Back catalogue: Funk Soul & Jazz

Review: Analog Africa is back with a dedicated project celebrating Gnonnas Pedro, the king of Modern Agbadja, and they press it up on a marvellous double album that includes an eight-page booklet with a ton of extra info. This bumper pack features 16 of Pedro's best works, all of which captivated Africa at the time. His vibrant blend of Agbadja, Cuban fon, jerk, highlife and more unique styles, all of which come with vocals sung in Fon, Mina, Yoruba, French, English and Spanish, add up to one hell of a rich sound. A great testament to the artist's extraordinary legacy.

Review: Pellegrino & Zodyaco's skillfully intertwine Neapolitan disco, funk, jazz and world music while channelling a spirit of creative escape of this new album, which is inspired by Henri Laborit's 'Eloge de la fuite'. It explores conscious escapism as a return to authenticity and seeks a "common language" through sound by merging Mediterranean melodies with global rhythms, vintage instruments and ethnic percussion that all bridge past and present. Four years after his last outing, Morphe, Pellegrino is still in top form here with a soulful, genre-blurring portrait of modern Naples that reflects the fact that, in the city, musical traditions meet modern experimentation.

Review: There are few finer alto-sax players in the world than Art Pepper. By the time of his death run 1982 his legacy was already assured after a fantastic run of albums such as his standout Art Pepper Meets The Rhythm Section. Plus 11 is right up there too, though: the 1960 jazz record saw Art work with an ensemble of 11 other musicians arranged by Marty Paich. It's one of a number dates the two played together that year but the only one with Pepper leading. Pepper's clarinet performance on 'Anthropology' and the alternate takes of 'Walkin'' are real standouts.

Review: Art Pepper was regarded as one of the world's greatest alto-sax players by the time of his death in 1982. This album, Art Pepper Meets The Rhythm Section, is widely regarded as one of his finest works, although legend has it he was only informed about the session the morning of recording and arrived unprepared. He was playing with a strong band - at the time they were Miles Davis' rhythm section no less. Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums, and Art Pepper out front giving his all on a sax that was reportedly in bad shape. Such scenes are iconic music made of.

Review: A refined and understated session, this reissue is a masterful example of West Coast jazz, offering a smooth, mellow and introspective listening experience. Recorded between december 1956 and January 1957 in Hollywood, California, this album showed Pepper's signature melodic alto saxophone over a relaxed and fluid quartet setting. The lineup features Russ Freeman on piano, Ben Tucker on bass and Chuck Flores on drums, each contributing to the album's effortlessly cool and unfailingly swinging atmosphere. Unlike the high-energy performances found on Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section, Modern Art unfolds at a more leisurely pace, making it a perfect soundtrack for a laid-back evening. The album's bookends, 'Blues In' and 'Blues Out', frame a collection of beautifully arranged pieces, including exquisite renditions of 'Bewitched', 'Stompin' at the Savoy' and 'What Is This Thing Called Love'. One of the true highlights is 'Summertime', a performance filled with emotional depth and intensity, as though Pepper poured his very soul into each note. This Blue Note Tone Poet reissue, produced by Joe Harley and mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analogue tapes, is an essential edition. Pressed with impeccable sound quality, this release does full justice to Pepper's warm, lyrical tone. Whether you're just beginning your jazz journey or a seasoned listener, Modern Art is the type of album that continues to reveal its brilliance with every spin. If you're new to jazz, this album might just make you a fan of the West Coast sound.

Review: Austin Peralta's 2011 album Endless Planets has never before been available on vinyl and now gets pressed up as a special Deluxe Edition by Brainfeeder. Peralta really crafted something special here when the label made its first moves into the world of jazz. He is a prodigious piano-playing talent who uses that as a vehicle for his inquisitive futurism while never forgetting the heritage of original jazz. In this special version, four previously unreleased tracks are unveiled. Among them is a live rendition of 'DMT Song' from FlyLo's 2012 album 'Until the Quiet Comes,' which Austin collaborated on. Wonderful stuff.

Review: El Palmas Music is on a mission to shine a light on a short-lived but brilliant band, Ray Perez y El Grupo Casabe. It was active from 1974 until 1975 and is often said to be the last great group in which Ray Peres was involved. He came to it from big success with Los Dementes and Los Kenya which had placed him at the forefront of the salsa movement. He continued to experiment and lead the genre forth front with this new group as this compilation shows. Big drums, bigger horns and driving rhythm make each track a fiery workout with plenty of vocals from the likes of Rodrigo Perdomo and Rafael Morillo.

Review: Given the sheer amount of material released by spiritual jazz maestro Sun Ra over the years - 120-odd albums and counting - it can be hard for new listeners to know where to start. Gilles Peterson and Strut have come up with an answer: a two-LP Sun Ra primer, which casts a critical eye over his whole career in order to gather together some stone cold aural gold. Peterson has long been a Sun Ra obsessive, and does a superb job in representing the different sides of his career. Check, for example, the doo-wop sweetness of "Dreaming" (a 1955 collaboration with The Cosmic Rays), the African influenced weirdness of "Adventure Equation", and the outer-space brilliance of "Cluster of Galaxies".

