| DIGGIN | VOL.1 |

This past weekend I hit up Egon's store Rappcats where DJ Shadow was selling some of his vast collection. I missed the opening day but snuck in and out on Sunday with a random high school band record, featuring a nice cover of Freddie Hubbard's "Little Sunflower" as well as some original tunes. That record reminded me I'd been wanting to do a school band episode of Pullin for awhile now, so it was a good inspiration to dig through my crate of very random college and high school music for a couple of my favorites. You never know what you're getting with these records - so many are poor quality recordings or cheesy renditions, but among the many there are some real gems. Hope you dig.

October 26 2021

Subscribe on Apple

Pullin from the Stacks - Episode 180 (School Band Records)

Buy / Stream it here: https://orcd.co/clapclap

In association with DJ Amir‘s 180 Proof Records, BBE Music reissues ‘Clap Clap! The Joyful Noise’, an unreleased gem from Strata Records founder Kenny Cox.

In 1974, Strata Records Inc. was well known in Detroit for their art gallery, live music venue and record label, turning out records by artists like Kenny Cox and Lyman Woodard. In 2012, nearly 4 decades later, Scion commissioned DJ Amir Abdullah to research and create an exhibit based on lost youth culture in Detroit for a new online museum. Familiar with the history of Strata Inc., Amir decided the best way to define the era was through the lens of the labels brief but potent influence on the city’s culture. Inspired by this project, Amir set out to re-introduce the world to Strata Inc. through his own label, 180 Proof Records.

The Lyman Woodard Organization’s Saturday Night Special (1975) is perhaps the jewel of the label, but the LP that was to follow – Cox’s unreleased Clap Clap! The Joyful Noise, is at the same time radical and sublime. It’s a visionary work, inspired by both the innocence and zeal of his 3-year-old son, Philip, and also the culture of Latin America and Caribbean lands Cox admits in the album’s original liner notes that, “oddly enough…I’ve never seen.”

The title track, “Clap Clap! The Joyful Noise” is a frolicking bossa groove awash in the gentle sound of waves one can imagine lapping against the shores of Brazil’s Praia da Fazenda, or perhaps the Taipus de Fora. “Samba de Romance” teems with the mischievous tones of two lovers playing not cat and mouse, but cat and cat (!), until the chase ends in a passionate nighttime rendezvous in sultry island air.

The pulsating bounce of “Island Song,” with its mood set by Moore’s vibrant flugelhorn and the percussion of Ronald Johnson and Nengue Hernandez, is just about everything one would imagine an island song to be, while “Lost My Love” is really “Feel Like Making Love” in delicious disguise and the album’s close, “Beyond The Dream,” is a 13-minute enlivening, reflective odyssey on everything one has lived, and all that remains to be achieved.

This previously unreleased masterpiece by Kenny Cox has been remastered from the original reel to reel masters, along with the artwork, extensive liner notes and never seen before photos.

Kenny Cox - Lost My Love

Hugo Montenegro - Spaceport (from Toomorrow)

Montana:Warp factor II

Tony Minvielle

Tony Minvielle on Jazz FM : Sun 6th Mar 2022 w/ Robert Glasper

Charles Kynard:The World Is A Ghetto

Hiroshi Fukumura:White Clouds

John Cameron:Half Forgotten Daydreams

Sorry for the long delay, been a busy month. Starting to pack the records up now, so this will be my last mix at my current residence, and probably for another few weeks until I get things unpacked on the other side of LA. Kept things thematic for this one though - all jazz-related releases on the Melodiya label, which was the Soviet-era label that released records from not only Russia but other countries in region. Been slowly building a small stack of vinyl from this label and figured I'd play a few here. Enjoy!

August 22 2022

Subscribe on ApplePods

Pullin from the Stacks - Episode 206 (Melodiya Jazz)

Yoni Mayraz - Palms

Was hoping to put together a mix tribute to the amazing Trugoy of De La Soul this week, but have not had the time yet. For now, here is a mix from the archives that I did in 2010. Hope you all enjoy.

November 2010 Mixtape

Subscribe!

