Songlines - "a captivating blend of jazz and Latin rhythms”

FarOut Magazine - “A beautiful menagerie of sounds and influences, awash with distinctive Latin funk and the spirit of 1950s NYC big band jazz. These songs are backed up by a roster of London’s most skilled and passionate jazz musicians, to create something utterly timeless and innately funky."

Patrick Forge - "Unashamedly retro, but done so well, High calibre rhythms and playing, some hot jams!”

Paul Bradshaw (Straight No Chaser) - "The delivers that 70's NYC bario vibe perfectly.... Kickin'!!!”

Francois K - "All great cuts, very well put together”

Announcing the debut album from one of London’s most electrifying acts, New Regency Orchestra. An 18-piece Afro-Cuban big band, inspired by the musical melting pot of NYC in the 1950s, but with the punch and power of a whole host of London’s best Latin and jazz musicians. Blowing new life into these compositions, the album is a reimagining of some of the finest music from that golden era. From early 1950s René Hernandez and Tito Puente, through to the 1970s salsa of Rafael Labasta and Orlando Marin, produced and performed with fresh fire.

NRO is the brainchild of its artistic director, and the man behind Total Refreshment Centre and Church of Sound, Lex Blondin. Through a long-held passion for jazz, Lex discovered the explosive Afro-Cuban rhythms of mid-1940s NYC via the godfather of Afro-Cuban jazz, Mario Bauzá. A time when two musical worlds collided in a fusion of creativity and energy, jazz luminaries like Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker joining forces with Cuban greats like Machito and Chano Pozo. This vibrant sound was music to dance to and found a home at The New York Palladium, a formative space of freedom and expression that was key to the scene’s development.

Although dance-focussed in their makeup, those early recordings are not often heard in modern club environments and Lex dreamt of retelling their story with a contemporary dynamism. A slice of serendipity followed, as a slot at a new festival opened up and Lex jumped at the chance to make this idea a reality, an 18-piece big band breathing new life into these beloved songs.

Enlisting the expertise of some of the capital’s finest talent, Lex and co-captain Andy Wood, of Como No fame, put together a world-class line-up of talent. Bringing in Eliane Correa as musical director and bandleader, a fluid and interchanging 18-piece band was formed.

The album itself is a hand-picked selection of timeless Afro-Cuban jazz classics, reimagined with NRO’s unbridled energy. It contains ten incredible instrumental tracks including 'Pregon' with its anthemic horn stabs and the addictive head nod bounce of 'Mambo Rama', alongside two scorching vocal numbers in 'Papa Boco' and 'Labasta Llego'. Coupling a heavyweight rhythm section with a wall of horns, they provide a fresh spin on songs from Tito Puente and Chico O'Farrill, René Hernandez through to Rafael Labasta.

“Some of the tunes like Tito Puente’s ‘Mambo Rama’ and ‘Scarlet Mambo’ might sound like they went to a gym as extra drums and bass synth were added to them whilst the tune ‘Sahib & Tito’ is a mix of Tito’s ‘Mambo Buda’ and Sahib Shihab’s ‘Nus’. Our intention is to be both respectful to the innovators and inventors of this incredible music and to pay our dues, but also to add something special from London where the city’s new jazz scene connects with its Latin American musicians and the musical influences around us.”

This pure collective joy, shared experience and music you can’t help but move to.

New Regency Orchestra - New Regency Orchestra

7" and Digital out May 13, 2014. 

Order the 7" and get instant download of this song : https://bastardjazz.bandcamp.com/album/montreux-sunrise-trans-alpine-express

After the dynamo sophomore release that was 2013's "Curiosities", New Zealand's Lord Echo returns to Brooklyn's Bastard Jazz label, this time producing Kiwi trio The Elder Statesman comprised of twin brothers and Wellington fixtures Christopher (piano) and Daniel (double bass) Yeabsley with Lord Echo himself on percussion and drums. 

On the "A" side, Montreux Sunrise is mellow meander through a laidback early 70s souljazz vibes, while "Trans Alpine Express" picks things up on the B side with a deep, spiritual piano groove, upfront doublebass, and Echo's percussion perfectly in the pocket. 

A timeless gem of a 7" from Bastard Jazz, releasing their own namesake for once!

Buy 7" or Digital

The Elder Statesman - Trans-Alpine Express

Ex-Files

One of the most electrifying acts to have emerged in recent years, New Regency Orchestra announce their highly anticipated debut album on Mr Bongo with their first single, ‘Labasta Llego’. A reimagining of Rafael Labasta’s 1972 original, the group have delivered a contemporary take on this sublime serving of Afro-Cuban jazz energy.

Harnessing the fusion of ideas that exploded out of New York’s melding of jazz and Latin during the ‘50s to the ‘70s, New Regency Orchestra are an 18-piece big band that has been setting the scene alight on stage. Led by artistic director Lex Blondin, the group are a hand-picked line-up of some of London’s finest Latin and jazz musicians. Providing a fresh spin on a selection of the seminal songs that emanated out of that golden era, they bring a contemporary radiance to their recordings.

Originally written in 1972 by Dominican trumpeter and orchestra leader Rafael Labasta, who played with greats such as Kako, Cortijo y Su Combo and even The Big 3: Machito, Tito Rodriguez and Tito Puente, ‘Labasta Llego’ is a salsa-infused track bursting with colour and creativity.  Congas, cowbells and timbales dance around bandleader Eliane Correa’s joyous keys providing an infectious rhythm on New Regency Orchestra’s version. With the rhythm locked, a wall of horns blasts you straight to the shores of the Dominican Republic. One of two vocal tracks from the album, Jose Cesar’s expressive vocal tones, backed by Flavio Correa add to the Latin spice, as Nick Walters steps forward for a spirited and spellbinding trumpet solo.

