From Latin to Jazz Dance Collection - 60's Downtempo Boogaloo & Latin Jazz

Every one of these (5) disks throws down some of the finest boogaloo and latin jazz of the 60's. This disk kicks off with Mongo Santamaria "Sweet tater Pie", then Les McCann's classic "Boo-ga-loo" and away it goes ...Cuts by Willie Bobo, Sonny Stitt, Ahmad Jamal, and throughout good campy tunes are thrown in for good measure, such as "The Duck" by the Hi Lows, the Champs etc. This and all the other 4 in the series are equally great and are 1st draft for the party stack. The series continues with "The Bossa Nova Exciting Jazz Rhythms" 5 more volumes. I own all 10 volumes and all get a 5 star rating. Sound quality is actually quite good especially since a lot of these cuts are needle drops.If you dig the Mojo Jazz Dance series, or the Brown Sugar series you will love this

This is prime stuff pick them up while you can.

From Latin To Jazz Dance Vol.1

From Latin To Jazz Dance Vol.2

From Latin To Jazz Dance Vol.3

From Latin to Jazz Dance Vol.4

From Latin To Jazz Dance Vol.5 

LINKS

Young, Gifted & Black - The New Reggae Generation

Young, Gifted And Black acts as an excellent primer for a new generation of reggae enthusiasts. With their vigorous reissue programme, Trojan Records appear to be inspired by the recent success of the Blood And Fire label, although their own specialist field is ska and rocksteady rather than deep dub. The endorsements in the sleeve booklet come from Don Letts and UB40's Robin Campbell, with the latter highlighting this set's populist accessibility. There's a wide range to be covered in this handsome package, so any selection is bound to end up with some degree of subjectivity. Even so, it's hard to go wrong with two discs and 50 tracks, spanning the best part of two decades. Selections like "Oh Carolina" (The Folkes Brothers) and "Guns Of Navarone" (The Skatalites) sound like long-lost audio relics, the very beginnings of ska. Prince Buster clicks and puffs through "Al Capone", providing the impetus for Madness and The Specials. If some tunes weren't hits the first time around, they had their day as covers by the likes of Blondie, The Clash and UB40. The metamorphosis into rocksteady happened quickly and, early on disc 2, Bob Marley's sudden entrance illustrates how shocking reggae's slowed-down minimalism must have sounded in the early 1970s. Much of the second disc is dominated by a lighter pop-reggae, at its worst with "Side Show" (Barry Biggs), and its best with "Uptown Top Ranking" (Althea & Donna). We also get to hear the banned naughties of "Wet Dream" and "Big Seven" (Max Romeo and Judge Dread), never allowed in the playgrounds of the 1970s. --Martin Longley

Young, Gifted & Black, Vol. 1

Young, Gifted & Black, Vol. 2

LINKS

Phredd - Psychedelic Prog Rock (USA)

Dr. David Freedy is a guitarist in central Ohio with a long history of recording music. While in attendance at Upper Arlington High School in the 1980's, he recorded the LP "Meat Phredd" with the band Phredd, which saw a short run of vinyl pressings. Currently he is engrossed in the Freedy Recording Project, a series of recordings made both solo and with the help of local musicians.

This unkown US trio, which is often mistakenly called Meat Phredd instead of Phredd and propably came somewhere near Columbus, Ohio, consisted of three teenager musicians, namely Pete Sechler on drums, Dave Freedy on guitar and Andy Woodson on bass.They recorded their only album in early-80's, which was assisted by Word Of Mouth Productions and was released on their private label Phreddhead Records.''Meat Phredd'' was just the title of this debut album.

With a humurous front cover and regarding the age of the three instrumentalists, ''Meat Phredd'' is actually an album full of happy tunes wrapped in a package of rockin' and more complex rhythms, which sound a bit unfocused and bland.Not refering to the talents of the members, which seem to be good and sufficiently technical players for their pre-adult stage.The sprectrum of RUSH history, spanning from early- to late-70's, appears to be Phredd's main influence.Power Rock grooves with bluesy colors and some psych-flavored dynamic explorations is the name of the game, which is also filled with plenty of sharp, electric soloing.The tracks are short and pretty typical of the chosen style with a touch of Classical echoes in a pair of tracks, but nevertheless the bad mix and production are both negative factors of the sound quality.The trio bursts high amounts of energy, but the absence of musical diversity and the similarity between the instrumental moves are rather tiring.A few pieces include some acoustic orientations and only the eighth track ''Well done'' contains a surprising, symphonic-oriented harsichord part, yeah, finally well done!

Very scarce information about Phredd's members say that at least Dave Freedy and Andy Woodson reamained involved in the music industry, performing around the Columbus area.

Rare, very expensive but rather pale vinyl album.Guitar-led instrumental Rock with lots of different influences but lacking consistency.Mainly for collectors.

Dave Freedy - guitar 

Pete Sechler - drums 

Andy Woodson - bass 

Weldom Adams - harpsichord

 Meat Phredd (1986)

KARAKORUM - Psychedelic/Space Rock • Germany

Karakorum biography (http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=10092)

KARAKORUM is a new quintet appearing on the German scene, constituted in Mühldorf, Bavaria. The band's eponymous debut is already pointing to a promising future. The concept album offers a typical retrospective 70's approach while blending jazz, blues, symphonic, psych and krautrock elements to a compelling amalgam.

