Jeremy Pelt :: The Talented Mr. Pelt

Jeremy Pelt's The Talented Mr. Pelt is just the kind of album one thinks of when it comes to how jazz is supposed to be: cool, confident, swinging and just a little mysterious. Pelt's group is that rarest of all things in jazz, a working band, and the familiarity and communication that come from extensive time spent playing together is evident. All the players are among the foremost 30-something neo-bop players in jazz today giving the group an all-star-type reputation with a well-rehearsed sound that comes only with familiarity and countless gigs.

Deborah Jordan :: What You See

What You See is DEBORAH JORDAN's followup to her the brilliant "THE LIGHT" debut. What You See features 14 tracks (incl. 3 remixes). Smooth and soulful vocal tracks that float between downtempo, neo soul and nujazz all with her beautiful and distinctive voice as the focus. SIMON S, KIRA NERIS, MARC RAPSON, and more guest. Tracks Include "If I", "Love From The Sun", "What You See", "Observe", "Escape", "Deeper", "Relax", "See The Light", "Butterfly" and "Rise". Also includes a trio of remixes: "Want It Back (Marc Rapson Remix)", "Nothing Lasts (Rise Remix)" and "Slipping Away (Ty Macklin Remix).

Click Here To Preview Album Tracks



Deborah Jordan's "Slipping Away" Bello's Jazz Rework



Deborah Jordan

Futuristica Music

Mochilla Presents TIMELESS :: Suite For Ma Dukes CD/DVD

James Yancey, better known as J Dilla was born in Detroit. His work as a producer has a defining role in Hip Hop. He produced hits for A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Common, Erykah Badu and Janet Jackson. At 32 he passed away in Los Angeles in the care of his mother, Maureen "Ma Dukes" Yancey of a lupus related illness. Miguel Atwood-Ferguson pays tribute to Dilla by interpreting his music for a 60-piece orchestra featuring special guests Bilal, Dwele, Posdnuos, Talib Kweli, Karriem Riggins and more. This premiere performance left many in the sold out crowd in tears.

The Floacist :: Floetic Soul

A consummate artist, the always-inspired Floacist recorded Floetic Soul as if she was on a cosmic musical mission. She recorded 16 songs over 12 days! The result is an incredibly rich album that shows off the many sides of her mind-blowing artistry as a composer, singer, poet, lyricist, and producer. Her willingness and freedom to express herself in various musical contexts is refreshing. A testament to her talent is the caliber of artists she has surrounded herself with on her new CD. Joining forces with the mesmerizing wordsmith, is a stellar line up of guests including soul crooners Musiq Soulchild and Raheem DeVaughn, singer Lalah Hathaway and producers JR Hutson (Jill Scott, Musiq Soulchild) and Chris ‘Big Dog’ Davis (George Clinton, Kim Burrell, Will Downing) and FREE SUM Music Company, The Floacist's very own production outfit.
Blessed with the gift of communication and ability to enrapture the crowd in her spellbinding flow and magnetic aura, ‘The Floacist’ spins stories of love, lessons learned, conflict and resolution, anthems of personal growth and affirmations of positivity into a tapestry of soulful hymns, infectious hip hop grooves and seductive R&B hooks. Floetic Soul is a deeply personal project for ‘The Floacist’ whose music is soulful, sensual, honest, passionate and introspective. “Floetic Soul is a reflection of the woman that I am, both musically and personally,” confides the 30-something renaissance woman. “It is quite obvious that there have been some major changes that have occurred since the last time that I last released any material. I hope that the peace that I feel within my soul is apparent in my music. It would please my heart greatly for my magnificent fans to take away an understanding that change can be a beauty-filled thing, as long as it is embraced with grace!”

The Foreign Exchange :: Authenticity

"Authenticity" is the 3rd full-length from indie-soul duo The Foreign Exchange.

Picking up where their 2008 Grammy-nominated "Leave It All Behind" set left off, "Authenticity" is the group's most diverse work to date, with a tight, 11-track song cycle spanning the duo's trademark brand of lush electronic soul, to stripped down acoustic pieces that recall the heyday of 70's singer-songwriter driven folk.

Lead single "Maybe She'll Dream Of Me" is a playful, synth-driven hip-hop groove featuring a rapped verse from Phonte that evokes the band's "Connected" era, while the epic opener "The Last Fall" finds Phonte singing some of his most cynical lyrics to date ("Love is at worst an excuse/at best it's a truce...") over a frenzied Nicolay production jammed with layers of strings, guitars, and dense choral harmonies.

