Check out "Não Podermos O Amar Para" by Brazilian samba-jazz legend Dom Salvador with Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad.
Here's the scoop...
With lyrics that declare, "Tem um tempo pra sentir, tem um tempo pra tocar, tem um tempo pra lutar, não podemos o amor parar, (There is a time to feel, a time to play, a time to fight—we cannot let love stop)" Adrian Younge wrote this song while reflecting on Dom Salvador's role in using music as a tool for social change and the ongoing struggle of Black Brazilians. The track encapsulates the spirit of resilience, reinforcing the message that love and resistance must never be stopped. Dom Salvador's signature piano playing gives the song its heartbeat, his touch a reminder of his immeasurable contribution to Brazilian music.
Jazz Is Dead continues its journey of honouring musical legends with Dom Salvador JID024, an album that revisits and revitalizes the pioneering spirit of one of Brazil’s most influential musicians. Dom Salvador, the trailblazer who fused samba with jazz, funk, and soul in the late ’60s and early ’70s, is the cornerstone of a movement that shaped the sound of Black Brazilian music. Now, in collaboration with Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad, he returns to that foundation in a wholly new way.
Legendary Gil Scott-Heron collaborator Brian Jackson releases his long overdue new album Aug 6th. Check out two tracks below.
Here's the scoop from Jazz Is Dead...
Brian Jackson JID008 is the first full album released by the great man in 20 years and it's a testament to his multifaceted talents that while there are moments throughout that hint at his game-changing history and track record, for the most part it reveals a musician whose considerable lessons learned from the past only serve to keep his eyes firmly fixed on the future. It's a masterclass in unbridled and open-minded creativity, no different from what Brian did half a century ago. The ease and comfort with which his ideas integrate with those of musicians a generation younger than him bears this out. To listen to this album is to hear a hot up-and-coming musician who also happens to be a major jazz-funk legend.
Brian Jackson's Jazz Is Dead 008 is out August 6. You can pre-order it via Bandcamp righthere. Check out "Mars Walk" and "Nancy Wilson" below followed by an interview with Adrian Younge's chat with Brian Jackson.
Spiritual jazz great Doug Carn steps out of the shadows for a great new recording with Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad.
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Doug Carn's newest project, his entry in the Jazz Is Dead album series helmed by Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad, takes his unique and timeless art and places it within the context of a musical culture that has always taken cues from his 70s classics. There's no mistaking the musical mind that created legendary albums like Infant Eyes and Adam's Apple, but the encounter of that with the distinctive jazz-hip hop-funk-noir that is the Younge/Muhammad/JID trademark creates something worthy of comparison to Carn's past work but which could only have been made right now. One can detect nods to musical motifs by Carn's jazz peers that have served as frequent sample fodder, but his compositional and improvisational integrity remain indisputable throughout.
Get a copy of Doug Carn's Jazz Is Dead 5 right here. Listen to "Processions" and "Lion's Walk" below.
Roy Ayers: Jazz Is Dead 0002 is slated for release by the Jazz Is Dead label on June 19th. Listen to "Synchronizaton Vibration" and Jazz Is Dead 001.
Here's the scoop...
Timeless music exists as a piece of art that is perpetually in vogue; a creation of sound that never sours with future generations. For Jazz Is Dead, a taste for timelessness is essential and our strength is based on presenting the unexpected. With great pride, we announce a new album with Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Adrian Younge and the godfather of neo-soul: Roy Ayers Jazz Is Dead (JID) 002
With a career spanning nearly 60 years, he’s inspired a multitude of artists with his jazz-oriented R&B: a fusion of post-bop and soul that canonized his place in the world of music. He’s one of the most sampled artists of all time, responsible for some of your favorite songs by A Tribe Called Quest, Mary J. Blige, Erykah Badu, Kendrick Lamar and more. His formative years came in the ‘70s, with a slew of Polydor releases including He’s Coming, Vibrations and Everybody Loves the Sunshine.
The Los Angeles bred Ayers was raised near the epicenter of the west coast jazz scene, Central Avenue. By day, a pleasant downtown for the segregated black middle class; by night, a dynamic multi-cultural thoroughfare of music, entertainment, and Black excellence. At a time when Bebop was the new wave, musicians ranging from Lionel Hampton, Charlie Parker, and Ella Fitzgerald were frequent regulars. With fast tempos, instrumental virtuosity and complex chord progressions, it was the younger generations answer to the oversaturated jazz of yesteryear. At the age of 5, Ayers attended a Lionel Hampton concert, where he was personally gifted a set of mallets by the legendary vibraphonist. “I was singing before the vibraphone but I was playing the piano because we had one at home…the piano really made me want to play the vibraphone.” Ayers sought to become the next Hampton.
