Name: Hailu Mergia — Gum Gum from Lala Belu by Awesome Tapes From Africa
Duration: 6 min 48 s
Description: LP/CD/Digital https://hailumergia.bandcamp.com/album/lala-belu

muita boa a musica, keep going hard on you dream...

Buy it here: https://orcd.co/norikomiyamotopush

BBE Music is proud to present the latest J Jazz Masterclass Series reissue, 1978 soul/jazz tour de force album ’Push’ by Noriko Miyamoto.

For the first time, this critically acclaimed series that delves deep into the history of Japanese Jazz will be releasing an album by a Japanese female singer, Noriko Miyamoto produced by one of the legendary figures in Japanese Jazz, Isao Suzuki.

The release of her incredible debut album, ‘Push’, coincided with a surge in popularity for local female jazz singers such Kimiko Kasai, Yasuko Agawa, etc. that crossed over into the pop market. It was originally released by the now-defunct label, Yupiteru Records in 1978. Since then, it has been reissued a few times in Japan but recently, along with a surge of worldwide interest in old Japanese music, ‘Push’ has been gaining a cult status among foreign music heads, with the price for an original pressing skyrocketing in the second hand record market. This reissue of ‘Push’ will be the first time ever that this album will be officially released worldwide.

Long before R&B music went onto enjoy mainstream success in Japan, a soul music and disco loving lady, Noriko Miyamoto who started her music career working as a dancer at the legendary Tokyo disco, ‘Mugen’, was inspired by Tina Turner’s performance there and decided to became a soul singer. It was at a time in the early 1970s when there were only a handful of female songstresses who sang soulfully in Japan. In 1977, Miyamoto was scouted by Isao Suzuki to join his band, Soul Family and subsequently, with their backing, he produced Push, an album that kickstarted her career. It is an album that exquisitely combines her jazzy and soulful vocals with Suzuki’s acoustic bass and precocious playing from his youthful and vibrant group at the time.

Along with Sadao Watanabe, Terumasa Hino, Masabumi Kikuchi and George Otsuka, bassist, cellist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, producer and band leader, Isao Suzuki was considered to be one of the most influential figures in Japanese jazz history. Beloved by many in the Japanese jazz scene as “Oma-san”- Suzuki was renowned for developing young talent. Noriko was one of his prodigies, and so ‘Push’ became a vehicle to showcase her and his band as well, which featured notably future renowned players such as keyboardist, Masanori Sasaji, who went on to back Yasuaki Shimizu and guitarist, Kazumasa Akiyama, who played with many major Japanese Jazz musicians. According to Noriko, these young musicians in the group helped Suzuki create a brand new sound, mixing orthodox jazz with the crossover / fusion sound that was popular at the time, coming together supremely on ‘Push’.

For ‘Push’, Suzuki focused on Noriko’s unique prowess of singing songs in English, somewhat a rarity in the Japanese music scene at the time. She sang two jazz standards, ‘Everything I Have Is Yours’ and ‘Stella By Starlight’ on the album. Noriko also wrote English lyrics for two original compositions of Suzuki’s, an instrumental piece, ‘Cadillac Woman’, and ‘My Life’, a song that he composed for Kimiko Kasai, who’d originally sung it in Japanese on her 1977 album, ’Tokyo Special’.

Noriko fulfilled her long-held dream of becoming a soul singer after she moved to the US in 1990 and subsequently joined a number of prestigious outfits, such as Eddie Murphy’s band, Graham Central Station, the Brothers Johnson and Side Effect, but ‘Push’ is the album that paved the way for her career and hopefully, with this first time ever, worldwide reissue, it will attract more listeners. Sadly the producer of this album, Isao Suzuki sadly passed away recently at the age of 89. It is unfortunate that he was not able to see the reissue of this special album that he produced for Noriko Miyamoto.

Noriko Miyamoto, Isao Suzuki - Monologue

On this 7”, we present two lost jazz tracks by the trombonist and Horace Tapscott-collaborator, Lester Robertson. Lester has worked with some of the greats of jazz including Gerald Wilson, Anita O'Day, Lionel Hampton and Roy Porter Sound Machine on the classic 'Jessica' album. 

