Blue Mode
Space Race_

Hozan Yamamoto here at Mr Bongo! A legend of Japanese jazz, he is rightly regarded as a true master and was recognised as a "living national treasure" by the Japanese government in 2002. Over five decades he pushed the genre into new directions, absorbing fusion, funk, spiritual jazz and many other sounds, resulting in a discography studded with gems of rare beauty. Exploring his back catalogue has taken us on an engrossing journey that now sees us reissuing another work from this ground-breaking musician.

First time vinyl reissue of Jose Roberto Bertrami's 1966 ‘José Roberto Trio’ via Far Out Recordings. Best known as the keyboardist and bandleader of legendary trio Azymuth, the late José Roberto Bertrami also wrote for, arranged for and performed with Elis Regina, George Duke, Sarah Vaughn, Jorge Ben, Eddie Palmieri, Milton Nascimento, Flora Purim and Erasmo Carlos, among countless others.

Piero Umiliani is an Italian jazz musician, most famous also for his dalliances in scoring many film soundtracks. The compositions here, have been credited to Rovi (another alias used by Umiliani). This LP made by ten tracks that could have been the perfect soundtrack of a 'Commedia Sexy All'Italiana' (a genre characterised by sex-based plots and bawdy jokes). At that time in Italy disco had still an exotic appeal and was considered apt to accompany a genre of movies that was at once erotic and comic. Discomusic is some sort of a white version of a sound that is inherently black, a unique record within Umiliani's discography. The track Discomania became popular as the closing theme of 90- Minuto, a famous Italian football TV show, bringing Umiliani's music to millions of Italian households.

The follow up to the highly acclaimed reissue of the first volume Ethiopian Hit Parade. This 2nd volume features 'Ethiopian Hits' from 1972 to 1975. The track layout is Identical reissue to the original vinyl"After releasing around fifty 45 rpm singles and his first 33 rpm album (Ethiopian Modern Instrumental Hits AELP 10, re-released by Heavenly Sweetness HS092VL), Amha Esthèté set about compiling his best 45s on a series of now legendary albums (the originals are impossible to find) in 1972. The first four volumes of Ethiopian Hit Parade were released in September and October 1972, with the fifth volume appearing in January 1973. You are the proud owner of Volume 2.It is worth reminding ourselves that when Amha Esthèté set up his Amha Records label in 1968-69, it was in defiance of a state monopoly designed to regulate the imports and production of records by an imperial decree of July 1948. This extravagant state privilege had produced only 78s of traditional music , which though thrilling, excluded anything at all modern. To the best of our knowledge, only sixty-seven of these prehistoric discs were pressed in Great Britain between 1955 and 1961 and released by His Master’s Voice. They were supposed to be part of celebrations of Emperor Haile Selassie’s silver jubilee . . . even though 33s and 45s had existed since 1948 and 1949 respectively! Such incompetence and servility, combined with a rejection of an effervescent contemporary music scene, were symptomatic of the decadence surrounding the end of an era.An audacious, funky outlaw, a music lover and an entrepreneur in tune with the baby-boomer generation, young Amha Esthèté (he was only twenty-four when he launched his label) will be remembered as the instigator of a peaceful revolution thick with soul and rock’n’roll.After the acclaimed reissue of the first volume Ethiopian Hit Parade. Here is the second volume that include all the greatest Ethiopian Hits from 1972 to 1975. Identical reissue to the original vinyl which is extremely rare and expensive.The opening track of the compilation is the song Tezeta Slow and Fast by GETACHEW KASSA were featured on the album Ethiopiques, Vol. 10: Ethiopian Blues & Ballads. and originally released on 1972. The other tracks on this second volume celebrate such pioneers of modern Ethiopian groove as Abayneh Degene, Tèshomè Meteku, Menelik Wossenachew Mulatu Astatqe and Muluken Melesse, alongside “tradi-modern” singers representing Amhara and Oromo culture, so rich and so long marginalized."s

Those who keep a keen eye on the contemporary British nu-jazz scene should already have encountered producer Tom Funk's The Sultan's Swing project. He's already released a trio of fine albums under the alias, each of which combines authentic jazz, jazz-funk and acid jazz instrumentation (provided courtesy of a rotating cast of guest musicians) with nods to trip-hop, downtempo, dub, Balearica and Latin beats. The Sultan's Swing Sessions, Funk's contribution to the Colin Curtis Presents series, takes a similar approach, with predictably excellent results. Our picks of a very strong bunch are the gently spaced-out dancefloor Latin jazz of 'Lotta Arlotto', the summery jazz-fusion of 'Hitchfunkers Slide To The Galaxy' and impeccable opener 'The New Beginning'.