Back! To the Jazzfunking Future!

Hi! Welcome to the blog I started 7 years ago to the day! Where did I go? Well with all the various 'Social Network' platforms becoming more popular I thought I'd give them a try and test the experience! Without going into 'Chapter & Verse' the 'experience' became more bland and repetitive and tedious until my disillusionment was complete and I wanted to return to a more 'personal' platform to share my passion for the music and the music only! The rest I'll leave to those who prefer a 'Speakers Corner' approach! Looking through the Blog it remains intact with all the various references to my exploits at 'Internet DJing' which I started back in 2006 when it was quite 'novel' and certainly a great deal of fun! I have removed some of the old references and links to shows long since passed into obscurity but left the 'old' posts intact as they serve as an interesting Timeline not least for me!

So, what now with the Blog? Well, to start with I'd like to share some more obscure (to me anyway) albums that I've discovered mainly through the Internet and it's various ways of enlightening & informing me to gems of the past that I certainly either missed or were never given proper exposure first time around. That's not to say I'm not an avid collector of all the new stuff that's being released. it's just that the new stuff in general gets more exposure and I'm not not in the business of trying to 'Market' new material. There are already many great web sites and portals that do that already.


My chosen genre is all that encompasses Jazz Funk & Fusion in the main but not necessarily excluding my love of Soul & R&B where the fancy takes me! Comments are always welcome and encouraged as long as they are relative to the music in question. Comments are moderated at least for a while to avoid the obligatory Spammers. I will always try to include some sound clips (at least 2 mins each track) but for copyright purposes no full length tracks. Wherever possible I'll include a Spotify link but my use of You Tube will be limited only to where the original upload was of a suitable quality.

To start off I'm revisiting an album that actually wasn't 'unknown' to me but I only had a rather poor copy and this 2014 Japanese CD re-release reawakened my interest and gave my ears a treat to a far higher quality of sound then I was previously able to listen to! A beautiful album of spiritual soul and Brazilian influenced jazz from Azar Lawrence.  Lawrence is a stellar sax player with a sound that's a bit like Gary Bartz, which means that he fits in perfectly with the Fantasy-era Prestige Records sound. The set's predominantly acoustic, with lots of modal grooves  – and angular post-Coltrane playing that's very similar to Bartz's work on the Libra album from his early days. Players include Raul De Souza on trombone, Ron Carter on bass, Billy Hart on drums, Dom Salvador, who is really allowed to shine on piano on a few tracks, and drummer & percussionist Guilherme Franco, who brings a world of wonderful percussion on a couple of numbers.

Azar Lawrence - Summer Solstice (1975)

 [2014 Japan Rare Groove Funk Best Collection 1000]