Jackie Mittoo & The Soul Brothers Last Train To Skaville

VINYL FACTORY COMPILATION OF THE YEAR 2020!!!

See chart here

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LIMITED EDITION COMES WITH FREE GRAPHIC STORY!

Soul Jazz Records’ new Black Riot: Early Jungle, Rave and Hardcore is a brand new collection of heavyweight ragga-influenced hardcore jungle tracks from the early 1990s. Dark and heavy!

Featuring classic and seminal tracks from the likes of Levictus and Krome &Time, alongside a host of rare and little-known ragga & junglist hardcore tunes from the likes of Babylon Timewarp’s hypnotic Durban Poison, Rhythm for Reasons’ mad ‘The Smokers Rhythm’, The Freaky rave-y breakbeat sound of ‘Time and Age,’ Trip One’s super dark ‘Snowball’ and loads more!

Expect super heavy basslines, equally heavy twisted Amen drum loops, even heavier ragga vocals! Original jungle style - roots and culture - from the earliest days of drum and bass.

Included with the album is a free limited-edition graphic mini-novel “Black Riot: The Mysterons save Planet Earth from the Xatheroid Angels.” This is the third collaboration between Soul Jazz Records and writer/illustrator Paulo Parisi, the highly respected author of graphic books on Jean Michel Basquiat and John Coltrane.

This new graphic story continues the story of black electronic dance music – this time set around the birth of Jungle and continues onwards from Soul Jazz’s earlier ‘Invasion of the Killer Mysterons’ (Jamaican electronic Dub, co-compiled by Kevin Martin (The Bug)) and Mysterons Invade the Jackin’ Zone (about Chicago Acid & Experimental House).

Soul Jazz Records’ new ox-blood red coloured vinyl limited-edition 1000-copies worldwide LP (+ download code) issue of this very rare deep spiritual jazz album first released as a private-press album in 1970 on flautist Lloyd McNeill’s own Asha Record label in Washington, DC.

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CLASSIC! DEEP Jazz includes the wicked 'Home Rule'

Lloyd McNeill is an African-American flautist, painter, poet, and photographer born in Washington, D.C., in 1935. His multi-disciplinary creative life led to encounters and friendships with Nina Simone, Picasso, Eric Dolphy, Nana Vasconceles and other legendary cultural figures. Lloyd McNeill’s hypnotic ‘Washington Suite’ was originally commissioned as a piece of music for the Capital Ballet Company, in Washington, DC.

McNeill grew up through the era of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s and his life and work is a reflection of those ideals. In the mid-1960s he moved to France where he became friends with Picasso, working with a number of émigré-jazz musicians whilst living in Paris. In the late 1960s he taught jazz and painting workshops at the New Thing Art and Architecture Center in Washington. In the 1970s he travelled throughout Brazil and West Africa studying music and taught music anthropology in the US.

It's back in stock!!! EXCLUSIVE - ONLY AVAILABLE HERE!

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WORLD EXCLUSIVE limited edition seven-inch 45 ONLY AVAILABLE to customers at Soul Jazz Records and Sounds of the Universe!

The world's greatest ever break? Here it is - The first official re-release of The Winston's Amen Brother with the LEGENDARY Amen Break as featured on 1000s of hip-hop and jungle releases. This record has been a collectors' 45 for ages and OUT OF PRINT for 50 years - sounding fresh!

Not only that but the flip-side Color Him Father is a superb Curtis Mayfield-esque ANTHEMIC soul tune - as essential as the A-side.

WORLD EXCLUSIVE limited edition seven-inch 45 ONLY AVAILABLE to customers at Soul Jazz Records and Sounds of the Universe!

THIS RECORD IS 100% ESSENTIAL and ONLY available HERE - DO NOT MISS OUT!

Soul Jazz Records’ new Studio One collection ‘Fire Over Babylon: Dread, Peace and Conscious Sounds at Studio One’ features a stellar selection of 70s roots music – classic and rare tracks recorded at Clement Dodd’s musical empire at 13 Brentford Road in the 1970s.

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Rastafarian-inspired Roots music was an ever-important aspect of Studio One’s output from the start of the 1970s onwards and this album features many of the ground-breaking groups and artists that established the sound of Jamaica during this decade and beyond.

Featured here are seminal artists such as Freddie McGregor, The Wailing Souls, The Gladiators, Horace Andy, Devon Russell, Cedric Brooks, Count Ossie, Judah Eskender Tafari alongside a host of lesser-known rare cuts made at Studio One from artists such as The Prospectors, Viceroys and Pablove Black.

Studio One and founder Clement Dodd’s connection with Rastafarianism dates back to the early 1960s, with Dodd accompanying members of the Skatalites up to the hills of Kingston to listen to the music of the Rastafarianism Count Ossie and his drummers. The album sleevenotes discuss how Clement Dodd’s musical links, as well as his role in heading the most important record label in Reggae, are in many ways linked to the beliefs of Rastafarianism.

This album is released as a heavyweight black vinyl double-album with gatefold sleeve, full notes and download code, deluxe CD with full booklet and slipcase and digital album.

These are very limited Studio One 12" pressings (worldwide 1000) that sell out on the day they are released. So don't miss out here!

BRAND NEW LTD. EDN. 12" All-time Studio One party ANTHEM. 100% ESSENTIAL MONSTER TUNE - ROCKS ANY DANCEFLOOR!

'Greedy G’ is the ultimate reggae/funk/hip-hop party tune.

The all-time epic sample for Boogie Down Productions’ seminal ‘Jack of Spades’ based on James Brown’s funk bomb ‘Get on the Good Foot’.

The flipside is another Brentford Road All Stars essential cut, ‘Granny Scratch Scratch’, the heaviest, funkiest dub monster ever with bass to shake more speakers than a juggernaut lorry!

Boom!

Soul Jazz Records’ limited-edition black vinyl 1000-copies worldwide LP (+ download code), (as well as CD and digital) issue of this very rare deep spiritual jazz meets Brazilian and Latin album first released as a private-press album in 1978 on flautist Lloyd McNeill’s own Baobob Record label in Washington, DC. The album has been out-of-print for 43 years and is lovingly remastered by Soul Jazz Records.

Tori is a stunning album that blends Brazilian and Latin flavours with deep Spiritual Jazz, recorded in 1978. The album features an unbelievably strong line-up which includes legendary Brazilian figures like Dom Um Romao, Nana Vasconcelos and Dom Salvador alongside jazz heavyweights such as Buster Williams, Howard Johnson, John La Barbera and more. These A-team musicians were all regulars in McNeill’s long-running and highly successfull resident live group in New York all set up to blend deep jazz, Brazilian and Latin music together.

Lloyd McNeill is an African-American flautist, painter, poet, and photographer born in Washington, D.C., in 1935. His multi-disciplinary creative life led to encounters and friendships with Nina Simone, Picasso, Eric Dolphy, Nana Vasconceles and other legendary cultural figures. Lloyd McNeill’s hypnotic ‘Washington Suite’ was originally commissioned as a piece of music for the Capital Ballet Company, in Washington, DC.

McNeill grew up through the era of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s and his life and work is a reflection of those ideals. In the mid-1960s he moved to France where he became friends with Picasso, working with a number of émigré-jazz musicians whilst living in Paris. In the late 1960s he taught jazz and painting workshops at the New Thing Art and Architecture Center in Washington. In the 1970s he travelled throughout Brazil and West Africa studying music and taught music anthropology in the US.

Soul Jazz Records are releasing Studio One Ska Fire Box Set, a limited-edition one-off pressing exclusive for Record Store Day 2021, collectors seven-inch box set featuring 10 amazing and super-rare Studio One ska tracks on five 7” singles, all produced here in deluxe hard form box each single with separate inner sleeves.

This is incredibly Trees Speak’s third album on Soul Jazz Records to be released in the space of one year – and it’s amazing!

Trees Speak’s new album ‘Post-Human’ once again blends 1970s German electronic and ‘motorik’ Krautrock instrumentals (think Harmonia, Can, Cluster, Popul Vuh, Neu!), haunting and powerful 1960s & 1970s soundtracks (think Italian prog-rock Goblin and John Carpenter horror movies, Morricone and existential John Barry spy movies), together with a New York No Wave electronic synth and guitar analogue DIY-ness (think Suicide, anything on Soul Jazz’s New York Noise series or Eno's New York No Wave)!

The new album ‘Post-Human’ draws further upon German krautrock high-concept albums from the likes of Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze from the 1970s, as Trees Speak create their own powerful new landscapes of sound that manage to be at once contemporary as well as both timeless and with a sense of science-fiction futurism.

Trees Speak’ seamlessly segue together all these musical elements into ‘Post-Human,’ a conceptually expansive album which follows on from their critically-acclaimed debut LP ‘Ohms,’ and the follow-up ‘Shadow Forms’ released on Soul Jazz Records less than six months ago.

This powerful new album is a high-concept collage of retro-futurist science-fiction music, which is fantastically illustrated by a specially commissioned cover design by the artist Eric Lee, a dramatic vision of life after humanity.

