Friday, December 02, 2016

NEW RELEASES: LALO SHIFRIN - THE SOUND OF LALO SHIFRIN; SUN RA / MERZBOW – STRANGE CITY; THE CRAIG CHARLES FUNK & SOUL CLUB 4 (VARIOUS ARTISTS)

LALO SHIFRIN - THE SOUND OF LALO SHIFRIN

A huge array of groovy genius from the mighty Lalo Schifrin – the South America jazzman who first rose to fame in the group of Dizzy Gillespie, the moved on to give us some of the coolest film scores of the 60s! This set brings together eight of Lalo's best albums from that period, plus a full concert from later years too – all in an overstuffed box that still has plenty to offer, even if you already own a few of the records inside! The set begins with four famous soundtrack albums by Lalo – Mission Impossible, More Mission Impossible, Mannix, and The Cincinnati Kid – but it then moves onto include two other albums that have never been on CD – the ultra-groovy Once A Thief & Other Great Themes, full of jazzy greatness – and the early 70s Rock Requiem – which features a sweet array of funk and psych! The set also features standalone CD albums There's A Whole Lalo Schifrin Goin On and Schifrin Sade – both of which demonstrate Lalo's instrumental talents away from the screen – and CD5 features the complete Jules Verne Festival Concert – recorded in 2007 by Lalo in Paris, as a special concert performance of film themes and jazz titles. CDs also features some bonus tracks – like the single "Dirty Harry" and "Latin Soul" – plus Jimmy Smith instrumentals, and other rare gems! ~ Dusty Groove

SUN RA / MERZBOW – STRANGE CITY

Not an actual meeting of Sun Ra and Merzbow – although given the jazzman's rise to fame in his late life, that's not actually impossible – and instead, the record features a very unique concept – the music of Ra's "Strange Strings" and "The Magic City" – used as core materials which are then reworked into a huge new, noisy mix – with lots of additional instrumentation from Merzbow! Masami Akita adds in all the extra bits – which includes a fair bit of electronics – using Ra's organic originals as the inspiration for the noise generation – at a level that maybe pushes the early electronic moments of the Arkestra way way out into the far reaches of the cosmos. The notes refer to the work as a "deformed mix" – which seems appropriate – and the album features two long tracks, "Livid Sun Loop" and "Granular Jazz (part 2)". ~ Dusty Groove

THE CRAIG CHARLES FUNK & SOUL CLUB 4 (VARIOUS ARTISTS)

UK DJ Craig Charles is looking a bit more disco than usual on the cover here – and maybe sounding a bit more on the music, as well – although the set's still pretty darn funky overall, and definitely lives up to the solid soul of other great volumes in this series! Through his work at the BBC, Charles has become one of the key supporters of the funky underground around the globe – and he's got a great ear for picking the best tracks from contemporary groups, and mixing them with key tracks from way back – which he does wonderfully on this set! The package features 19 tracks in all – some we might have missed otherwise, and all of which really sound great together in this array. Titles include "Hey Mister" by The Fantastics, "Reach Out" by Flevans, "You Could've Been A Lady" by Smoove & Turrell, "Beef Frinder" by Lexoul Dancemachine, "White Lines" by The Traffic, "The Rain" by Lisa Stansfield, "Black Cat" by Brian Auger & The Trinity, "Take You Home" by Lack Of Afro with Joss Stone, "Young People" by Fulton Street, "Next Time" by The Tibbs, "Talking About My Baby" by John Heartsman & Circles, "Bang Bang Boogaloo" by Joe Tatton Trio, "Taj Mahal" by Sunlightsquare with Josue Ferreira, "Futebol De Bar" by The Manuel Azevedo Quartet, and "I Can't Get Satisfied" by Telmo Fernandez Trio. ~ Dusty Groove


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