Sossego

From the liner notes of our 2-disc Ebo Taylor retrospective, Life Stories:

Ebo acknowledges the influence of US jazz rockers Blood Sweat & Tears and
– less obviously, perhaps – Deep Purple on this easy going mid-tempo
piece, written a few years before it was recorded, when Osibisa and
various ‘blaxploitation’ themes were hip. “I was trying to fuse rock and jazz together with highlife,” Ebo recalls. “This kind of music was ahead of its time – not very popular when we recorded it!”

Life Stories

Peace On Earth

Ebo Taylor- Peace On Earth

Various Artists - Footprints EP
Format: 12" vinyl sampler
Release date: March 17, 2014
All tracks taken from the forthcoming full-length album Footprints to be released on April 28 on CD & digital.
www.jazzandmilk.com

Jazz & Milk is back with a brand new compilation series featuring previously unreleased tracks by international label artists, friends & family! The 6 track "Footprints EP" offers a small foretaste of the forthcoming full-length compilation to be released in April 2014.

Footprints starts off with the heavy Afro-Funk vibes of the Bad Jazz Troupe, remixed by Jazz & Milk label-founder Dusty. Sam Irl from Vienna takes us on a journey of raw emotion. On "Time" he fed his MPC with filthy vinyl samples, jazzy rhodes chords, deep basslines and smooth synth-arppegios - all glued together on top of a driving House beat. "Sidama de Cali" is a 50/50 blend of Ethiopian and Colombian music by Todd Simon & The Angel City of All Star Brass Band featuring strictly horns and percussion - including Quantic on the guacharaca (colombian version of the guiro) and a 'who is who' of LA's music scene.

The B-side begins rather bass-heavy. On Dusty's "Cosmic Path" gliding synths and vibrant percussion float over a foundation of deep bass and slightly off-kilter beats. Russian talent Lay-Far delivers a soulful broken beat tune - "A Good Old Holiday Groove" draws obvious influence from mid 70's jazz. The EP concludes with the legendary Munich-based formation Karl Hector & The Malcouns. "Who's Foolin' Who?" was written by JJ Whitefield (producer and guitarist for the Poets of Rhythm and the Whitefield Brothers) and reflects his affinity for sounds from across the African diaspora.

Karl Hector & The Malcouns - Who's Foolin' Who

Bexiga70 - Retirantes

Song For My Lady - Louiz Banks

Rat Race

The enigmatic Amara Touré from Guinée Conakry finally getting a well deserved compilation showcasing all of the 10 songs ever released between 1973 and 1980. Cuban influenced music of a different kind featuring amazing spaced-out guitar works!! Stay tuned for some of the most beautiful music ever recorded !! Release Date: Last week of May!

Lamento Cubano - Amara Touré

Romain Virgo - Caress Me | We Remember Dennis Brown

Download: smarturl.it/RVCaressMe

February 1st, marked the late reggae and lover's rock icon Dennis Brown's 59th birthday. Hailed by NPR Morning Edition as one of the 50 great voices of all time and by Bob Marley as one of the best reggae singers in the world - the revered Jamaican icon began his recording career at the tender age of 11 and has more than 75 albums to date. Even though he passed away at the early age of 42, his music and legacy lives on.

VP Records, reggae's leading distributor and label, will pay homage this spring with an extensive tribute album We Remember Dennis Brown of his timeless hits covered by some reggae and r&b's most renowned artists today. Each song was re-produced by Jamaican legend Clive Hunt with his all-star team of musicians to give each song an authentic yet fresh feel.

To celebrate the icon during his birthday month, VP Records will reveal one song from the album every Friday for the next five weeks - including "Caress Me Girl" on Feb 5 from one of Jamaica's brightest voices Romain Virgo, "Milk & Honey" on Feb 12 by roots reggae rockers Raging Fyah, "Bloody City" on Feb 19 from the Caribbean's soulful songstress Jah9, "Promised Land" on Feb 26 from Hawaiian reggae band The Green and "Have You Ever" on Mar 4 by R&B powerhouse Marsha Ambrosius.

In addition to these power hitters, We Remember Dennis Brown will feature an array of singers from Brown's native country and across the globe who he influenced. Jamaica's latest crop of stars (including Jah Cure, Gyptian, Chronixx and Jesse Royal) as well as the island's icons who worked with Brown (like reggae vocalists Bushman and Freddie McGregor) all offer their contributions. Freddie's son Chino McGregor and Christopher Ellis, the talented UK-based singer and offspring of Alton Ellis (another one of Brown's musical mentors and confidants), both deliver powerful renditions of Brown's classics. New Zealand rockers also create a breezy rendition of "If I Had The World." The worldly collection proves that his universal sound transcends all boundaries of time, race and creed. Each artist adds their own original flair to Brown's profound soul-stirring sound - touching the hearts of new and old fans alike on this unique multi-disc collection. We Remember Dennis Brown will include deluxe packaging as well as extensive liner notes on the belated legend.

