Ethio Jazz

Strut present the definitive official reissue of this landmark album in the field of African music originally released in 1972. Recorded in New York, Mulatu of Ethiopia arrived at a time when Astatke had begun to master the delicate fusion of styles needed to create Ethio jazz. The album represents the first fully formed document of his trademark sound. It features ‘Kulunmanqueleshi’, ‘Dewel’, and ‘Kasalefku-Hulu’, tracks that Mulatu would return to regularly on singles and in live shows, the Ethio-Latin workout ‘Chifara’ and the self-titled groover ‘Mulatu’: “I wanted to make a track for myself!”

In 2015, Staten Island's Budos Band surprised fans with Burnt Offering; their first non-numbered title, it delivered a shift in musical direction. In addition to their trademarked fusion of Mulatu Astatke-inspired Ethio-jazz, Afrofunk, and hard-swinging R&B, they indulged a collective love for darker, '70s-era hard rock and psychedelia. With V they have fully integrated the latter aesthetic with the former…

The sweat of the rainforest, the hostility of the mangrove did not suit him in the end. So he left his natural environment for the tranquility of a freshwater lake. Without the constant need to battle to assert its territory, the Tiger found there the ideal place for its instrumental stories. To tell the story of those journeys that took him from Asia to Africa, from soul jazz salons to the concrete streets of hip hop, and transformed his stripes into music sheets where Thai ranges and ethio-jazz arrangements were registered.

Five-piece hybrid jazz outfit Black Flower are set to release new album ‘Magma’ on the 28th January via the groove-obsessed Belgian label, Sdban Ultra. Piloted by Brussels-based saxophonist/flutist/composer Nathan Daems (Echoes of Zoo, Dijf Sanders), the quintet is a vibrant, hypnotic mix of Ethio jazz, afrobeat, psychedelia and oriental influences, inspired by Mulatu Astatke, Fela Kuti and varied western musical traditions. Black Flower is a band at the peak of their creative powers. Having received glowing praise for the 2019 album ‘Future Flora’ from Mojo, Songlines, BBC Radio 6 Music’s Gilles Peterson, BBC Radio 3’s Music Planet, Worldwide FM and Jazz FM among others, forthcoming album ‘Magma’ sees Black Flower embrace new synth and organ sounds from the band’s most recent recruit, Karel Cuelenaere.