Jeff Parker
The Relatives

After a sling of instantly sold-out 45s through his Bandcamp (we're talking minutes here), it's tempting to say that Soul Supreme got a Midas touch. But that doesn't do justice to his hard work and carefully crafted reinterpretations of music by A Tribe Called Quest, Madvillain, Mos Def & others. The newest addition: not one but two 45s around Jay Dee a.k.a. J Dilla.The Amsterdam-based keyboardist/producer takes on 'Let's Ride' (Q-Tip) and 'Runnin' (The Pharcyde) on the first donut. This other 45 contains a medley of 'The Official' (Jaylib) and 'Fall In Love' (Slum Village), and two unsung Jay Dee beats: 'Still Shining,' as produced for Busta Rhymes, which has never seen the light of day as an instrumental. Another never-before-released Jay Dee beat is 'Feelin' Good', an essential case of Dilla's unparalleled ear for swing. Sidetrack: look up the Bling47 Breaks video later with House Shoes's story on giving Jay Dee the Frank Cunimondo Trio record, with a VHS video of T3 and Baatin going crazy in Detroit's The Shelter to Jay Dee's 'Feelin' Good' flip. Pure gold.The Detroit visionary reimagined 'groove' and sampling. On his turn, Soul Supreme takes on Dilla's timing, rhythms, and harmonies. Think of how in the final part of "Runnin'," the keys start to follow the well-hidden, heavily filtered sample on The Pharcyde's original, instead of the main melody. Or how there's punch to J-Zone's drumming on "Let's Ride" as there's punch to the MPC3000. How Jonny Murray improvises on trumpet rather than replaying the sample. The marriage of Rhodes and synths on "Fall In Love" resemble Soul Supreme's trademark sound as showcased on last year's self-titled LP. Built on top of that, the two 45 releases (sold separately) are all-original takes on Jay Dee-produced classics.

Bon Voyage Organisation is above all the story of the construction of an ensemble, the quest for harmony, through music, between beings. A central leitmotiv in Adrien Durand's composition and production work for almost ten years.Emancipated from all constraints and affirming the radical choice - previously initiated with La Course - of an entirely instrumental sound, (Loin des) Rivages was recorded over five days in June 2020 at Jean-Benoit Dunkel's Studio Atlas (Air) and mixed the following summer by Adrien Durand in his Parisian studio, Bureau 12. It was an orchestrated performance considering that all ten tracks were played live, gathering up to thirteen musicians in the same room.This close collaboration allowed Adrien Durand and the members of the ensemble to transcend themselves. Together, they deliver the incredible energy of Sentier des Orpailleurs (and Adrian Edeline's superb solo), the depth of melancholy of Apacheta (co-written and co-arranged by Adrien Durand and Gustave Rudman), and the originality of Et s'éveillent...Inspired by the great explorers of the soul: Sun Ra, Moondog, Coltrane - a cover of his Naïma actually opens the album - Adrien Durand mixes humanity’s first instruments (the percussions and the winds) with its latest ones (the mixing tables and the synthesizers). Thus, he continues the most interesting yet rewarding artistic journey: The journey inward, far from the standards of civilization, in the heart of what some can take for madness, reaching into a jungle of the soul so marvelously represented in Clément Vuillet’s artwork.This is not an intellectual record but rather a spiritual effort, because, as Adrien Durand likes to repeat in his concerts: "Let us step into music as we step into a sanctuary."

Strut and Art Yard present another exclusive from the vast catalogue of cosmic jazz pioneer Sun Ra: a previously unreleased radio session most likely recorded at the WXPN FM radio studios in Philadelphia, 1974-5.This newly discovered session features a new version of Ra’s earlier ‘Island In The Sun’, a romping, raucous rendition of ‘Unmask The Batman’ and the first studio recording of ‘I’ll Wait For You’ There is no bass player on the sessions and Ra’s left hand beats out a rhythmic bass pattern on the piano. All tracks are remastered directly from the original tapes. The album package features a newly commissioned painting by legendary Bristol urban artist Guy Denning and new sleeve notes by Paul Griffiths.Recently discovered in the Sun Ra archive, the recording forms part of a series of sessions that Ra and the Arkestra recorded for WXPN-FM between 1974 and 1980. The ‘Antique Blacks’ album was recorded there in ’74. Based on the campus of The University of Pennsylvania, WXPN’s station manager Jules Epstein and music director Russ Woessner were instrumental in the exposure and recording of The Arkestra in their broadcast production studios. Geno Barnhart, founder of The Empty Foxhole concert collective, Jules and Russ broadcast an on-going series of jazz concerts covering a wide spectrum. The Arkestra performed at The Foxhole in Philly many times from 1974.

Jazz saxophonist Tony Lavorgna, sometimes known as Captain Bad, recorded Chameleon with the St Thomas Jazz Quartet in 1982. The title track is a cover of Herbie Hancock's classic from Head Hunters, given a fresh lick on this superlative album of incredible renditions of long time favourites. Ray Charles' 'Georgia On My Mind', War's 'The World Is A Ghetto' and Dave Brubeck's 'Take The 'A' Train' all get a look in, given a soulful treatment which goes down very smooth indeed. On the strength of these, it's a shame the group never recorded more music together, covers or otherwise.

Enregistré au Studio Lakanal à Mtp !