The Bahama Soul Club are a German-based group whose unique blend of soul, jazz, funk, blues, bossa nova, afro and Caribbean influences has firmly put them on the map of the black music scene as one of the most exciting contemporary outfits.

The band led by Oliver Belz started in 2005 under the former name of The Juju Orchestra. The first 45 double-sider was “Kind Of Latin Rhythm” / “Funky Nassau” released in 2006, which became a huge worldwide success, going straight to N.1 on the German Club Charts and staying there for more than 12 weeks. The following album “Bossa Nova Is Not A Crime” was released in 2007 with guest vocals from soul-jazz crooner Terry Callier, Carolyn Leonhart, from Steely Dan and the lovely Katia B from Sao Paulo, whose cut became a smash hit in the worldwide club jazz scene and again reached the official media control Jazz Charts #2.

In 2008 for legal reasons the band’s name was changed to Bahama Soul Club and their first album “Rhythm Is What Makes Jazz Jazz” was released, amazingly following up on the outstanding success of The Juju Orchestra. They definitely hit the mark once again with the incredible appearance of guests like french chanteuse Isabelle Antena from Nouvelle Vague and Mrs. Pat Appleton from DePhazz, with whom they also established a 9-piece live orchestra and played all the famous jazz festivals in Germany and many more elsewhere in Europe.

2010 marks the release of the second Bahama Soul Club album, “Bossa Nova Just Smells Funky” with guest singers Xantoné Blacq from Amy Winehouse Band, British shooting star John Turrell, Kojato and again Pat Appleton, just to name a few. It soon became the band’s biggest success with radio features on ALL german public radio stations and countless “CD of the month” / “Album of the year” features worldwide, along with many Chart entries. With this album BSC became one of the most important contemporary European Jazz projects and were finally invited to the big German Groove Festival in Sao Paulo/Brazil.

2013 sees the band release their third album, “The Cuban Tapes”, an exotic blend of Cuban rhythms and tropical flavors executed with the trademark Bahama Soul Club style. This full-length once again features a host of talented vocal guests such as Danay Suarez, Arema Arega & Telmary Diaz from the contemporary Cuban scene, 3 generations of american soul singers Bessie Smith, Spanky Wilson and Ruthie Foster, and Anna Luca from Club Des Belugas. With “The Cuban Tapes” there is no doubt Bahama Soul Club are officially claiming their rightful spot at the forefront of the club jazz scene  for many years to come!

The difference between BSC and other Nu-funk, Latin-Jazz,or Bossa projects? Bahama Soul Club is better! Simply put, it’s an original combination of afrolicious Bossa-Jazz with 60s Soul and 70s Funk. The positive vibes and contagious rhythms transcend boundaries, language and race, for a timeless sound that nobody can resist!
Jada Parolini - http://www.willwork4funk.com/portfolio/bahama-soul-club

https://linktr.ee/wearedelasoul

De La Soul is back—but did they ever really leave? After delivering their seminal debut 3 Feet High and Rising in 1989 with the production genius of Prince Paul, the New York City-bred trio of Posdnuos (Pos), Dave and Maseo went on to further impact Hip Hop culture with five more groundbreaking albums: De La Soul Is Dead (1991), Buhloone Mindstate (1993), Stakes Is High (1996), Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump (2000) and AOI: Bionix (2001). But once the digital age exploded in the late ‘90s, De La Soul’s celebrated catalog was unavailable to stream. As the decades passed, the tight-knit group forged ahead anyway—touring the world, connecting with their adoring fanbase and making music on their own terms. Following 2004’s The Grind Date, De La Soul took a hiatus from making albums, but joined The Gorillaz on the track “Feel Good Inc” which won them a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Collaboration.  In 2015, the group raised over $600,000 on Kickstarter from fans to independently release their album and the Anonymous Nobody, which was their first #1 on the Rap Albums chart, and was also nominated for a Best Rap Album Grammy.   

However, the demand for unreleased De La Soul music was palpable and the cry for access to the first six albums grew louder. Unfortunately, De La Soul was stuck riding a roller coaster of stalled negotiations, dashed hopes and dead-end conversations with their old label, and the group nearly gave up. 

"We have lived without the music up for long, these six albums haven’t been up—ever,” Pos says. “We got used to knowing they weren’t up.” In June of 2021, Tommy Boy Music was acquired by Reservoir, giving De La Soul’s catalog a new home.  In March of 2023, the six missing albums were finally available to stream.  But sadly, right before the catalog release, Dave, the beloved member of De La Soul, passed away. Though bittersweet, De La Soul preserves his legacy and the ongoing impact of their music. 

As iconic songs such as “The Magic Number”, found new life in the film Spiderman: No Way Home in 2021, De La Soul continues to resonate with a diverse population of people. 

As Pos notes, “We’ve noticed over the past several years of tour like, ‘Wow, there’s a father here with his child who also is here with their child. ‘We’re generational. To me, there’s nothing more gratifying than that. That means something. That’s telling about a group. What we were doing wasn’t just stuck to that time.”

“We really naturally been that group for everyone,” Pos says. “It was never about we’re just here for this community, that community, this set of people or these certain fans of Hip Hop culture. We see music as music. We’ve been very resilient, even being a group that didn’t have our music up [on streaming platforms]. We still had these beautiful opportunities through young people finding out about us through a commercial or Spider-Man. Now that it can all be there for people to gravitate to, I’m really happy about that.” 

De La Soul's impact on the musical landscape is immeasurable, with 3 Feet High and Rising widely regarded as one of the most influential albums of its era. Pioneering inventive sampling, playful lyrics, and eclectic beats, the album broke new ground and set a standard for creativity in the genre. Recognizing its cultural significance, the album was inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress.

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