At 17, Ayers convinced his parents to buy him a $300 vibraphone, with the goal of one day becoming a professional musician. As he progressed, he began performing with fledgling musicians like Bobby Hutcherson and Edwin Birdsong. He also played with more established artists like Chico Hamilton, Teddy Edwards, Jack Wilson, Phineas Newborn and Gerald Wilson. His persistence paid off and he found his niche as a touring vibraphonist for the flautist Herbie Mann.
Towards the end of his four-year tenure with Mann, he signed a deal with Polydor that would define his career. Slowly, he began to forego some of his post-bop virtuosity for a prevalence in groove and R&B. Unbeknownst to Ayers, he would create a catalog, ultimately serving as the predecessor to neo-soul. This move was heavily influenced by his childhood friend and frequent co-producer, Edwin Birdsong. During these formative years, Ayers found a new purpose and reached a wider audience with soulful iterations of jazz. In ’76 he released “Searching,” and “Everybody Loves The Sunshine,” the latter serving as one of the most influential songs of his career.
“The song changed everything for me. It’s still the last song of my show. People always join in and it’s been sampled over 100 times, by everyone from Dr. Dre to Pharrell Williams,” stated Ayers. His biggest hit was ironically recorded at night and the phrase just came to his head. Roy chanted, “Feel what I feel, when I feel what I feel, what I’m feeling. Then I started thinking about summer imagery. Folks get down in the sunshine, folks get brown in the sunshine, just bees and things and flowers. It was so spontaneous. It felt wonderful and I knew exactly how I wanted it to sound: a mix of vibraphone, piano and a synthesizer.”
It's this simple blending of soul and jazz that revolutionized a sound of music for years to come. Prior to recording Jazz Is Dead 002, he worked with Alicia Keys, Thundercat and Tyler The Creator. When asked why he still continues to record music, he had one simple answer, “For the younger generation. That’s exactly why I do it, exactly for that reason.”
Long before Adrian Younge fan club member DJ Premier released his PRhyme collabo with Royce da 5'9" exclusively using samples of Younge's recordings, the multi-instrumentalist composer, arranger and producer was already well-known to beatheadz for his brilliant work scoring Scott Sanders' 2009 blaxploitation salute Black Dynamite and the inspired Philly soul update Adrian Younge Presents The Delfonics. Here's a short documentary about Younge and his work that's worth checking.
Since releasing the amazing faux-giallo soundtrack Twelve Reasons To Die with Ghostface Killah and companion instrumentals set on Rza's Soul Temple label back in 2013, Younge has been hard at work building his own Linear Labs operation on the down low. To preview the four impressive albums he has slated for 2015, Younge assembled the Los Angeles label sampler now available on CD, LP and as a digital download.
Along with Return Of The Savage (listen below) featuring Ghostface Killah, Raekwon and Rza from the upcoming Twelve Reasons To Die II album, there's the Memories Of War collabo with Stereolab chanteuse Laetitia Sadier off the forthcoming 'Something About April II and a joint called Feel Alive voiced by Karolina and Loren Oden from The Midnight Hour concept album Younge created with Ali Shaheed Muhammad. Additionally, the vinyl version of Los Angeles comes with the bonus track Sirens II (which you can hear in a stripped-down version below) from Bilal's next solo album.
For those playing catch-up, the Los Angeles sampler also includes 1969 Organ from Younge’s 2000 debut Adrian Younge Presents Venice Dawn, Panic (Ali Shaheed Muhammad Remix) from last year's Souls of Mischief / Ali Shaheed Muhammad album, There Is Only Now Remix, The Sure Shot (Parts 1 & 2) which is an instrumental lifted from the Twelve Reasons To Die sessions, To Be Your One from the aforementioned Delfonics set and finally, there's Chicago Wind featuring Toni Scruggs from the Black Dynamite soundtrack. If your local record retailer doesn't stock Linear Labs releases, you can order Los Angeles directly from the label right here.
FYI: Raekwon returns to Toronto to present the music from his new album Fly International Luxurious Art – which could've greatly benefitted from Younge's musical input – at the Phoenix on Friday.
