Jazz /
Teatro Amadeo Roldan Recital
For the third release in our Mr Bongo Cuban Classics series, we reissue the iconic 1974 debut album by the mighty Grupo Irakere. Led by Chucho Valdés, son of Cuban pianist and bandleader Bebo Valdés, the band would go on to become of the most influential and successful groups emanating from Cuba in this period. Their debut ‘Teatro Amadeo Roldan Recital’ is an in-demand and incredible Afro-Cuban, jazz-funk masterpiece originally landing on Cuba’s state-owned imprint, Areito. One of the jewels of …
Grupo Irakere
For the second instalment in our Cuban Classics series, we proudly present this sought-after slice of sublime Afro-Cuban jazz from 1976. It comes courtesy of one of Cuba’s most influential acts, Grupo Irakere. Founded in 1973 by Chucho Valdés (son of the Cuban pianist and bandleader Bebo Valdés) the group was home to many of Cuba’s finest musicians over the years. With an electrifying style and sound, they mixed traditional Cuban music with jazz, funk, and rock. This self-titled album includes t…
Nio & Pigeon
"New Hard, led by Toshiyuki Miyama, is one of Japan's leading big bands. Since the release of their seminal work Perspective in 1969, they've opened up new horizons in big band jazz with their cutting-edge sound. This work, Niou to Hato, is one such representative work of the new hard movement, which reached its zenith in 1972. Bandleader Kozaburo Yamaki was then in charge of the entire composition and arrangement, and deeply pursued one of his long-standing themes: Japan, the nation in and of i…
Afro-Desia
Tip! The second in our Mr Bongo series opening the vault on classic recordings from the fabled Groove Merchant Records catalogue. This time the spotlight turns to the Hammond B3 organ maestro Lonnie Smith, as we proudly present a reissue of his cosmic jazz-funk journey, ‘Afro-Desia’. Originally released in 1975, this much-loved album was produced by Groove Merchant label owner Sonny Lester and features the mysterious 'Compliments Of A Friend' on guitar. Considering Smith was part of George Benso…
Song Of Innocence
*2024 stock* David Axelrod (1931-2017) was a producer, arranger and A&R at Capitol Records in Hollywood in the 1960s, working with artists Cannonball Adderley, Lou Rawls and David McCallum amongst others, alongside the infamous group of L.A. session musicians known as the Wrecking Crew. In 1967, for Reprise Records, Axelrod composed and “ghost-produced” the psychedelic rock album Mass In F Minor under the guise of The Electric Prunes. This surprise hit earned Axelrod a new audience, and the oppo…
Fusion Global Sounds Vol. 2 (1976 - 1984)
"Favorite Recordings returns with the second edition of its compilation series: Fusion Global Sounds. Comprising eight rare and hidden tracks produced between 1976 and 1984 in various parts of the world, this hot-off-the-plate comp delivers a mighty-fine array of dynamic, soul-feeding jazz, soul, disco, jazz and funk delicacies. As a fine collector of jazz-funk and fusion for many years, curator Charles Maurice can be credited for sourcing the ingredients for and cooking up this fine spread of f…
Liberated Brother
Weldon Irvine was one of the most talented and influential artists of his era. Liberated Brother was his first album, originally issued on his own Nodlew label in 1972 in very limited quantities. An impressive showcase for Irvine’s skills as a songwriter, producer, and keyboardist, the collection boasts a rich array of musical textures, resulting in deep, spiritual, funky jazz with elements of soul and psychedelia. Innovative not only for its moody, nuanced jazz-funk sensibility, Liberated Broth…
Concerts By The Sea
Funky groove master Les Demar's legendary live recordings have been sampled by numerous artists and DJs, and have captivated jazz funk listeners and rare groove freaks alike with their raging drum breaks and intense grooves. Recorded at Concerts by the Sea in Redondo Beach, California, in August 1978, the eight-piece big combo's frenetic night is back in its original 1970s release!
The fusion-like 'Quetzal' (A1), which starts with an opening MC and cheers, quickly raises the tension, followed by…
Jazz-Funk from Luxembourg 1981-1986
*300 copies limited edition* Tucked away in a corner of northwestern Europe and so small you could drive through it in minutes without noticing you were ever there, Luxembourg is often overlooked. This is also true for Luxembourg’s music scene, and even more so in the early 1980s. Aside from a string of victories at the annual Eurovision song contest or the mighty Radio Luxembourg that had for decades been blasting jazz, rock and other modern music into stolid Western European ears, very little …
Day By Day
Wicked, soul-jazz album from the mid 70s with touches of 60s pop / psychedelia! First ever reissue of this privately-pressed obscurity.
