Back catalogue: Funk Soul & Jazz

Review: Once again, Music From Memory has dug deep for inspiration. Very few will have come across the original 1987 pressing of Ich Traume So Leise, a long-forgotten collaborative album that brought together trumpet player Heinz Becker, songwriter Karl-Heinz Stegmann, and poet Isabel Zeumer. Predictably, though, the tracks which the Dutch label has chosen to reissue are exceptionally good. "Mein Tanzlied", for example, features Becker's meandering trumpet lines and Zeumer's eyebrow-raising spoken word vocals seemingly drifting over an intoxicatingly funky, mid-80s dancefloor groove, while "Dir" is a seriously atmospheric chunk of beatless jazz poetry. Flip for the Balearic electro-funk of "Der Schnupfen" and the languid, new age ambience of "Abends".

Review: Ten Lovers always manage to find a perfect sweet spot between jazz and house on the music it serves up. This new various artists' effort proves the point well: Marcello Cassanelli lunches the trip with groovy and nodding bass synths and airy vocal cries on 'Fantasia.' Zarenzeit then sinks into a bubbly groove with killer drums and sun-worshiping synths before Stefano De Santis drops some excellent broken beast on his squelchy synth workout 'Song For George D.' Future Jazz Ensemble takeoff into the cosmos and Caruso gets romantic on 'Vestimenta'.

Review: Greg Belson is a world leading gospel collector and DJ who had great success with his Divine Disco series. He continued his vital work with Cultures of Soul on the Devin Funk compilations series and now the label are serving up the many highlights on 7". Here we have
Pearl Farano & The High Lights Of Joy with 'Who's Your Boss', a high speed funk gem with in the pocket drum playing and energetic guitar riffs. The real star of course is the coarse vocal that cannot help but light your fires. On the flip, Zella Jackson's vocal soars next to summery flutes and raw, dense rhythm sections.

Review: Faze Action's Afro series hits a fourth and final volume with Zeke Manyika and Faze Action themselves at the helm of two new singles. The vibes on this one take their cues from Afro Latin and Balearic worlds with opener 'Maswera' bringing nice open-air festival sounds, rich horn work and expressive drum funk. Manyika's chants are the icing on the cake for this one. Then comes a nice dubbed-out remix of 'Rugare' by Faze Action with lively disco drums and loose-limbed percussion. The original on the flip is a more straight-up and dazzling disco cut while a paired back instrumental of 'Maswera' closes things down in style. Timeless Afro bombs for sure.

Review: Brazilian producer Zopelar is a real wizard when at work in the studio. He has done disco-tinged full lengths, synth-laced house sounds, deeper than deep grooves and now steps up to Sudd Wax with another brilliantly musical EP. It opens with the shimmering pads and free-flowing keys of 'Papaia' which then gets a Byron The Aquarius Jazz Twist mix that cuts even more free and gets even more cosmic. 'Jazz Class' is a funky one with golden chords and astral pads and the flip brings three more house gems laced up with the sort of meaningful melodies you don't often hear in this genre.

Review: 18 months after a fantastic launch instalment courtesy of the mighty Danny Krivit, Mr Bongo's Edits series returns. This time round, it's Manchester legend and 'E Soul Cultura' specialist Luke Una at the controls. On the A-side he handles 'Love Games', an obscure slice of mid-80s South African disco by Thandi Zulu and The Young Five, cannily focusing on the warm, gently funky groove and the track's spacey synth solos. Over on the flip, the Electric Chair co-founder takes on Lionel Pillay's percussion, synth-and-organ classic 'Plum', stretching out the most dancefloor friendly sections before unleashing waves of solos and the original's saucer-eyed, sun-splashed instrumentation.

Review: Individuality, Harmony, Wit.
Originating from the heart of Asia - Taipei, Taiwan, Zy The Way is a fusion collective spear-heading a new musical movement in a digital age. As the offspring of a film director, entertainers and multi-genre musicians, Zy The Way aims to create artistic content that will rock your socks. We believe that true balance is achieved not through the uniting of different social groups, but when we come together with our stories as an individual. Voices and vision, musical styles, personalities, and our own beliefs, Zy The Way is the fabrication of our collective imagination, where no one is left out.