Lex sums up the single perfectly, “It’s one of our live anthems and it always goes down a storm. The music speaks for itself. It’s impossible to keep your hips still with this one!”

New Regency Orchestra - Labasta Llego

New Regency Orchestra - Para Los Papines

New Regency Orchestra - Fiesta Time

New Regency Orchestra - Mambo Herd

New Regency Orchestra - Sambaroco

New Regency Orchestra - Pregon

Dzihan & Kamien - Stiff Jazz

Earthology

Safari Strut

Remix done by The Reflex

https://thereflex.bandcamp.com/

Million Sellers Vol.3

Nina Simone - Be That Way Sometimes (Reflex)

Grupo Magnético present El Sonido Magnético

Having notched up over a decade of playing together under various guises, Grupo Magnético are finally ready to release their debut album El Sonido Magnetico on Atenas Del Norte, imprint of acclaimed label Athens of the North.

The Forthcoming LP saw the band performing together with a supporting stella cast of guest singers and musicians from Colombia, New York, Cuba, Venezuela and the UK, who’s credits include playing and recording with legends including the likes of Tito Puente, Celia Cruz and Ray Barretto. 

These live tracks were mixed in New York by acclaimed Grammy award-winning producer Aaron Levinson, who has previously worked with Fania Records, Bio Ritmo, Jimmy Bosch and the Spanish Harlem Orchestra. 

Grupo Magnético play heavy salsa with echoes from the golden era of New York and Colombian 70’s salsa.

Grupo Magnético -  Vampiras

Pre-order album ~ https://hopest.re/NamingAndBlaming

The Public Opinion Afro Orchestra (The POAO) release ‘Fight So Hard’, the first single from their long-awaited second album ‘Naming & Blaming’. Recorded with the full POAO 17 piece ensemble, Fight So Hard is a simmering slow burn with MC One Sixth trading rap verses with singers Kuukua and Lydia Acquah, Fem Belling and Lamine Sonko. In true afrobeat tradition the album version clocks in at a trance-inducing nine minutes long! (Radio edit supplied for those on a tighter schedule). The vocals are broken up with heavy brass sections and extended instrumental improvisations while the understated rhythm section bubbles away without pause or deviation.

Available everywhere on all formats on November 30th, the ‘Naming & Blaming’ album is a pulsing, percussive journey into classic afrobeat led by fierce vocals and a howling horn section. It’s a fitting 21st-century response to the world-shaking music of 1970s Nigeria defined by Fela Kuti. The result is true to the afrobeat blueprint of hypnotising rhythm, extended improvisation and political comment, but adds to the formula a host of pan-African and local influences as well as hip-hop elements that reflect the deep ranging roots of the band. This balance is what The POAO is all about, paying respects to the culture while keeping their feet planted in the 21st century.

Naming & Blaming

Pre-order Album

The Public Opinion Afro Orchestra - Fight So Hard

Mixed and produced by Adam Scrimshire
Mastered by Walter Coelho
Artwork from a painting by Jonny Drop
All kit drums played and recorded by Chris Boot.
All other instruments including Fender Rhodes, piano, Juno-6, percussion, drum programming, guitars and bass by Adam Scrimshire. 

His fourth album, musically, 'Listeners' draws from Scrimshire's passion for jazz, soul and electronic music of all styles; from an energetic combination of Afrobeat and garage on 'Won't Get Better', to the lushly orchestrated neo-soul of 'Thru You', and the harmonious jazz experimentations of 'I Never'. The album features a host of esteemed guest vocalists and musicians telling their own personal stories, including Georgia Anne Muldrow, Emma-Jean Thackray, Joshua Idehen, Madison McFerrin, Chip Wickham, and James Alexander Bright.

"With this album I wanted to get a more focused sound after six years of relearning and development in the studio. But I also struggled to find my own words, to speak about where I/we are now. So I allowed my collaborators total freedom to tell their own story and as they came back to me, they were telling the same stories I wanted to. It's resulted in some deeply personal confessional pieces: mourning family, collapsing relationships, extremes of self doubt and analysis, trying to balance public and inner persona, and a reminder that life in all forms is important.

It’s called 'Listeners' as I am a listener here, I feel like I've been given these very personal experiences to care for. Listeners because, the travesty of the last few years is that we stopped listening to each other, everyone is shouting at each other and no one is learning. And Listeners because I hope I've made something that is for other people more than I have before. I've tried to craft something warmer and more enjoyable, made for those who give me their time in listening to my music."
- Adam Scrimshire

Since joining the Wah Wah 45s label in 2007, Scrimshire has released three albums of experimental cinematic jazz, and electronic sounds. Following his 2009 debut ‘Along Came The Devil One Night​’, his second album ‘The Hollow’ (2011) was a BBC 6 Music Album of the Week, with Gilles Peterson calling it “A late contender for album of the year”.

In the time since the release of his last album ‘Bight’ (“An eclectic range of influences ranging from disco to fusion to more contemporary electronic styles” XLR8R) in 2013, Adam has worked with long-time musical accomplice Dave Koor on new project Modified Man, and launched Albert’s Favourites releasing projects by The Expansions, Hector Plimmer and Jonny Drop. He has continued to gain radio and DJ support for his successful “Scrimshire Edits” series and has produced and mixed records for artist including Stac, Daudi Matsiko, Bastien Keb, Rōnin Arkestra, Jonny Drop. He has also continued to develop the Wah Wah 45s label, where he is now a co-owner and director.

New Regency Orchestra - Labasta Llego

Mr Bongo

Related tracks