Trees Speak are Daniel Martin Diaz and Damian Diaz from Tucson, Arizona and their music often draws on the cosmic night-time magic of Arizona’s natural desert landscapes. ‘Trees Speak’ relates to the idea of future technologies storing information and data in trees and plants - using them as hard drives – and the idea that Trees communicate collectively.

The album includes an INDIES ONLY exclusive bonus 45 single with two extra tracks ‘Machine Vision’ and ‘Seventh Mirror’ available with the vinyl edition of this amazing and ground-breaking new album.

With ‘Post-Human,’ Trees Speak take the listener deep into their unique musical world of unknown visions of the past and the future.

ABOUT Ohms: Album of the Month - Splintered Eye /50 Best albums 2020 - Pop Matters / Favourite albums 2020 -The Soap Company / Albums of the Year 2020 -Bear Tree Records / Independent Albums of the Year 2020-Love Records / Albums of the Year 2020-Concrete Islands

ABOUT Shadow Forms: Records of the week-Drift / Album of the week-Resident / Album of the week-Norman / Records of the Year 2020 -South / Albums of the Year 2020 - Concrete Island / Albums of the month - Reveal / Albums of the Year 2020 -Piccadilly / Albums of the Year 2020-Buzzsaw / About Shadow forms / Records of the week-Drift / Album of the week-Resident / Album of the week-Norman / Records of the Year-South / Albums of the Year-Concrete Island / Albums of the month-Reveal / Albums of the Year-Piccadilly /Albums of the Year-Buzzsaw

About Ohms:

“This might well be the Dark Side of the Moon of the XXI century” Discogs

Super-limited new 1000 copies special ox-blood red vinyl edition!

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It's a big one ... Absolutely stunning second album from Trees Speak new on Soul Jazz Records.

Trees Speak’s new album ‘Shadow Forms’ is a blend of 1970s German electronic and ‘motorik’ Krautrock instrumentals (think Harmonia, Can, Cluster, Popul Vuh, Neu!), haunting and powerful 1960s & 1970s soundtracks (think Italian prog-rock Goblin and John Carpenter horror movies, Morricone and existential John Barry spy movies), together with a New Nork no wave electronic synth and guitar analogue DIY-ness (think Suicide, anything on Soul Jazz’s New York Noise series or Eno's New York No Wave)!

Trees Speak’ segue together all these elements into ‘Shadow Forms,’ which follows on from their critically-acclaimed debut LP ‘Ohms,’ released on Soul Jazz Records less than six months ago.

Trees Speak are Daniel Martin Diaz and Damian Diaz from Tucson, Arizona and their music often draws on the cosmic night-time magic of Arizona’s natural desert landscapes. ‘Trees Speak’ relates to the idea of future technologies storing information and data in trees and plants - using them as hard drives – and the idea that Trees communicate collectively.

Trees Speak - Shadow Forms:

Records of the week-Drift/Album of the week-Resident/Album of the week-Norman/Records of the Year-South/Albums of the Year-Concrete Island/Albums of the month-Reveal/Albums of the Year-Piccadilly/Albums of the Year-Buzzsaw

Cold Wave #2

Ltd. Edn. Dayglo sleeve + PURPLE VINYL 2xLP, + mini-fanzine/ Ltd. Edn. Dayglo sleeve + BLACK VINYL 2xLP, + mini-fanzine/ Dayglo CD + Slipcase + Booklet

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Soul Jazz Records new ‘Cold Wave’ is a new collection of current electronic artists who have all been shaped by the early European cold wave artists of the late 70s and early 80s.

This is the second release of Soul Jazz Records’ new Cold Wave overview.

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This second edition Cold Wave #2 comes in two vinyl editions – a one-off pressing purple coloured vinyl edition and a black vinyl edition. Both come as heavyweight double vinyl housed in bespoke individual inner sleeves and the limited edition first pressing of this album comes with its own free pull-out fanzine on the groups featured. The CD edition comes with artist booklet/fanzine and slipcase. All editions are printed in special dayglo colour finish.

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These first artists created new electronic musical landscapes as well as pursuing a stubborn D-I-Y aesthetic, often releasing material on cassette and pioneering use of lo-fi technology, primitive drum machines and home-recording techniques. As part of this continued evolution today many of the artists featured here also self-release their own material, run labels, publish fanzines, or are part of wider musical collectives.

Aside from the first electronic, no wave, and post-punk artists cited as influences –Suicide, Patrick Cowley, The Normal, Martin Hannett, Laurie Anderson, Public Image – this new generation of artists also show an exquisitely open source of electronic and disparate influences, everything from Underground Resistance to Purcell, from Scientist to New Beat and more besides.

Most of the featured artists are based in Europe and include Krikor from France, Beta Evers and L.F.T. from Germany, Lena Willikens, Job Siffre and De Ambassade from the Netherlands, Toulouse Low Trax from Germany, Dave I.D. and Broken English Club from the UK, and V.C.V.S from Georgia

All of the bands featured here make distinctive contemporary music out of the 80s roots of the first cold wave movement.

IN STOCK NOW!

BRAND NEW LTD. EDN. 12" All-time Studio One party ANTHEM now available for the first time ever on loud 12" with version on the flip. 100% ESSENTIAL MONSTER TUNE - ROCKS ANY DANCEFLOOR!

Ltd. Edn. Dayglo sleeve + ORANGE VINYL 2xLP, + mini-fanzine/ Ltd. Edn. Dayglo sleeve + BLACK VINYL 2xLP, + mini-fanzine/ Dayglo CD + Slipcase + Booklet

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Soul Jazz Records new ‘Cold Wave’ is a new collection of current electronic artists who have all been shaped by the early European cold wave artists of the late 70s and early 80s.

This is the first release of Soul Jazz Records’ new Cold Wave overview and a second volume will be released just four weeks later.

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This first edition of Cold Wave comes in two vinyl editions – a one-off pressing orange coloured vinyl edition and a black vinyl edition. Both come as heavyweight double vinyl housed in bespoke individual inner sleeves and the limited edition first pressing of this album comes with its own free pull-out fanzine on the groups featured. The CD edition comes with artist booklet/fanzine and slipcase. All editions are printed in special dayglo colour finish.

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These first artists created new electronic musical landscapes as well as pursuing a stubborn D-I-Y aesthetic, often releasing material on cassette and pioneering use of lo-fi technology, primitive drum machines and home-recording techniques. As part of this continued evolution today many of the artists featured here also self-release their own material, run labels, publish fanzines, or are part of wider musical collectives.

Aside from the first electronic, no wave, and post-punk artists cited as influences –Suicide, Patrick Cowley, The Normal, Martin Hannett, Laurie Anderson, Public Image – this new generation of artists also show an exquisitely open source of electronic and disparate influences, everything from Underground Resistance to Purcell, from Scientist to New Beat and more besides.

Most of the featured artists are based in Europe and include Krikor, Dissemblance and VQOA from France, De Ambassade from the Netherlands, Moisture from Sweden, Kriedler from Germany, Céline Gillain and Carcass Identity from Belgium. One exception is FIT Siegel out of Detroit, connecting the electronic pathways of Europe to the Motor City.

All of the bands featured here make distinctive contemporary music out of the 80s roots of the first cold wave movement.

Back in stock!

Soul Jazz Records new Studio One release Rocksteady Got Soul is a collection of uplifting and superb rocksteady and soulful reggae from the late 1960s and early 1970s. Studio One is the number one label in the history of reggae and he album features - as ever with Studio One - an impeccable and unbeatable line-up of reggae superstars all soaring at the height of their creative powers. Alton Ellis, John Holt, The Heptones, Jackie Mittoo, The Ethiopians, Lee Perry and more.

The album is a mix of classic tunes and rhythms alongside super-rarities that were released in a dazzlingly complex web of Studio One labels and issues, deftly navigated with new sleevenotes from author and Studio One authority Rob Chapman. But enough with the chatter, just spin the platter - these tunes rule the town, hands down!

This Soul Jazz/Studio One album is released as deluxe gatefold double-vinyl + house inners + download code. Also as jewel case CD housed in card slipcase. Both formats come with full sleeve notes/discography and exclusive photography. (The album is also available digitally on day of release onwards)

Super special 20th anniversary SILVER vinyl!

Incredibly inspired electronic retro-futurists who were so ahead of their time that they eventually imploded. This is a classic album!

In the space of five short years (and as many albums) at the end of the 20th century Add N To X caused havoc with their unique retro-futurist electronic music. Add N To X’s musical intensity proved too much for the group who split up in 2002. Their album On The Wires of Our Nerves, complete with its classic cover image, recorded on Soul Jazz Records’ then new offshoot label Satellite Records, launched them into the spotlight and included two NME Singles of the Week ‘Black Regent’ and ‘King Wasp’. Over twenty years since it was first released and long out of print the album 'On The Wires of Our Nerves’ stands up one of the most forward-looking electronic albums of then and now.

