Gilles Peterson Worlwide Website Opens



It's official! gillespetersonworldwide.com has officially opened for business. This is promising to be a great site for fans of Gilles and his "search for the perfect beat".

He has already uploaded a heap of podcasts to get you started, and will be highlighting new music from his Brownswood Recordings label.

Also, check out the Moblog and Message Board section for more info on the music we all love.
The Brand New Heavies Live On Conan 11-23-06

Stellar performance of Stevie Wonder's "I Don't Know Why (I Love You)" Live on Conan O'Brien Nov 23, 2006.

Us3 - Schizophonic


Us3’s fifth album Schizophonic sees producer Geoff Wilkinson’s rolling cast of rappers and musicians returning to the task of fitting the pieces of the jazz and hip-hop puzzle into one kaleidoscopic whole.

Building on the group’s mammoth 50-date/14-country European tour last year, the sound of ‘Schizophonic’ is a lively, raucous and uptempo affair with a heavy emphasis on live playing married to crunchy hip-hop beats. The album features two new rappers, Akil Dasan and Gaston, both of whom Geoff found at New York’s legendary underground hangout the Nuyorican Poets Café. Akil’s rhythmical mastery is put to the test on a variety of beats ranging from straight-up hip-hop to Brazilian sambas to straight-ahead jazz breaks. Gaston specialises in an intricate twisting wordplay that’s guaranteed to have you laughing hard, scratching your head, and snapping your neck all in the same breath.

All members of the Us3 live band are also featured, including the blistering trumpet of Chris Storr, the soaring saxophone stylings of Ed Jones, the funky muscle of double bass player "Level" Neville Malcolm, and the unique turntable mastery of DJ First Rate. Mike Gorman, Sean Hargreaves and John Crawford take turns at the pianists chair, while (60 year-old!) newcomer Ernie Cranenburgh lays down some truly beautiful jazz guitar.

‘Schizophonic’ bounces from the Brazilian samba school sampling ‘Kick This’, to the lyrical hip-hop sarcasm of ‘Huff & Puff’, through the 60s soul-jazz vibe of ‘Girls U Like’, to the furious jazz drums & Monk-like piano of ‘Get Busy’. Gaston recounts a desperate tale of child abuse in ‘Don’t Even Ask’ complimented by the delicate brushes, moody piano and brooding horns. And if you came to dance flip to the 21st century bossa groove of ‘Much 2 Much’. Schizo indeed.

Akil Dasan describes himself as an African-Judaic blend of multiple ethnicities and cultures, citing Stevie Wonder, The Roots, D'Angelo & Mos Def as major influences. An accomplished freestyler and musician (he plays guitar, keyboards and drums), Akil studied music and creative writing at Columbia University. Born & raised in Philadelphia he now resides in NYC. Eagle-eyed TV viewers will have spotted him last year on Missy Elliott’s "Road To Stardom" talent competition. Remember his name.

Gaston (alongside his twin brother Wiseguy) hosts the Words showcase & open mic sessions at the Nuyorican Poets Café in New York. A veteran of NYC’s underground hip-hop circuit, he has flexed his verbal dexterity alongside an entire who’s who of rap, exercising his razor sharp freestyle wit on many radio shows including Stretch Armstrong, Night Train, Underground Railroad, and WNYU.

The 8-piece live Us3 band will be touring again throughout 2006. Don’t miss them.

‘Schizophonic’. Multiple musical personalities have never been so much fun.

01. That's How We Do It
02. Kick This
03. Was It Love?
04. Huff & Puff
05. What's Goin' On In The World Today?
06. Much 2 Much
07. Girls You Like
08. If Only
09. Don't Even Ask
10. Jobsworth
11. Get Busy
12. K.I.S.S.Y.O.U.
13. 1-2-3-4u
14. Round The Glove

US3's Website

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Orange Pekoe - Organic Plastic Music



Orange Pekoe is a Japanese Jazz duo consisting of Tomoko Nagashima (lyrics, and all vocals), and Kazuma Fujimoto (guitar, composition, arrangement and programming).