Lester was a member of Horace Tapscott's The Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra and features on the iconic underground jazz albums 'The Call' and 'Live At I.U.C.C.'. The Arkestra was set up in 1961 in Los Angeles and over the years has included wonderful, inspirational musicians such as Adele Sebastian, Kamasi Washington, Dwight Trible, Phil Ranelin, Arthur Blythe, Jesse Sharps and Nate Morgan.

These two recordings have recently been discovered on an archived master tape that little information on it other than Lester's name and the track titles. Sadly, the other players on the tracks aren’t credited on the tape, so a line-up can’t be 100% confirmed. Still, the magic of what they laid down in the session pays testament to their artistry. First up is the lively popping track 'Akirfa' in which Lester gets space to let rip and exercise his talents. On the flip is the euphonious 'Untitled Ballad', a mellifluent lullaby for an end-of-the-day wind-down. 

Lost for a while, but thankfully not forgotten, these beautiful recordings finally get their chance to shine.

Lester Robertson - Untitled Ballad

"Tche Belew" out now!
Boomkat: http://bit.ly/1u1OrFE
Rush Hour: http://bit.ly/1qYPxC5
Picadilly: http://bit.ly/1s4WPI8
Juno: http://bit.ly/Xc2RrZ

EUROPE TOUR DATES
08.05. DE Berlin XJAZZ Festival
25.05. NL Nijmegen Musicmeeting
26.05. NL Rotterdam Pantropical @ Worm
27.05. NL Amsterdam Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ
28.05. FR Paris Instants Chavires
29.05. CH Düdingen Bad Bonn Kilbi
30.05. AT Wels Alter Schlachthof
01.06. CZ Praha Jazzdock
03.06. CH Luzern Südpol
05.06. HR Šibenik Deboto
06.06. UK London Field Day

 Sofia Jernberg & Hailu Mergia (Awesome Tapes From Africa, Oslo / Washington)
https://sofiajernbergsingercomposer.bandpage.com/
https://www.facebook.com/HailuMergiaOfficial

14.05. DE Eberswalde Jazz in E.
15.05. SE Stockholm Rönnels Antikvariat
16.05. SE Uddevalla Bohusläns Museum (afternoon show) Kontoret (evening show)

The acclaimed and highly sought-after LP by Hailu Mergia and
the Walias, Tche Belew, an album of instrumentals released in
1977, is perhaps the most seminal recording released in the
aftermath of the 1974 revolution. The story of the Walias band is
a critical chapter in Ethiopian popular music, taking place during
a period of music industry flux and political complexity in the
country. 
Hailu Mergia, a keyboardist and arranger diligently working the
nightclub scene in Addis Ababa, formed the Walias in the early
1970’s with a core group of musicians assembled from prior
working bands. They played Mergia’s funk- and soul-informed
tunes, while cutting 45rpm singles with various vocalists.
While the Walias performed at top hotels and played the
presidential palace twice, their relationship with the Derg regime
was complex, evidenced by the removal of one song from the
record by government censors.
Decades later, Hailu Mergia was surprised to see the album
fetching more than $4,000 at online auctions (it helped that the
most popular of all Ethiopian tunes “Musicawi Silt” appeared on
the record). Now everyone has the chance to listen again—or
for the first time—to this timeless pillar of Ethiopian popular
music.

Pre-order

Hailu Mergia and the Walias — Eti Gual Blenai

A Minor Clav Affair

From: WOJTEK MAZOLEWSKI QUINTET London/Theme De Yoyo  12” LQ 007

Side B: THEME DE YOYO - Composed by Noreen Beasley, Lester Bowie, Malachi Favors, Roscoe Mitchell



Order:
https://lanquidityrecords.bandcamp.com/album/wojtek-mazolewski-quintet-london-theme-de-yoyo-12-lq-007

WOJTEK MAZOLEWSKI QUINTET - Theme de Yoyo

LP/CD/Digital https://hailumergia.bandcamp.com/album/lala-belu

Lala Belu

Hailu Mergia — Gum Gum from Lala Belu

Addis Abeba I Love You

In the sweltering North-Eastern Brazilian state of Pernambuco lies the coastal city of Recife, where Amaro Freitas is pioneering the new sound of Brazilian jazz. For the prodigious young pianist, the spirit of his hometown runs deep. From the Afro-Brazilian maracatu born on the sugar plantations of slavery, to the high intensity carnival rhythms of frevo and baião, Amaro’s heavily percussive approach to jazz is as indebted to these Pernambuco traditions as it is to Coltrane, Parker and Monk.