Review: Since being founded in 2013 in Rome, Sonor Music Editions has become a treasure trove of archival music that was originally made for films, radio and television. The mysterious Mandrassi & Zollinger, here backed by the I Beati studio band, cooked up one such killer but hitherto unknown library session, Rhythm & Sound, back in 1973. Andreassi is said to one of the first female library music composers and likely the release of this album is going to change how she is perceived. It's packed with endless breaks, superb funk grooves and plenty of chasing beats with a loose, live jam session feel that makes it all the more vibrant.

Review: Zackey Force Funk and XL Middleton joined forces on the boogie powered electro-disco album Blue Blade Piranha and served up a journey that fuses funk and electronica in fresh new ways. The album features Zackey's distinctive vocals, known for their raw energy, paired with XL Middleton's unrivalled production prowess. The result is a genre-defying experience, where funky basslines intertwine with futuristic beats that showcase this duo's ability to push sonic boundaries and create a groove-laden soundscape that nods to the past while embracing the cutting edge. With its infectious rhythm and experimental flair, the collaboration stands as a testament to innovation as well as being irresistible to the hips.

Review: Isle Of Jura's latest on-point release is a new edition of Zann's sought-after 1990 set "Strange Ways/Inside Jungle", a self-released album of experimental, left-of-centre musical fusions produced in the band's basement studio in Dortmund. The record's genius lies in the band's mixture of Eno/Byrne style ambient motifs, delay-laden electronic beats, densely layered African and South American percussion sounds and chiming instruments from South East Asia. There are some suitably trippy tricks employed here and there - backwards vocals, layered field recordings and so on - but also snaking sax lines and cheery synthesizer melodies. In other words, it's an inspired, hard-to-pigeonhole album that just gets better with each successive listen.

Review: Brand new compilation including Ohio soul supergroup Zapp & Roger's essential tracks. Flaunting a formidable repertory, including 'More Bounce To The Ounce' and 'Computer Love', Now Playing charts the rise and plateau of Roger Troutman, whose light still embers on; the match was lit in the early 1960s, during which time the breakout hits 'Jolly Roger' and 'Night Time' propelled Troutman to early successes. A career dip in the 1970s didn't stop him; it took until 1976 for Zapp to gestate and come to fruition, initially under the name Roger & The Human Body. As time went on, it became clear a snappier name was required, thus conceiving Zapp. Just ten tracks of instant-grat, Troutman and co. are heard here in full, time-capsuling swing.

Review: Denny Zeitlin is a US jazz maestro perhaps best known for his work on the Invasion Of The Body Snatchers soundtrack. On this release for Now Again, we get treated to an unreleased 1969 LP he recorded with Mel Graves and George Marsh, previously only available as an acetate or limited private pressing. It's a powerful and expansive work with Zeitlin's limber piano playing up front, but reaching across styles in a fusion which gets seriously funky in some places, positively cosmic in others. The title track alone is a 12-minute opus which will take you far and wide, like all the best jazz should.

Review: Latin funk music's best and brightest recollector-reissuers Vampi Soul continue to do what they do best with this latest reissue of the debut self-titled album by Zulu. One of the last great albums of the first wave of Peruvian rock,and originally released in 1974, Zulu was infamous for its linking of psych-tinged rock with Afro-Latin American beats and folk pop. The enigmatic Zulu (real name Miguel Angel Ruiz Orbegoso) was best known during his lifetime as a member of the bands Traffic Sound and Los Nuevos Shain, but his only solo album commands a unique aura as a numinous rarity, immediately pre-dating his latter-career immersion in the religious community. Reissued for the first time with the collaboration of Zulu, including extensive liner notes and one extra track, the likes of 'Si en el cielo yo viviera', 'Laberintos' and 'Candela' are pastoral gems of folk-cumbia and salsa, playing back with a level of sensitivity and texture that could only be born of a worthy spirit.