Startlingly accomplished new jazz from South Africa, teeming with ideas, influences and idioms.
Maybe you remember Asher’s drumming on Angel Bat Dawid’s The Oracle.
Hotly recommended.
The soundtrack to the French TV series adapting Henri de Monfreid’s account of his travels in the Middle East. The music for the first series in 1967 features various flutes and marine conches; for underwater settings a celesta or a crystal xylophone. For the later 1975 series, de Roubaix composed a new music score, mixing old and new sounds, his EMS VCS3 synthesizer subtly mixed with acoustic instruments.
A private press LP from early-eighties Youngstown, Ohio, featuring an absolutely killer Hammond B3 version of Chameleon, and an exceptionally funky The World Is A Ghetto, showcasing Lavorgna’s soulful saxophone, and more deep funk from David Thomas, on organ.
Rough, tough salsa brava from 1972.
The soaring, soulful vocals of Edulfamid Molina Díaz front an augmented, more aggressive brass section —introducing another trumpet and two trombones to the lineup— swaggering through a dazzling range of rhythms including guaguancó, bomba, plena, oriza, bolero, cha-cha-chá, descarga, and Latin soul.
Warmly recommended.
Revered British jazz from 1969; the pianist leading a quartet featuring Harold McNair.
Originally out in 1969 on the Deram imprint which Decca set up for prog, new wave folk, and psych, Off Centre is obligingly eclectic. Cameron’s background in library and soundtrack music is opened up to the spirit of Roland Kirk. Best of several tasty modal numbers, the closer Troublemaker is a testifying rug-cutter, with a gritty flute solo by McNair.
Remastered at Abbey Road using the original tapes. New sleeve notes incorporate a recent interview with Cameron.