From the Archives: Jazz Pianos (2010)

Japan has produced some exceptionally talented jazz drummers and among them is Tatsuya Nakamura, who joins the BBE Music J Jazz Masterclass Series with his album ‘Locus’ from 1984, a session covering several bases, from heavy percussive samba to meditative avant-ambient. This is the album’s first ever reissue, although a track from ‘Locus’, ‘1⁄4 Samba’, was included on J Jazz vol. 3.

Nakamura began his drumming career as a teenager, inspired after seeing the documentary film “Jazz on A Summer’s Day” and listening to his idols Art Blakey and Miles Davis. By his early twenties, Nakamura was working with such luminaries as free jazz guitarist Masayuki Takayanagi, pianist Masaru Imada and band leader & composer Mitsuaki Kanno. In the mid-70s, like several other Japanese jazz players, Nakamura decided to make the move to New York where he studied drumming with Roy Haynes, and performed with members of the AACM and players from the loft and free jazz scenes including Richard Davis, George Adams, John Hicks, and Pharaoh Sanders. Returning to Japan, Nakamura continued playing as leader of his Japanese band The Jazz Fellows and in 1979, he went into the studio as leader for the classic “Where Is The Quarter” session featuring Masaru Imada, Hideto Kanai and Kenji Mori. This session includes the original percussion heavy version of ‘1⁄4 Samba’ and was followed by a period back in NYC during which he recorded the funky/free session ‘Rip Off’ in 1980. 1984 saw Nakamura working as leader of a heavy-duty fusion septet and in February of that year he led them in a performance at Audio Technica Hall. The album ‘Locus’ on Sea Horse Records is the label’s one and only release.

On ‘Locus’, Nakamura is joined by a stellar line-up. On trumpet is Shinobu Fujimoto and he’s joined by seasoned bass player Hideto Kanai (1931 -2011) who began playing in the mid- 1950s, appearing on King Recs All-Star Jazz Series before going on to be a regular fixture on the legendary Three Blind Mice (TBM) label, backing many of its leading artists. He even released his own album on TBM, ‘Ode to Birds’ in 1975. On guitar is Kazumasa Akiyama. Born in Tokyo in 1955, he taught himself guitar at 10 years old and was influenced initially by The Beatles and Ray Charles, and later Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Chicago Blues, and jazz. When he was a student, he got a chance to appear on Sadao Watanabe's radio program ‘My Dear Life’, which led him to join the Isao Suzuki Group and Mikio Masuda Group. Akiyama released his first leader album ‘Dig My Style’ in 1978 and is still an active musician. On keys is the incredible Jun Fukamachi (1946-2010). Born in Harajuku, Tokyo, Fukamachi started playing the piano at the age of three, showing an extraordinary talent, recognised as a child prodigy. He became a professional musician while still in school and released his first album ‘Portrait of a Young Man’ on Polydor in 1971. A pioneer of synthesizer, and among the first to popularise fusion in Japan, Fukamachi has composed and produced numerous recordings embracing jazz, fusion, funk, rock, and classical. An internationally recognised figure, Fukamachi worked with Anthony Jackson, David Sanborn, Randy and Michael Brecker, Mike Mainieri, Steve Gadd, and Richard Tee. Percussionist Tatsuji Yokoyama has worked across Japanese jazz and fusion since the 1970s appearing on albums from the likes of Masahiko Togashi, Takao Uematsu, Mikio Masuda, Toshiyuki Honda, Yuji Ohno and Shigeharu Mukai.

Tatsuya Nakamura continues to record and play live with many musicians including The New York Unit, and has toured extensively across Africa, Senegal, Morocco, Turkey, Australia and Indonesia. He remains active to this day, recording and touring with his band Japan Jazz Unit.

The J Jazz Masterclass Series is curated by Tony Higgins and Mike Peden for BBE Music.

Tatsuya Nakamura - Ballad (Edit)

We are extremely exited to premiere the psychedelic meets Spiritual Afro Latin jazz sounds of "Ojos 22", by a new artist to our ears, GOkU aka Glasgow based Daniel Ashton - the latest release and artist on the Bristol UK based Worm Discs.