The two first met through a university music club and started a band with other students, but soon broke off and started work as a duo.

They made big waves throughout the Japanese indie scene before being signed to BMG Records. Their first major label single release (Happy Valley) remained at #1 on radio air play charts for nearly two months. Organic Plastic Music sold over 300,000 copies, and reached #5 on the Oricon charts.

01. Introduction
02. Ai no Izumi
03. Taiyo no Kakera
04. Adaigo
05. 12 Months
06. Happy Valley
07. Sanctuary
08. Kioku
09. Yawaraka na Yoru
10. ONE AND ONLY DAY
11. bottle
12. Shinkaigyo
13. LOVE LIFE
14. tiny, baby

Orange Pekoe's Website

Get Orange Pekoe - Organic Plastic Machine At Amazon

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Something Real Music Video Omar

Omar's video to the single "Something Real". This is the official video from Omar's Management Team.

Pieces Of A Dream - Acquainted With The Night



British acid-jazz guitarist Ronny Jordan opens and closes Acquainted with the Night, this 12-song commemoration of Pieces of a Dream's silver anniversary.

Discovered by fellow Philadelphian Grover Washington Jr. when the band members were in their teens, the rhythm section does the late sax great proud with inspired guest shots by tenor men Kenny Blake and the ubiquitous Gerald Albright.

But Acquainted with the Night seems to really be the coming-out party for pianist James Lloyd. He wrote or cowrote three-fourths of the songs, and his maturity as a producer and soloist is evident, particularly the haunting "Trance." He also shines with Albright on "Off the Hook," which they definitely are.

The only odd blemishes on this otherwise worthy smooth-jazz celebration are the two vocal selections, both of which are inexplicably Diana Ross covers, featuring a surprisingly ineffective and seemingly unaffected Maysa from Incognito on "Upside Down," and a raw attempt at hip-hop on the theme from the 1970s movie Mahogany.

01. RU Ready
02. Night Vision
03. On That Note
04. Upside Down
05. Off The Hook
06. Brand Nu Start
07. Acquainted With The Night
08. Theme From Mahogany
09. Saxitude
10. Trance
11. Picture This
12. Silver Dreams

Pieces Of A Dream Website

Get Pieces Of A Dream - Acquainted With The Night At Amazon

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Acid Jazz Podcast #4

If you prefer to listen to this mix externally, use the links below the embedded player. And, of course, you can download individual tunes by right clicking on them. Enjoy!





External Player Links...

Winamp (M3U)
Real Player
Windows Media Player

Playlist...

01 Groove Collective - Everybody
02 DNote - Same Mistake
03 Instant Cities - Make Up Your Mind
04 Liquid Soul - Equinox
05 Deadbeats - Made In The Shade
06 O.M.U. - Desert in Your Eyes
07 Smoove - Ceefax
08 Em Zeh - Woortsport
09 Perception - Serious Love
10 Palmskin Productions - Spock With A Beard
11 Monday Michiru - Higher
12 Incognito And Carleen Anderson With Ramsey Lewis - Trouble Don't Last Always

Candycream



Just found out about this band from Germany, some very smooth sounds happening here, reminiscent of Incognito and BNH. Well worth checking out...

Candycream, that´s "soul für deine seele" (soul for your soul) straight from Frankfurt/Germany. The 8 piece band plays a groovy mixture made of Soul, Funk, Jazz, Disco, House and Latin.

Candycream was founded in late 2003, and since then the band history has been straight forward, inspired by the love for the music of the 60ies and 70ies as well as modern lounge-, jazz- and soul-styles.

In 2005 Candycream won the title "Best Band Jazzrock" at the German Rock - & Pop Awards in Hamburg/Germany, and furthermore received the silver-medal in the category Soul & Funk. Every sound in this group is handmade and played live - no tricks or samples are used!

Candycream performing "Love what you do" live in birmingham, england.



