Basic Soul

Here is Colin Emmanuel, aka C Swing’s debut, which for me is an album of two halves. One half is for the R&B massive with a great selection of vocalists which include Belle, Terry Walker and Celetia Martin. This should more than ensure that it gets radio play. The other half includes some brilliantly produced Hip hop and soul tracks. Guest rhymes come from KRS1, Braintax and Mystro, where each of these deserve to be released as a single and for the Soul heads, there’s the wonderful “Pretend” with Nate James and Sandra Escoffery on “Proof”. Overall it’s a grower but the Hip Hop tracks will knock your socks off.

Here’s the second instalment from Sweden’s excellent Raw Fusion stable. It’s jam packed with exclusives and tracks that feature on cd for the first time and compiled by label boss Mad Mats. All the big artists and producers from Scandinavian are featured with a range of styles from Hip Hop, House, Jazz, Latin and Nu-Soul, featuring Teddy Rok 7, Red Astaire, Jukka Eskola, Espen Horne, Fertile Ground, Povo and Todd Terje to name a few. Please don’t tell me I need to list any more tracks, what on earth are you waiting for?

Those in the know with Japanese artists will know that Kero One has toured with Jazzy Sport and headlined already released tracks on Jazzy Sport and shows for artists such as Dj Mitsu the beats. ‘Windmills Of The Soul’ was also released a few months ago in the Far East and now’s your chance to pick up this beauty for a normal price. This has been mostly produced by the man himself, with some help from his friend DJ King Most. The rhymes are simple and work a treat over the soulful and jazzy beats. Kero One also proves his excellence in production with some essential instrumentals, so make sure you check out tracks ‘It’s A New Day’ and ‘Ain’t That Somethin?’ Kero is also lined up to work with Quantic and DJ Mitsu in 2006 which should gain him some more deserved exposure.

Nnenna Freelon has long been one of my favourite jazz vocalists and since her award winning self titled debut in 1992 has rarely disappointed. On this her 10th album she delves into the Billie Holiday songbook, whether it be songs written by Lady Day or ones that will eternally be associated with her. ‘God Bless The Child’, Strange Fruit’ and ‘Willow Weep For Me’ are all handled beautifully but I’m currently hooked on ‘I Didn’t Know What Time It Was’. The band really let loose on this funky swinger whilst Nnenna performs vocal acrobatics, soaring high and sweeping low, putting her own distinctive stamp on this evergreen.

The gravely voiced modern soul man Anthony Hamilton impressed with tracks such as "Since I Seen’t You" (whatever that means) and "My First Love" from his "official" debut album "Comin’ From Where I’m From" (So So Def 2003). "Ain’t Nobody Worryin" continues in a similar vein and whilst there’s nothing to quite compare to the aforementioned cuts I bring it to your attention for "The Truth", a wonderful low slung sexy groove. Also worthy of note is the socially conscious title track, co-written and produced by Raphael Saadiq. Hamilton’s southern roots really shine through on this one.

Timeless Records was established in Holland in 1975 initially as a means to expose US jazz artists to a European audience. Compiled by the folks behind the Kindred Spirits label this twelve track disc unearths some absolute gems. The album opens in fine style with Rodney Jones’ dreamy fusion piece ‘Articulation’ from 1978, before slipping into ‘Moonchild’ and ‘Africa’ by Pharoah Sanders. Batida are represented with their versions of ‘Ponteio’ and ‘Vera Cruz’ and there’s also a great version of Horace Silver’s ‘Sayonara Blues’ by The Bronx Horns. Other highlights are Carter Jefferson’s majestic ‘The Rise Of Atlantis’, Benny Golson’s tribute to John Coltrane, ‘Times Past (This Is For You, John)’ and ‘Aquelas Coisas Todas’ by Samba Trio. For the vinyl junkies there’s also a four track sampler available.

Here we have the debut album from Tokyo’s saxophonist Kaz Katuta aka Jafrosax which is produced by Yukihiro Fukutomi and Jazztronik. First thing you should know was that Vikter Duplaix features on “In The Morning” which was released as a single in 2005, with excellent remixes from Orto aka Faze Action and Jazztronik. Also featured are quality Japanese rapper Gaggle and the wonderful Yukimi Nagano who sounds as good as ever on “Drawn 2 You” and “Wait and See”. Katuta has got the right balance between old and new here, and has even dared to re-work Underground Resistance’s classic 2Hi Tech Jazz”. Another fine selection from Pantone.

In June 2005 I:Cube played the Star Ball festival at the Planetarium de la Villette in Paris and here is your chance to hear a 55 minute snippet of the I:Cube Playmobil spaceship to enjoy in your own living room. This performance is a mix up of Electronica, Ambient, Dub, Deep House and beautifully structured in such a way that you need to listen to the whole album from start to finish for it to make perfect sense. If you dip and skip you will miss the point and ambiance of this album, so take time out and listen properly.