I met Sérgio Alves when he was playing with the Groovelvets. I immediately felt I was dealing with a special musician. It wasn’t easy to find a keyboard player that could embody the different expressions of African- American music, and its characteristicgroove in Portugal among the musicians of my generation.

Even though I had been A&R for over twenty years, I just came across with the special João Gomes, and little else. Sharing the love for the African- American sounds, straightened our relationship, and I had the privilege of having all the keyboards on my mini-LP Bonfim, played by Sérgio. I was also able to see the development of the initial demos, the raw material that was in the origin of Azar Azar, the musical adventure in which, for the first time, he fully exposes his artistic personality.

He debuted the project with an E.P., on the brand new andadmirable Jazzego, in 2020.
Although only two of the five songs, that make up the EP, are original work (the remaining three are remixes by K15, Minus + MRDolly and Esa), the record was a beautiful calling card, but it hadn't prepared me for the piece of work that was about to come to my hands.

Like other musicians of his generation, Sérgio Alves grew up in the midst of the development of Hip Hop, House, Techno, Broken Beat and many other expressions of the most modern dance music. He even has 20 years of a consistent career as a Dj. And that seems to have contributed to the way he consolidates his musical personality, allowing him to control an immensity of musical impulses.

It is true that his compositions are settled in Jazz Funk, but, throughout the eight tracks of his debut LP, we can feel the inspiration of huge figures such as Roy Ayers, George Duke or Donald Byrd that are intersected by the presence of a kaleidoscopic variety of genres that have filled dance floors, from Detroit to New York or London, in such a way that allows the creation of piece of music that can be seen as autonomous, intense, stimulating, personalized and relevant in any place of the planet.

In this year of 2023.

Pedro Tenreiro
17th Jan 2023

Space Gazing

Miles Backyard

Dreaming Waves

Instant Star

Golden Wonderland

Subway

Moving In Outer Space

Sunlight

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Joel Vandroogenbroeck

L'immagine del suono

Joel Vandroogenbroeck was an arranger, conductor, producer and, above all, a unique multi-instrumentalist in the world of music. The Belgian artist was also famous for being the only permanent member of the group Brainticket and the main promoter of its creativity, often renewed with the contribution of exotic instruments. At the dawn of the Seventies, this versatile musician began a parallel life as a composer of singular music libraries tailored to comment documentary images. “L'Immagine Del Suono” was one of them, originally released by Italy's Flirt Records and now repressed on vinyl by Musica Per Immagini for the first time. This album circulated, however, unnoticed in a limited number of copies among insiders, only rediscovered later by fans, thus raising Joel Vandroogenbroeck as a real pioneer of ambient and new age music.It is appropriate to consider the twelve short-lived pieces of “L'Immagine Del Suono” as a sort of continuous and visionary experiment, with the addition of electronic gasps, a strong dose of inevitable psychedelia, fragments of synthesized jazz, all coming from experiences both internal and external, hallucinatory and hedonistic. All of this combined creates a mysterious and abstract hybrid. Sonic raw material is sculpted with artisanal care, at times twisted and cryptic, characterized by a transversal irony, to the point that the interference of rock elements in the course of the set divert the listener's attention and momentarily interrupt the flow of consciousness. “L'Immagine Del Suono” is a concentrated example of the avant-garde, free from categorisation of any kind, developed in a non-commercial key and, equally, is drawn from a direct line via what was previously expressed within the folds of the then contemporary works of Brainticket.

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Various Artists

Hyperituals Vol.2 - Black Saint

Woke rhythms and high-spirited grooves from the vaults of two seminal Italian jazz labels, between the 70s and 80s. Intensely curated by Khalab.Hyperituals is a philological investigation that deeply delves into the possibilities of sound, rhythm, remix, and endless sampling. Inspiring listening, interpretation, and reinterpretation.This volume is dedicated to the catalogue of the Italian Black Saint. Thanks to a constant, cutting-edge, and meticulous commitment, Black Saint & Soul Note established themself as two of the most important imprints for international jazz. They always placed the artists, their visions, and their music at the centre, giving them total freedom of creative expression. By combining jazz tradition with the political vanguard sentiment of the time, the two labels were able to press and produce more than five hundred records, many of which are by some of the brightest names in creative jazz or the ‘avant-garde’ of the era.Curated by Khalab, the selection - focused on rhythms, grooves, and Afrocentric traditions - blends moments in which the rhythmic aspect is powerfully explicit, with others in which the kinetic aspect dialogues on different levels with African American cultural contexts.

