At the fountainhead of soul jazz and boogaloo, the stinging opener is an all-time, humungous, utterly irresistible jazz hit.
Joe Henderson and Barry Harris are superb throughout. Don’t miss Hocus-Pocus.

‘Classic Vinyl Series.’

With Chris Potter and Jason Moran.

His own compositions for solo piano by this collaborator of Louis Sclavis.
‘Thoughtful, reflective and profoundly lyrical.’

Originally released in 1981, Mr. Circle’s Thi Nam should really have been recognised decades ago as a jazz dance classic. A beautiful example of European jazz fusion at its most sophisticated and optimistic, the album is immersed in the sonics and rhythms of pan-Latin fusion and Brazilian samba, but with one foot in the upful jazz fusion exemplified by Roy Ayers or the Mighty Ryeders.
Taking inspiration from Ursula Dudziak, Flora Purim, and Norma Winstone, singer Monika Linges uses the crystalline tone of her voice as an instrument within the ensemble. The LP is built around the interaction of her vocalising with bandleader Mikesch van Grümmer’s keyboard versatility, all underpinned by the surging Brazilian rhythms laid down by drummer Gerd Breuer and percussionist Ponda O’Bryan.
The result is a unique set of sunlit, Brazilian-inspired jazz fusion. Aimed squarely at the feet throughout, the album kicks off with a double whammy: the funky title track, followed by. the percussion-rich Juntos. The long form Suka begins with a shimmering intro before taking flight halfway through into an urgent jazz samba with Linges’ vocals to the fore. Featuring the vocals of Bill Ramsay, Tides is another driving jazz-dancer with a Brazilian twist, while the summery, propulsive Schoch-Schach features virtuosic interplay between Linges and alto saxophone.

Beautiful, insurgent, fabulously danceable jazz music from South Africa, flowing out of the penny-whistle kwela bands of the 1950s. (Kwela means ‘get moving’, in Xhosa.)
Bra Gwigwi played alto and clarinet alongside Hugh Masekela and Kippie Moeketsi in The Jazz Dazzlers; also in The Jazz Maniacs and The Harlem Swingsters. He came to the UK from Johannesburg as an actor and clarinettist in King Kong — a musical about a Zulu boxer — which opened in London in February 1961.
Recording in January 1967, at Dennis Duerden’s Transcription Centre, he is joined here by Dudu Pukwana, Chris McGregor, Laurie Allan, and Ronnie Beer, all from The Blue Notes. Ladbroke Grove legend, and mainstay of our London Is The Place For Me series, Coleridge Goode plays double bass.

No less than sixteen shots of jubilant, jump-up mbaqanga. Check the Ethiopian vibe of Mra (which became core repertoire of The Brotherhood of Breath). Listen to Nyusamkhaya, and try to get it out of your head. Impossible.
Lovely notes by Steve Beresford, too.

‘The South African folk music that makes people glad to be alive!’

Leading a masterly lineup of John Hicks, Ray Drummond and Idris Muhammad in 1991.
A couple of waltzes, a blues, a Monk-ish suite-like piece, a free-ish drums and clarinet interlude, and finally an elegy for civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer.
Murray plumbs and soars: often it sounds like two different instruments are being played.
Superbly recorded, with gripping warmth and intimacy; originally released in Japan on CD only, by DIW.
Highly recommended.

The Kabbalistic Dixieland of Frederic Rzewski, Alvin Curran and Richard Teitelbaum, joined here by saxophonist Steve Lacy, trombonist Garrett List and vibraphonist Karl Berger, recording for the legendary Italian label Horo in 1977. The MEV in all of its discordant, subversive, improvisatory glory.

The Austrian guitarist with Larry Grenadier and Brian Blade, lyrical and grooving by turns.

A suite inspired by Eduardo Galeano’s Memory Of Fire — a history of the Americas told through indigenous myths and the accounts of European colonizers.
The wonderful pianist with Ron Miles on cornet, Liberty Ellman on guitar, Stomu Takeishi on bass, and Tyshawn Sorey on drums, ranging through Pan-Americana, hardcore jazz, the blues, and African and Eastern elements.
Staunch Myra admirers, us lot, ever since her first Hat Huts.

A trio recording live in 1993, with Lindsay Horner on bass and Reggie Nicholson on drums, throwing down thrillingly engaging iterations of classic blues, jump and stride in the manner of contemporaries like Cecil Taylor and Horace Silver.
One of the great piano jazz albums. Hotly recommended.

The pianist’s Fire and Water Quintet, with Mary Halvorson, Tomeka Reid, Ingrid Laubrock, and Susie Ibarra.