Namas
Tapestry

Essential South African jazz, funk and soul - An anthology dedicated to the legendary Black Disco ensemble. Distilling the group’s recorded output into a single commemorative document, Discovery 1975-1976 compiles cuts from the lauded Night Express album alongside rare gems from the group’s long-out-of-print first and third albums. The newly remastered selection features previously unissued single versions of the mighty “Night Express” itself, a funk juggernaut with piercing flute whistles and rapturous sax cries as well as “Dawn” from the album Black Disco 3, a trippy, flute-driven awakening of soft light and gentle colours.With a Yamaha organ and a dream, Pops Mohamed started his musical journey in the mid-1970s as the bandleader and composer of Black Disco, creating a hip melange of chill-out jazz with futuristic drum machine sounds and spiritual overtones. His cosmic organ transmissions were accompanied by two of the most sought-after session players on the South African scene, the sax and flute wizard Basil Coetzee, who had risen to fame in 1974 as one of the soloists on the hit “Mannenberg,” and Sipho Gumede, the young bass prodigy who was already rubbing shoulders with the old guard at the outset of his career. Backed at first with polyphonic beats from Mohamed’s electric organ and later taking on a drummer, Black Disco created a signature sound and a trilogy of innovative albums in a burst of studio creativity between 1975 and 1976.On the heels of their epic various artists compilation, As-Shams Archive have produced a doozy of a compilation of some very essential South African jazz.

Didymus by John Haycock & John Ellis

Bastard Jazz · Simon Mavin - Good Hair Day / Only You & Me EP

While the string of legendary independent labels, from Blue Note and Prestige to Steeplechase and Impulse! loom large in our ­Spiritual Jazz catalogue, our latest installment concerns the brave and innovative souls who acted 'privately', recording and releasing their music without the aid or involvement of a bona fide record company. Making a custom, private press record on your own, without the backing, status and business acumen of an established record company to help out is no mean feat, but it never really was difficult - it's just a matter of spending money - but the tricky bit, which remains to this day, is what to do exactly with a pallet load of vinyl that's just been delivered to your door?Sales and distribution never was easy, and getting it right requires imagination, enthusiasm, dedication, hard work and a more than a little luck. Even for the professionals it's proved immensely difficult at times; perhaps that's why so many private press records remain so obscure and elusive to this day.Herein we examine a variety of tracks from a selection of privately pressed jazz records, released in the US between 1964 and 1987. One of the most interesting things we've found while researching this album is the variety of reasons behind coming up with a self-released record. No two stories are the same; some were done purely out of altruism to further the musical direction of students, others were simply trying to make it big, albeit on their own terms. But one solid truth remains that binds together each and every selection here – the artists didn't just make their music for the fun of it, they believed in their art so much that they took whatever steps they had available to them at the time, to get their music heard.In keeping with the DIY ethos of private pressings, each LP and CD has their covers stamped by hand, meaning no two copies are exactly alike. And as always with our Spiritual Jazz series of albums, each comes with liner notes and pics, in this case direct from the artists themselves. Jazzman - We Dig Deeper!

Celebrating the 20 year anniversary of highly revered Jazz collective, Build An Ark from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 2003 and releasing albums between 2004 and 2010, the Carlos Niño co-ordinated project included contributions from luminaries such Phil Ranelin, Big Black, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Adam Rudolph, Derf Reklaw, Dexter Story, Dwight Trible, Gaby Hernandez, Mia Doi Todd, Munyungo Jackson, Nate Morgan (R.I.P.), Peter Jacobson & many more.This set was compiled by band leader Carlos Niño with recordings from 2001 to 2008 that have previously been released on Kindred Spirits.