French vocalist, beatboxer, songwriter and producer Sly Johnson unveils 55.4, his much-anticipated fourth studio album, released on BBE Music. Hailing from Paris, Sylvère Johnson (Sly Johnson) is a major force on the French Hip-Hop, Soul and Jazz scenes, both as a solo artist and as a member of super-group SAIAN SUPA CREW for over a decade, where he was known by the moniker Sly The Mic Buddah. When the crew broke up in 2007, Johnson began to carve out an impressive career, releasing on Blue Note and Universal Jazz, as well as collaborating with Larry Gold, Roddy Rod, T3 & Elzhi from Slum Village, Georgia Ann Muldrow, Dudley Perkins, FINALE, Erik Truffaz, and legendary French rapper Oxmo Puccino to IAM among many others. Written and recorded during the first COVID lockdowns between March and May 2020, Sly Johnson’s fourth album blends Soul and Hip Hop, twinning vocal arrangements reminiscent of Prince and D’Angelo with loose, supple, beats and jazzy chords. Most of the musical heavy lifting is done by Johnson himself, but the album features bass by Laurent Salzard, guitar by Ralph Lavital and Anthony Jambon, keys by Nicholas Vella & Laurent Coulondre and a spellbinding guest vocal by Jona Oak.Why 55.4? “It took 55 days of creation to make the songs of this 4th solo album” says Sly.
Beautifully spiritual work from this wonderful Chicago group – a set that's maybe more in the vibe of some of the more recent recordings by Joshua Abrams than some of the other members of the group – but in a way that really shows the depths of the others' playing! Dave Rempis creates all these incredible sounds on alto, tenor, and baritone – and Jim Baker adds in some very cool electronics next to his piano work – but maybe the most well-suited match for Abrams' energy is percussionist Avreeayl Ra, who handles mbira, wooden flute, and additional percussion next to his drums. The set begins with the short "Survivors" tune – then moves into two very long improvisations, "Between A Rock" and "Viscosity". ~ Dusty Groove
Deborah Jordan is back, and sounding every bit as wonderful as we might have hoped – continuing her work as a groundbreaking singer in 21st Century soul, as she works here with music put together by Kieron Ifill! The tracks are often quite lean – crisp and focused, in a way that really has Jordan's vocals right up front – and the approach is almost a leaner take on the cosmic London styles that first lifted Deborah up to the heavens – but with a more refined take on the style that really knocks it out of the park! The whole album's wonderful – a key slice of material from this wonderful vocalist – and titles include "Innervision", "Human", "Running", "Heartbroken", "Fragility", "Cycles", "Never4get", and "Wisdom". ~ Dusty Groove
Part of IF Music founder Jean-Claude’s ever expanding ‘YOU NEED THIS!’ series of compilation albums, the London record shop impresario and DJ takes us on another scintillating musical journey, this time exploring the catalogue of German jazz imprint, Enja Records. Like Jean-Claude’s ‘Journey Into Deep Jazz’ series on BBE Music and his 2017 exploration of Black Saint & Soul Note Records before it, ‘IF MUSIC PRESENTS YOU NEED THIS!: AN INTRODUCTION TO ENJA RECORDS’ provides another impeccably curated and programmed selection of music, assembled by simply one of the most knowledgable and passionate vinyl specialists in the business.Featuring performances by John Stubblefield, Bobby Hutcherson, Harold Land, Don Cherry, Cecil McBee and Pharoah Sanders collaborator Marvin Hannibal Peterson to name but a few, this collection provides a great jumping-off point for Enja’s rich and diverse back catalogue. Founded in 1971 by Munich natives and jazz obsessives Matthias Winckelmann and Horst Weber, in its heyday Enja released albums by Eric Dolphy, Charles Mingus, Tommy Flanagan and John Scofield, as well as Kenny Barron, Chet Baker, Abbey Lincoln, Bea Benjamin, Freddie Hubbard, to name but a few. Having firmly established itself as “a bastion of all things deep in jazz” as Jean-Claude neatly sums up, Enja also went on to issue early World Music projects from Abdullah Ibrahim, Rabih Abou-Khalil, Mahmoud Turkmani and many others, and it remains active to this day.
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