Oye Que Suave

Tenor saxophonist Timo Lassy, one of Finland's leading jazz artists, is back with a new album release "Trio" on We Jazz Records. The album, to be released on 27 August, introduces Lassy's new combo with bassist Ville Herrala and drummer Jaska Lukkarinen – both We Jazz Records roster artists on their own right.

The new Lassy sound is tight, swinging and funky, led by the strong and riff-ready sax of the tenorman. That being said, the album's sound is not limited to that of the swinging trio. As we hear already on the first single "Orlo", Lassy's new vision also brings in some subtle electronics (played on "Orlo" by Lassy and Dalindèo frontman Valtteri Laurell Pöyhönen) and lush strings performed by Budapest Art Orchestra as arranged by Finnish artist Marzi Nyman. It's a new sound for Lassy, but one which keeps true to his no-nonsense cookin' on the tenor.

Timo Lassy, tenor saxophone
Ville Herrala, double bass
Jaska Lukkarinen, drums

All tracks written by Timo Lassy
Produced by Timo Lassy & Abdissa Assefa
Strings arranged by Marzi Nyman, performed by Budapest Art Orchestra cond. Peter Pejtsik (1., 2., 4., 7.)
Synthesizer, keys: Tuomo Prättälä (3.), Valtteri Pöyhönen (7.), Timo Lassy (2., 5.)
Percussion: Abdissa Assefa (5.)
Recorded & Mixed by Abdissa Assefa at Ambience studios, Helsinki
Strings recorded at East Connection Music Recording, Budapest
Mastered by Svante Forsbäck at Chartmakers
Original artwork by Ilari Hautamäki: "Subtropic" (2019)
Original artwork photographed by Jussi Tiainen
Design by Matti Nives

Orlo

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

Presented by Wax Poetics & Calvin Klein

As a celebration of art and culture, Calvin Klein collaborated with Wax Poetics in search of the next generation of journalists helping to shape the contemporary music landscape. This partnership reflects Calvin Klein’s continued exploration of inclusivity and self-expression through creativity, art, and the clothes we wear.

We got together at Brilliant Corners in London to celebrate the next generation of music journalists and content creators. Mr. Redley kicked off the evening with a deep selection of jazz, funk, soul, and more.

If you want to discover more about Plugged In then head to the link below.

https://www.waxpoetics.com/connections/calvin_klein_plugged_in/

Plugged In Live: Mr. Redley

Funky Beats Version of the B&G Rhythm Balearic Jazz Classic coming soon on a 45 from Jazz Room Records!

AFLEX COMBO - HIBAROS

O Yinne Te San Tue!

Passionfruit Parody

Phase IV½: The Meta Funk Chronicles
av Nordic Soul Syndicate

En självmedveten funkexplosion där verkligheten smälter in i parodin på sig själv.
Passionfruit Parody är ett kosmiskt jam mellan Rhodes, fuzzbas och jazziga trummor – men också en metakommentar på funkens eviga återfödelse. Här dansar framtid och dåtid i samma spegel, där varje beat är både allvar och ironi, kärlek och dekonstruktion.

Albumet blandar psykedelisk jazz med nordisk melankoli, humor och ren groove. Det är som om Herbie Hancock mött Frank Zappa på en interdimensionell nattklubb i Linköping – och beslutat att aldrig gå hem.

🍋 “När funkens själ börjar skratta åt sig själv, uppstår Passionfruit Parody.”

MS120 Romance Theme

Watch the Chicago-bred drummer-slash-producer prove why he's one of the most exciting, genre-bending talents in the jazz world live from the Jazz Cafe.

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Makaya McCraven Boiler Room London Live Set

Celebrating its 25th anniversary, Far Out Recordings proudly presents two albums of previously unheard Azymuth demo recordings from 1973-75

Since their debut album release in 1975, Azymuth have risen to rank alongside the world’s greatest jazz, funk and fusion artists. As young men in Rio de Janeiro, they stood out for both their exceptional talent as musicians, and their wild rock ‘n’ roll antics in the predominantly middle-class worlds of bossa nova and jazz. Their signature ‘Samba Doido’ (crazy samba) sound ruptured the tried and tested musical structures of the day, resulting in what can only be described as an electric, psychedelic, samba jazz-funk hybrid.
But before they became Azymuth, Jose Roberto Bertrami (keyboards), Ivan ‘Mamão’ Conti (drums), Alex Malheiros (bass) and Ariovaldo Contesini (percussion) played backing band to just about every major artist in Brazil.

Bertrami was also contracted as an arranger and songwriter at some the biggest labels of the era: Polydor, Philips, Som Livre, and EMI being just a few. Azymuth’s name can be found on record sleeves by the likes of Jorge Ben, Elis Regina, Marcos Valle, Ana Mazzotti and countless others. But at the dawn of the seventies, fascinated by developments in improvisational music - from jazz in the US, to progressive rock in the UK and of course samba, bossa and tropicália on home turf - the energetic young group were inspired and ready to move forward.Any spare moment in which they weren’t in sessions and writing music for other artists, they would be carving out their own sound.

These previously unheard recordings took place between 1973-75 at Bertrami’s home studio in the Laranjeiras district of Rio de Janeiro. At the time of recording, there was nothing in Brazil, less the world that sounded anything like them, so perhaps it’s unsurprising that when Bertrami presented his demos to the record companies he had been working for, he was turned away, and told in effect that the music was ‘wrong’.

One of the demos ‘Manhã’ would be picked up by Som Livre and Azymuth released their seminal debut album in 1975. Throughout the late seventies and eighties, the group released a series of now classic albums for Milestone Records, before taking an indefinite hiatus to pursue their individual careers.
When English producers Joe Davis and Roc Hunter arrived in Brazil in 1994 to record the first Azymuth album in over a decade, Bertrami dug out the demos which had sat virtually untouched for over twenty years. Joe recalls how he was “blown away by the freedom and intensity of the music, as well as the genius of the ideas musically.” Beginning a long and fruitful relationship, ‘Prefacio’ would be the first track Azymuth recorded for Far Out Recordings and was released on the Carnival album (1996).

Along with ‘Manhã’ and ‘Prefacio’, only a handful of these demos were ever professionally recorded and released, making this the first opportunity to hear many of these early Azymuth compositions in their raw, original form.

On every track the frenetic energy in the studio is palpable, giving the recordings a beautifully personal feel and a sense of the phenomenally creative vision Bertrami, Malheiros and Conti were realising at the time. Fifty years on, Azymuth’s earliest recorded music retains an ineffable, futuristic quality, standing amongst their most captivating and moving work.