This classic album is released in a very limited one-off pressing transparent vinyl edition as an Record Store Day exclusive title

LONG OUT OF PRINT One-off RSD 2021 special limited edition black vinyl

"Steve Reid played with Sun Ra, knew Coltrane, played at Motown. I mean this is a guy who at 19 was playing drums with Fela Kuti in Africa. He is a musical genius. It’s a creative joy and honour to work with him."Kieran Hebden (Fourtet) After a number of groundbreaking live shows between Kieran Hebden (Fourtet) and legendary New York drummer Steve Reid, these two artists have embarked on two amazing new recording projects.

The first release is the Steve Reid Ensemble (featuring Kieran Hebden) "Spirit Walk". This will be followed by a second album by Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid which will be released by Domino Records at the beginning of 2006. Both albums blend electronic experimentation within the frame-work of Steve Reid’s musical heritage. Gilles Peterson will be touring the UK in November alongside The Steve Reid Ensemble. An ardent fan of the music, Peterson has contributed the sleeve-notes to "Spirit Walk" along with another long-time musical admirer Val Wilmer. Steve Reid is a true pioneer of boundary-breaking music.

This latest project/collaboration is a continuation of a musical path that stretches back to the late 1960s. A self-taught master jazz drummer Steve Reid played in Sun Ra’s Arkestra as well as being a session musician at both Motown Records (he plays on for instance Martha and The Vandella’s "Heatwave") and in James Brown’s in-house band at the legendary Harlem Apollo. In the mid-60s Reid went to West Africa, playing and learning the music of Ghana, Nigeria (playing with Fela Kuti), Liberia, Sierra Leone, Senegal. On returning to New York he joined Sun Ra’s The Science Myth Solar Arkestra.

In 1968 as a conscientious objector to the Vietnam war he was sentenced to 4 years in prison where he then taught a Black history course to his fellow inmates. In the 1970’s Reid formed the Legendary Master Brotherhood as well as running his own record company, Mustevic Sound, which released a series of his albums (2 of which have earlier been released by Soul Jazz Records). In a career now spanning over 40 years Steve Reid has worked with artists such as Lester Bowie, Miles Davis, Charles Tyler, Arthur Blythe, Ornette Coleman, Gary Bartz, Chief Bey, Archie Shepp, Sam Rivers, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Leon Thomas and more. This new project is the latest part in Steve Reid’s musical odyssey.

"A truly phenomenal artist. This is the album we've all been waiting a long time for. Steve Reid is steeped in musical history and yet this album has a modernity all of it's own." Gilles Peterson.

LAST COPIES

This is the new 20th anniversary edition of one of Soul Jazz Records’ classic Studio One releases now available as a one-off pressing special blue vinyl very limited-edition pressing ( 2000 copies worldwide).

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Studio One Roots set the standard for Soul Jazz Records’ long-standing series of Studio One collections and features many of the classic artists from Clement 'Sir Coxsone’ Dodd’s mighty roster of reggae.

This album includes Freddie McGregor, Willie Williams, Cornell Campbell, Alton Ellis, Devon Russell alongside some of the defining crack-session men groups of Jamaican reggae history - The Sound Dimension, Brentford All-Stars, The Skatalites, New Establishment and more. As ever the album is filled with a mixture of seminal cuts and super-rarities from the vast vaults of 13 Brentford Road.

Stand-out tracks include Alton Ellis’s Blackish White, a surreal and powerful Afro-centric dream, Count Ossie Nyabinghi and Rastafarian drummers genre-defying interpretation of Booker T and The MGs ‘Meditation’, Willie Williams awe-inspiring versioning of the Skatalites' seminal Rastafari anthem Addis Ababa and many, many more.

This album has been fully digitally remastered, analog cut and packaged complete with the following: Original sleevenotes by Lloyd Bradley (author of When Reggae Was King), compiled by Mark Ainley (Honest Jons), high-quality Soul Jazz mastering, wicked images of Count Ossie and the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari on the cover, and a rare image of Clement Dodd and musicians inside the studio at Studio One on the full colour inner sleeves.

REVIEWS:

"Having established himself as one of Jamaica's top producers the day Studio One opened its doors in the early '60s, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd was unable to maintain his status during the roots era of the subsequent decade. This can be attributed to a couple of factors. One was Dodd's apparent reluctance to record the new, overtly Rasta-inspired music. The other was an infusion of new blood into the Jamaican music business. Eager to make a name for themselves, producers like Joe Gibbs, Bunny Lee, Lee "Scratch" Perry, and Winston "Niney" Holness managed to supplant the island's "big three" (Dodd, Duke Reid, and Prince Buster) in the process, driving the music's evolution in the '70s.

There isn't a weak number across these 16 tracks, from the Gaylads' ode to "Africa" and Devon Russell's version of the heavyweight "Drum Song" rhythm, to a trio of stunning instrumentals: Jackie Mittoo and the Cyclones with nyahbinghi drummer Count Ossie on "Meditation," Lenny Hibbert's sparkling vibe work over Mittoo's "Ghetto Organ" ("More Creation"), and Sound Dimension's "Congo Rock."

The music of this compilation is of a rare, rare beauty and is essential to anyone's reggae collection." All Music

New edition of this seminal album available as a 1000 copies edition only on new premium RED vinyl!

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'A truly phenomenal artist.' GILLES PETERSON

'Steve Reid is one of the greatest drummers. He is a musical genius' KIERAN HEBDEN (Four Tet)

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As a radical jazz artist, Steve Reid played with an extraordinary group of artists – including Miles Davis, Sun Ra, Fela Kuti, James Brown, Ornette Coleman, Lester Bowie, Freddie Hubbard, Jackie McLean, Dionne Warwick, Archie Shepp, Chief Bey, Olatunji, Arthur Blythe, , Dextor Gordon, Gary Bartz, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Sam Rivers, Leon Thomas, Lonnie Smith and Horace Silver!

Reid was born in the South Bronx, and grew up in Queens, New York. He played in the house band at Harlem's Apollo Theatre, accompanying James Brown, as well as playing in Sun Ra's Arkestra. He lived next to John Coltrane, worked in a department store with Ornette Coleman, had a son who played drums with NWA. He began his career as a teenager in the 1960s as a drummer at Motown when he played on Martha and The Vandellas "Heatwave" (aged 14).

At the end of the 1960s Reid was sentenced to four years in jail as a conscientious objector of the Vietnam war. On his release from prison in 1974, he formed the Legendary Master Brotherhood and started the independent record label, Mustevic Sound, to release his debut LP Nova in 1976. This album is released in its entirety and with full original cover art here. Nova was the first in a series of stunning independent records he released in the 1970s.

At the start of the 21st century, his career took a new twist when Steve Reid began a successful collaboration with Kieran Hebden (Four Tet). Hebden referred to Reid as his ‘musical soul mate’, resulting in a number of joint albums.

Steve Reid died in New York in 2010. Subsequently the Steve Reid Foundation was set up in his name, to help aspiring musicians and artists.

New fully remastered re-release of Soul Jazz Records’ ‘The World of Arthur Russell’, the seminal collection of Arthur Russell’s essential music back in print on awesome limited-edition heavy deluxe triple vinyl and deluxe CD edition.

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This album brings together some of Russell’s best-loved and most accessible works including his wide-ranging music both solo and in groups including Dinosaur L (the essential ‘Go Bang’), Loose Joints (the equally classic ‘Is It All Over My Face’) as well as rarities such as the 7” only ‘Pop Your Funk’, Indian Ocean’s ‘Schoolbell/Treehouse’, Lola’s ‘Wax The Van’ and more.

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“Arthur Russell fused the avant-garde with disco and sounds like nothing else on earth.” The GUARDIAN

“Russell is the great enigma of the New York music scene” THE WIRE

“Simply one of the best compilations of this or any year.” RECORD COLLECTOR

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Arthur Russell’s music effortlessly crossed musical boundaries making it timeless. His dance music credentials are faultless and this collection features mixes from Larry Levan, Françcois Kervorkian and Walter Gibbons. Similarly, his song-writing, musicality and performance skills are equally cherished as composer Philip Glass wrote, ‘this was a guy who could sit down with a cello and sing with it in a way that no one on earth has ever done before or will do again.’

When Soul Jazz Records’ The World of Arthur Russell first came out in 2003, Russell’s music had slipped into near obscurity. Nearly 18 years later there are over a dozen releases of his music, reissues of his original albums and more. ‘The World of Arthur Russell’ is the classic first collection of his work available once more.

OUT NOW!

Soul Jazz Records new ‘Two Synths, A Guitar (and) A Drum Machine’ is a new collection of current D-I-Y post-punk bands shaped by the mutant sounds of no wave, punk funk and New York Noise bands from the late 70s and early 80s that collided with the world of underground dance music found at the Paradise Garage, Mudd Club in New York City (ESG, Arthur Russell, Bush Tetras, Talking Heads, Suicide, Liquid Liquid).

Other influences cited here include Manchester and Sheffield’s industrial post-punk sounds of the 1980s (Joy Division, Cabaret Voltaire, Gang of Four) as well as the 1970s German electronic experimentalism of Cluster, Neu!, Harmonia and Can.

