Concord Vinilo y CD

Review: Butcher Brown is a polymath-like band from Richmond, here following their critically lauded 2022 album Butcher Brown Presents Triple Trey with another superb long player. Solar Music arrives vida Concord Jazz and though rooted in jazz, very much finds the band expanding their horizons and exploring the spaces in between traditional genres. Their dynamic approach to recording sees the band draw on their own personal heritages and upbringing in Richmond to blend together elements of soul, funk, rock, and hip-hop. Several top guests including Pink Siifu, Charlie Hunter, Braxton Cook, Jay Prince, Nappy Nina, Keyon Harrold, Michael Millions and more all feature.

Review: Nubya Garcia is one of the icons of the current, thriving jazz scene. Her album Source was a deserving Mercury Prize-nominee and here she reworks it through a series of new collars with the likes of DJ Harrison, Moses Boyd, Dengue Dengue Dengue and Georgia Anne Muldrow. Each of the new versions retains plenty of the soul and invention of the originals but adds in a range of other influences that take them in a more driving, groove-orientated direction. The results are stunning, with plenty of great options for DJs who like to play slow and sensuous. The Kaidi Tatham remix of 'La Cumbia Me Esta Llamando' is our personal pick.

Review: Long based sax supremo Nubya Garcia's debut album was a real thing of beauty so it only makes sense it now gets revisited by a team of super remixers for this special Record Store Day release. Presented on limited edition turquoise marbled vinyl it opens with Makaya McCraven's airy and floaty light remix of 'Source' before DJ Tahira layers up 'Stand With Each Other' with ethno-grooves that are loose and off kilter. That tumbledown vibe continues on the scruffy deep house version of 'Together Is A Beautiful Place To Be' by Shy One before big jazz house feels from Mark De Clive-Lowe close things down.

Review: Robert Grasper very much announced his arrival on the world stage with Black Radio 1. And Black Radio 2 only took him into the stratosphere. Both records proved him to be a master of hip hop, broken beat and jazz and able to call upon some of the biggest names in those scene from Jill Scott to Erykah Badu. Both of those timeless records, as the title suggest, are steeped in Black music traditions and so is this third one. Here the award winning Glasper (nine Grammy nominations and four wins) works with modern greats such as Gregory Porter, Q Tip, BJ The Chicago Kid, Ty Dolla Sign and many more to cook up another powerful statement for these troubled times.

Review: When Keyon Harrold lists the influences that he turned to during the creation of his rich and evocative new album Foreverland, he cites the likes of Radiohead, Fleet Foxes, Fela Kuti, John Coltrane, and, for a second, he becomes vulnerable; the list is too basic, too serious-music-listener-starter-pack. But, out of that moment of insecurity, he spins an indelible flex: "You are what you eat, and I have a pretty strict diet in dope shit. Taking in Keyon Harrold's career to-date, it's clear that the 'world-class trumpeter' (Essence) and composer is very serious about that diet. He's a jazz musician but in the most expansive sense, working with a list of dream collaborators: generational legends Keith Richards and Diana Ross; rap stars like Mac Miller and Nas; neo-soul icons Erykah Badu and D'Angelo; and modern soul stars Black Pumas and Leon Bridges. His circle of regular collaborators is formidable and includes his music industry mentor Common (who hired him for his first touring gig), his New School classmate Robert Glasper, and GRAMMY winners Maxwell, PJ Morton, Gregory Porter, and YEBBA. Even apart from its compositional intricacies and stylistic innovations, Foreverland is a triumph of resilience and empowerment. "What will be said when you're gone?", says Keyon. "If you're not living life - getting beat up, getting your heart broken, winning, losing - what are you doing? What about your life can people learn from? If you don't put yourself in the ring sometimes, there won't be anything." On Foreverland, Keyon takes life's challenges head-on - and emerges, in both music and in life, with a renewed sense of purpose.