Music For Saxofone & Bass Guitar (Tape)
jazz milestone from Los Angeles-based musicians Sam Gendel & Sam Wilkes. Music for Saxofone and Bass Guitar is a collection of recordings captured live on a Marantz PMD-720 4-Track Cassette Recorder at Mh Zh and Pacê between November 2017 - February 2018 in Los Angeles, CA
4th edition of 500 units*4th edition cover art, reversible JCard*4th edition clear cassette shell*album audio in-full on both sides*shrink-wrapped
Music for Saxofone and Bass Guitar More Songs
The follow-up to 2018's underground jazz milestone from Los Angeles-based musicians Sam Gendel & Sam Wilkes. Music for Saxofone & Bass Guitar More Songs collects nine additional songs from the duo. Performed, recorded, mixed and produced by Sam Gendel + Sam Wilkes additional bass by Daniel Aged
*2nd edition of 500 units*2nd edition reversible JCard*black shell, sticker label*album audio in-full on both sides*shrink-wrapped
Afro-Rock
Vecchio's Afro-Rock is one big horn-heavy, bass-blasting, Latin groove funk-rock party. Only now, you're all invited because this, ladies and gentleman, is officially...a grail no more. With copies currently starting at 400 Euros for an original, this beautifully presented reissue, part of Be With's fresh campaign with Music De Wolfe, is well overdue. A magnificent and somewhat obscure library set that's just a total, cohesive joy from start to finish, this here is the soundtrack to all your smo…
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 …
Enzo Randisi
Tip! This is the lost pearl, this is the most secret album coming from the ancient land of Sicily, the oyster island of the Mediterranean sea, on the borders of Italy. No Holy Grails here, we are not at the crusades, but in the presence of one of the busiest ensembles on the Italian scene during the 70s and 80s of the last century, devoted to only one creed: To Play!
Enzo Randisi and his son Riccardo, take us into a world of visionary spiritual jazz atmospheres on the track "Windows", an opening…
Big Words
Alpacas Collective once again invites you for an enchanting musical trip. After finding their voice and soul on their well received debut album ‘Seven Wisdoms of Plutonia’ (October 2022), they are excited to release the second collection of Alpacas tunes one year after! From of the adventurous spaces of Plutonia , from where Alpacas Collective emerged, this gang of fanatic music lovers continue their trip through new places with new friends on the new album ‘Big Words’. ‘Seven Wisdoms of Plutoni…
Lados B
On October 15th and 16th, 2020, drummer Daniel Villarreal was joined by guitarist Jeff Parker and bassist Anna Butterss for two afternoons of recording in the backyard of Chicali Outpost in Los Angeles. For all three musicians, it was the first ensemble recording session they’d done in-person since the pandemic locked the world down just seven months prior. Some choice moments from these sessions made it onto Villarreal’s critically-acclaimed 2022 album Panamá 77, but most of the music remained …
Tapestry Koto & The Occident Country
*3LP Coloured in Woodenbox, with Totebag. Edition of 99* Original masters licensed by Nippon Columbia for the first ever reissue. 3LP official bundle in a wooden box* 'Tapestry: Koto' is a 3-album series produced by Nippon Columbia in the mid-1970s dedicated to one of the main instruments of Japanese traditional music: Koto. The beauty of the trilogy curated by composer Kiyoshi Yamaya, whose chapters are respectively dedicated to Sea, Hillside and Country, lies in the fact that they are a modern…
J Jazz Vol. 4: Deep Modern Jazz from Japan - Nippon Columbia 1968 -1981
With J Jazz volume 4, the BBE J Jazz Bullet Train continues its journey traversing the expansive landscape of modern Japanese jazz. Volume 4 is the latest in the universally praised compilation series exploring the best, rarest and most innovative jazz to emerge from the Far East. Please take your seats for a first-class ticket to J Jazz central. This latest station stop off is with the famed Nippon Columbia label, one of the biggest labels in Japan, whose jazz output embraces every possible sty…
Gemini II
The first album by Marcus Belgrave, featuring two of the founders of the legendary Tribe label, Wendell Harrison and Phil Ranelin, as well as Harold McKinney and Roy Brooks, all legends of the Detroit jazz scene in the 70's. This is the world's first LP reissue in the original jacket of this masterpiece full of spirituality and strong blackness, led by the spacey jazz funk "Space Odyssey," which was later covered by Carl Craig, a major figure in Detroit techno!
This is the first album by Marcus …