Featured artists from around the globe include Los Angeles D-I-Y band Automatic, New Fries from Toronto, artist/music collaborators Toresch from Germany, Susumu Makai from Japan/UK, Vex Ruffin from the Phillipines/California and Madmadmad, Gramme, Tom of England and other UK groups

That all the bands featured here manage to make distinctive contemporary music out of these 80s roots is testament to the wide range of other musics that are seamlessly absorbed into a modern melting pot of sound – hip-hop, the electronic European avant-garde, rave culture, and more.

The double vinyl comes in two editions:

1) Limited edition indies EXCLUSIVE heavyweight green double vinyl housed in bespoke individual inner sleeves with its own free pull-out fanzine on the groups featured.

2) Limited edition heavyweight black double vinyl housed in bespoke individual inner sleeves with its own free pull-out fanzine on the groups featured.

The album is also available as a CD and digital release

Cuba: Music and Revolution: Culture Clash in Havana: Experiments in Latin Music 1975-85 Vol. 1 is the new album compiled by Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker (Soul Jazz Records) that explores the many new styles that emerged in Cuba in the 1970s as Jazz, Funk, Brazilian Tropicalia and even Disco mixed together with Latin and Salsa on the island as Cuban artists experimented with new musical forms created in the unique socialist state of Cuba.

The album comes as a heavyweight 3xLP and deluxe 2xCD set, complete with extensive sleeve notes, and is jam-packed with heavy bass lines, synth and Wah-Wah guitar funk combined with the heavyweight percussion, powerful brass lines and the all-encompassing Latin rhythms of Cuban music known throughout the world.

The album is released to coincide with the massive new deluxe large format book Cuba: Music and Revolution: Original Cover Art of Cuban Music: Record Sleeve Designs of Revolutionary Cuba 1959-90, published in November, which is also compiled by Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker (Soul Jazz Records), and which features the music and record designs of Cuba, made in the 30-year period following the Cuban Revolution.

The music on this album features legendary Cuban groups such as Irakere, Los Van Van and Pablo Milanés as well as a host of lesser known artists such as the radical Grupo De Experimentación, Juan Pablo Torres and Algo Nuevo, Grupo Monumental and Orquesta Ritmo Oriental, groups whose names remain largely unknown outside of Cuba owing to the now 60-year old US trade embargo which remains in place today and which prevents trade with Cuba – and thus most Cuban records were only ever available in Cuba or in ex-Soviet Union states.

The music on this album reflects the most cutting-edge of Cuban groups that were recording in Cuba in the 1970s and 1980s – who were all searching for a new Cuban identity and new musical forms that reflected both the Afro-Cuban cultural heritage of a nation that gave birth to Latin music - and its new position as a socialist state. Most of the music featured on this album have never been heard outside of Cuba.

Both Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker have been involved in Cuban music for more than two decades – Gilles Peterson with his many Havana Cultura projects for his Brownswood label and Stuart Baker with a number of Soul Jazz Records albums recorded in Cuba. This Soul Jazz Records album is released in conjunction with Egrem, the Cuban state record company, and has been put together after the many crate-digging trips that both compilers have made on the streets of Havana and beyond in Cuba stretching over a 20-year period, searching out rare and elusive original Cuban vinyl records.

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REVIEWS:

"It may only be January, but we already have a strong contender for 'compilation of the year'. Put together by devout crate-diggers and Cuban music enthusiasts Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker (founder of Soul Jazz Records)" JUNO

"It's abundantly clear that these compilers are at the very top of their game. Everything here was previously unheard outside of Cuba, making this a feast for the curious" Vinyl District

"Priceless comp goes beyond Buena Vista" UNCUT

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*Please note the vinyl sticker of this album says "+download code" but it's a mistake! There is no download with this particular album due to legal reasons. Sorry for this error!

Owned and founded by Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, Studio One's output serves as a comprehensive guide to the history of Reggae music. The music on Studio One Rockers covers all areas of Reggae such as Ska, Rocksteady, Roots and Dancehall, all areas in which Studio One led the field.

Studio One Rockers features many legendary Studio One tracks brought together for the first time by Soul Jazz Records. From the beginning of Reggae, when the Skatalites developed a new sound of Ska in 1962 up until today, Studio One has been the number one innovator in Jamaican music.

Included in this compilation are classic Ska tracks ("Phoenix City"), Rocksteady ("Feel Like Jumping"), Roots music ("Truth and Rights"), Dancehall (Freddy McGregor, Michigan and Smiley) and many more.

Featured here are many of the classic tracks from Studio One. From Dawn Penn's legendary "No, No, No" to classics such as Horace Andy's "Skylarking" and Marcia Griffith's "Feel Like Jumping".

The Coxsone Soundsystem in the early 60s was one of the three main soundsystems operating in Jamaica alongside his competitors, Prince Buster and Duke Reid. The Studio One catalogue is possibly the largest in Jamaican music and this release is the first in a series of Studio One compilations on Soul Jazz Records.

This album comes with an in depth interview with Mr C.S. Dodd, about how he set up and ran his record label in the 1960s and 1970s.

"Compilation of the month. 100% Essential" SEVEN "Compilation of the month. A compilation of unbelievable quality. Awesome" MUZIK "A who's who of Jamaican music" MUSICWEEK "An essential slice of musical history" WAX "The most credible compilation of reggae you can 

This is the new instalment of Soul Jazz Records’ ground-breaking Deutsche Elektronische Musik series, ‘A near-definitive guide to some of the world's most extraordinary music’ (The Guardian).

This latest edition features many of the classic German electronic and Krautrock groups from the 1970s & 80s – including Can, Amon Duul II, Harmonia, Conrad Schnitzler, Agitiation Free, Roedelius – as well as a host of lesser known artists such as Dzyan, Klauss Weiss, Gruppe Between and many more.

Deutsche Elektronische rarities unearthed on the album include Kalacakra (whose fan-base included the great Moondog!) and their superb ‘Nearby Shiras,’ taken from their super-rare spiritual/psychedelic private press concept album Crawling to Lhasa, from 1972.

Deutsche Elektronische 4 includes a wealth of German electronic experimental artists – the seminal pioneering group Harmonia (Roedelius, Moebius and Michael Rother), avant-garde guru Conrad Schnitzler as well as lesser known synthetic artists such as Klauss Weiss, Deutsche Wertarbeit, E.M.A.K. (Electronische Musik Aus Koln), Gunter Schickert and others.

Finally, the album also features an array of heavy and progressive German cosmic rock groups – Dzyan, Virus and the amazing Turkish/German tripped out sound of Alex’s ‘Patella Black’, recorded at Can’s Inner Space in 1973, produced by Holger Czukay and Jackie Liebezeit.

Deutsche Elektronische 4 comes with extensive newly commissioned sleevenotes by David Stubbs, author of the seminal books ‘Future Days: Krautrock and the building of Modern Germany’, ‘Mars By 1980: The story of Electronic Music’, and ‘Krautrock: Cosmic Rock and its Legacy’.

This album comes as a heavyweight triple vinyl edition with full colour inner sleeves, as well as a deluxe double CD edition with outsize booklet and slipcase. Both formats include full liner notes and extensive rare photography.

Powerful new spiritual jazz from Chile on Soul Jazz Records!

This album comes as a very limited one-off unique pressing of 1000-edition vinyl, limited editon CD and digital release.

Enrique Rodríguez and the Negra Chiway Band group have an instantly powerful and unique sound that is reminiscent of the ensembles of Sun Ra and his Arkestra as well as Horace Tapscott and his Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, one that channels the righteous spirits of Alice Coltrane, John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp and McCoy Tyner together with a stunning Latin rhythmical and new consciousness and percussive energy. Added to this are elements of the Samurai film soundtracks of Akira Kurosawa, Popol Vuh’s musical spirituality (especially their work with film director Werner Herzog), Tibetan Buddhism and over-blowing chants, that all combine to give a truly unique new sound.

Enrique Rodríguez is a composer, percussionist, keyboardist, and producer from Santiago, Chile, whose work shows many similarities with the music featured on Soul Jazz Records’ recent collection ‘Kaleidoscope - New Spirts Known and Unknown’, featuring new forward-looking jazz artists including Mathew Halsall, Theon Cross, Emma-Jean Thackray and Makaya McCraven.

Like all these artists, Rodríguez’s work is a progressive and experimental fusion of earlier influences that combine into a new and definitely 21st century ground-breaking sound that, on account of its South American setting, give the group its truly unique feeling. Hypnotic modal piano riffs, powerful brass and flutes, an army of Latin percussion instruments, and addictive vocal chants all combine in this powerful mix of radical 60s Afro-centric jazz, eastern spirituality and cosmology, and Latin American rhythmical movement.

Awesome!

Soul Jazz Records’ new album ‘Kaleidoscope – New Spirits Known and Unknown’ brings together many of the ground-breaking artists involved in the new jazz scene that has developed in the UK over the last few years. Featured artists include Matthew Halsall, Yazmin Lacey, Ill Considered, Tenderlonious, Theon Cross, Emma-Jean Thackray and many, many more in this ground-breaking release.

