the 1970s to the golden era of pop, the 80s. For fans of Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, The Four Tops, The Temptations, Stanley Clarke, Hot Chocolate and the likes. It's the first album of the later Blues legend Mel Waiters. DETAILS: Swirling synthesizers drag your mind into space, the slapped bass guitar throbs like a frantic pulse and there are hissing percussions that back up the slick drum sound. Here we go, straight forward into the 1980 album by the MEL PRODUCTION BAND, a private release that reaches high prices if a copy ever appears for sale somewhere and that comes as a product of it’s time. This is club music made for discos, soul pop that has all the great trademarks, as those tunes that would storm the charts only a few years later, it heads into two different directions with two steaming, yet slick power funk songs successing the intro on side A and three soul pop ballads on the flipside. While these B Side tracks invite you to dive into an ocean of lush melodies and complex arrangements that form accessible and especially memorable tunes with overwhelming vocal performances, the three jazzfunk compositions on the A side make you jump up from your seats and dance your soul out. The slapped bass guitar can be found in all three tracks, the vocals are a mix between singing and shouting in a joyful, euphoric way. Mostly simple phrases get repeated over and over again to create something like a disco mantra for everybody who is in for a wild dance. It is all glitter here and and a never ending party. You still find musical greatness in these dance songs, for the performance is just wild and the musicians are up on par with the greatest of their genre, tight and determined, still passionate in their playing and they truly love their music, their funk. So, this is a beast first and then turns into a beauty for side two. Since the original private press simply never ever turns up these days, this new reissue on EVERLAND MUSIC is more than welcome to rediscover this rare gem. Take your time to listen and take your time to dance for this album is a great occasion for both. The sound on this record is clean and slick, but vibrant. The music has the real feeling, everything is handmade and you can hear it. Even the synthesizer carpet sounds like coming from the gifted hands of a real keyboard wizard. A blast to spin on your turntable.