Listen to Candycream - Summertime (Chill Version)








Candycreams Website

Candycreams Myspace Page

Tribaljazz - Tribaljazz



A big thanks to lemo for this one, a very nice find :-)

Tribaljazz, the brainchild of legendary Doors drummer John Densmore, blends and fuses improvisational jazz, beats and world music. In the end, what you hear is, truly, Tribaljazz. The band features John Densmore on drums, co-founder Art Ellis on Soprano / Alto Sax and Flute, two master African drummers, an upright bass player, a world- class pianist and a multi-instrumental percussionist.

"For thirty years I've been saying I was a jazz drummer before I got into The Doors. In the years since then, I still claim to be a jazz drummer. The problem is I've never actually made any jazz records. Finally I am putting my sticks where my mouth is. I soon joined forces with Art Ellis, A veteran jazz performer and composer. Art had been producing his original Afro/Jazz music with Jimmy Haslip of the Yellowjackets, as well as performing as opening act in festivals with Sting, King Sunny Ade, Milton Nascimento and many others. Forming the nucleus of what has become the Tribaljazz project, we began reworking the wonderfully melodic lines of Art's music into a synthesis of world rhythms and acoustic classic jazz that pleases us both. The result was the infusion of a "tribal" sound with accessible, heartfelt jazz tunes." - John Densmore

Tribaljazz is an acoustic jazz quartet engine, fuel-injected with the percussion power of several African Master drummers. Tribaljazz brings a provocative and energetic new voice to the Jazz and Jamband world. Tribaljazz is an experience - it's a seductive groove, with driving rhythms, that draws a wide eclectic audience - from Jazz aficionados and Classic rockers, to cutting edge Jamband followers without age or demographic limits.

"Our goal is to cut across all boundaries of musical tastes and reach the widest audience possible. Because Tribaljazz relies heavily on improvisation, the music continues to grow while staying fresh and alive. Ultimately, Tribaljazz wants to make each performance as exciting as possible, while maintaining the artistic depth and integrity which makes it interesting to us as performers, and hopefully to our audiences as well." - Art Ellis

01. Skytrails
02. Blues For Bali
03. La Tormenta
04. Vegetable Wizard
05. Orange Midnight
06. The First Time (I Heard Coltrane)
07. Piano Interlude
08. Lyria
09. Violet Love
10. Riders Of The Storm
11. Violet Love
12. Bonus Track 1

Tribaljazz's Website

Tribalsjazz's Myspace Page

Get Tribaljazz - Tribalsjazz At Amazon

dl = http://rapidshare.com/files/2269115/trib.trib.rar.html

Totally Wired In Dub



Totally Wired In Dub is more or less an effective dub reggae compilation -- mainly because it features the classic "Blessed in Dub" by Gregory Isaac, as well as cuts from Bobby Ellis and Benjamin Zephaniah -- but it overlooks too many high points and vital artists to be truly called essential.

01 Dread Flimstone & Michael Prophet - Fight Jah Children
02 Napthali - Ammunition Dub
03 Emperors New Clothes - Welcome To Your World
04 Madrak Featuring Devon Russell - Social Living
05 Yabby You - Deliver Me From My Enemies
06 Gregory Isaacs - Blessed In Dub
07 Manasseh Meets The Equalizer - One Small Step
08 Tommy McCook & Bobby Ellis - The Blazing Horns
09 Benjamin Zephaniah - Rudie Dead
10 The Hazardous Dub Company - Real Dub
11 Madrak - Et In Arcadia Ego
12 Wildcat - Space Station Wildcat
13 African Head Charge - Yes 1

Get Totally Wired In Dub At Amazon

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Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool


Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool is one of the compilation albums from the Red Hot project. This fifth entry in the Red Hot AIDS Benefit Series was heralded as the "Album of the Year" by Time Magazine upon its release in 1994 by GRP Records.

The Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool project provides a meeting place where artists of several generations and styles can meet and create a musical dialogue. Where does fusion flow into funk? Where does the controlled anarchy of hard be-bop feed into the adrenaline-rush of hard core hip-hop? The answer to these questions and more are found in the spirit of collaboration and discovery on Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool.

