Back catalogue: Funk Soul & Jazz

Review: In 1972, trumpeter Baikida EJ Carroll and his Black Artists Group colleagues moved from Missouri to Paris on the recommendation of their friends in the Chicago Art Ensemble. Two years later, following the release of the Black Artists Group's debut album, Carroll accepted an invitation to record a solo album. Orange Flesh Tears, recorded with guest musicians Oliver Lake (saxophones, flute), Manuel Villardel (piano, electric piano) and Brazilian percussionist Nana Vasconceles, was the result: a triumphant excursion in spiritually enriching free-jazz and heady, ambient-leaning soundscapes. The first two tracks were reportedly intended to take "free jazz back to its African roots" (all bird noises, meandering solos, bells, bamboo flutes, percussion of all types and occasionally dense jazz grooves), with the other two offering sparser, more introspective improvisations where Lake and Caroll's horn solos dominate.

Review: Having previously decided to ditch the Chet Faker moniker for a couple of subsequently low-key albums, including last year's digital-only ambient excursion, Musical Silence, Nick Murphy has finally decided to resurrect it. In the process, the Australian artist has gone back to basics, with Hotel Surrender sounding far more like his much-loved 2014 debut, Built on Glass - a massive hit in his home country - then anything else he's recorded since. It was a smart move, because Murphy does synth-heavy, electronica-tinged pop far better than most. As a result, the album is full of confirmed earworms, from the blue-eyed soul of 'Oh Me, Oh My' and the string-drenched swell of 'Whatever Tomorrow', to the flash-friend funk-pop of 'Feel Good' and the Rhodes-clad R&B-soul of 'In Too Deep'.

Review: Like many of his jazz contemporaries, ground-breaking fusion pioneer Chick Correa had a long and storied relationship with the Montreaux Jazz Festival. He was a regular visitor for decades, making appearances with a variety of specially assembled bands and ensembles. This fine CD gathers together some of the best of the pianist and composer's various performances at the annual event and features tracks recorded at different times between 1981 and 2010. There's some exceptional material on show, as you'd expect, including an awe-inspiring rendition of 'America (Continents, 4)' from 2006 where he was accompanied by the Bavarian Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, a spellbinding 'trio' version of 'Fingerprints' from 2001, and a thrilling Chick Correa Akoustic Band take on 'Quartet No 2 (Part 1)' from 1988.

Review: Given that heavily psychedelic, dub-tinged, mid-90s style breakbeat excursions are back in fashion, it's the perfect time for Ron Henry and Daniel Goganian to reboot their Children of the Bong project. Earlier in this year, the former Planet Dog duo dug into their archives and issued a seven-track set of previously unreleased recordings. Here they repeat the trick, serving up a swathe of cuts recorded before and after the release of their cult debut album, Sirius Sounds, in 1995. Musically, it's a deliciously trippy and dub-wise blast, with Fila Brazillia style stoner funk ('Babylon 3') and bouncy, dub-flecked electronica ('Dubber FX'), sitting side by side with intergalactic ambient dub ('UVF (Ultraviolet Frequencies)', world music-tinged epics ('Babylon 4'), beat-free psy-trance textures ('In Flight Trance'), and immersive, acid-fired soundscapes ('Eleven Dimension Super Gravity').

Review: Four years after the untimely death of her husband John Coltrane, Alice Coltrane held a special concert at Carnegie Hall. This was planned to be released by Impulse at the time but somehow this legendary concert recording stayed dormant until this year. This release is to kick off a release tribute that will continue through the year that joins Verve and Impulse in tribute to Alice and her work. This double CD included two transcendental tunes from Journey in Satchidananda (Which Alice released just the year before), followed by two compositions by John Coltrane and served as a sign of things to come. These two pieces that showed a sign of what was to come from John Coltrane as he entered into the 1970s. Make sure to pick up this special concert!

Review: John Coltrane made many essential and influential albums over the course of his career, but few were quite as revolutionary at the time of release as 1965's "Ascension". Here presented in stunning new sound thanks to a meticulous re-mastering job, the album saw Coltrane abandon the constraints of the quartet in favour of a larger line-up of musicians and a freestyle approach in which each player was given carte blanche to improvise their own solo in turn. It was revolutionary at the time and remains a stunningly loose, ever-changing work that rewards repeat listens. Famously, two different editions, featuring slightly different recordings, were issued back in 1965; this CD edition includes both 40-minute works.

