Various
Acid Jazz Vol. 2

LP plus booklet, 500 copies, pressed at PallasWhen arists self-releases their own recordings, they do so in the hopes that a hit might develop,or even better, a sphere of influence might form. In a lot of cases these records provide a stamp ofexistence and intent – a sonic business card showing what musicians were made of. Compass Rises(1973), the privately pressed sole LP by Oneonta, New York’s Compass, is both a sampling ofversatility and a declaration of straight-ahead purpose.Regularly active in upstate New York between 1969 and 1974, Compass was an acoustic-electricquartet that played original music and modern jazz standards. The group consisted of saxophonistand bass clarinetist Rick Lawn, keyboardist Joel Chase, bassist Tom Ives (doubling on flugelhorn),and drummer Al Colone. On the LP, percussion duties were shared across the band as well as anconguero, Ken Parmele.Every song on Compass Rises, with the exception of the opener, is wrien and arranged by Lawn.The album is a nod to the post-Coltrane lineage of 1970’s jazz – even at its most spry there’s anundertow of workmanlike toughness, perhaps a reflection of the industrial-collegiate hybrid townsin New York where Compass plied their trade.Ives’ “Cleanin’ Up” starts the proceedings, a modal groover that would not have sounded out ofplace on a Joe Henderson Milestone LP, coupled with a neat, funky turnaround in the head.“Sunflower” has a slight Latin flavor and while it’s not exactly Freddie Hubbard’s “Little Sunflower,”it does have a lilt that’s both sinewy and breezy, with Lawn’s huskily burnished tenor shimmyingatop. Following the ballad “Waltz for Barbara,” a front line expanded with Ives’ flugelhorn opensup on the driving “Blues for Vito,” dry and cracking rhythm supporting a tough, metallic dance.Side two begins with “Schizoid,” the nasally incision of Lawn’s soprano saxophone in spiraling turnsagainst pummeling toms and Chase’s fuzzed-out intervallic sprawl. “Sour Cream” is a choppy bit ofsoul jazz, while the closing “Pharoah’s Thing” starts off on an elegiac plateau before unfurling witha piquant, minor-key bounce.With its stark, somewhat gothic cover art and toothy, inspired playing and composing, CompassRises deserves the critical examination that it likely didn’t have upon release.About Frederiksberg RecordsFrederiksberg Records was founded in New York in 2013 by Danish video journalist and music loverAndreas Vingaard. The name, Frederiksberg, is the part of Copenhagen where Andreas grew upand first discovered his passion for music.The idea for the label emerged when Andreas befriended renowned Jazz saxophonist, CarstenMeinert. Committed to telling the story of Meinert’s music the right way, Andreas resolved to takefull ownership of the To You re-release (2015). The result has been a rollercoaster journey ofrunning an independent record label.Frederiksberg Records, with roots in Scandinavian Jazz, includes a wide spectrum of genres -electronic, disco, ambient and more [info sheet from distr.]

To celebrate 80 years since the birth of Orquestra Afro-Brasiliera, a long-overlooked outfit that cannily combined "Yoruba spirituality, Candomble chants, West African percussion and big band jazz", producer Mario Caldato, Jr has joined forces with the last remaining member, percussionist Carlos Negrioros, to record a brand-new album in tribute. 80 Ans, the resultant set, is undeniably special: a richly percussive, spiritual, jazz-fired journey through Afro-Brazilian music that's so well produced that you can hear each instrumental and vocal element in crystal clear clarity (something that could not be said about the collective's two original albums, from 1968 and '70 respectively). Terrific stuff all told.

Heavy!! Strut and Art Yard present the culmination of a 5-year project researching the archives of author, DJ and activist John Sinclair with the first ever retrospective of the influential Detroit Artists Workshop spanning 1965 to 1978. A revelation for any fan of jazz, featuring previously unreleased recordings by Byrd, Moore, English, Woodard, Bennie Maupin and Teddy Harris accompanied by extensive sleeve notes from John Sinclair, Robin Eichele and Herb Boyd. All tracks are remastered from the original tapes by Technology Works.“In the mid-‘60s, Detroit was nowhere,” explains Sinclair. “A decaying jazz scene, no community of poets, painters or writers so a group of young Detroit artists, most of us students at Wayne State University, got together in the late Summer of 1964.” Led by Sinclair and trumpeter Charles Moore, the Artists Workshop Society was formed as a co-operative community, drawing upon the resources of every participating individual in order to perpetuate itself. They began to provide spaces in Detroit for musicians to rehearse and to promote live concerts showcasing a range progressive jazz artists across the city. Between the mid-‘60s and the early ‘80s, Sinclair amassed a huge archive of recordings from the Workshop concerts featuring Detroit residents like Moore’s Contemporary 5, Ron English and Lyman Woodard alongside many other US jazz luminaries including Donald Byrd, Sun Ra Arkestra and Herbie Hancock. Dormant in the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Brooklyn for many years, Strut and Art Yard began their research into the archives in 2017.