Beteigeuze (2017)

Leeroy Kesiah - Afrobeat Funk & Soul (France)

Parisian DJ and remixer Leeroy's take on Afrobeat originator Fela Kuti's legacy is a different animal altogether. For a start, Leeroy clearly gets Kuti's music. Second, these are not Kuti's original tracks, but new recordings made in Lagos in 2017. Finally, the roll call of participating musicians includes Kuti's bandleading sons Femi and Seun, who front a track apiece, and keyboard player Duro Ikujenyo and baritone saxophonist Showboy, both longtime members Fela's bands. The rest of the crew include some of the brightest sparks on the modern Nigerian jazz and Afrobeat scene, including saxophonist Akinyanmi Akin Akinhnmola, guitarist Olu Femi Sanni, bassist Laughter Oluwatosin and percussionist Wura Samba. Other guests include the young female singers Noraa and Nneka. And Fela's first-call sleeve designer, Lemi Ghariokwu, created the cover art. 

Fela Is The Future comes with some serious provenance, and it rises to expectations. There is not a single duff track. The highlights are Seun Kuti's "Beasts Of No Nation" and Femi Kuti's "Opposite People," both of which nudge the material into new territory, Noraa and Nneka's melodic takes on, respectively, "Zombie" and "Look And Laugh," Duro Ikujenyo's synthesised-vibraphone wizardry on "Fight To Finish," the core band's readings of "Go Slow" and "Yellow Fever," and Showboy's vocal on "V.I.P. (Vagabonds In Power)," the most Fela-esque vocal on the album.

Leeroy Presents Fela Is the Future (2017)

MASQUE - Neo-Prog • Sweden

Masque biography (http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=1355)

Based in Göthenburg, the band was launched in 1989 by guitarist Johan Engström and four other musicians. Alternately called DÉJÀ VU and then POCKETFUL, they released three demos ("Masque", "Distant Divineness" and "Behind Thoughts") before their first official album in 1992, "Flesh That Understands", under the name MASQUE. "Ten Ways" followed two years after. "Flesh That Understands" will likely remind you of early SAGA but with plenty of interesting and original ideas; the musicianship is tight and the vocals are excellent. "Ten Ways", however, is a totally different affair and difficult to categorize: a mixture of art-pop and world music (African percussions, Mariachi trumpets) tinted with a Scandinavian melancholy. It features a different guitarist and vocalist as well as four new guest musicians. It's a fun album but it's as far from neo prog as an album can get. Neo-prog fans will want to concentrate on "Flesh That Understands" whereas "Ten Ways" is more likely to appeal to fans of Peter Gabriel.

Ten Ways (1994)

Ron Carter & Eric Dolphy - Jazz

Where? is the debut album by bassist Ron Carter recorded in 1961 and released on the New Jazz label. Some reissues of the album appear under Eric Dolphy's name. The Allmusic review by Jim Todd stated "Carter and Dolphy had played together in Chico Hamilton's group and on Dolphy's important 1960 date Out There. Where? has elements in common with both, but is closer to Hamilton's late-'50s chamber jazz than to the more outward-bound Dolphy date. ... Carter's skill is undeniable, but his playing on Where? is a bit polite and monochromatic. ...Dolphy -- playing bass clarinet, alto sax, and flute -- is a far more interesting prospect, even if he doesn't blow his face off to the extent he did in other settings"

Ronald Levin "Ron" Carter (born May 4, 1937) is an American jazz double bassist. His appearances on 2,221 recording sessions make him the most-recorded jazz bassist in history. Carter is also a cellist who has recorded numerous times on that instrument. Some of his studio albums as a leader include: Blues Farm (1973); All Blues (1973); Spanish Blue (1974); Anything Goes (1975); Yellow & Green (1976); Pastels (1976); Piccolo (1977); Third Plane (1977); Peg Leg (1978); and A Song for You (1978). He was a member of the Miles Davis Quintet in the early 1960s, which also included Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and drummer Tony Williams. Carter joined Davis's group in 1963, appearing on the album Seven Steps to Heaven and the follow-up E.S.P.. Carter also performed on some of Hancock, Williams and Shorter's recordings during the sixties for Blue Note Records. He was a sideman on many Blue Note recordings of the era, playing with Sam Rivers, Freddie Hubbard, Duke Pearson, Lee Morgan, McCoy Tyner, Andrew Hill, Horace Silver and many others. He was elected to the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame in 2012. In 1993, he won a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Group and another Grammy in 1998 for "an instrumental composition for the film" Round Midnight. In 2010 he was honored with France's premier cultural award, the medallion and title of Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Eric Allan Dolphy, Jr. (June 20, 1928 – June 29, 1964) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, bass clarinetist and flautist. On a few occasions, he also played the clarinet and piccolo. Dolphy was one of several multi-instrumentalists to gain prominence around the same time. His use of the bass clarinet in jazz performance probably finally established the instrument in the music, and he extended the vocabulary and boundaries of the alto saxophone, and was among the earliest significant jazz flute soloists. His improvisational style was characterized by the use of wide intervals, in addition to using an array of extended techniques to emulate the sounds of human voices and animals. Although Dolphy's work is sometimes classified as free jazz, his compositions and solos were often rooted in conventional (if highly abstracted) tonal bebop harmony and melodic lines that suggest the influences of modern classical composers such as Béla Bartók and Igor Stravinsky.

WHERE