Search dance music

Review: Having previously reissued Mkwaju Ensemble's inspired 1981 debut "Ki-Motion", WRWTFWW now turns its attention to their equally impressive follow-up from the same year, "Mkwaju". Beginning with a breezy chunk of Marimba-driven four-to-the-floor bliss, the album sees the Japanese trio - whose members included legendary percussionist and ambient artist Midori Takada - shuffle between hypnotic, Steve Reich-influenced minimalism ("Shak Shak"), melodious fusions of new age electronica and modern American classical ("Tira-Rin"), and glacial ambient soundscapes ("Pulse In The Mind"). Best of all, though, is "Flash-Back", a dense and intoxicating percussion workout that stretches out over 13 mind-bending minutes.

Review: Kalita Records are proud and honoured to announce the first ever official reissue of the four choice tracks from Randolph Baker's privately pressed sought-after 1982 disco album 'Reaching For The Stars', plus an unreleased instrumental take of 'Party Life' sourced from the original 24-track analogue master tapes.

Originally recorded at Jim Morris and Rick Miller's Tampa-based Morrisound Studios, 'Getting Next To You' features both a mixture of both local Florida talent plus jazz superstar Nat Adderley and bassist John Lamb at their finest. Originally pressed in a limited run of just one-thousand copies, with no distribution and most copies being sold in the local city and on Randolph's own merchandise table at the back of live gigs, original copies have long been sought-after by both collectors and DJs alike, acknowledged as a true grail and masterpiece in the disco scene and deservedly demanding extortionate figures to those lucky enough to find their own.

Here, in collaboration with Randolph, Kalita Records have chosen to re-release the four choice tracks from the album: 'Getting Next To You', 'Jazzman', 'Callin' Me' and 'Party Life'. The former is an in-demand horn and chant-filled disco masterpiece, which, as Randolph explains, concerns unity and "everyone on the same level in other words, everyone just loving life". It is arguably the song that Randolph is most well-known for in the disco and funk scene and perfect for the modern discerning dance floor. 'Jazzman' is an instrumental track with prominent trumpet and saxophone solos working with funky basslines to produce a truly great jazz-funk groove. It was "a tribute to Nat Adderley and Duke Ellington's bass player, John Lamb, for being so generous and saying yes to the project". 'Callin' Me' is a soulful disco number featuring the lead vocals of Laurie Erickson and is "about being on the road and ensuring loved ones that you will always come back home no matter what. It was like a promise to ensure loved ones they didn't have to worry". Lastly, 'Party Life' is a joyous disco track with a strong funk bassline and horns. As Randolph recalls, it "was the joy like after an actor finishes a movie. There was nothing but joy. It's finished; let's celebrate big time. Where everyone in the studio yelled at the top of their lungs - The End!" Here, with access to the 24-track master tapes we have been able to include the original version plus an unreleased instrumental take, allowing us to focus on the infectious bassline and make it even more ready for the modern dance floor.

Accompanied by extensive interview-based liner notes and never-before-seen photos.

Review: Jazz fans take note: Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album more than lives up to its name. It features previously unreleased recordings by the late, great John Coltrane and his regular accompanying players (pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison and Drummer Elvin Jones). The reels of tape the tracks were salvaged from were dated 1963, around the time that the quartet laid down some of its most forward-thinking work for the legendary Impulse label. Much of the material consists of original Coltrane compilations, though there are a few notable covers (including a great version of jazz standard "Nature Boy") dotted throughout. As you'd expect, Coltrane's performance is incredible from start to finish.

Review: ** REPRESS ALERT ** For the uninitiated: Billy Cobham is a Panamanian-American jazz drummer, composer and bandleader. He is also the brother of multi instrumentalist Wayne Cobham. He was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1987 and the Classic Drummer Hall of Fame in 2013. Produced with the legendary Jan Hammer (a former bandmate) and engineer Ken Scott in 1973, Spectrum was Cobham's first solo album after leaving his previous group Mahavishnu Orchestra. The album was heavily influenced by the music of Miles Davis, with whom Cobham had previously collaborated extensively. A seminal album of the jazz fusion scene. A Swiss resident since 1980s, Cobham now lives in Schoepfen, a canton near Bern.

Review: It would be fair to say that very few people - in Europe and the U.S at least - know much about the Egyptian music scene of the 1960s. This compilation, then, should be something of an eye-opener to all of those with an interest in musical movements from around the world. What's perhaps most interesting is the surprisingly "global" nature of the influences on show. Check, for example, the jaunty bossanova rhythms underpinning Salim El Baroudi's "Fatouma", the humid Arabic jazz flex of Abd Al Fattah Mensi's "Leyla", the tango style accordions of Al Thourathy Al Mareh's "Asmar Ya Sukkar" and the wonderfully over-the-top easy listening orchestration that leaps out from Magda Ali's "Nafourak Ya Ghazal (A Nubian Love Song Part 1)".

Review: This tasty 7" single brings together two stalwarts of the thriving Finnish jazz scene, namely saxophonist Timo Lassy and drummer Teppo Makynen. It's A-side "Calling James" that hits home hardest, as Lassy adds a snaking, alluring sax solo - all parping blasts and fluid fills - to a bustling, percussively rich Makynen drum track. Despite the fact that there's no other instrumentation, it's a genuinely heavy dancefloor workout. On the flip you'll find the looser and slightly more experimental "Yanki", where Lassy provides some free-jazz style soloing over a distinctively left-of-centre Makynen drum workout.

Review: A decade of free-spirited jazz, soul, funk and all things in between, Parisian selectors Heavenly Sweetness bring together some of their favourite friends and most talented individuals for an all-out fusion session. Highlights include Anne Wirz's octave bending dulcets on "Mother Of The Future", the roaming trumpet and loose shuffle of Florian Pellissier Quintet's "Valse Pour Helene", Jacaranda Muse's barbed lament "September Sun" and the schoolyard sing-along hip-hop "Want It Back" from the hot-to-trot Guts. Here's to another 10 years...

Review: The latest limited-edition salvo on Jazzman's contemporary jazz offshoot Jazz45 comes courtesy of Soren Skov Orbit, a Copenhagen-based outfit formed by saxophonist Soren Lyhne Skov and pianist Peder Vind. The two tracks stick closely to the project's founding principles of fusing global musical traditions with modal jazz. A-side "Orbit Bound", where hissing cymbals, hypnotizing piano motifs, plodding double bass and ear-catching saxophone solos cluster around a droning bass clarinet, is probably the pick of the pair, though the more straight-up, trad-jazz warmth of "NV" is also very enjoyable. As debut outings go, it's hugely impressive; here's hoping we hear more from Skov and Vind in the months and years ahead.

Review: In 2002, the Japanese government recognized bamboo flute maestro Hozan Yamamoto as a "living national treasure". It was in honor of his lengthy career in music, and in particular the way he championed a traditional Japanese instrument even when he was turning his hand to Western music. "Beautiful Bamboo Flute", an album first released in 1971 and almost impossible to find since, is a superb example of this. It sees him deliver haunting, emotional and life-affirming solos over funky jazz, big band and fusion backing tracks that tend towards the fresh and funky. It's an unusual blend, but also an invigorating and exciting one.