In addition to the straight ahead jazz and rap elements found with on this extraordinary recording, gospel vocals, blues guitar, scat singing, R&B, soul and other African American art forms hug and tug and pull at each other, like relatives at a long overdue reunion. Gender, age, and race are bridged in the three-way effort by Us3, Tony Remy, and Joshua Redman (son of the legendary Dewey Redman). Up-and-coming talents meet one of their heroes in the case of Groove Collective's joint jam with funk master Bernie Worell. Ditto for Me'Shell N'degéOcello's musical studio encounter with Herbie Hancock. Two men from two different eras but with surprisingly similar ears for music join forces in a track by Donald Byrd and Gangstarr's Guru. Add the differences of language and culture into the equation when you consider the distances spanned by Ron Carter's collaboration with Afro-French rapper MC Solaar.

The list goes on and on, including contributions by Michael Franti, Digable Planets with Lester Bowie & Wah Wah Watson, The Pharcyde, Roots with Roy Ayers, Incognito, Carleen Anderson with Ramsey Lewis, Umar Bin Hassan and Abiodun Oyewole (formerly of The Last Poets) with Pharoah Sanders, Don Cherry with Watts Prophets, and Branford Marsalis.


Disc one

01. Time Is Moving On - Donald Byrd with Guru + Ronny Jordan
02. Un Ange En Danger - MC Solaar + Ron Carter
03. Positive - Michael Franti / Spearhead
04. Nocturnal Sunshine - Me’Shell NdegéOcello featuring Herbie Hancock
05. Flyin’ High In The Brooklyn Sky - Digable Planets with Lester Bowie + Wah Wah Watson
06. Stolen Moments - United Future Organization (UFO)
07. The Rubbers Song - The Pharcyde
08. Proceed II - The Roots + Roy Ayers – 5:52
09. Trouble Don't Last Always - Incognito + Carleen Anderson with Ramsey Lewis
10. Rent Strike (DJ Smash Remix) - Groove Collective + Bernie Worrell
11. The Scream - Us3 with Joshua Redman + Tony Rémy
12. This Is Madness - Umar Bin Hassan + Abiodun Oyewole (formerly of the Last Poets) with Pharaoh Sanders
13. Apprehension - Don Cherry + The Watts Prophets

Disc two (Bonus CD)

01. A Love Supreme - Branford Marsalis
02. A Love Supreme - Alice Coltrane
03. The Creator Has A Master Plan (Trip Hop Remix) - Pharaoh Sanders

Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool Website

Get Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool At Amazon

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Acid Jazz Podcast #3

If you prefer to listen to this mix externally, use the links below the embedded player. And, of course, you can download individual tunes by right clicking on them. Enjoy!





External Player Links...

Winamp (M3U)
Real Player
Windows Media Player

Playlist...

01 Down To The Bone - Brooklyn Heights
02 The New Jersey Kings - The Latin One
03 Emperors New Clothes - Eyes That Burn
04 Pippa & The Four From The Top - Countdown (Calendar Countdown-Disco Conundrum)
05 Jive - All Of My Life
06 Cleveland Lounge - Good Thing
07 Silent Poets - Little Way Of Difference
08 Secret Vibes - Dazzling
09 Greyboy featuring Karl Denson - Greys Groove
10 The Rhythm Section - Waiting For The Sun
11 Liquid Soul - Dysfunction
12 Dynamo Productions - Hey Yeah!

Marc Moulin - Entertainment



Belgian keyboardist Marc Moulin has been a jazz craftsman for more than three decades. A leader in the field of acid jazz, he began his career by playing the piano in the '60s throughout Europe. During the following decade, he established a band known as Placebo. By 1974, he had made a trio of albums, influenced by such masters of jazz as Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock. One of those early releases, Sam Suffy, has withstood the test of time and is still popular decades later with aficionados. Before the '70s had passed, Moulin switched gears; working with the band Telex, his style shifted to electro pop. With bandmates Michel Moers on vocals and Dan Lacksman on synthesizer, he put out five albums that spawned hit singles like "Rock Around the Clock," an electro pop version of the song originally made famous by Bill Haley & the Comets, and "Moscow Diskow," which won fans in discos as far away as Australia and Brazil. By 1992, Moulin again pulled a switch, this time turning to a sound that was more ambient with the release of Maessage. As the calendar flipped forward to a new millennium, Moulin flipped back in time to the place where he'd started: jazz. He signed with Blue Note, a label fond of pushing boundaries, which allowed him to freely combine his proclivity for the electronic sound with his jazz roots.