Here GOkU guides us through a cold, still, desert night spent in the shadow of the moon. Shimmering movements and meandering trails of guitar and trumpet, with warnings, lessons and stories for the ages!

GOkU tells us: "This tune's inspirations come from my experiences in New Mexico where my mother is from. It's a culture formed by the meeting of Spanish and Native American influences, in an expansive landscape where desert meets mountain. The interacting percussive and melodious improvisations of Chief Chebe (djembe), Ben Boswell (trumpet) and Norman Willmore (sax) over the trance of the groove reflect these things perfectly to me. My first encounter with the flute was finding old native american style flutes in my Grandmother's house in NM (she lives in a tiny mountain village called Los Ojos hence the name). After cleaning the cobwebs out of them and playing them walking through canyons and valleys, I met an old Navajo man playing in the streets of Santa Fe. The guy was blind and had a shopping trolley which he wandered the desert with... after playing flute with him for a long time he stopped and told me that 'my breath would be my guide' and I need to 'follow my wind'. When I came back to the UK that week, I met my soon to be partner who gave me my first silver flute and taught me how to play it. I realise now that these kinds of synchronicities in my life are what had the biggest influences on the narrative of this first album. "

"Ojos 22" is taken from '11:11' - the debut album from ‘GoKu’ to be released in full digitally via Worm Discs Nov 3rd. An album that connects the dots. Light and darkness, reflections of many kinds.

11:11

Exclusive Premiere: GOkU "Ojos 22" (Worm Discs)

The Globeflower Masters Vol. 2 is the slightly edgier and more grown-up sequel to Mark and Glenn's 2021 debut album. For this excursion, the Brighton-based duo wanted to lean a little further into their European film soundtrack influences, with inspiration mined from the works of Stefano Torossi, David Shire, and Roger Webb. This expansion of their sound builds upon the rich tapestry of cinematic funk à la David Axelrod, Serge Gainsbourg and Morricone that fashioned Vol. 1.

The Deluxe Edition of the album features five new tracks, comprising two new original recordings, a piano solo version of the closing track from the original album, and two remixes from Project Gemini and Andres y Xavi.

‘Shaded By Your Side’ takes things right back to the moody, dark and Axelrod-inflected sound of their first album. Much of this track was played in single takes to try and retain as much of the urgency and spontaneity as possible. 

‘Return to Salvador’ is described by the duo as if “Shuggie Otis and Marcos Valle have one too many caipirinhas and decide to visit outer space”. It fuses together Mark's space sounds and floaty pianos with Spanish guitar and busy, melodic bass creating a musical trip from the grounded and earthy sounds of Vol.1’ to the more upwards-looking and musically diverse sound of Vol.2.

The remixes give a different flavour to the release, but both pay homage to the original recordings. Sharing a mutual admiration for each other’s work, it seemed like a natural choice to ask Project Gemini to contribute. Here is what he had to say about his rework, “I’m a big fan of both volumes of Mark and Glenn’s ‘Globeflower’ LP’s and it was a huge honour to get a chance to rework one of my favourite tunes from Vol.2. There are many great layers to ‘A Voyage North’ so it was a lot of fun to choose my favourite elements, then put some Project Gemini flavours and sounds into the mix and create something new whilst hopefully keeping some of the spirit of the original track. A darker, fuzzier take on the album version”.

When Glenn first passed the original album to Steve KIW, his collaborator in Balearic production outfit Andres y Xavi, this was one of two tracks which he picked out as having some particularly Balearic DNA. As such, pushing this concept to its logical conclusion seemed like the obvious thing to do. There’s a shaded sunset sound paired with a 4/4 beat of Latin-leaning.

Glenn Fallows & Mark Treffel - Calico Suite

Thracian Blade and Buckler

Seattle  &#8226 Music Enthusiast &#8226 Beats

“Music Is Medicine For The Soul”
Side effects might be head noddin, a warm feeling in your stomach and a bright smile on your face..

Hugo Montenegro - Spaceport (from Toomorrow)

Phunksession

Related tracks