Jazz Articles

Pharoah Sanders: Pharoah (Box Set)

by Chris May
September 1, 2023

With the passing of Pharoah Sanders in September 2022, almost a year ago at the time of writing, and bearing in mind advances in sound-restoration technology, we can anticipate a stream of previously unissued Sanders recordings being released in the years ahead. If this outstanding 2-CD / 2-LP box set is anything to go by, bring it on. Disc One is a straight reissue of Sanders' oft pirated 1977 album Pharoah (India Navigation), albeit with much improved ...

Bremer/McCoy: Natten

by Geno Thackara
January 26, 2022

There is no need to read their bios to hear that these are two friends who have been working and playing together for a good while (nearly a decade at the time of this recording). For a start, the mere fact of playing as a duo inevitably puts any pair's chemistry right out in the open; while there are plenty of players good enough to communicate and improvise as smoothly as Morten McCoy and Jonathan Bremer do, their easy-going rapport ...

Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra: Floating Points

by Ian Patterson
April 6, 2021

The meeting of electronics artist/DJ Sam Shepherd—aka Floating Points—with free-jazz icon Pharoah Sanders and the London Symphony Orchestra is a welcome surprise. Sanders has seldom troubled his discographers since the dawn of the new millennium. A couple of archival radio recordings, Live at Antibes Jazz Festival Juan Les Pins July 21 1968 (Alternative Fox, 2019) and Live in Paris (1975) (Transversales Disques, 2020), were potent reminders of his primacy in the crowded arena of the post-John Coltrane legacy. Yet these, ...

Bremer/McCoy: Utopia

by Jakob Baekgaard
February 29, 2020

Since they released their debut, Enhed (Raske Plader, 2013), Danish bassist Jonathan Bremer and pianist Morten McCoy have been quietly crafting their own sound, and their fourth album, Utopia, marks a new beginning for the duo simply billed as Bremer/McCoy. The difference this time is that David Byrne's renowned Luaka Bop label has picked up the album for release, consequently a big breakthrough might be around the corner. If so, it is going to be a quiet ...

Various Artists: Brazil Classics at 20: Anti-Aging Solutions Revealed

by Greg Camphire
March 25, 2008

Following the release of its seventh installment, What's Happening in Pernambuco, Luaka Bop's Brazil Classics is celebrating its 20th anniversary with the series-spanning Brazil Classics at 20: Anti-Aging Solutions Revealed. Cherry-picked from previous editions, the tracks feature folkloric street samba alongside rural forró and eclectic, post-rock tropicalia, with pop superstars like Jorge Ben and Gilberto Gil as well as country troubadour Luiz Gonzaga and the uncategorizable experimentalist Tom Zé.

Ben's “Ponta De Lanca Africano (Umbabarauma)" launches the choice selections with ...

Various Artists: Brazil Classics 7: What's Happening in Pernambuco - New Sounds of the Brazilian Northeast

by Greg Camphire
February 9, 2008

Exemplifying a true melting pot aesthetic, Brazilian music has always been comprised of diverse ingredients. From the first Portuguese settlers and their African slaves mixing it up with the Native Americans, through the continual influx of immigrants from around the world, Brazil's musicians have always been adept at expressing omnivorous tastes and integrating every flavor of spice they've encountered. Documenting the turn of the 21st century, Luaka Bop's What's Happening in Pernambuco: New Sounds of the Brazilian Northeast, brings adventurous ...