Friday, March 30, 2018

NEW RELEASES: RYAN PORTER – THE OPTIMIST; ORQUESTA AKOKAN; ROXY COSS – THE FUTURE IS FEMALE


RYAN PORTER – THE OPTIMIST

Seriously stunning work from trombone player Ryan Porter and a young, but already amazing group of LA jazz funk players from the West Coast Get Down collective he co-founded – including Kamasi Washington, Cameron Graves, Miles Mosely and others – recorded at Kamasi's Inglewood, CA home studio! Recorded in 2008 in the confines of "The Shack" – the tight quarters garage studio at the Washington family's home – the sound is very much the resonantly soulful, spiritual jazz funk that sowed the seeds for work to come from the whole collective. Most tracks feature Kamasi on tenor sax, Mosely on upright bass, Graves on piano & Rhodes and a revolving cast of drummers including Tony Austin, Robert Miller and Aaron Haggerty. Titles include "The Psalmist", "Obamanomics", "Strugglesville", "The Instrumental Hip-Hoppa", "Deja Vu", "Night Court In Compton", "K-Wash", "Anaya", "Little Sunflower", "Impressions" and "Chocolate Nuisance". (Limited edition 3LP set! Includes download.)  ~ Dusty Groove

ORQUESTA AKOKAN - ORQUESTA AKOKAN

A record that may well single-handedly mark the huge shift in American/Cuban relations in years to come – as the set's a tremendous project between the New York forces of Daptone Records, and the overlooked genius of the younger scene in Havana! Make no mistake, this isn't your usual Daptone funk – but instead, the label has found a way to allow this group to really rise to the height of their powers – no overdone trappings, as they might get on a bigger label – and instead, a raw sound that's very classic – yet without sounding slavish to any ideals of Havana in the pre-Castro years either. There's such wonderful warmth and energy on the record – as both singer Jose Pepito Gomez and the musicians find this perfect balance – percussion that's nice and raw, horns that are tight but have modern inflections, and a production style that's warm and woody, but never slick at all. Includes "Mambo Rapidito", "La Corbata Barata", "Un Tabaco Pra Elegua", "Otro Nivel", "La Cosa","Yo Soy Para Ti", "A Gozar La Vida" and more. ~ Dusty Groove

ROXY COSS – THE FUTURE IS FEMALE

Roxy Coss's second album as a leader for the Posi-Tone label – and it's her strongest to date, both by design and in performance! Where her Chasing The Unicorn album set up a whimsical sensibility, this one obliviously sets up a tone of strength and determination – undercurrents of all her work we've heard thus far, but are front-and-center thematically here. The titles are strident and topical, while the sound is timeless, with some thematic touches – like the almost foreboding intro to "Mr. President" that leads into marching drums, or the slyly easygoing swing that starts "Feminist AF" leading to some of the most energetic soloing by Roxy on the whole set – but she never casts off the neo-classic jazz she's always had such a strong voice for. Recorded in a single day with her excellent band including Alex Wintz, Miki Yamanaka, Rick Rosato and Jimmy Macbride, titles include "Nevertheless, She Persisted", "Little Did She Know", "She Needed A Hero, So That's What She Became", "Females Are Strong As Hell", "#MeToo","Nasty Women Grab Back" and "Ode To A Generation". ~ Dusty Groove


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