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
