Following seven years after the inaugural volume, You Need This!: “World Jazz Grooves Volume 2”arrives as a revitalizing addition to the If Music Presents series. Jean-Claude, stalwart of London’s Black music scene, and Parisian crate digger Victor Kiswell have again woven their passion for international vinyl hunting into a compilation overflowing with essential, seldom-heard jazz tracks. Their selections criss-cross continents and genres: from Mary Lou Williams’s luminous “Rosa Mae” to Dadje’s sprawling opus “Dakar,” each piece carries the imprint of deep research in flea markets, record shops, and private collections. The collection spotlights not only epochal figures but also lesser-known innovators, allowing listeners to trace new links between spiritual jazz, highlife, doo-wop, avant-garde fusion, and Caribbean grooves.
What sets this volume apart is its curatorial ethos: Jean-Claude and Kiswell have crafted more than a compilation—they’ve fashioned a journey into jazz’s borderlands, where global traditions collude and collide. Danish, Brazilian, Canadian, French, American, and Jamaican artists are each given room to breathe, their contributions framed by liner notes that detail the record’s painstaking process of discovery. The set’s cross-genre ethic is a direct reflection of the curators’ own creative restlessness: listeners encounter jazz as a living, evolving language, animated by spiritual longing, rhythmic invention, and collective experimentation. Standouts feature adventurous arrangements by Cedric Brooks & The Divine Light, John Tchicai’s Strange Brothers, and a vibrant cast of vocal and instrumental collaborators.
The album’s release on BBE, as a two-LP set, CD, and digital download, continues the label’s tradition of celebrating global music culture and the unearthing of archival treasures. The project’s collaborative energy, between curator, artist, and audience, is palpable throughout—a testament to jazz’s enduring capacity for surprise and renewal. World Jazz Grooves Volume 2 is, as its title insists, a necessity for both seasoned collectors and new initiates, offering rare grooves that are as engaging on a dance floor as they are inspiring for deep listening.
