One of the most influential and underground Hammond organists of the 1960's was "Big" John Patton as he was then known. If it was the groove that you wanted Patton was your Man and he made several albums for the legendary Blue Note label, many of which went on to sell for eye watering prices. As his style went out of favor, some of the recordings never saw the light of day until almost 20 years later and at the same time Patton slipped into the background. He resurfaced in the 1980s and went into the studio. Among his albums Soul Connection, originally released in 1983 on Nilva Records has now been re-released on what many consider to be the Re-Issue Label of these times; Jazz Room Records.


Patton had a strong band with him on this record. Avant Garde trombonist Grachan Moncur III fits in just nicely with some funky lines and solo's. Acid jazz Guitar Hero Melvin Sparks rides in the all important funk grooves but the revelation has to be saxophonist Grant Reed, who you may know from the Jazz Room Release of "Shamek Farrah & Folks" and who was a mainstay of the Mongo Santamaria set up. Jazz Exile Alvin Queen has been part of the sound set ups of Junior Mance, Stanley Turrentine and Charles Tolliver, among others.
The whole album sounds as if it was laid down in a Rudy Van Gelder session in the mid 60's and then languished in a vault somewhere, waiting until the fan base had returned. That time is now, this is a Funky Organ Groove with a Spiritual Soul Swing!

JOHN PATTON - SOUL CONNECTION

Order vinyl / CD / digital: https://bbemusic.lnk.to/SaturdayNightSpecial
In association with DJ Amir’s 180 Proof Records, BBE is honoured to present another gem from the small yet significant Strata catalogue. A precursor to New York’s Strata East, Detroit’s Strata Records was founded in the late 1960s by former Blue Note artist Kenny Cox. Starting life as a music-led community organisation, coffee shop studio and venue, Strata released only a few titles as a record label, gaining the imprint a cult following among record collectors and jazz lovers across the globe.
Possibly the best known of Strata’s releases, The Lyman Woodard Organization’s ‘Saturday Night Special’ is rightly heralded as a jazz fusion classic. Recorded in 1975, ‘Saturday Night Special’ features organ, electric piano and Mellotron by bandleader Lyman Woodard alongside guitar and bass by Ron English, with drums and percussion by Leonard King, Bud Spangler & Lorenzo “Mr. Rhythm” Brown respectively. Despite the fairly sparse instrumentation, ‘Saturday Night Special’ lays down an impressive wall of sound, powerfully atmospheric in its almost low-fi aesthetic. Hinting at more traditional jazz, rhythm & blues, afro-cuban styles and more, the uniqueness of this album is surely in its feel: summoning up images of a vast industrial landscape, assembly lines and urban decay. In other words, this record sounds like Detroit.
No great album artwork is complete without a good story to match, and ‘Saturday Night Special’ does not disappoint. Snapped by photographer and political activist Leni Sinclair (responsible for seminal pictures of Miles Davis, Fela Kuti and John Coltrane and many others), the cover image shows the contents of Lyman Woodard’s pockets placed on the hotel bed after a show: cigarette papers, cash and a pistol.
Following Woodard’s death in 2009, this incredible album was reissued in highly limited numbers by Wax Poetics; now just as hard to come by as the original pressings. It’s our pleasure to make this important and influential chapter in the story of contemporary jazz available on vinyl once again.

The Lyman Woodard Organization - Creative Musicians

Nohelani Cypriano • Lihue

RESAVOIR is a diverse collective of young Chicago artists & improvisers who perform songs written and directed by trumpeter Will Miller. Best-known for his work with the indie band Whitney — and for his brass cameos on tracks by Chance the Rapper, Lil Wayne, Mac Miller, Saba, Eryn Allen Kane, and more - Will is, at his core, a jazz cat who trained at the Oberlin Conservatory. All the while, the Chicago native has been slowly and privately developing the music he jokingly refers to as his “bedroom jazz” sound. RESAVOIR is the manifestation of this development, with Miller often harmonizing his trumpet through synths and samplers, giving his leads an expansive, orchestral sound which can recall Soulquarian Roy Hargrove or Jon Hassell. RESAVOIR's debut album is due in 2019, on International Anthem. Tonight, RESAVOIR will feature Miller (trumpet, MIDI keyboard), Akenya Seymour (keyboards, vocals), Irvin Pierce (tenor sax), Lane Beckstrom (bass), Peter Manheim (drums) and Jeremy Cunningham (drums).

RESAVOIR - "Escalator (Live at Co-Prosperity Sphere)"

The Sunflower is like no other. A flower of ultimate dedication, it basks in the glory of sunbeams all day, it’s head constantly and carefully tracing the source of light and warmth’s every move. A superb ally to nature anywhere it is found, it has unique nutritional value, oils and seeds available to all who cultivate it. It’s the reason they are found across the globe.

