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A great lost album from the end of the Black Ark era! Originally recorded for Island records in the late 70s, this set has Scratch teaming up with a pair of Congolese musicians for an amazing fusion of his spacey reggae vision with their Zairian roots in Zouk music. Includes "African Root", "Bad Food", "Mengieb", "Wakoya","Nzube", "Masanga" and "African Freedom: Brotherhood". (Reggae, Global Grooves) CD

Todd Yukumoto on saxophone and HyeKyung Lee on piano. (Jazz, Global Grooves) CD

A really unique record – one that follows in the Japanese tradition of mixing folk inspiration and jazz instrumentation – yet one that takes the music much father overall, with a freewheeling improvised sound that's totally great! The core energy of the set comes from the saxes of Gil Ok-Yun, who carves out these beautifully edgey lines – next to work on the daegeum from Lee Saeng-Gang, who plays the wood flute with an equally evocative vibe – earthy and folksy at times, but always with a free improv vibe – next to the percussive work on janggu from Lee Sung-Jin and bongos from Ryo Bok-Sung. The set just features two long tracks, both beautiful and both improvised – "Daegeum & Bongos" and "Samul & Saxophone". (Jazz, Global Grooves) LP, Vinyl record album

A brilliant mix of jazz and world music! Abdul-Malik was the legendary bass player from the fifties who mixed straight jazz playing with traditional Middle Eastern rhythms – and although he most famously recorded albums with Monk as a regular bassist, his albums on his own are amazing blends of jazz and world music, done years before anyone else had contemplated doing so! This album is similar to Abdul-Malik's Jazz Sahara album, in which he plays quite a bit on the Oud – but in this one the ensemble is much more jazz-oriented, and features Lee Morgan, Curtis Fuller, Benny Golson, and Johnny Griffin. The Oud holds center stage on most tracks, but then it drops out, and Morgan and Griffin come wailing in on solos that will rip your socks off! Titles include "Rooh", "La Ibky", "Takseem", "Searchin", and "El Ghada". Fantastic!!!! (Jazz, Global Grooves) LP, Vinyl record album