UK

First release of 2019 for Ice City and this one needs no special introduction. One of the ultimate "crossover" soul records - ever. Mid 70s Chicago masterpiece Pamoja written and produced by Keith Stevenson."Oooh, Baby" is an uptempo soul groover designated to light up any proper dancefloor. Due to its scarcity and overall demand, it has become a treasure hunt nightmare for cratediggers worldwide. Finally, the official reissue is here! And if that's not enough, flip the 45 over and go deep on the ballad "Only the Lonely Know", with the throbbing, shrill falsetto vocals from Keith himself.

Volume 9 of Mukatsuku Afro series kicks off with 'M'Ongele M'Am' from Cameroon artist Eko Roosevelt Louis taken from his early 1980's self-titled album and licenced for this 45 from Nubiphone & Africa Seven. The track was one of the highlights of the 2017 Pop Makossa compilation for Analagog Africa and it's the first time ever on a single in its own right.Driving brass funk fuelled afro disco does not really get much better than this. On the flipside Georges Ouedraogo from Burkina Faso gives us us the dance floor bomb ''Deni'' taken from his 1978 long player ''Gnanfou Gnanfou'' also licenced from Africa Seven and also the first time ever on a single. Punchy brass offset by those hipnotic vocals and funky wah-wah guitar has a deserved place on the flip. Strictly no repress. Essential 45 for the dancefloor !

Judy Pollak's late 70s LP is extremely rare and charming peace of music. Not just a Soul and Funk LP, sprinklings of folkiness in Judy's vocal make this a fairly unique and fantastic listen, no wonder it can hit $1000 when it comes up for sale. Recorded in 1977 at PAC 3 Studio, Dearborn, Michigan, where bands such as Al Hudson, Floaters, C.J. & Co and many more recorded. Judy used to hang out on the music scene and was introduced to the band via a mutual friend and Sax player Charlie Gabriel. 33 1/3 who were from Detroit got together with Judy who was living Living between Southfield, Michigan and North Carolina at the time and this LP is the result. Enjoy.

Andrew Wasylyk is the alias of Scottish writer, producer and multi-instrumentalist, Andrew Mitchell.In 2018, Andrew was extended a residency invite from arts centre and historic house, Hospitalfield, Arbroath, Scotland to create new music for their restored, 19th century, Erard Grecian harp.During Wasylyk's five-month sojourn he created melodies and progressions echoing the building's unique relationship with the looming North Sea horizon. Using not only the harp, but the house's original grand piano, Andrew explored the Angus landscape and beyond, gathering field recordings on trips to neighbouring Seaton Cliffs and Bell Rock Lighthouse (the world's oldest surviving sea-washed lighthouse).Winter slipped into spring, and harp-led compositions gave way to an ambitious third, full-length album, exploring a range of themes utilising a broad palette of instrumentation, including flugelhorn, euphonium, oboe, string trio, vintage synthesisers, drones and upright piano.From the wandering, Bob James-esque, Fender Rhodes and shimmering strings in the study of coastal light, "(Welter) In The Haar", to the plaintive brass and farewell transmission blowing through, "Adrift Below A Constellation", punctuated by the fragility of Wasylyk's sole lead vocal of this collection - "The Paralian" (a dweller by the sea), is a conclusion embued with blue and golden melodies that land in a territory akin to experimentalists such as Robert Wyatt and Brian Eno. Through which, Wasylyk weaves the listener along a Modern-classical, Ambient and Jazz dream of Scotland's east coast.Athens Of The North team were stunned by the luminous beauty and creativity at play in this work. Falling between genres and time, it stands next to 60s British Jazz, effortlessly blending notes of Library and soundtracks with dashes of British Folk.

The Blue Note Record label needs little introduction. Musically, graphically and sonically iconic, the label created and defined the golden age of modern jazz on record. Founded in 1939 by German émigré Alfred Lion, the label's roster of artists is a litany of giants – Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins, Horace Silver, Lee Morgan, Art Blakey, Lee Morgan, Herbie Hancock and many more. With peerless musicians in the grooves, the legendary Rudy Van Gelder behind the boards, and graphic design genius Reid Miles creating emblematic artwork for every release, Blue Note – 'the Cadillac of the jazz lines' – was outstanding in every way.Volume 9 of Jazzman's Spiritual Jazz series takes a close look at the deeper side of Blue Note – from the experimental avant-garde explored by younger musicians such as Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Henderson and Pete La Roca, to the exciting new developments in modal sounds put forward by stalwarts Hank Mobley, Jackie McLean and Duke Pearson. The music we have selected shows how musicians working with the label responded to a period of dramatic social and sonic change, charting the route toward the esoteric and spiritualised sounds that would dominate the deepest jazz of the 1970s.As ever, Blue Note had lit the path, and this new Spiritual Jazz collection shows that the progressive and underground jazz sound of the 1960s was not only the preserve of obscure artists and private pressings. Blue spirits and heavy sounds on Blue Note – the finest in jazz since 1939, brought to you by Jazzman.