This is the ethos behind Ronin Arkestra. Formed in Tokyo in 2017, Ronin Arkestra brings together some of the finest and most creative players in Japan’s Jazz and and electronic scene. The collective includes members of Kyoto Jazz Sextet, WONK, Cro-Magnon, Root Soul, Sleepwalker, Sauce81, Kyoto Jazz Massive and, of course, band leader Mark de Clive Lowe. 

Kicking it all off is ‘Stranger Searching’, where lush electronics meet beautifully executed Jazz in full story mode. A constantly driving beat push this track along through its various chapters, with each member of the band given time tell their tale. Horns from Shinpei Ruike, Kohei Ando and Wataru Hamasaki tie everything together in beautiful harmony.

Ronin Arkestra - Stranger Searching

Liquid Saloon

Premiere: Liquid Saloon - Gueta (featuring Nitai Hershkovits)

The Gaturs - Gatur Bait (1970)

Art Farmer:Soul Sides

Jho's Beat

Spiritual Jazz Classic album. Coming soon on Jazz Room Records.

KHAN JAMAL - THE KNOWN UNKNOWN

A celestial collaboration between @emanative and @liz-elensky featuring Ben Hadwen. Read more @ https://buff.ly/3qtDPn9

The Volume Of The Light

Emanative & Liz Elensky -  Fall In To Me ft. Ben Hadwen (TS Premiere)

A STUNNING RHYTHMIC FUSION OF LATIN AND JAZZ WITH A UNIQUE SPIRITUAL PULSE.

HUGO HEREDIA – “MANANITA PAMPERA”

JAZZ ROOM RECORDS – JAZZR 002
Available at: https://jazzroomrecords.bandcamp.com/album/mananita-pampera
TBR: September 6th 2019

"Killer Argentinian saxophonist Hugo Heredia (on) a bonafide Electric Ballroom classic that’s been really hard to find for years... and it’s got Horace Parlan on piano!"
GILLES PETERSON 
"Thanks Jazz Room Records for the rerelease of a stunning and truly epic spiritual album by Hugo Heredia. Each song is an intense and rhythmic exportation from an amazing multi instrumentalist. 
For me, this is just the right blend of latin rhythms and jazz power all wrapped up in an adventurous spiritual vibe! Essential summer release." 
CHIP WICKHAM 
"Essential and collectible and important"....SNOWBOY 
"Furious, edgy and raw!".............................RHYTHM DOCTOR 
"What a great album...Reissue is top notch" DJ MELODY NELSON 
"Filled with beautiful melody and complex rhythmic patterns. The sort of sounds that bring even long dormant Jazz dancers back to that shiny floor for one last, fast, dance" PABLO BLANQUITO 
"Reissue of the year, hands down!" MIKE CHADWICK JAZZFM 
thevinylfactory.com/news/hugo-heredia-mananita-pampera-jazz-room-reissue/ 
soundsandcolours.com/articles/brazil/latin-jazz-round-up-os-seis-em-ponto-hugo-heredia-47008/ 



If ever a record called be called a lost masterpiece then this record more than deserves that epithet. First released on an obscure French label in the 1970's it might have sunk further into obscurity and left no trace of it's passing but somehow a handful of copies turned up in various Jazz shops in London where it was snapped up by DJ Paul Murphy who was then playing to the embryonic jazz dance scene, based at the very first Jazz Room club: The Horseshoe in London's Tottenham Court Road, a decaying, seedy, sticky carpeted old West End ballroom that had seen better days. This and a select few records in a similar vein were being played to an appreciative audience who demanded tough raw percussive rhythms overlaid with some furious jazzy soloing and whenever this record hit the turntable it left even the most demanding groover sated.

It's a really fantastic collection from this barely known reedman and his excellent band which also features a guest appearance by American Legend Horace Parlan who is best known for his Afro-Cuban session "Headin' South" on Blue Note Records.

Superbly produced by drummer Peter Schmidlin, who has conjured up a spiritual modal mixdown of Afro-Cuban & Jazz extended percussive workouts that are uncompromising in their groove and which manage to sound both timeless and modern. The record is being re-released with the original striking artwork, guaranteed to be a talking point.

Hugo Heredia Quintet – Mananita Pampera

Side A
1. Mananita Pampera
2. El Beto
3. Have You Met Miss ...?
4. El Beto II
Side B
5. Tunita
6. Carmen Pequena
7. Al Bebbe Guia

JOHN PATTON - SOUL CONNECTION

Jazz Room Records

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