DENNIS BROWN
Dennis Brown was greatly influenced by American balladeers such as Sam Cooke, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin as well as Jamaican singers like Delroy Wilson and John Holt. At only 12-years-old, he cut his first hit "No Man Is An Island" at Clement "Coxsone" Dodd's famous Studio One. Within the years, he was a force to be reckoned with musically - dubbed the "Boy Wonder of Jamaica" and "Crown Prince of Reggae." Before he was 16, he had worked with Jamaica's top recording artists (Alton Ellis, Horace Andy) and producers of the time (Prince Buster, Dennis Alcapone, Winston "Niney" Holness and Vincent "Randy" Chin). In the 1970s, he worked closely with producer Joe Gibbs and released multiple albums. One of the album's songs "Money in my Pocket," peaked at #14 on UK Top 40 chart becoming one of the biggest international hits in Jamaica's history. This success landed him the cover of the NME's February 1979 issue. Enthusiastically adapting to the new dancehall era, Brown released a huge amount of work throughout the 1980s recording with genre's major producers like King Jammy on Brown's 1986 album The Exit and Gussie Clarke in 1989 with the Gregory Isaacs duet "Big All Round" and the album Unchallenged. He continued to record prolifically in the 1990s before his passing. His 1994 album Light My Fire and 2001 release Let Me Be the One were both nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album.

We Remember Dennis Brown

Caress Me

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Romain Virgo - Caress Me | We Remember Dennis Brown

Africa 45, number 13 – http://www.mrbongo.com/products/mulatu-astatke-ft-frank-holder-assiyo-bellema-teshome-meteku-hasabe-7

‘Assiyo Bellema’ – Mulatu goes afro-latin, plus steel drums courtesy of Frank Holder. Assiyo Bellema was recorded during Mulatu’s time in London, during which he met Frank, along with many others including Tubby Hayes and Joe Harriott.

‘Hasabe’ was originally released on Amha in 1969. Soaring Ethiopian vocals and horns create a classic Ethiopian sound. Teshome Meteku was leader of Soul Ekos Band - they lived together! - and were very active in Addis in the 1960’s.

Buy Vinyl

Mulatu Astatke ft. Frank Holder - Assiyo Bellema

From his studio in central Bobo-Dioulasso, photographer Sory Sanlé documented a nation's transformation from colonial foothold to cosmopolitan oasis. Bobo Yeye: Belle Epoque in Upper Volta provides an intimate look into the landlocked nation's pop culture explosion of the 1970s. A melange of community elders and emboldened youth spill from the brightly lit confines of Sanlé's Volta Photo into the dimly lit nightclubs of Upper Volta's cultural capital. Accompanying this hardbound monograph are dozens of rare and evocative recordings spread over three discs by Bobo-Dioulasso's musical titans: Volta Jazz, Dafra Star, Echo Del Africa, and Les Imbattables Léopards. 

Bobo Yéyé: Belle Époque in Upper Volta

Volta Jazz - Wêrê Wêrê Magne

Funk was the syncopated groove that emerged in the mid-sixties through hits from James Brown and Dyke and The Blazers. It was a natural development out of rhythm and blues. Thousands of local bands tried to emulate Brown’s success, and in the process created a plethora of rare and sought after 45s and album cuts that have been mined by DJs and producers to fill floors or provide breakbeats. Whilst the 20 tracks on this compilation would cost you thousands of pounds to own on their original issue, that isn’t really the point. Instead you get to listen to magnificent grooves such as Mickey & The Soul Generations explosive ‘Iron Leg’, Andrew Brown’s blues tinged ‘You Made Me Suffer’ or the message music of 24 Carat Black.

On the 14th October 2016 J&D Records release three exceptional compilations that look at vintage African-American music through the prism of UK club culture. All Night Long, Can You Feel ThatBeat and Extra Added Soul will be available on CD & double vinyl and are compiled by DJ and award winning compiler Dean Rudland, with stunning artwork from his long-time collaborators The Unknown. Across the three volumes there are 60 tracks of soul, funk and boogie.

Can You Feel That Beat: Funky 45s and Other Rare Grooves

The First Thing I Do In The Morning - Joyce Williams

From the Togolese-French band's second album KIDAYÚ out on Hot Casa records in Fall 2016 

Revolution

Club Des Belugas - Wearing Out My Shoez

Melbourne funk four-piece Karate Boogaloo cover a James Brown classic as part of their Christmas tribute to Soul Brother Number 1.

Part of our 2019 charity Advent Calendar in aid of War Child.

Download & Donate: http://bit.ly/Day7_Karate

All money raised through Bandcamp sales goes directly to War Child, so please give generously.

Download + Donate

Day 7: Karate Boogaloo - Doing It To Death

From Benin, the second track of their first album, 1973.

Yeye We Nou Mi - Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou

VIVIAN HILL - Turn on your love light

Record label. Record shop. Film label. Since 1989.

Viciado na sensação indescritível que a musica produz e no poder transformador da mesma. 

Mulatu Astatke ft. Frank Holder - Assiyo Bellema

Mr Bongo

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