Ethio Jazz

Popular brass-led ensemble, Kolonel Djafaar, unveiled its second album, ‘Getaway’, their first for Batov Records, seamlessly blending Afrobeat, Ethio jazz, and psych rock, whilst showcasing the band's evolution over the past couple of years.

Ernesto Chahoud’s ‘Taitu’ is a collection of soul-fuelled stompers straight from the dancefloors of 1970s Addis Ababa. A breathless journey through the unique Ethio sound that bands were forging at the time, the 24track compilation is the result of the Lebanese DJ and crate digger’s decadelong love affair with the ‘golden age’ of Ethiopian music. For ‘Taitu’, Chahoud has selected 24 of his essential Ethio-Soul 7”s, that never leave his DJ box, and together they capture this opportune moment in Ethiopian music history that saw bands experiment with an armful of influences: gliding through R&B, rock & roll, jazz, funk, soul and boogaloo. What came out was a distinctly Ethiopian interpretation: pentatonic scales, horn-driven melodies and soul-shattering vocals sung in Amharic.

* After the stunning success of their critically-acclaimed third album Sharpener, which reached number 3 in the jazz charts and number 14 in the independent music charts, London’s brass juggernauts Hackney Colliery Band blaze back onto the scene with their first collaborative album, ushering in a whole new era for the band.
* Featuring collaborations with a host of key names in jazz and world music including amongst others the father of Ethio-jazz Mulatu Astatke, British jazz funk legend James Taylor, trombonist Dennis Rollins, UK saxophonist Pete Wareham and Beninese singer-songwriter and Grammy Award-winner Angélique Kidjo, Hackney Colliery Band have effortlessly transformed their explosive live energy into 11 original recordings that push the groove and form in an accomplished manner.

Dexter Story is a musical polymath. He is a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and arranger. He works in genres from global spiritual soul and jazz to funk, folk, and hip-hop. He has spent the 2010s studying and traveling the Horn of Africa, immersing himself in its musical traditions – beautifully articulated on 2015's Wondem. The Carlos Nino-produced Bahir, filled with guests, picks up from and expands the terrain explored on his previous outing. Rooted in Eastern Africa's musical traditions, he engages influences with the soul, funk, and jazz from his Western world albeit one transformed by his travels. His intention is not simply to bring those influences to the West, but to contribute music that expands the traditions he employs here.

Strut continue their essential work with the “Godfather Of Ethio Jazz”, Mulatu Astatke, with the first official reissues of his early classics ‘Afro Latin Soul’ Volumes 1 and 2 from 1966, recorded as The Ethiopian Quintet. Arriving after Astatke’s life-changing years studying at Berklee College in Boston, the albums were the first experiments in his pioneering sound, fusing Ethiopian cultural music with Afro Latin and jazz forms. “I have always felt a deep connection between Latin and African music,” he explains. “I travelled to Cuba and listened to their musicians; the tempo, rhythm and feeling was very similar to different African forms. In the mid-‘60s, I formed a band called The Ethiopian Quintet in New York comprising Ethiopian, Latin and Afro-American musicians - the band included trumpeter and pianist Rudy Houston who later played with Yambu and Felix Torres who played with La Sonora Poncena.” Supported by Worthy Records’ Gil Snapper who offered to record the quintet.

Afrobeat-influenced broken beat soul and jazz flex from the 12 piece London/Leeds-based Nubiyan Twist
“One of the leading lights in the UK’s new generation of soulful, genre-fluid artists, the Leeds-born and now London-based 10-piece collective have created their finest recordings to date, effortlessly weaving together elements of jazz, soul, hip hop, African styles, Latin, dub, hip hop and electronics in a flow of thought-provoking and life-affirming music. Recorded at the band’s own self-built Henwood Studio in rural Oxfordshire, the album effortlessly moves through different voices from the band’s circle.

This ambitious project initiated with a reflection on exile and refugees and resulted in an original musical creation bringing together 12 artists - Arat Kilo, Mamani Keita, Ruşan Filiztek, Aida Nosrat, etc. - to create a repertoire of 14 songs, with influences from ethio-jazz, Afghan, Malian and Persian music. A clever mix of cultures, languages, and musicalities where emotion is the anchor.

Nomade Orquestra return from the stratosphere via Brazil with their second offering: EntreMundos (Between Worlds). Gazing outward through a kaleidoscope from the heart of Sao Paulo’s jazz scene, the collective consciousness of the ten-man orquestra has dreamt up an adventurous amalgam of earth’s most far reaching musical cultures.