As well as sharing a pioneering spirit in these new artists’ approach to frontier-crossing musical boundaries, a further theme of this album is that many also share a determination to independent practices - and most of these artists’ recordings featured here are either self-published or released on independent labels. While the attention of this new wave of jazz artists has up until now has been London-based, this album shows how this movement is spread across the whole of Britain (and indeed beyond).

‘Kaleidoscope – New Spirits Known and Unknown’ shows that while there is commonality in these artists approach to music, there is a wide variety of styles – from deep spiritual jazz, electronic experimentalisation, punk-edged funk, uplifting modal righteousness, deep soulful vocals and much more.

Soul Jazz Records’ new release comes as a superb one-off pressing special deluxe triple album edition which comes with a bonus limited-edition one-off pressing 7" single, a standard triple album, and a deluxe double CD pack. This album also comes with extensive sleevenotes, artist interviews and exclusive photography.

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Soul Jazz records are also releasing an exclusive one-off pressing double-headed 12” single featuring Theon Cross and Pokus released on the same day as the ‘Kaleidoscope’ album release. These two tracks do not feature on the vinyl edition of the album - this 12" single will will also be deleted on day of release.

This is a one-time only pressing of this 12" single and will be deleted on release. Two killer tracks that are not on the vinyl version of the Kaleidoscope album. Theon Cross's superb Candace of Meroe and Pokus' equally striking Pokus One

The album is a first for Studio One and Soul Jazz as it is compiled of mainly unreleased material from the vaults of Studio One. This CD shows how American Funk influenced Jamaican artists as heavily as Soul music had been an influence in the Rocksteady era and Rhythm and Blues in the Ska period.

As Soul Jazz Records enter into the mighty vaults of Studio One, the most respected label in reggae history, we present you with this showcase of Jackie Mittoo, one of the defining figureheads of reggae music !

From forming The Skatalites, at age 15, alongside Don Drummond, Roland Alphonso, Tommy McCook and others, to his work as writer, arranger, producer at Studio One records during the sixties, writing and playing for artists such as Alton Ellis, Ken Boothe, Marcia Griffiths and The Heptones (to name a few), to his career as a solo artist as well as leader of bands such as The Soul Brothers, Soul Vendors and The Sound Dimension, Jackie Mittoo is at the heart of reggae music. He was one of the instigators of Ska, Rocksteady and Reggae. In the seventies, DJ music and Dancehall were based upon classic rhythms of the sixties, many using the instrumental tracks that Jackie Mittoo created at Studio One at this time.

This compilation features the work of Jackie Mittoo at Studio One. It features music recorded as a solo artist (as opposed to the numerous singers that he accompanied). Most of these are taken from his recordings in the mid sixties where he was recording on an almost daily basis at Studio One's Brentford Road studios developing the funky reggae sound that was his trademark.

Soul Jazz Records are releasing this CD as the first of a series of Reggae artists to be covered following the success of the 100% Dynamite releases. Jackie Mittoo is as much an icon of Reggae as he is to fans of Funk music. He is without doubt the funkiest keyboard player ever to come out of Jamaica !

Reviews:

"CD of the Week. The coolest man who ever lived" THE GUARDIAN***** "

Named by MOJO as one of the 100 cult heroes of all time, this is a lovingly curated compilation" THE INDEPENDENT

"After Soul Jazz Records' groundbreaking 100% Dynamite CD's comes Jackie Mittoo. If you've caught the funky reggae bug, you need this" MUZIK

"Rocksteady, compulsively funky Ska and Soul. An excellent Soul Jazz compilation" MOJO

Coxsone's Music is a stunning new 3-CD/two separate double LP (+ free download) collection featuring over two and half hours of early Jamaican proto-ska, rhythm and blues, jazz, rastafari and gospel music - charting the earliest recordings produced by Clement Dodd, in the years before he launched the mighty Studio One Records, brought together here for the first time ever. 

Clement Dodd's Sir Coxsone The Downbeat Soundsystem ruled Kingston's dancehalls during this era and these recordings strongly reflect the influences of American rhythm and blues and jump jazz on Jamaican music fans. By the time the new record company formed in Brentford Road, Kingston in 1963, the young Clement 'Sir Coxsone' Dodd had already managed to release an incredible wealth of recordings by the talented musicians and artists on the island of Jamaica and this collection reflects just that:

Featuring Don Drummond, Roland Alphonso, Derrick Harriott, Owen Gray, Clancy Eccles, Count Ossie, Monty Alexander, The Blues Busters, Ernest Ranglin, Rico Rodriguez and many, many more all captured here in their formative early years. 

Before Studio One, Clement Dodd released this music on a variety of his early record labels such as Worldisc, All Stars, Coxsone, D Darling (named after Coxsone's mother, who received a production credit on the label), Muzik City (named after Dodd's record store on East Queen's Street), Port O Jam, Supreme and Sensational. Sleevenotes to this collection are by Studio One authority Rob Chapman, author of the Never Grow Old and Downbeat Special books cataloguing the many recordings of the label.

(Vinyl Double Record A is tracks 1-24, Vinyl Double Record B is tracks 25-46)

REVIEWS:

"A juicy compilation that does justice to the forgotten of the history of reggae." LES INROCKS

"Since copyright laws were virtually non-existent in Jamaica for most of the 20th century, it is common to hear innumerable mutations of any given riddim track. Discerning the creators of each song can be a daunting task. From 1967 to ’70, however, the Sound Dimension was the house band at Studio One, creating memorable cuts for the lyrical pantheon of Jamaica to sing and toast over. This 18-song collection of instrumentals shows how pivotal these men were in the sonic architecture of reggae." XLR8R

"Legendary Studio One band Sound Dimension find themselves on the receiving end of another celebrative retrospective courtesy of the ever-reliable Soul Jazz, bringing together classic recordings of 'Mojo Rocksteady', 'Real Rock', 'Heavy Rock'Rockfort Rock', 'Jamaica Underground' and more. The breadth of this band's influence can be heard throughout the annals of reggae, with these timelessly funky cuts revisited and re-versioned by anyone and everyone since being committed to tape in the '60s. Another great document from Soul Jazz" BOOMKAT

All of the music featured here on this new Soul Jazz Records collection was created by Brazilian artists living and working in the USA in the 1970s.

The album brings together some of these finest works and comes complete with extensive notes that explains the path these musicians took from Brazil to the USA and shows the political and musical links between Brazil and the USA that created the conditions for this unique fusion of these two distinct cultures, North American Jazz and Brazilian music, that occurred in the 1970s.

In the early 1970s North American jazz musicians were eager to work with upcoming Brazilian musicians. Miles Davis invited Airto Moreira to join his new ‘electric’ band, Dom Um Romao (part of Sérgio Mendes’ legendary Brazil ‘66 in the 1960s) joined the fusion group Weather Report, Flora Purim and Airto both became a part of Chick Corea’s new project Light As A Feather, Wayne Shorter collaborated with Milton Nascimento, George Duke recorded Brazilian Love Affair, and so on.

With all the attention placed on them from these important jazz artists, North America became the new musical playground for a large number of these Brazilian artists – Airto Moreira, Flora Purim, Sérgio Mendes, Luiz Bonfá, Eumir Deodato, João Donato and many others.

Most of these musicians had already experienced success through the earlier popularity of bossa nova in the 1960s, either at home in Brazil or in the USA. But by the end of the 1960s many Brazilian artists had left their own country, as the military dictatorship became progressively more authoritarian and repressive. In the USA, through their critically acclaimed work for Miles Davis, Weather Report, Light As A Feather etc., all of these artists were now given reign to explore new musical terrains away from the restrictions of both a musical genre and a state censor back in Brazil.

The album comes as a deluxe gatefold double vinyl LP, complete with download code, full sleeve notes, exclusive photography, double inner sleeves. The CD contains CD plus a large 40-page outsize booklet all housed in Soul Jazz slipcase.

Expanded edition which now features five extra tracks!

This ground-breaking album features non-stop killer reggae versions of original funk and soul classics in a disco style. Reggae disco updates of seminal classics by Anita Ward (‘Ring My Bell’), Chaka Khan (‘I’m Every Woman’), Michael Jackson ‘Don’t Stop ‘til You Get Enough,’ Sugarhill Gang (‘Rappers Delight’ here performed by Derrick Laro & Trinity for producer Joe Gibbs) and more, all showing the hidden but inseparable link between the dance floors of New York, Kingston and London.

New bonus tracks to this collection include Derrick Harriott’s funky take on Eddie Drennon’s ‘Do It Nice and Easy’, the classic disco reggae of Risco Connection’s performing McFadden and Whitehead’s ‘Ain’t No Stopping Us Now’ and the London rare groove lovers rock of Charmaine Burnett singing Barbara Acklin’s soul classic ‘Am I The Same Girl’.

