Jaubi
Nafs At Peace

English singer-songwriter Bridget St. John grew up in a musical family in Surrey, beginning on piano, viola and trumpet before picking up the guitar in high school. In the late 1960s she met the brilliant John Martyn who quickly became a fan and brought her music to a larger audience, which included the legendary DJ John Peel, for whose label Dandelion St. John recorded her first three albums. Our Swimmer is pleased to present this first-ever vinyl reissue from a UK songwriting hero.Jumble Queen, St. John’s fourth album, was originally released in 1974 on Chrysalis, following the dissolution of Peel's label. Featuring help from members of Jethro Tull, King Crimson alum Michael Giles, American guitarist Stefan Grossman, and, most surprisingly, founding Whitesnake guitarist Bernie Marsden, the album is heady, dreamy folk-rock that stands up alongside the singer’s more well-known Dandelion albums.St. John’s voice – best described as a more refined Nico – is the focal point here. Her breathy, earthen tones perfectly complement the lovelorn lyrical content. With a more subdued sound than the rock-heavy backing group might suggest, Jumble Queen is an essential bit of UK folk-rock and singer-songwriter brilliance. After this album, St. John moved to the States and all but left the music business, not releasing another album for more than twenty years.

True Persuaders is a group composed by Courtney Edwards, Peter Seal and Sammy Melbourn. Peter and Courtney are from Harbour View and Sammy is originally from Trench Town, Kingston, Jamaica. They produced and released their first single called "Natty Lead The Way" on their own "Writers Of Rastafari" label in 1979. The song was recorded at the API (JIS) studio where Courtney Edwards worked for a short time after leaving High School. With the help of Bunny Wailer, they pressed and sold a few copies of this record.It's all about heavy roots rock reggae, a thing called "Roots Man Skank", the anthem of True Persuaders, the obscure reggae group that never released any album. The rhythm track was recorded by the great Sylvan Morris at Harry J and then it was voiced at King Tubby's studio with young Scientist as studio engineer in 1981. A Jah Shaka live dance mash down tune.

This is a rare gem of a record from fantastic soul band THE SOUL KIDS stemming from the Democratic Republic of Congo, including covers of James Brown & The Mighty Flames' hit singles "Lickin Stick" (1968), "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag" (1965), Wilson Pickett’s "Hey Jude" and a French vocal version of Otis Redding’s soul hit "Respect ".This amazing young band, which released only four 7inch singles and one album, is a great example of the influence of soul music and French pop bridging to the new Afro soul scene that the musicians of Kinshasa were involved in during the time of post-independence. Ngoma was one of the first record labels intent on providing local artists' recordings from both sides of the Congo river to the people of the DRC and West Africa. Created in 1948 by a Greek man by the name of Nicolas Jeronimidis, the Ngoma label was active through 1968, pressed in France until 1971, with a tremendous catalogue, including this historical and essential soul masterpiece!

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 Tenreiro17th Jan 2023

The reggae rocker, Courtney John unleashes his new album, Ecosystem, born from collaboration with the French label Soul Man Records which also produced the successful album Reggae Loves Soul!With this new LP, recorded and mixed between Kingston and Paris, Courtney John has created a lyrical painting of our world, hosted by a classic early reggae sound that will appeal to reggae aficionados and a wider audience of music lovers…

Favorite Recordings proudly presents Deux, second album of French Jazz-Funk quartet Aldorande. In this new chapter, the four explorers pursue their interstellar trip on the Aldorande planet, deploying their ever deeper love for the 70's Jazz-Funk & Fusion scene. Extending their first visions of this new world, the bigger-than-life arrangements of this second album reflect again their high attention to dramatic narrative schemes, breezy Brazilian vibes, tempestuous funky grooves and strong cosmic melodies from outer space. Classic and contemporary at the same time, Deux is built for the like-minded souls still looking for the perfect beat.Twisting time and space but never forcing the groove, the band dives more profoundly into the Cortex influence of their compositions, with intense female back vocals fitting perfectly into their cinematographic vision. Like a cry in space, could these esoteric incantations be heard by Aldorande's divinities? Or will they be more impressed by the super-tight rhythm section with its bangin' basslines or an irresistible blend of drums and percussion? In the end, they probably would have to surrender after hearing the infinite echoes of the synthesizers and horns reflecting in the atmosphere. Deep and thoughtful, the travel has only begun but it seems that so much has already been experienced. Breaking the code, they opened the gates to a rebirth. One that could be only accomplished by finding the “Pierre des Mondes”, deeply buried somewhere on Aldorande - the only key to solve the riddle of the groove. Mission accepted.You'll find in Aldorande some of the best French jazzmen including bandleader and founder Virgile Raffaëlli on bass (Setenta & Joe Bataan, Camarão Orkestra), Florian Pellissier on keys (Iggy Pop, Setenta, Cotonete & Di Melo, …), Mathieu Edouard on drums (Chassol, De La Soul) and Erwan Loeffel on percussion (Camarão Orkestra, 10LEC6). On this album, they took the initiative to invite two guests on some tracks: AOR singer Al Sunny and killer guitarist Laurent Guillet (Le Soldat Rose, Setenta).