Maybe the greatest music we've heard so far from Nostalgia 77 – a group who started many years back as a jazz-referenced project – but one who here are definitely a fully-fledged combo with a very spiritual vibe! As before, producer Benedic Lamdin is at the helm of the lineup – yet the production is minimal, and instead the whole thing has this instrumental flowering of group members in ways that really fit the spirit of music by Dollar Brand, Chris McGregor, and Sun Ra – who are all covered on the set alongside the group's own original compositions too! The horn work is especially wonderful – a blend of flute from Gareth Lockrane, tenor from James Allsop, and trumpet from Alex Bonney – held down by bass from longtime 77 stalwart Riaan Vosloo on bass, plus Tim Giles on drums, and Ross Stanley on piano and organ. Titles include "Dakar", "Ishmael", "The Sun Is Big", "Love In Outer Space", "Flower", and "The Hooper". (Jazz, New Grooves) CD

Maybe the greatest music we've heard so far from Nostalgia 77 – a group who started many years back as a jazz-referenced project – but one who here are definitely a fully-fledged combo with a very spiritual vibe! As before, producer Benedic Lamdin is at the helm of the lineup – yet the production is minimal, and instead the whole thing has this instrumental flowering of group members in ways that really fit the spirit of music by Dollar Brand, Chris McGregor, and Sun Ra – who are all covered on the set alongside the group's own original compositions too! The horn work is especially wonderful – a blend of flute from Gareth Lockrane, tenor from James Allsop, and trumpet from Alex Bonney – held down by bass from longtime 77 stalwart Riaan Vosloo on bass, plus Tim Giles on drums, and Ross Stanley on piano and organ. Titles include "Dakar", "Ishmael", "The Sun Is Big", "Love In Outer Space", "Flower", and "The Hooper". (Jazz, New Grooves) LP, Vinyl record album

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

Includes two tracks produced by Gilles Peterson. (Latin, New Grooves) LP, Vinyl record album

A pretty incredible set from sax player Masato Nakamura, aka Masa – late of the trailblazing Japanese jazzy explorers Sleep Walker – here leading a new combo and some fellow Sleep Walker alum on a set of cover tunes selected by some of his (and some of our) favorite modern groove figures! The group brings fresh jazzy life a batch of all great tunes by Yusef Lateef, Julius Hemphill, Mary Parks (and Albert Ayler), Milton Nascimento and others. Beautiful stuff with timeless soul jazz inspiration – here's hoping Deep Cover isn't simply a one off project and we'll hear much more from Masa Sextet! Song selectors include Kyoto Jazz Massive, Patrick Forge (who also produces the album), Yoshihiro Okino of Kyoto Jazz Massive, Dilip Harris of Two Banks Of Four, Jurgen V Knoblauch of Jazzanova, Shuya Okino of Kyoto Jazz Massive and Gilles Peterson. Many of the numbers skew to the long side, with 7 great tracks the run a total of 55 minutes. Includes "Waiting For Marvin", "Look Into Tomorrow" and "Healing Is The Healing Force Of The Universe" (both with vocals by Bembe Segue), "Winds Of Change", "The Hard Blues", "Nem Premisou Mais Um Sol", and "Before Dawn". CD

A wonderful reworking of a wonderful record – as Root Soul take on all the tracks from Shuya Okino's Destiny record – and delivery them with an old school funky club sound! The instrumentation is great – live and very spontaneous, with an energy that takes us back to vintage Salsoul or some of the best Philly club work of the 70s – or a bit like Brand New Heavies at times, especially on the tracks that feature N'Dea Davenport on vocals! That great singer appears on three of the album's excellent tracks – alongside other work from Navasha Daya, Diviniti, and Pete Simpson – who each get a few tracks too. Titles include "Destiny", "Still In Love", "Look Ahead", "Let Nothing Change You", "Deep Into Sunshine", "Give Your Love A Chance", "Just Do It", "Take A Look At Yourself", and "Sun Will Rise". CD