Review: Given that he was the Impulse label's most significant star during its formative years, it seems fitting that a newly discovered live recording of John Coltrane should form part of the acclaimed jazz imprint's 60th anniversary celebrations. What we get is a genuine piece of jazz history: an expanded, wonderfully free-wheeling and hugely atmospheric performance of Coltrane's landmark A Love Supreme suite, recorded live at The Penthouse in Seattle on October 2nd, 1965. Coltrane is of course in prime form, as are his regular accompanying players. Significantly, these included Pharoah Sanders, who on that now famous night in Seattle was making his first official appearance as part of Coltrane's group.

Review: Last year, an eagle-eyed researcher discovered a genuine slept-on gem in the archives of New York Public Library: a forgotten, unreleased recording of the John Coltrane Quintet playing - alongside bass clarinettist Eric Dolphy, at the iconic Village Gate venue in August 1961. Here, that recording - now freshly mastered - is released to the public for the first time, and as you'd expect it's rather special. Coltrane is at his magical, blistering best throughout, with his band offering similarly impressive support throughout. Highlights include the only live recording yet discovered of the quintet performing 'Africa', an insanely good 10-minute take on Coltrane classic 'Impressions', and Dolphy's star turn on 'When Lights Are Low'. In a word: essential!

Review: With their penchant for off-kilter psychedelic explorations, deep-rooted spiritual jazz excursions and cacophonous, otherworldly workouts, The Comet Is Coming is undoubtedly one of the most groundbreaking and essential jazz combos of recent times. It's for this reason that "Trust In The Lifeforce Of The Deep Mystery" - their first outing on legendary jazz label Impulse - feels like an event release. It is another stunning album, with the inspired trio flitting between sweaty, dancefloor-ready tracks soaked in psychedelic electronics and more melodious, laidback numbers that sail closer to traditional jazz pastures. Throughout, the level of imagination, creativity and uniqueness remains dizzyingly high.

Review: Chimaera is the newest ensemble of pianist and composer Sylvie Courvoisier. The virtuoso band brings together key musical personalities from the New York jazz scene in Wadada Leo Smith, Nate Wooley, Drew Gress and Kenny Wollesen, and features Austrian artist Christian Fennesz, whose ambient textures can be considered Chimaera’s wildcard. Inspired by the fantastic, enigmatic-hallucinatory paintings of symbolist Odilon Redon, the sextet creates an expansive, shimmering soundscape. Performed and recorded down to an impeccable, unpurloined letter, every angle of Redon's strange impressionistic aura are retained on this smokey masterwork. Most striking of all is ‘La Joubarbe Aragaineuse’, which pits a fantastically affecting drone against French-style piano and upright bass presses; second only to this is the noir, smoke-clouded B3 cut, ‘Le Sabot De Venus’.

Review: Having previously impressed with their reissue of Patrick Cowley's brilliant, all-synthesizer soundtrack to obscure '70s gay porn flick School Daze, Dark Entries and Honey Sound System once again join forces to shine a light on the high energy disco pioneer's work for San Francisco's Fox Studios. Unsurprisingly, it's another impressive collection, and features material recorded for a number of different pornographic films. There are naturally more up-tempo moments - see "Somebody To Love Tonight", which would later be re-recorded with Sylvester, and the synth-weirdness-meets-jazz-funk brilliance of "5oz of Funk" - but it's the impressively cosmic and exotic ambient moments, such as the stand-out "Timelink" and "Jungle Magic", that really stand out.

Review: While his immense contribution to UK dancefloors often goes unacknowledged, Colin Curtis continues to delight dancers - and jazz dancers in particular - well over 50 years after making his first appearance behind the decks. More impressively, he continues to dig for new and previously unearthed music, sharing these finds via the ongoing Jazz Dance Fusion series. Volume four - the latest - showcases 26 tracks across two CDs, mixing hot new and recent jazz dance workouts with buried treasure of all kinds. It's naturally heavy on Latin jazz, fusion and percussive jazz-funk, but also touches on samba, salsa and "Latin spoken word". In other words, it's another sublime selection from one of UK dance music culture's true underground heroes.

Review: Way back in 1979, Japanese composer, bandleader and percussionist Masahiko Togahashi headed to Paris for a set of recording sessions with bassist Charlie Haden and trumpeter Don Cherry. Under the watchful eye of Martin Meissonnier - then Don Cherry's right-hand man - the trio recorded 'Son of Soil', a magical and spiritually enriching set that mixed elements of free-jazz improvisation with Japanese musical motifs, Togahashi's sublime percussion work, Haden's fast-fingered bass-played, and Cherry's mastery of various brass and woodwind instrumentation. The set was initially only released in Japan, so this worldwide reissue - accompanied by a booklet featuring extensive liner notes, previously unpublished photos and new interviews - is very welcome.