As with many of the greats before him, Amaro began playing piano in church aged 12, under the instruction of his father, leader of the church band. As his natural talents became obvious, the young prodigy quickly outgrew his father’s instruction. He won a place at the prestigious Conservatório Pernambucano de Música but had to drop out as his family could not spare the money for the bus fare. Undeterred, Amaro gigged in bands at weddings and worked in a call centre to fund his tuition. The transformative moment came at age 15 when Amaro stumbled across a DVD of Chick Corea concert, “he completely blew my mind, I’d never seen anything like it but I knew that’s what I wanted to do with a piano”.

Despite not actually owning a piano, Amaro devoted himself to studying day and night – he would practice on imaginary keys in his bedroom, until eventually striking a deal with a local restaurant to practice before opening hours. By the age of 22 Amaro was one of the most sought-after musicians in Recife and resident pianist at the legendary jazz bar Mingus. It was during this time he met and begun collaborating with bassist Jean Elton and the pair went in search of a drummer. “We kept hearing about this crazy kid who was playing in 7/8 or 6/4, we knew we had to meet him”. Hugo Medeiros joined, and the Amaro Freitas Trio was born.

“I want to show the simplicity of music, to break the stigma that the piano is for a particular social class. Yes, it’s a difficult instrument, which many people do not have access to, but with it you can express everything.” 
 
Following his critically acclaimed debut album Sangue Negro (black blood), the title of his sophomore release Rasif is a colloquial spelling of Amaro’s home town. A love letter to his native northeast, Amaro explores its traditional rhythms through the jazz idiom, employing complex mathematical patterns reminiscent of some of the most challenging works by fellow Brazilian masters Hermeto Pascoal, Egberto Gismonti and Moacir Santos.

Preferring to see the piano as a though it were a drum with 88 unique tones, Amaro’s intelligence and emotion intertwine on every track, from album opener ‘Dona Eni’: a scorching reconstruction of the baião rhythmic structure, played in seven measures instead of two, to the serene homage to the coastal reef and its ecosystems on the title track ‘Rasif’. ‘Aurora’ is a suite of three parts, representing the sun’s journey from the light and soft of the rise, to the aggressive dissonance at its midday zenith and descending chromatic cadences as the sun sets.

Due for an Autumn release on Far Out Recordings, Rasif sees Amaro Freitas take a deserved step onto the world stage. Having already made a name for himself in Brazil, Amaro and his phenomenal band will embark on their first European tour later this year.

Vinyl / CD/ Digi

Amaro Freitas - Mantra

Afroelectro - Sika Blawa.mp3

Being big fans of Contours, we are delighted to premiere his brilliant edit of "Mangroves" for Pyramid Project for ADA Records. 

Brought together by ADA label boss, Lasta, Pyramid Project finds Contours in collaboration with some of Kenya's most accomplished musicians, such as drummer Katumba, percussionists Abaki Simba Masta and Inspekta, and pianist Mutoriah. The full EP is released on November 13.

Perfect as an early dancefloor builder as well as in a Global Jazz set, Contours’ understanding of rhythm and tension really brings his edit of "Mangroves" to life.

With the original recording being a dramatic piece of Swahili Jazz, Contours uses the grittier elements of the composition to deliver an edit perfect for a cosmopolitan setting. Maintaining the driving elements of the bassline and rhythm section, the tension of the edit is developed by Contours’ synth work and a minimal choice of Mutoriah's riffs to build a more direct arrangement.

Pre-Order

Exclusive Premiere: Pyramid Project "Mangroves" (Contours Edit) (ADA Records)

We’re excited to premiere the vibrant ‘Volta Region’. Named after a beautiful region in Eastern Ghana bordering Togo. The main riff to the song came to Nick whilst travelling in that region, after a few years of playing around with it and experimenting he managed to use it as the basis for this extended composition.

'Implicate Order' by Nick Walters & The Paradox Ensemble is released via D.O.T Records on the 29th Of January.

Find out more here:  https://www.musicamacondo.com/2021/01/premiere-nick-walters-the-paradox-ensemble-volta-region/

Premiere: Nick Walters &  The Paradox Ensemble - Volta Region

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Hailu Mergia — Gum Gum from Lala Belu

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