"I think every band reaches that point when they come into their own and find a sound that is distinctively theirs," says Phonte in reference to the album's title. "The title refers to me and Nic's journey to find our own unique space within this vast musical landscape. The biggest challenge as a musician is to find that 'thing' that makes you who you are. But I think we're getting there, and we're finding our way more and more with each record."

Featuring guest appearances from longtime contributors YahZarah, Darien Brockington, Zo! and Median, and also relative newcomers Chantae Cann and Jesse Boykins III, "Authenticity" hits stores 10/12 on +FE Music.

Strange Games & Funky Things :: Compiled by DJ Spinna

The Strange Games series...which began in the summer of 1997, represents the blueprint for modern R&B and rap music. It joins the dots between 70's soul, 80's rare groove and 90's mass market hip hop. This compilation contains a wide variety of styles of tracks, from classic dance-floor fillers as well as lesser known delights. A more accessible diggers delight if you wish with an emphasis on quality tracks and not just songs worth having for a 2 second sample. Featuring a much more worldly selection than its predecessors - tracks by the multi platinum selling WAR to Sylvia (founder of Sugarhill Records) sit side by side with world music underground icons like C.K. Mann and Francisco Aguabella. This volume is the 5th in a series of compilations that appears to have the widest appeal of all BBE's compilations and proves to be even better by the fact that there is a bonus mixed CD by the one and only DJ Spinna!


Tracklist

01. Ned Doheny – Get It Up for Love
02. Sylvia – Sweet Stuff
03. The Ambassadors – I Ain’t Got The Love (Of One Girl On My Mind)
04. Richard Evans feat. Linda Williams – Capricorn Rising
05. Starvue – Body Fusion
06. Sylvia St James – Motherland
07. The Soul Searchers – Ashley’s Roachclip
08. Willie Hale – Groove On
09. Eddy Senay – Cameo
10. SSO – Faded Lady
11. Cal Tjader – Morning
12. Francisco Aguabella – Ramon’s Desire
13. The Philly Armada Orchestra – For The Love Of Money
14. Family Tree feat. Sharon Brown – Family Tree
15. The Perfect Circle – The Hands Of Time
16. WAR – War Is Coming, War Is Coming
17. Hiroshi Fukumura – Hunt Up Wind
18. Wood Brass And Steel – Always There
19. C.K. Mann & His Carousel 7 – Asafo Beesuon / Obaa Yaa Aye Me Bone (Medley) Edit
20. Merry Clayton – Gimme Shelter
21. Bill Summers – Bra! zilian S kies

Strange Games and Funky Things 5 - Mix by DJ Spinna by MemeMagazine

Robert Mitchell's Panacea :: The Cusp

The Cusp is the third album from Robert Mitchell’s Panacea and the group’s first on EDITION RECORDS. The Cusp is a negotiation of vision and territory. It’s not a facile carving out of ground in an already overcrowded market-place. For pianist and composer Robert Mitchell it’s a matter of securing a space for a highly personal aesthetic. Panacea was the Greek goddess of medicine and cures. In Mitchell’s world the healing finds its expression in song.

The Cusp is the sharp intake of breath before you reply. The title track with fine Fender Rhodes and lyrics from Mitchell and spoken word from HKB Finn cries out for social and ecological transformation while finding solace in the emotional renewal that comes from parenthood. Aura’s angular strings and piano auger a lyric that calls for the transcending of all those things that divide us, not just racially, ethnically or sexually but interpersonally as well, while Mio Inamorato with just voice and piano is about the determination to rescue a relationship gone stale. These songs are an antidote to rock bombast, the misogyny and misandry of R&B and the tired reliance on the Great American Songbook. Hardly surprising then that Mitchell finds inspiration for his adult themes and concerns in the lyrics of such diverse and distinctive writers as Prince, Paddy McAloon of Prefab Sprout and singer Norma Winstone.



The Cusp is simultaneously modern jazz and contemporary soul music. In Mitchell’s piano one hears echoes of the harmonies of Bill Evans and the warm, Caribbean melodies of Andrew Hill, while his skilled deployment of strings suggests the intriguing influence of European art music. In the gentle and expressive tones of singer Deborah Jordan, Mitchell has found the perfect voice for his words of healing, while his rhythm team move between jazz, rock and soul with accomplished ease.

You will hear nothing else like The Cusp this year. Literate, articulate and authoritative – The Cusp is a work of pride, integrity and remarkable maturity.