Review: Influential DJ, producer, and Acid Jazz and Talkin' Loud founder Gilles Peterson has curated his jazz favourites from the iconic Dutch jazz label Timeless. The selection includes Pharoah Sanders' cosmic 'Moonchild', Carter Jefferson's vocal jazz on 'Why', Tom Grant's danceable 'No Me Esqueca', and Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers' 'In Case You Missed It'. While Peterson compiled a Japan-only CD in 2015, this version adds previously unreleased gems like 'Mode For Joe' by Cedar Walton Trio and 'Gibraltar (Alternate Take)' by Kirk Lightsey Trio feat. Freddie Hubbard, making it essential for collectors.

Review: Gilles Peterson remains a man with his finger firmly on the pulse and this is another album to prove it: International Anthem is a special double compilation highlighting the renowned DJ and curator's deep connection with Chicago's celebrated contemporary jazz label. Featuring selections drawn from Peterson's BBC 6Music, Worldwide FM and syndicated shows, the collection showcases standout tracks from the label's first decade and also included is an exclusive, previously unreleased live recording from Worldwide FM. Pressed on "Frozen Lake Michigan" coloured vinyl, this Record Store Day exclusive is part of International Anthem's "IA11" series-celebrating 11 years by honouring their past while shaping the future of boundary-pushing global sounds.

Review: Here's a classic from The Oscar Peterson Trio - a coll-headed slice of traditional jazz from 1963 which is enjoying its 60th anniversary as the clock ticks over to 2023. It's an understated masterpiece, made up short performances written with commercial radio broadcast in mind, but even within tight time frames Peterson creates subtle, elegant movement which has rendered this record an enduring influence on successive generations of jazz musicians. Repressed on heavyweight wax and presented in a gatefold sleeve, it's sure to inspire a new wave of jazz artists as it gets a fresh airing.

Review: A formerly impossible to find second album by Nicaraguan band Poder De Alma, first released in 1975. A cool mix of Latin funk, jazz, salsa and psychedelic grooves, this one includes some of the group's most sought-after tracks like 'Bacanal' 76,' 'Mimo' or the antiracist statement 'La Conga de las Dos Razas.' After recording their first LP in Guatemala, the Nica supergroup travelled to Costa Rica to register their second album; this time, the recording studio and equipment available to them (including a Mini-Moog) were an improvement compared to their prior project and the band saw a new line-up. The result was a powerful album which is now one of the holy grails of Latin funk worldwide.

Review: Few contemporary jazz songwriters have emerged with such demonstrative authenticity and clarity as Gregory Porter. Liquid Spirit continues where the prolific artist left us with Be Good and Water; soulful, funky and galvanised in honest emotion. Echoing foundation-setting singers such as Isaac Hayes, Curtis Mayfield and even further back to the likes of Sammy Davis Junior, Porter flings us from vibe to vibe with precision-written lyrics and emphatic delivery. Highlights include the double-bass slapping stomper "Liquid Spirit", the boogie-fuelled "The In Crowd", the Cullum-esque "When Love Was King" and the tear-jerking finale "Water Under Bridges." Beautiful business.

Review: In a first-time collaboration, psychedelic trance godhead Simon Posford (best known as Hallucinogen and a founding member of Shpongle) teams up with fellow hippie and flutist Raja Ram (Ronald Rothfield) on a welling improvisatory record, Improvisations For Piano And Flute. Though both are highly esteemed artists in their respective micro-corners of the electronic music scene, Posford and Rothfield both depart significantly from their usually danceable ends for a living-room recorded set of ambiences. With a synth placed atop an antique Bluthner piano, Raj and Simon would join in after the other first begun playing, delivering a 44-minute effluence for the spontaneous soul.

Review: POSY's full-length debut The Garden is such a lush and organised soundscape that it really lives up to its tranquil title. Emerging from the Pacific Northwest, POSY is a multi-instrumentalist who crafted the album using analogue gear and traditional studio setups to create a warm, rich sound. The album's title is inspired by a real garden - a place of solace where the artist overcame writer's block by recording voice notes that they later refined in the studio. Influenced by artists like Yuseff Dayes and KIEFER, The Garden blends jazz, funk and downtempo with gems like 'All The Time' and collaborations with vocalists SAiGO and Jennyfire helping it to really stand out.

Review: From The Fire is a superb new album from Audrey Powne that is about as accomplished as any debut could be. The young auteur herself has composed all nine cuts, wrote all the lyrics, plays all the piano, organ and Rhodes, does all the singing, arranged all the strings and produced everything herself as she set out to have complete creative control. It is a rich and rewarding listen with some soaring solos and meticulously crafted grooves that have already won her high praise from those in the know such as Gilles Peterson.

Review: Originally released in 1963 under the Contemporary Records label, The Cry! still stands tall as a hallmark of free jazz by saxophonists Prince Lasha and Sonny Simmons. The timeless album which is now reissued on the Craft label, also showcases the talents of Gary Peacock and Mark Proctor on bass, and Gene Stone on drums. This Acoustic Sounds Series edition boasts AAA lacquers cut from the original master tapes by Bernie Grundman, pressed onto 180-gram vinyl at QRP and housed in a tip-on jacket for a deluxe presentation, making it a fantastic-sounding record.

Review: Originally released in 1973, Prof James Benson's seminal album, The Gow Dow Experience is a project that has an amazing story accompanying it. An entirely self-released project, Prof Benson's intention was to record these sessions so that his students at Cal Poly in California would have a special memento of what they had achieved together. Taking inspiration from their recent trip to Africa and blended with the radical jazz emerging from Black American artist's in the 70s, it was a momentous achievement for him and his young protegees. Jazzman's re-release also includes four tracks from the recording session that, until now, have never been released - they're well worth the wait, we promise!