A wonderful reworking of a wonderful record – as Root Soul take on all the tracks from Shuya Okino's Destiny record – and delivery them with an old school funky club sound! The instrumentation is great – live and very spontaneous, with an energy that takes us back to vintage Salsoul or some of the best Philly club work of the 70s – or a bit like Brand New Heavies at times, especially on the tracks that feature N'Dea Davenport on vocals! That great singer appears on three of the album's excellent tracks – alongside other work from Navasha Daya, Diviniti, and Pete Simpson – who each get a few tracks too. Titles include "Destiny", "Still In Love", "Look Ahead", "Let Nothing Change You", "Deep Into Sunshine", "Holding You Loving You", and "Sun Will Rise". LP, Vinyl record album

Brilliant brilliant work by Sleep Walker – a soaring, soulful album of spiritual jazz – one that we'd rank right up there with our favorites from the era of John Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders on Impulse Records! The vibe here is incredible – jazz played live on tenor, soprano sax, piano, bass, and drums – spinning out in modal lines that groove tremendously, but not with any tricks or gimmicks that get in the way of genuine jazz expression. Sleep Walker are easily one of the deepest and most talented combos of the current club jazz scene – and their music never resorts to fake samples or heavy-handed rhythms to move the tunes along – just glows in the genius of its own bright light, spreading forth in waves of soul and sound that are tremendous from the first note of the album to the last! The record features guest work by Pharoah Sanders and Bembe Segue – and titles include "Ai No Tabi", "The Southern Cross", "Voyage", "Reminiscence", "Lost In Blue", "Kaze", "Afloat", and "Into The Sun". CD

A cool combo from the Japanese club jazz scene – but one who's even more acoustic and classic-sounding than most of their contemporaries! The vibe here is right up there with the best groups we love on the Ricky Tick label – an acoustic quintet that's heavy on trumpet and tenor, laid out over soaring rhythms from piano, bass, and drums – all pure jazz all the way through, with a definite 60s sort of vibe – and a very strong focus on upbeat numbers and groovers! The trumpeter, Yusuke Orita, is especially strong – and blow these brilliantly bold lines on flugelhorn as well – and drummer Takao Ito has this romping quality to his kit that really keeps the whole album moving along strongly. Pianist Daisuke Takeuchi adds in some nice lyrical touches – and titles include "Harvest", "Everybody Knows That", "Flash By Flashback", "Hope For World Peace", "Session A", and "Last Dancer". (Jazz, New Grooves) CD

A sweet little mix of London and New York grooves – all of them plenty darn soulful, and all coming from the great catalog of UK-based Sole Records! There's a positive-grooving feel here that hangs on throughout – a love of deeper soul mixed with vibrant dancefloor rhythms, in a way that many other labels try for, but never seem to do this well. Titles include "Back To The Top (Waiwan rmx)" by Open Door, "The Bottle (Richard Earnshaw rmx)" by Overstreet with Sharlene Hector, "Galaxy Of Sound" by Milton Jackson, "Do What You Wanna (Terry Hunter rmx)" by Bugz In The Attic present Homecookin, "Funkatuca" by DJ Spinna, "Rhythm Revolution" by Guiro featuring Kriminul, "Flyin" by Steviesole, and "FF To The Money Shot (Dave Storm rmx)" by Guiro featuring Angela Johnson. CD

One of the coolest projects we've ever heard from the mighty Dave Lee – and that's saying a lot, given all the excellent records he's given us under the name of Joey Negro, Sunburst Orchestra, and other related projects! Here, Dave mixes his keen ear for funky club with some of the great cop/crime grooves of the mid 70s – particularly the kind of work that might have backed police programs on the small screen, almost as if Lee is channeling the classic work of Rhythm Heritage for SWAT, then taking things in a whole new direction! The "symphony" in the group's name is very well put, as there's soaring strings on many numbers – an even fuller feel than on some of Dave's other projects, but with equally tight grooves at the core. Part 1 includes "Windy City Theme", "Tradewinds", "Six Billion Dollar Man", "Seneca Village" and "Metamorphosis". LP, Vinyl record album