The title is already a giveaway. With his new album “Entertainment”, Marc Moulin steps back into his version of the limelight. Some 100,000 people in 40 countries fell for the electro-jazz of his previous album “Top Secret”. A host of compilations (80 and counting) listed it under Lounge, somewhere between Air and Henri Salvador. The success of “Top Secret” only confirmed what Moulin has been doing since the seventies already: exploring a fusion whose only vocation is to get back to the essence of early jazz. In Moulin’s world, that means dance music – nay, entertainment – rather than the modern, sublime yet pained art form of the be-boppers. And “Entertainment” is Moulin’s most accomplished album, an elegant demonstration of his status as the Godfather of Electro-Jazz.

The album opens with a homage to the legendary Horace Silver. On the track called “Silver (Who Stole the Groove?)”, the voice of Horace can be heard inviting us to, “We'd like to have you all join in with us on this one and help us find the groove”. Moulin takes this invitation, first heard on the album “Doin’ the Thing – Live at the Village Vanguard” (1961), as his own. It highlights another thing he shares with the American pianist, a bulletproof sense of humour. The second track, “Preface”, confirms his passion for writing and calligraphy (and “Calligram” gets a mention on the fourth track). Vowels get their few minutes of fame in “Y.U. (The Vowel’s Tune)” while “Irony” is a direct reference to one of Moulin’s best-known character traits.

Laid across some supple grooves, the sparkling clarity of the tunes runs like a silver thread through an album whose electronic side is implicit rather than in your face. At what point does a groove become a song? The inspired trumpet of Bert Joris (muted or open, which might or might not be a reference to Miles and Chet) graces almost every track. The feline voice of Christa Jérôme raises the tone, while the new kid in town – Flemish percussionist Peter Schneider - provides his palette of swing.

With Moulin on keyboards and directing, the result is a quartet with drive and distinction. The spirit of organist Jimmy Smith is alive and well, as Moulin claims his “soul”. He adds pointillist splashes of organ with rare gusto. “They’re like furry drops,” he says himself, true to the spirit of Belgian surrealism. Huh? This taste for the oddball is already evident on the cover that features his dog Sadie, supposedly the bastard daughter of Nipper (remember His Master’s Voice?). Sadie has a master that will keep us entertained – and dancing - over the coming months. 100%.

01 Silver (Who Stole the Groove?)
02 Preface
03 Y.U.? (The Vowels Tune)
04 Calligram
05 Irony
06 Easy
07 Le Grand Voyage
08 What Was It Again?
09 Where Is It?
10 There Comes a Time

Marc Moulin's Website

Get Marc Moulin - Entertainment At Amazon

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What is Acid Jazz?

Acid jazz (also known as club jazz) is a musical genre that combines elements of soul music, funk, disco, particularly looping beats and modal harmony. It developed over the 1980s and 1990s and could be seen as tacking the sound of jazz-funk onto electronic dance/pop music.

The compositions of groups such as The Brand New Heavies and Incognito often feature chord structures usually associated with Jazz music. The Heavies in particular were known in their early years for beginning their songs as catchy pop and rapidly steering them into jazz territory before "resolving" the composition and thus not losing any pop listeners but successfully "exposing" them to jazz elements in "baby steps".

The acid jazz "movement" is also seen as a "revival" of jazz-funk or jazz fusion or soul jazz by leading DJs such as Norman Jay or Gilles Peterson or Patrick Forge, also known as "rare groove crate diggers".