A great live date from this ultra-hip combo – one that has them really settling in to their new home at Blue Note, by taking on a host of classics from the label – along with key tracks of their own composition as well! The sound here is even more wonderful than on some of their studio sets – almost a bit more earthy, and human – given the spontaneity of the concert performance, especially in the rhythm section. Fabrizio Bosso's trumpet and flugelhorn are right out front, matched proudly by the tenor of Daniele Scannapieco – and rhythm is from Luca Mannutza on piano, Pietro Ciancaglini on bass, and Lorenzo Tucci on drums. Titles include great versions of "Adams Apple", "Passion Dance", and "Inception" – plus "Five For Fun", "On The Way Home", and "Pandaguru". (Jazz, New Grooves) CD

Def Jux's funky party band Chin Chin returns – spacey, 70s inspired club funk and synthy grooves galore! The core Chin Chin trio of keys, strings, drums, percussion & vocals but they really flesh these jams out in the studio – going all in with loads of horns and additional percussion, guitars and more. Unpretentious and groovy fun all around. Titles include "The Flashing", "Stay", "Moments", "It's OK", "Peteredactyl", "Go There With You", "That's Where I'll Be", "The Fancing", "GG And The Boys" and "Hotter Than Hot". CD

Globe-trotting funky music from The Natural Yogurt Band – the group's second proper album – an even farther reaching and more perfectly executed blend of pulpy Sound Library styled jazz funk and all around playful grooves! The NYB is essentially a duo – Miles Newbold plays keys, vibes, flutes, percussion and effects– plus Wayne Fullwood plays drums and bass. The approach is instrumentals based (though both players contribute vocals when the rare duty calls), and while there's a playful groove throughout, it's seriously well done and never comes off as cheeky Sound Library homage or kitsch. It's as dexterously impressive as it is groovy and fun! Titles include "Weak Without Wine", "Invisible Ink", "Romance In Blue", "Horn", "Forever Drowning", "Eastern Outro", "Clocks", "Psalm", "Tweed Suit" and many more. (Deep Funk, New Grooves) CD

Wonderful work from Gecko Turner – an artist who's always had a vibe that's all his own, and a quality level that just seems to improve with each new record! Gecko's brand of soul is loose and free – sometimes a bit of funk or boogie, sometimes a breezier approach that echoes older modes of his native Spain – but never in a way that's Latin-styled at all! Instead, there's a very contemporary, very globe-spanning vibe here – cosmopolitan, but personal too – a quality that's a bit hard to put in words, but which will win you over right away, once you step inside Gecko's world. Titles include "Little Dose", "Twenty Twenty Vision", "Am I Sad", "Come & Try", "End Of The World", "De Balde", "Ain't No Fun Preachin To The Choir", and "The Sibariteo Appreciation Society". (Neo Soul, New Grooves) CD

A nice little blend of Brazilian and club-styled grooves – done by this Bah Samba offshoot with a similar feel to Bah Samba's own work! There's a wonderful London-meets-Rio vibe running through the whole set – a love of real Brazilian music that gets past the mis-steps of so many other attempts in recent years – but which has that great London ability to expand upon the original with a whole new feel. There's nice bits of older funk and club sliding in and out of the mix – coming into play with Brazilian elements and instrumentation in a way that's almost like some of the recent work on Far Out. Titles include "O Ronco Da Cuica", "Elephant Man", "U Got Me Spinnin", "I'm Missing You", "Omeriah", "And It's Beautiful", "Mozza", and a cover of Roy Ayers' "Running Away". CD

A monumental piece of funk – and a record that came into the world at a time when it seemed like just about everyone had forgotten how to play real funky music! This set's the US version of the first album by London scenesters The Brand New Heavies – and although it came out in the states 2 years after the UK set, it's essentially the same record – just featuring new vocals by singer N'Dea Davenport in place of the original vocalist Jay Ella Ruth. Davenport's vocals transported the group from indie acid jazz obscurity into the US soul charts in a way that nobody ever expected – and the resulting album is a stone classic that's filled with excellent cuts like "Ride In The Sky", "Never Stop", "Dream Come True", and "Stay This Way". Great stuff all around – and one of the few classic soul albums of its generation! (Neo Soul, New Grooves) CD

Fender Rhodes, funky flute, and soulful trumpet – topped off by great vocals on most tracks, and wrapped up in a really classic production style! Bryan Corbett's a perfect labelmate to Woodland's Perry Hemus – and like Hemus, he's working here in a modern update of older Fender Rhodes-driven grooves – a style that builds off of older electric jazz of the 70s, but pushes the work a bit more strongly into the territory of recent London soul! Corbett plays trumpet, Rhodes, and flute throughout – and most tracks feature vocals by singers Lupa, Lizzy Parks, or Sophie Perks – all of whom match the Herbie Hancock and Miles Davis inspired soul of the set pretty nicely. Titles include "Corbenova", "Off The Rails (Woodland mix)", "Deja Vu", "Movin In", "Metamorphik", "Nardo", "Tokyology", and "Roma". CD

Singer Lisa Decker shares the set with two different groups – Nautilus on one side, and Saturnvybz on the other – both of whom provide some great grooves for her vocals! Nautilus have a style that's nice and lean – a core funky trio with lots of sweet keyboards that slide in warmly, and resonate strongly alongside Decker's presentation of the lyrics. Saturnvybz are a bit more guitar-based, and bring out a different quality in Lisa's voice – maybe a bit more pointed, yet still as powerful – balancing things out nicely. Nautilus tunes include "Free", "Let's Wake Up", "Rimy Whitewater", and "Summer Child". Saturnvybz tracks include "Stay With Me", "Love & Hope", and "On My Way". (Neo Soul, New Grooves) CD

There's never been a better bit of throwback dancefloor fodder ever! Sure, these guys were blaring out of every cheap radio at the time, and it was just about impossible to walk into a shopping mall without hearing "Groove Is In The Heart" for about 5 years after the album came out – but to us, that was a great thing, and the record represents one of the high points in pop music of the past few decades. Thanks to some skillful sampling by Towa Tei, the group were grounded in a rich history of funk, house, disco, soul, and Brazilian influences – all of which they managed to blend with a postmodern perfection that other groups could only ever dream of! The big hits are certainly very familiar, but the whole album's a delight – and tracks include "Who Was That?", "Smile On", "Try Me On . . . I'm Very You", "World Clique", "ESP", and "Good Beat". This great expanded 2CD edition includes a full CD of remixes, too – 26 tracks in 2CDs! Given that the weird mixes and extrapolations of tunes by the group were such a big part of their larger sound, the extra material really helps get a full picture of the album's greatness! (Soul, New Grooves) CD