‘Hustle! Reggae Disco’ has been one of Soul Jazz Records’ best-selling releases since its first release 15 years ago (and subsequently featured heavily in the early Grand Theft Auto games!). This new edition comes complete fully re-mastered and with all original titles plus new tracks. This new expanded edition now comes as a triple album (+ download code), CD and digital album.

‘The effect of American R&B and soul music on Jamaican reggae is well documented, but the story doesn't stop there, for disco (and more so now for rap and hip-hop) have also been subsumed into the reggae mix, and while one might suspect that the resulting hybrid would die of its own implausibility, the feral mix of disco with reggae rhythms is so darn infectious that it hardly matters. Once you take your brain out of the frame and just let your feet go, this collection is a dancer's delight all done up in full-blown disco style, but with huge dub-style rhythm tracks … if you're looking for an impossibly infectious dance collection, this is it.’ All Music

Studio Roots Vol. 2 delves deeper into the vaults of the legendary Jamaican Reggae label and features rare and classic roots as well as an unprecedented seven unreleased tracks that up till now have never seen the light of day. 

Roots and rastafarian music was being recorded at Studio One by Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd from the early 1960s onwards to the 1990s and this album reflects the depth and diversity of roots music at the label. 

From the slow-ska of Dudley Sibbley, to the deep instrumental jazz cuts of Cedric Im Brooks over classic roots rhythms such as "Satta Massagana" to Winston Mathews stunning eerie version of Bob Marley and the Wailers "Sun Is Shining". The Zion All Stars features the Burro rastafarian drumming of Count Ossie and the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari. 

This album features many of the classic Studio One artists – Willie Williams, Tommy McCook, Cedric Brooks, The Gladiators, Vin Gordon – as well as many less well known artists – all who produced classic roots music under the guidance of producer Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd and recorded at the legendary Studio One Records which Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records, describes as "The University of Reggae".

Soul Jazz Records’ new journey into the mighty vaults of Clement Dodd’s Studio One steps once more into the fertile musical environment of Jamaican music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, from the sweet harmony vocals of seminal 1960s Rocksteady right up to the nascent birth of Reggae and Roots music at the start of the 1970s.

Sleevenotes to this album are by Steve Barrow, author of ‘Rough Guide to Reggae’ as well as Soul Jazz Records’ own ‘Reggae Soundsystem Cover Art’ books.

While Ska at the start of the 1960s had taken American rhythm and blues as its main influence, Rocksteady focused on the emergence of American Soul music – with Jamaican vocal harmony groups such as The Gaylads, John Holt & The Paragons, Carlton & The Shoes showing a particular fascination with the close harmonies of Curtis Mayfield and The Impressions and other US soul acts. Here The Heptones even feature with a cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘I Shall Be Released’.

The influence of Soul music on Jamaican rock steady and reggae is almost palpable, so much so that one wonders how much more successful singers like Delroy Wilson, Alton Ellis, Slim Smith and John Holt would have been had they been born in Chicago, Detroit or Memphis

Artists such as Alton Ellis, Delroy Wilson and Owen Gray defined the era – a slowed down beat as Jamaican political and social heat slowly increased as the 1960s progressed into the start of the 1970s –  and the music evolved further from rock steady into roots reggae.

Wicked tunes!

Double vinyl + download code, Deluxe CD, Digital album.

Reviews:

"Every tune is a bonaflide classic" Pitchfork

Read full Pitchfork article here

After The Skatalites, The Sound Dimension were perhaps the most important instrumental group in the history of reggae music. That they remain relatively unknown is explained by the fact that they mostly functioned as the in-house studio group at Studio One Records performing anonymously behind the stars of the day, the reggae equivalent of Motown’s Funk Brothers.
During this period the group played on hundreds of hits with Jamaica’s finest vocalists - Alton Ellis, John Holt, Larry Marshall, Cornell Campbell, Dennis Brown, Horace Andy, The Heptones, Bob Andy, Marcia Griffiths, Freddie McGregor and hundreds more.

Twenty years after the group split-up, their countless classic instrumental tracks recorded at Studio One became the foundation rhythms of the new dancehall music of the 1990s and beyond, countlessly replayed in new forms by artists and producers such as Joe Gibbs, Sly & Robbie, Steely & Clevie etc.

Featured here is the first ever collection of these original 1960s rhythms in this first ever collection of the music of The Sound Dimension - a mixture of classic tracks alongside super-rare singles only ever released in Jamaica.

The group’s fluid line-up included Jackie Mittoo, Leroy Sibbles, Cedric Brooks, Vin Gordon, Ernest Ranglin, Leroy Horsemouth Wallace and other legendary reggae giants. The group’s unique sound defined reggae music in its relatively short-lived career.

REVIEWS/FEATURES
“ A funky disc, full of great, skanking rhythms and fine playing by some of Jamaica's most revered musicians. It’s difficult to believe that this is the first compilation devoted solely to the Sound Dimension, the group who reshaped the signature Jamaican afterbeat of ska and rocksteady into the sturdy, versatile riddims of reggae, and the instrumentals they created are still being used as the basis of scores of songs to this day.” PITCHFORK

" The Sound Dimension was simply one of the great rhythm sections of all time, playing with the same paradoxical tightness and tensile give-and-take to be found in the recordings of legendary groove brethren like Booker T and The MGs. It bears repeating that the Soul Jazz collections have set a high standard for audio quality, and Jamaica Soul Shake Vol. 1 is no exception to that. Indeed, those responsible for re-mastering these tracks seem to have found (and released) most of the punch, rumble, and majesty still held within aging original magnetic oxides and vinyl grooves." DUSTED

Soul Jazz Records continues it's journey into the vaults of the mighty Studio One with this next instalment featuring everything from classic ska and rocksteady to the deepest roots, heaviest dub and dancehall roots.

As ever the album includes incredible reggae artists such as The Heptones, Ken Boothe, The Skatalites, Johnny Osbourne, Wailing Souls all of whom launched their careers at Studio One, 13 Brentford Road, under the guidance of Clement 'Sir Coxsone' Dodd.

This album features some of the most in-demand and collectible Studio One tracks over the years, all digitally remastered. The sleevenotes are by Rob Chapman, author of the celebrated books about Studio One Records, 'Never Grow Old' and 'Downbeat the Ruler'.

Comes as CD with slipcase, double-album thick card sleeve and heavyweight Double vinyl.

Studio One's music in the 1970s took the label to new heights. The new style of Disco Mix brought many areas of Reggae together ­ Roots, Lovers, Disco and Dub all came together in extended form, re-versioning classic hits, experimenting with new studio technology, over-dubbing, syn-drums and more producing what many fans describe as the most creative and innovative phase in the history of the legendary Studio One Records.

This Studio One Disco Mix album includes many sought after classic tunes only ever released in very small quantities (on Studio One's very first 12" records as well as it's infamous Music Lab 10"s out of New York) and consequently many of these track s have been unavailable since their day of release. Studio One Disco Mix features many of the classic Studio One artists such as Alton Ellis, Sugar Minott, Jackie Mittoo and Willie Williams (with his classic re-versioning of his own "Armigideon Time") alongside less well artists such as Doreen Schaeffer, Judah Eskender Tafari and George Dudley and many more.

"Soul Jazz Records set Sounds of the Universe: Art + Sound 2012-15 features some of the heaviest Afrofuturistic producers out there:"  PITCHFORK

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Soul Jazz Records new Sounds of the Universe: Art + Sound 2012-15 is a new double album CD (and two separate volumes of double-vinyl) featuring a line-up of some of the most forward-thinking and progressive artists and producers working with electronic music around the world today.

This lovingly compiled collection features a stunning array of contemporary artists: Chicago’s Afro-futurist genius Hieroglyphic Being; Kaseem Mosse (aka Gunnar Wendell/Siege of Troy), one of the most talked-about, respected artists in underground house and techno; out of Detroit’s Moodyman stable comes Andres; also featured is Los Angeles-based Ras G, associated with the Brainfeeder label established by fellow producer Flying Lotus; and many more!

This new collection features a first CD of tracks recorded exclusively for Soul Jazz Record’s bespoke Sounds of the Universe label. These were originally issued under their Art + Sound series between 2012 and 2015 as unique hand-etched and original commissioned art pieces (reproduced here) collectors’ 12” singles - all pressed in micro-editions of 250 copies for each artist’s release that were only ever available exclusively from Soul Jazz Records’ boutique Sounds of the Universe shop in Soho, London.

The second CD features a fantastic set of all brand new exclusive tracks from the likes of Seven Davis Jr, Drexciya collaborator DJ Stingray, deep house virtuoso Mike Huckaby, Glaswegian noise-punk six-piece Golden Teacher, and lots more – all created and commissioned especially for this release. These songs are not available anywhere else in the world.

Together these 2CDs comprise an amazing selection of new progressive electronic music.

This album is released as double CD pack with slipcase and booklet. It is also available as two separate limited edition double vinyl editions in heavyweight vinyl and gatefold sleeves with full artwork + free download codes, and as a worldwide digital release.

