Jazz /
Dawit Yifru
Ethiopia’s music company Muzikawi reissue the self-titled solo instrumental album of Ethio-jazz composer Dawit Yifru, which offers an exceptional occasion to rediscover one of the most important eras in Ethiopia’s music history. This 11-track album features a compilation of songs that were restored and remastered from cassettes released throughout the 1970s. With Ethiopian Chickchika music, Twist, Congolese Rumba, and Waltz music styles converging, the songs reflect the dynamic musical crossroad…
Ballaké Sissoko & Derek Gripper
In November 2022 world-renowned kora player Ballaké Sissoko and acclaimed guitarist Derek Gripper spend just three hours recording a wordless album together. The kora and guitar in the hands of masters - a session where New Ancient Strings meets One Night On Earth. “Musically we tested each other,” says Sissoko, explaining that the most magical aspect of their initial encounter was the spontaneity of the whole thing. “We have the mastery of our instruments, the technique and a good ear. Derek is…
Trancedance
Black Truffle is pleased to announce the first vinyl reissue of Trancedance, a wild slice of Swedish Afro-fusion from Christer Bothén, originally released in 1984. A major figure in Swedish jazz and improvised music since the 1970s, often heard on bass clarinet and tenor sax, Bothen studied doso n’koni (the large six-stringed ‘hunter’s harp’ of the Wasulu) in Mali in 1971-2 before turning to the guinbri (the three-stringed lute of the Gnawa/Gnauoua) in Marakesh later in the decade. In between, h…
1984
Bomb! ** High Quality reissue. Official reissue by Elemental music in collaboration with Impulse Records! Special Gatefold Edition. ** One of his best albums from the mid-Sixties, Yusef Lateef's 1984 is a truly experimental work. With bassist Reggie Workman, pianist Mike Nock, and drummer James Black, it goes from the eight-minute title track that opens the album to the two-minute, angular modal ballad "Try Love." Reviewer Thom Jurek gave it four out of five stars in AllMusic, stating that "1984…
Live At Pep's
** High Quality reissue. Gatefold Edition ** One of Yusef Lateef’s best albums from one of the finest periods of his esteemed career, the 1964 LP Live at Pep’s showcases the reedman backed by trumpeter Richard Williams, pianist Mike Nock, bassist Ernie Farrow, and drummer James Black. Taped at a live performance at Pep’s Lounge in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the album was so successful that a full second LP was culled from the same sets. The program alternates between hard bop originals and cove…
Malik
Strut proudly presents the first official remastered reissue of Lafayette Afro Rock Band's elusive funk/Afro original album, 'Malik,' originally released in 1974.
Soul Makossa
Strut proudly presents the first official remastered reissue of the funk/Afro classic, Lafayette Afro Rock Band's 'Soul Makossa' from 1973.
East Meets West
Huge Tip! Ahmed Abdul-Malik was best known to jazz listeners as a bassist with Thelonious Monk, Randy Weston, Coleman Hawkins, and many others. He made a few records as a leader, with this one being his most exotic. The Brooklyn native was of Sudanese descent; in addition to playing bass, he also plays oud, the forerunner to the lute. Originally released in 1960 the album is rich and heady, a multi-layered set of tonal grooves that are wrapped tight beneath the melody lines. The musicians on Ma…
Good Aderegechegn (Blindsided By Love)
*2023 stock. 100 copies limited edition* Ayalew Mesfin stands aside the likes of Mulatu Astake, Mahmoud Ahmed, Hailu Mergia and Alemayehu Eshete as a legend of 1970s Ethiopia. Mesfin’s music is some of the funkiest to arise from this unconquerable East African nation. Mesfin’s recording career, captured in nearly two dozen 7” singles and numerous reel-to-reel tapes, shows the strata of the most fertile decade in Ethiopia’s 20th century recording industry, when records were pressed constantly by …
Che Belew (March Forward)
*2023 stock. 100 copies limited edition* Mesfin’s recording career, captured in nearly two dozen 7” singles and numerous reel-to-reel tapes, shows the strata of the most fertile decade in Ethiopia’s 20th century recording industry, when records were pressed constantly by both independent upstarts and corporate behemoths, even if they were only distributed within the confines of this East African nation.
Though Mesfin was forced underground by the Derg regime that took control of Ethiopia in 1974…
Wegene (My Countrymen)
*2023 stock. 100 copies limited edition* Mesfin’s recording career, captured in nearly two dozen 7” singles and numerous reel-to-reel tapes, shows the strata of the most fertile decade in Ethiopia’s 20th century recording industry, when records were pressed constantly by both independent upstarts and corporate behemoths, even if they were only distributed within the confines of this East African nation. Though Mesfin was forced underground by the Derg regime that took control of Ethiopia in 1974…
Tewedije Limut
*2023 stock. 100 copies limited edition* Mesfin’s recording career, captured in nearly two dozen 7” singles and numerous reel-to-reel tapes, shows the strata of the most fertile decade in Ethiopia’s 20th century recording industry, when records were pressed constantly by both independent upstarts and corporate behemoths, even if they were only distributed within the confines of this East African nation. Though Mesfin was forced underground by the Derg regime that took control of Ethiopia in 1974…
Try And Love
New from Strut, a fresh reissue of the classic debut album Try And Love from one of Nigeria’s most celebrated Afro-rock bands, Ofege. Formed by guitarist Melvin Ukachi and bassist Paul Alade while young students at St Gregory’s school in Lagos, Ofege first found their feet borrowing instruments and supporting school band The Groove Makers. Discovering drummer Mike Meme by chance at a school dance and adding Dapo Olumide on keys and Felix Inneh on rhythm guitar, they met EMI’s resident producer /…
The Blue Yusef Lateef
** High Quality reissue. Remastered using pure analogue components only, from the master tapes through to the cutting head ** On The Blue Yusef Lateef (1968), listeners get an amazing chapter from the late '60s, an amazing period when everything in the world of Jazz was changing. Yuseef Lateef was big on concept recordings. This album examines all the different ranges of emotion contained within the blues genre. With a band that included Detroit Jazz gods Roy Brooks on drums and Kenny Burrell on…
The Art Is In The Rhythm Volume 2
Trevor Watts has been at the forefront of the Jazz and Free Improvisation scene since the 1960s and is highly respected by his peers and quite rightly so. Much of the UK listening audience though, seem to be unaware of the amazing breadth of Trevor’s works on a global scale. With that in mind, Jazz in Britain have decided to try and address this issue with this release.In 2022 we issued The Art Is In The Rhythm which featured an improvised performance of Trevor in partnership with drummer, Liam …
Zimbabwe
** 2021 Stock ** Assagai's second and final album. This Afro-funk band from Zimbabwe was based in London in the very early 70s, and released their second album in 1972. Seems that members of UK prog band Jade Warrior helped out in the recording of this as well. Assagai is as fresh and alive as it was when it was recorded in 1971, hypnotic in its rhythm and tantalising in its mix of punctured brass and provocative vocals. Their ruthless brand of handsome rhythm offers copious potent vibes, but si…