Bob Dorough Bill Takas
Sing And Swing

Le musicien et tenancier des groupe et bar fictifs Mild High Club signe un quatrième album en forme de purgatoire pour temps troublés.Quand certains disques, comme les derniers albums en date de Björk, semblent être le produit ou une fraction d’une dimension parallèle vaste comme le monde et totalement inexplorée, d’autres ont l’air, à l’inverse, d’appartenir à un espace-temps plus modeste aux limites connues.C’est le cas de Going Going Gone, nouvel album du génial multi-instrumentiste Alexander Brettin, qui rassemble tout ce qu’on entendrait dans un petit bar de nuit qui porterait le nom de son vrai-faux groupe : le Mild High Club où funk déglinguée, bidouillages électroniques, musique brésilienne et free jazz cohabitent sans heurt.

Repress of Rsd20 Black Friday release ! The Jahari Massamba Unit features Madlib on all instrumentation with the exception of drums, which are laid down by Karriem Riggins. Like Madlib, Riggins is well-versed in both the Jazz and Hip Hop worlds. Musically, Madlib’s label says: “we would call the project Spiritual Jazz, but jazz great Phil Ranelin told us to call it Black Classical Music, so that’s what we’re going with.” This is an album put together by students of jazz in its myriad and historic forms who are also proponents of jazz’s future. The resulting recording reflects a lifetime of record collecting, musical study, woodshedding, and a reverential respect for one another’s craft. Regardless of categorization, this is an exciting and all-new entry in Madlib’s Yesterday’s New Quintet canon of difficult to categorize music.

Pour fêter les 15 ans du Label Chinese Man Records, le Groove Sessions Vol.3 se refait une beauté, avec une édition collector limitée : vinyles rouges, free download et quelques surprises visuelles cachées à l’intérieur par le truculent Julien « Ouikid » Loïs!

Though it's hard to pick a winner among the estimable Black Jazz catalog, this 1972 release from bassist Henry 'The Skipper' Franklin would have to be near the top of the list. Franklin got his start woodshedding with Latin maverick Willie Bobo in the mid-'60s and went on to play with The Three Sounds, but probably his most notable gig prior to this debut album was his stint in Hugh Masekela's band (that's Franklin playing bass with Masekela at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival). For The Skipper, Franklin assembled a crack outfit that included a horn section of trumpeter/flugelhornist Oscar Brashear (Bobby Hutcherson, Ry Cooder, Donny Hathaway) and tenor & soprano sax man Charles Owens (Buddy Rich, Horace Tapscott, John Mayall) along with a Masekela bandmate in electric pianist Bill Henderson and ace drummer Michael Carvin (Pharoah Sanders, Lonnie Liston Smith, Freddie Hubbard). This is such a unique, organic recording that it's hard to make comparisons; definitely a little fusion, a little '60s Blue Note feel, and the usual Black Jazz journey to the more lyrical, pop-inspired ('Little Miss Laurie') and funk-infused ('Plastic Creek Stomp') sides of jazz, but perhaps the best comparison is late-'60s Miles before he went electric. In any case, The Skipper is just a joy to listen to from start to finish, beautifully recorded by Black Jazz producer Gene Russell and blessed with some really fine writing, most of it by Franklin himself.

Mercury Prize-nominated Portico Quartet has always been an impossible band to pin down. Sending out echoes of jazz, electronica, ambient music and minimalism, the group created their own singular, cinematic sound over the course of three studio albums, from their 2007 breakthrough ‘Knee-Deep in the North Sea’, and 2010 John Leckie produced ‘Isla’, to the self titled record ‘Portico Quartet’ in 2012. Now rebooted as Portico Quartet after a brief spell as the three-piece Portico, the group are set to release their fourth studio album Art In The Age Of Automation this August on Manchester’s forward thinking indy jazz and electronica label Gondwana Records. It’s an eagerly anticipated return, with the band teasing both a return to their mesmeric signature sound and fresh new sonic departures in their new music. So much so that their four-night run at Archspace E8 (June 22-25) sold out in less than an hour as fans from around the world scrambled for tickets to hear the return of Portico Quartet.Matthew Halsall founded Gondwana Records in 2008. An independent label based in Manchester, it's gone on to release music by Dwight Trible, GoGo Penguin, Nat Birchall and Halsall himself. The label has won acclaim across the world and can claim the likes of Gilles Peterson, Mr Scruff and Bonobo as fans. Next up are the Mercury Prize nominated Portico Quartet with their powerful new album Art In The Age Of Automation: where they're now rebooted as a quartet after a brief spell as the three-piece Portico. They have always been an impossible band to pin down; taking in aspects of jazz, electronica, ambient music and minimalism but the group have undoubtedly crafted their own singular sound. There's the dashing and cinematic bliss of "Objects To Place In A Tomb" and the hypnotic live drum and bass of "A Luminous Beam" amongst other highlights.