Studio One Freedom Sounds is the new collection from Soul Jazz/Studio One focussing on the intense period in the second half of the 1960s when Studio One’s vast and unbeatable output of ska, soul, rock steady and reggae made it literally one of the hottest musical empires in the world.

During this highly successful period, Clement ‘Sir Coxsone’ Dodd released hundreds and hundreds of superlative singles seemingly on an almost daily basis, in the process making huge stars out of Jamaican singers such as Alton Ellis, Delroy Wilson, The Wailers, Slim Smith, Jackie Opel and many more.

Powered by the finest in-house musicians working in Jamaica, whether it was The Skatalites, Jackie Mittoo’s Soul Brothers, The Sounds Dimension or The Soul Vendors, Studio One functioned as hit factory on the scale of Motown in the USA, shaping and defining reggae music for decades to come.

Singlehandedly Studio One’s founder Clement Dodd was able to create the most successful vertically-integrated record company that Jamaica had ever known with pressing plant, printers, studio, shops, and sound systems all running at once, with over 50 employees and hundreds of artists working with Studio One during this time.

Studio One Freedom Sounds tells the story of Studio One in the 1960s with a stunning set of ska, soul, rock steady and reggae killer tunes as well as informative sleevenotes and track-by-track info by Noel Hawks. The album is released as heavyweight double vinyl (+ free download code), deluxe CD and digital album.

Fantastic new collection of rare and classic killer ska from the legendary Skatalites, one of the most important groups in the history of Reggae.

This album was first released only as a limited-edition  collectors 7-inch box set (now deleted) and is now available for the first time as a double LP edition (+ Download Code), CD and digital release - complete with 10 extra bonus tracks and new extensive sleeve notes!

The Skatalites brought the sound of Jamaica to the world. At the start of the 1960s, in the space of just a couple of years Don Drummond, Tommy McCook, Jackie Mittoo, Ernest Ranglin, Johnny ‘Dizzy’ Moore, Lloyd Knibbs, Lloyd Brevett and others defined the exciting beat of ‘Ska’ as the sound of newly independent Jamaica.

As the house band at Clement ‘Sir Coxsone’ Dodd’s newly launched Studio One Records at 13 Brentford Road, the group comprising the finest jazz musicians on the island played on literally 1000s of recordings – Bob Marley and The Wailers, Toots and The Maytals, Delroy Wilson, Ken Boothe, Alton Ellis and many, many more.

During their existence (1963-65) The Skatalites also recorded 100s of their own songs, released either under their own name, or The Studio One Orchestra, or that of band members Drummond, McCook etc. This is the first collection on Soul Jazz Records to bring you some of their finest material – from classics such as ‘Guns of Navarone’, ‘El Pussy Cat Ska’, ‘Christine Keeler’ through to some serious rarities such as Dizzy Johnny and The Studio One Orchestra’s ‘Sudden Destruction’ and Don Drummond’s ‘Coolie Boy’.

The Skatalites’ ska sound brought together aspects of jazz, latin, rhythm and blues, proto-Rastafarianism (tracks such as ‘Full Dread’, ‘Beardsman Ska’) and more. The intensity and energy of their sound was matched by the experimentation of the troubled genius of Don Drummond whose ‘far east’ modal trombone sound added a complex melancholy to the music of the Skatalites (the group split-up after Drummond was charged with murdering his wife, dancer Margarita Mahfood).

Soul Jazz Records are issuing the awesome deep jazz album Rhythmatism (1976) from the legendary Steve Reid long out of print in a new edition very limited 1000-copies COLOURED vinyl (+download code) and CD.

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‘Steve Reid is one of the greatest drummers.

He is a musical genius’ KIERAN HEBDEN (Four Tet)

‘A truly phenomenal artist.’ GILLES PETERSON

‘Steve Reid reflects the spirit of a generation- Art Ensemble of Chicago, John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, the Black Artists Group.’ THE WIRE

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Drummer and composer extraordinaire Steve Reid’s Rhythmatism is one of his deepest and most radical of albums of all time and features some of the heaviest jazz players - Arthur Blythe ‘AKA Black Arthur’, Charles Tyler, David Wertman and others – joining Reid. The album was originally released on Reid’s own Mustevic Sound label in 1976

As a radical jazz artist, Steve Reid played with an extraordinary group of artists – including Miles Davis, Sun Ra, Fela Kuti, James Brown, Ornette Coleman, Lester Bowie, Freddie Hubbard, Jackie McLean, Dionne Warwick, Archie Shepp, Chief Bey, Olatunji, Arthur Blythe, , Dextor Gordon, Gary Bartz, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Sam Rivers, Leon Thomas, Lonnie Smith and Horace Silver!

Reid was born in the South Bronx, and grew up in Queens, New York. He played in the house band at Harlem's Apollo Theatre, accompanying James Brown, as well as playing in Sun Ra's Arkestra. He lived next to John Coltrane, worked in a department store with Ornette Coleman, had a son who played drums with NWA. He began his career as a teenager in the 1960s as a drummer at Motown when he played on Martha and The Vandellas "Heatwave" (aged 14).

At the end of the 1960s Reid was sentenced to four years in jail as a conscientious objector of the Vietnam war. On his release from prison in 1974, he formed the Legendary Master Brotherhood and started the independent record label, Mustevic Sound, to release his debut LP in 1976. Rhythmatism is released in its entirety and with full original cover art here and is one of a series of stunning independent records he released in the 1970s.

At the start of the 21st century, his career took a new twist when Steve Reid began a successful collaboration with Kieran Hebden (Four Tet). Hebden referred to Reid as his ‘musical soul mate’, resulting in a number of joint albums.

Steve Reid died in New York in 2010. Subsequently the Steve Reid Foundation was set up in his name, to help aspiring musicians and artists.

BACK IN PRINT!!!!!!! 2xLP now with bonus download code!

Studio One Groups is the latest Soul Jazz/Studio One Records release featuring legendary groups from the foundation label of Reggae. Bob Marley and The Wailers, Toots and the Maytals, The Heptones –just three of Reggae’s greatest groups who all started at Clement Dodd’s Studio One Records, “ The University of Reggae”.

Studio One Groups brings together classic artists alongside lesser-known artists and covers Studio One’s musical output from the 1960s and 70s featuring Ska, Roots, Rocksteady, Dub and more. Clement Dodd’s role in launching and nurturing Reggae groups/singers is unsurpassed. Launching Bob Marley and The Wailers career also meant that Dodd both housed Marley in a flat at Studio One, and employed him to check new American 45s that came out for Studio One artists to cover. 

From vocal training under luminaries such as Horace Andy and Larry Marshall, to musical education (Leroy Sibbles, lead vocalist with the Heptones, became the key in-house bass player after being taught from scratch by Jackie Mittoo), Studio One’s success was due to Clement Dodd’s ability to see talent, surround himself with it and nurture artists. 

Careers were launched from even minor roles at Studio One such as Lee Perry (from handyman to singer and producer), Prince Buster (from security to singer and producer), and so forth. Studio One Groups are at the heart of the labels success. The sweet three-part harmonies, so close to the heart of Jamaican music, can be heard throughout every stylistic change of Reggae music – Ska, Rocksteady, Roots and beyond, all featured here. 

Heavyweight 2xLP + download code.The CD album also comes with exellent sleeve-notes by Rob Chapman, author of the acclaimed Studio One discography, Never Grow Old

REVIEWS:

"The Soul Jazz label once again proves how smart they are with excellent Studio One Groups, an almost overwhelming set of killer cuts from bands and singing groups affiliated with Clement "Coxsone" Dodd's "University of Reggae." There's an amazing, deep history to be explored and even when you focus on just the groups, one disc isn't enough to tell the whole story, but this collection functions as both a killer mixtape and exciting introduction for novices." All Music

"Bob Marley and the Wailers, Toots and the Maytals, the Heptones - just three of reggae's greatest groups who all started at Clement Dodd's Studio One records" Rough Trade

Deluxe CD, 2xLP (+ free download) and worldwide digital 

Available in all good retail and internet stores  from 2 June 2014 or direct from Soul Jazz Records right now!

    This new album features the music of Calypso in its many styles. Included is music from its birthplace - the island of Trinidad - as well as a number of other Caribbean islands (including Jamaica and the Bahamas) and its subsequent onwards journey (Britain, Panama and the United States), recorded during the years 1955-69.

Calypso is one of the most exciting and enduring forms of musical expression to emerge from the beginning of the 20th century - swinging, persuasive rhythm, brilliantly expressive melodies and lyrics of great humour and wisdom.

Calypsonians songs play out a role in society similar to the storytelling Griots of West Africa (and the corresponding music of Kaiso); with their own tales about popular and incredible news items, modern life, local politics all mixed up with sexual innuendo, one-upmanship, comedy and more.

At its source, Calypso is intricately and inextricably bound to the social history of Trinidad and its myriad of traditions, beliefs, folklore and fables. As the music spread around the world, both from the diaspora of many of its performers, as well as its commercial success, the subjects of songs similarly took on local topics.

