Sharp-Flat Records presents the long-awaited restoration of The Broadway Quintet's cult classic Amalume – a hypnotic concoction of traditional Zambian sounds and jazz-rock grooves with a twist of 1970s African psychedelia.

Emerging to serve the entertainment needs of Zambia's United National Independence Party (UNIP) in the early 1960s, The Broadway Quintet gathered seasoned talent from Lusaka's best hotel bands to fashion its esteemed lineup. Starting as a quartet and later evolving into a quintet, the group's career spanned over twenty years as favourites on the cabaret circuit and boasted a myriad of prestigious collaborations.

The Broadway Quintet's jazz sensibilities set them apart from the rock sound that dominated the music landscape of the 1970s. Yet the formula behind Zamrock, fusing indigenous Zambian sounds with Western pop, shaped their one and only 1976 long-player. Featuring modern arrangements of traditional songs, Amalume blended congas with sax sounds, folk lyrics with electric keyboard shenanigans and show business staples with jazz guitar noodling. With its psychedelic fever dream illustrated cover, it was an explosive package of "originality and electrifying beauty" as the album's liner notes rightly attested.

Released on the Zambezi label, Amalume joined an exceptional run of mid-1970s offerings alongside WITCH, Ricky Banda and Crossbones. Officially licensed, carefully restored and beautifully reproduced, Zambia's most requested reissue has finally returned for everybody to enjoy.

Available in a month

May 6, 2023

Media: Mi

Sleeve: M

$36.53*

*Taxes excluded, shipping price excluded

SF14 - SA - 2023

Amalume

Kanyange

Nifyo Fine

Chingoma Uri

Change Your Mind

Akana Ndiwo

Jiye Manguwe

Matteo

Kayuni

Mr. Music Maker

Pimu Chinanga

Other items you may like:

Zann

Strange Ways / Inside Jungle

Pat Thomas

New Jazz Jungle: Remembering

New Jazz Jungle: Remembering by Pat ThomasFeedback Moves returns with a vinyl reissue of Pat Thomas’ New Jazz Jungle: Remembering. The album was originally released on CD in 1997, at a time when Pat had already spent years playing on the free improvisation circuit with the likes of Lol Coxhill and Derek Bailey. Thomas is largely known as a jazz and improvising pianist, but can be heard using electronics as far back as 1989 on an electro acoustic work called Monads and on the Bailey-led Company ’91 recordings. Thomas identified jungle’s weirdness and intensity and saw a space open for his own interpretation, on New Jazz Jungle: Remembering he utilises his classical training and knowledge of the tonal systems used by 20th century composer’s Schoenberg and Webern, and fuses that with his earlier experiences using electronics, keyboards & sampling techniques. What we end up with is 10 tracks of bass heavy jungle breaks, which are intersected with vocal and orchestral samples, and layers of percussion rotating at varying time signatures. It’s in this fashion that the album seems to present itself: in layers. Layers of samples, keyboards and FX, deployed at varying speeds, never losing their intensity. The re-issue of this lost classic comes at a time when Thomas continues to go from strength to strength, having recently released various solo and collaborative works with a wide range of musicians and projects such as Matana Roberts, Elaine Mitchener, حمد [Ahmed], Black Top, XT and many more.

Svaneborg Kardyb

Over Tage

New Nordic jazz duo Svaneborg Kardyb sign to Gondwana Records and announce NPR Tiny Desk session and captivating third album Over Tage.Over Tage (over roofs) is their third album, following Knob (2019) and Haven (2020) and marks their debut for Gondwana Records a label noted for working with artists such as Mammal Hands, Portico Quartet and GoGo Penguin whose music, like that of Svaneborg Kardyb delights in exploring the fertile spaces between genres. For the duo it is their most serious and thoughtful record to date.

Walter Bishop, Jr.'s 4th Cycle

Keeper Of My Soul

Released under the moniker of The 4th Cycle (not his backing band, but a reference to the improv techniques of the cycle of fourths used on the album) jazz keyboardist Walter Bishop Jr. released ‘Keeper Of My Soul’ on the Black Jazz imprint in 1973. Free-form, improvised passages rub up against Latin and funk rhythms on this critically undervalued work, available once again via Real Gone Music.

Doug Carn

Adam's Apple

Various

Leva Leva : Litany of the Portuguese Fishermen

LEVA LEVA : LITANY OF THE PORTUGUESE FISHERMEN by Various Artists

The Broadway Quintet Amalume

$36.53*

Other items you may like:

The Broadway Quintet
Amalume