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World Series

Try It Out / Head Over Heels

Parisian label Chuwanaga curated by Clémentine & Saint-James is really proud to announce his next release: the reissue of an almost forgotten 7" by Britfunk band World Series, bringing together jazz-funk, AOR and a really funky vibe. A perfect fit for summertime.Like a good recipe, this little beauty actually got all great ingredients: great Rhodes parts, catchy vocals, solid basslines and lovely Moog-esque synthesizer melodies. "Try It Out" brings together a classy AOR-Funk/Soul vibe with a solide funky groove. On the other side, "Head Over Heels" looks more towards proper british Jazz-Funk territories with its uptempo beat and slapped bass.Back in the days, World Series was a local live band around North London. They used to tour a lot around early 1980’s in and around London in places like the Bull and Gate in Kentish Town, the Production Village in Cricklewood, The Cricketers at the Oval and Dingwalls in Camden. On the same circuit were bands like Cayenne, Gonzalez, Morrissey Mullen and the Breakfast Band to name a few. In 1983, they recorded a session at Woodcray Manor Studios in Berkshirand and released "Try It Out / Head Over Heels" as a 7" single, financing the pressing. They were actually delighted when one reviewer said they were a bit like Level 42 "but with decent vocals". Thanks to the original crew, Mike Frankel (Lead Vocals/Guitar), Keith Mawson (Bass), Richard Newell (Drums & Percussion) and Andy Park (Keyboards), Chuwanaga is proud to present you this single with a great artwork from William James Thurman, including also an insert with lyrics and pictures from the band. One not to miss!

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The Big Hustle

Afrorever

Betino's Records proudly presents its third release: an EP by the very sharp collective The Big Hustle. The band founded in 2014 by bass player and composer Sébastien Levanneur, brings together 70's old school funk with the hippest actual sound with influences spanning from Steely Dan to Snarky Puppy, from Mandrill to Lettuce and from Herbie Hancock (Manchild era) to Soulive. With mighty horn players, a rock and funky rhythm section, and percussions added to it, The Big Hustle’s music has a very large variety of sound landscapes. Still, the music never loses the groove and always stays close to the funk.The A side opens with "Afrorever", a tribute to African culture and music. The guest of honor on this song is legendary Malian musician Cheick Tidiane Seck, longtime partner of Salif Keita, and collaborator of Joe Zawinul, Carlos Santana and Damon Albarn to name a few. After Cheick’s introduction, the songs jumps into a typical afrobeat vibe featuring a tight and powerful horn section, suddenly breaks into an electro funk groove and ends in a furious percussive party. Second track on the A side is "Faure is the Magic Number". It is dedicated to Thomas Faure (co-composer of the track) and François Faure (both featured on this song on tenor sax and keyboards respectively). This piece displays the band’s ability to blend jazz-funk groove with a heavy hip-hop beat. Kind of DJ Premier meets Steely Dan. The B side starts with "Afrorever (Sun's Up Mix)". Through this mix, one can acknowledge instantly Olivier Portal's touch. From the very first chords, he conveys us into his realm blending warm and melancholy keyboards with an old school deep-house rhythm pattern.The fourth track is called “1, 2, 1, 2”. It is a purely improvised moment in the studio while the band was sound checking before recording with special guest rapper Raashan Ahmad. Nicolas Gueguen had the good idea to press the R button and what you hear is basically what happened afterwards. Enjoy!

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The Parker Brothers

Favorite Recordings presents this new official album reissue of The Parker Brothers: Maybe one of the best Blue-Eyed-Soul/Modern-Soul private-press albums you can imagine, surprisingly highly unknown and underrated.Produced in 1981 by George P Grexa and released in a private-press version on his label Crown Vetch Enterprises, this album is filled with memorable material from the first note to the last, mixing Modern-Soul, Boogie, cross-over Jazz and Rock elements, for a result reminiscent of the WestCoast music’ golden years, however being recorded in Pittsburgh.As one of the longtime favorite collectable piece for Charles Maurice, it’s a real honor and proud for Favorite Recordings, to finally officially reissue it from the original master tapes and for the first time on vinyl.

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Dowdelin

Carnaval Odyssey

DOWDELIN explores as a tireless ever moving trailblazer a path where Creole jazz, electronic dancefloor sounds and Caribbean percussions come together to create a unique Future Kréol feeling. Dowdelin’s a Lyon-based trio exploring Afro-futurism in its Creolized form, plunging the traditions of the French West Indies into a great fountain of electronic youth glazed in jazz, in a way that few have so far. It all began, or not quite actually, when the singer Olivya contacted David Kiledjian (Fowatile). It is not yet the moment and Dawatile then doubts the relevance of a group with soul influences in English, with a non English-speaking singer... But they stay in touch, and a year later, an idea sprung: what if Olivya sang in Creole, her mother tongue. This is Dowdelin’s genesis: two individuals, constantly exchanging, in a quest for a Creole feeling chiseled by electronics.Dowdelin illustrates this art of blending: the search for the recognizable ancestral flavor in the moment, pairing it with an unusual influence, shaking everything to create the texture that will make the difference. Being embroidered in the bubbling afro-futuristic scene and confirming the return of Caribbean influences in French pop, Dowdelin becomes a trio when David thinks of an old fellow musician whom he has not met in ages: Raphael Philibert, Guadeloupian poly-instrumentalist omnipresent on the jazz scene, saxophonist for Sonny Troupé, but also a goldsmith in Afro-Cuban percussions and a tried Gwoka player. He is added to the sketched repertoire: it’s a match! Dowdelin transcends the exercise of style and complicity with two multi-instrumentalists, who by their experience, versatility and vision, open the field of possibilities to a singer speaking in her native language. The group brings to the forefront the notions of expression and freedom in music while steering clear of the fixed roles and the clichés.

Azar Azar Cosmic Drops

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