The most notable singer of Calypso in England was the Trinidadian Lord Kitchener (Aldwyn Roberts), who came to Britain in 1948 on HMS Empire Windrush  (along with fellow Calypsonians Lord Beginner and Lord Woodbine).

Here on this album you will also find other members of Calypso’s aristocracy & royalty – including Lord Cobra, Lord Hummingbird, Lord Growler, King Fighter, Lord Byron, The Mighty Viper, Lord Ivanhoe & more.

The songs vividly capture the popular news stories and fashions of the era - the first Man on the Moon, James Bond’s Pussy Galore, bed bugs, Voodoo, love in cemeteries, West Indians in England, Bossa Nova, the Iron Curtain, and a story of a white man who had a black heart transplant operation.

This album celebrates a criminally unsung and under-documented art form in the modern age and comes with extensive sleevenotes on the history, social context and geography of Calypso, as well as exclusive and stunning photography, original artwork and notes on all the artists and songs featured.

CD with 50 pages of notes, labels and exclusive photos in slipcase. 2xLP gatefold heavy vinyl + full notes, insert, free download code. Worldwide Digital release.

REVIEW;

"Decades before hip-hop became black America's most visible news source, Caribbean and British calypso stars were singing about current events in lilting tunes so seemingly carefree you barely noticed how sharply they were sticking it to the man. With chatty and conversational voices front and center, carnival stars like Viper, Lord Hummingbird and Lord Flea delivered their sass amid suave, jaunty horns and percolating Afro-Caribbean percussion. This collection focuses more on pop culture than on politics: Lord Cobra's enthusiastic account of the 1969 moon landing, for example, is followed by Young Growler's bawdy celebration of James Bond consort "Pussy Galore." Calypso's predominant voice, Lord Kitchener, is represented by the hilarious "Love in the Cemetery," wherein a resident warns him, "Mister, you be brave / To be bringin' your girlfriend atop me grave."

Top 50 best reissues of 2014 - Rolling Stone magazine

‘Space Funk – Afro Futurist Electro Funk in Space 1976-84’, is an intergalactic journey into black space, fuelled by funk, powered by computers.

‘Space Funk’ is a lovingly compiled collection of superb, rare and off-the-wall space funk and electro releases mostly released on small independent labels in the late 1970s and 1980s.

Reactors are reacting, boosters are boosting, pack your funk and shake your booty! Computer funk … makes you jump! This is the space funk program!

The album comes in deluxe artwork and three formats – digipack + slipcase CD, a very limited deluxe 2xLP + bonus 7” single + download vinyl version, and a standard 2xLP + download standard vinyl version.

Features music by Jamie Jupitor, Solaris, Robotron 4, Juju & the Space Rangers and many more intergalactic space warriors!

The shuttle program has been altered – there is no Star Wars only electro funk jam joyriders in Space – hold tight!

This is the stunning debut album from Laraaji. ‘Celestial Vibrations’ was originally released in 1978 under the name Edward Larry Gordon, and then first issued by Soul Jazz Records/Universal Sound in 2010.

Soul Jazz Records are now issuing this hypnotic piece newly re-mastered album once again in a very limited vinyl edition of 1000 and new CD as a full Laraaji release.

‘Celestial Vibrations’ is a cosmic ambient journey sounding unlike anything else when it was first released in 1978 - and sounding utterly unique today.

Laraaji’s album was first issued in New York as a private-pressing record with only very minimal distribution. His distinctive use of the harp-like open-stringed zither and kalimba creates a hypnotic trance like musical landscape.

Laraaji first came to fame in the 1980s as a worldwide ambient artist working with Brian Eno on EG Records. At this time Laraaji worked with a wide range of experimental musicians - Jon Hassell, Harold Budd, Michael Brook, Bill Nelson, Roger Eno, Nana Vasconcelos and Bill Laswell.

Since Soul Jazz Records/Universal Sound first released ‘Celestial Vibrations’ seven years ago (now long deleted), Laraaji’s career has had a renaissance, releasing a string of new albums including a fascinating collaboration with Blues Control for the FRKYWS label, as well as reissues of earlier albums including a three-album cassette only release last year.

Today Gordon continues his unique musical and spiritual path - performing his music mainly for meditation at yoga global retreats. He runs his own ‘Therapeutic Laughter Workshop’ where he coaches people in the mindful use of laughing for its health benefits.

The album is issued as a limited-edition deluxe vinyl and CD edition. (previously released as Edward Larry Gordon ‘Celestial Vibration’)

Legendary Afrobeat pioneer Fela Ransome Kuti's first recordings of highlife and calypso, recorded in London in 1959, on a limited edition 10". Two of the tracks are released here for the first time ever!! The tape of the very first Fela Ransome Kuti recording session has languished in a series of dusty cupboards and damp basements for 60 years. It's a miracle that it has survived in such fine condition. The original Melodisc single, comprising side A of this release, was for long thought lost until a copy of the session acetate turned up and was reissued as part of the superb Soundway compilation Highlife on the Move (2014). However the two tracks on side B of this album have never been issued in any form and are reproduced here in all their glory for the very first time!

Album features Ernie K Doe’s ‘Here Come The Girls’, The Meters, Eddie Bo, Professor Longhair, Lee Dorsey, Wild Magnolias and more.

This is the definitive collection of New Orleans Funk featuring acknowledged masters next to some of the earlier artists who shaped the meaning of funk. The album is also filled with many rare, sought after and undiscovered funk tracks. It covers the period from the emergence of New Orleans Funk in the early 1960's through to the mid-seventies.

The record is an essential part of anyone in any way interested in Funk's record collection. It has some vital ingredients in it that you can't find elsewhere. With the sound of the New Orleans Funeral March Bands, Mardi Gras Indian Tribes and Saturday Night Fish Fries all as inspiration New Orleans Funk developed into a unique sound. 

New Orleans is a port town. Originally owned by the French, this was where many slaves were brought from the West Indies. Many of these slaves came from Haiti and brought with them the religion of Voodoo and its drums and music. It became one of the first parts of America to develop a strong African-American culture leading to the invention of Jazz in the early 1900s. 

A main feature of Jazz in New Orleans were the Jazz Funeral Marching bands. Solemn Brass bands accompanying a coffin would, on burial, be joined by a second line of drummers and dancers which would turn the event into a celebration of the spirit cutting free from earth. This African tradition is strong in New Orleans and still goes on to this day. The backline drums play a syncopated style that is neither on the beat nor the off-beat. It is these rhythms that are the basis of New Orleans Funk. 

The album comes with a booklet presenting a historical explanation to how and why this music came about, and with lots of information about the people involved.

Reviews:
"A Perfect Primer For Funk Fans" Q (Top 5 albums of the year)
"Probably the finest compilation that Soul Jazz has released. Essential" Time Out

New edition of this seminal album available as a 1000 copies edition only on new premium RED vinyl!

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'A truly phenomenal artist.' GILLES PETERSON

'Steve Reid is one of the greatest drummers. He is a musical genius' KIERAN HEBDEN (Four Tet)

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As a radical jazz artist, Steve Reid played with an extraordinary group of artists – including Miles Davis, Sun Ra, Fela Kuti, James Brown, Ornette Coleman, Lester Bowie, Freddie Hubbard, Jackie McLean, Dionne Warwick, Archie Shepp, Chief Bey, Olatunji, Arthur Blythe, , Dextor Gordon, Gary Bartz, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Sam Rivers, Leon Thomas, Lonnie Smith and Horace Silver!

Reid was born in the South Bronx, and grew up in Queens, New York. He played in the house band at Harlem's Apollo Theatre, accompanying James Brown, as well as playing in Sun Ra's Arkestra. He lived next to John Coltrane, worked in a department store with Ornette Coleman, had a son who played drums with NWA. He began his career as a teenager in the 1960s as a drummer at Motown when he played on Martha and The Vandellas "Heatwave" (aged 14).

At the end of the 1960s Reid was sentenced to four years in jail as a conscientious objector of the Vietnam war. On his release from prison in 1974, he formed the Legendary Master Brotherhood and started the independent record label, Mustevic Sound, to release his debut LP Nova in 1976. This album is released in its entirety and with full original cover art here. Nova was the first in a series of stunning independent records he released in the 1970s.

At the start of the 21st century, his career took a new twist when Steve Reid began a successful collaboration with Kieran Hebden (Four Tet). Hebden referred to Reid as his ‘musical soul mate’, resulting in a number of joint albums.

Steve Reid died in New York in 2010. Subsequently the Steve Reid Foundation was set up in his name, to help aspiring musicians and artists.

 Ahead of its time, And Don’t The Kids Just Love It was Television Personalities’ influential debut album released in 1981 and features I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives. The legendary lo-fi release sees them produce British inspired 60s pop and post-punk that captured the period and ‘sounds remarkably prescient’ (Pitchfork’s Best 100 albums of the 1980s). With the formidable Daniel Treacy at its core, Television Personalities remain one of new wave’s longest serving and seminal artists with a career spanning over three decades. 

Limited edition, black on white marbled vinyl, DL card, 1000 only. Single sleeve - download card included.