Hailu Mergia & The Walias - Tche Belew [1977]

During the 70's  there were recorded only three albums of instrumental music in Ethiopia.Two of them made by Mulatu Astatke.The third is this,a hidden gem!

 Walias Band  were an Ethiopian Jazz and funk band active from the early 1970s until the early 1990s. Formed by members of the Venus Band, Walias backed up many prominent singers with a hard polyrhythmic funk sound influenced by western artists like King Curtis, Junior Walker and Maceo Parker. In 1977 they recorded one of the few albums of Ethiopian instrumental music in collaboration with vibraphonist Mulatu Astatke, whose role as a bandleader and composer was also a major influence on Ethiopian popular music

                                                                               Enjoy!
 

Rico Rodriguez - Roots To The Bone [1995]

Roots to the Bone was issued in 1995 by Island Records as an extended reissue of Rico Rodriguez' most important album, Man from Wareika, with some 12" sides from the late 1970s.

Rico was musically very active during that time playing in Europe as well as in Japan. He just had releases with Jazz Jamaica and continued with his own recordings he had produced in Japan during 1994/1995. At the same time Trojan re-released his 1969 LPs, Blow Your Horn and Brixton Cat, while Island used its Reggae Refreshers series to present Rico on this album, Roots to the Bone.

The liner notes have been written by Steve Barrow as a brief history of Rico's career that lasted for half a century just as long as the development of Jamaican music as one "of the world's great popular musics". He concludes: "as one of its original creators, he has used his trombone to sing the songs of King Alpha as convincingly as any vocalist."

                                                                                Enjoy!

Charly Antolini - In The Groove [1972]

One of the funkiest records ever from Charly Antolini – the drummer who cut some mighty groovy records for MPS! This album features Charly's drums really kicking hard – actually hitting some moments that make for some tight breaks in the set, supported by instrumentation that's very much in the best MPS big band mode of the time! The mixture of heavy drums and tight horns reminds us a lot of some of the best funk from Buddy Rich – although the MPS setting here is a lot groovier – and players include Dusko Goykovich on trumpet, Armin Rusch on organ, Sigi Schwab on guitar, and Ack Van Rooyen on trumpet and flugelhorn. The whole thing's jumping – an extremely propulsive little set! 

                                                                               Enjoy!

Laszlo Hortobagyi - 6th All-India Music Conference [1990]

László Hortobágyi's music is fiction and reality at the same time. He creates musical worlds in which we can rediscover ourselves, just to forget ourselves all over again. The essence of his music is that the 20th century was not culturally influenced by the Occident, but from the Orient instead.

Just imagine that the Western and Asian polyphony had united, such as, for example, baroque organ music with phrases of Indian Ragas. A harpsichord player performing Northern Indian sitar music on his polyphonic instrument supported by a psychedelic reggae bass. Or an orthodox Slavic church choir was to sing in a classic Indian "Dhrupad" style, in the course of which repetitive gamelan music utilized compositions of Indian ragas during an electronic rock concert in Java........

Specific to this album is his unification of the music from this fictitous 20th century with the classic Indian music culture. The meticulously listed information in the booklet concerning the "Indian Music Conferences" - the first was to have taken place in the year 1916 - reads like an encyclopedia about councils that continued for years. The artist allows the "encyclicals" to flow into his music. All of this may well sound "unreal", but does the culture in the West have any other chance than to make use of the sources of this advanced civilization? "Cultures that the West has destroyed over hundreds of years and is still destroying"? (Hortobágyi)

He is pursuing these questions in the institute he founded in 1980 in Budapest, the "Gáyan Uttejak Society", which is equipped with a unique Indian and Asian music archive. Not belonging to any real genre, this music should transport our fantasy to more exciting cultural fusions in virtual realities. This music is an exciting challenge for the musical scientist; and a drug for those that want to relax.

                                

                                                                              Enjoy!

Dave Pike Set - Infra-Red [1970]

Amazing grooves from the legendary Dave Pike – one of the American vibists' few albums for the MPS label – and quite possibly the trippiest of the bunch! The set's a beautiful illustration of the freedoms that the MPS label offered American players like Pike – a chance to really open up and do his thing, and find new sides and styles he'd never expressed before on his records back home! Of course, part of the strength of the set is the group he's working with here – an ensemble that includes the amazing Volker Kreigel on guitar (and sitar!), plus JA Rettenbacher on bass and Peter Baumeister on drums. But, lest you think this is a standard quartet affair, let it be known that all players – including Pike – handle a very wide variety of instruments throughout the session – including bongos, toys, maracas, other percussion, and more – even a bit of vocalizations as well! Tracks often have a slow-building, slightly-trippy feel that's totally great – and Kreigel's work on guitar is a perfect pairing with Pike's vibes – especially as both players are clearly digging an Eastern influence for the set.

                                                                Enjoy!

The Bombay Jazz Palace [2002]

  

The Bombay Jazz Palace is a compilation album released on CD in the UK by Outcaste Records on 2002. The fourteen tracks featured on the CD are all influenced by both traditional Indian music, and various species of jazz and funk. The majority of the album's music dates from 1970s or late 60s, forming part of the Western counterculture's growing interest in Asian culture.

The first ten songs are by European and American musicians exploring the instrumentation, rhythms, and scales of Indian music, with varying degrees of authenticity. The final four songs show a kind of mirror-image, with Indian musicians taking influence from popular idioms of Western music from the 1970s.

                                                                              Enjoy!

Steve Cropper - With a little help from my friends [1971]

An obscure bit of late 60s Stax! Steve Cropper's working away from the MG's here, in a mode that's slightly similar, but which has his guitar upfront in the mix on a batch of Memphis-style instrumentals – kind of his own take on the groove he was laying down with Booker T, but with a lot less organ in the mix! There's no mad funk on the album, but the whole thing's pretty darn nice – and is proof that Cropper was the key element in more than just a bit of the Stax sound at the time – a really strong artist who could more than stand on his own. 

                                                               Enjoy!

Ganimian and His Oriental Music - Come With Me To The Casbah [1959]

The five members of Ganimian And His Orientals were all Armenian-Americans, led by Charles "Chick" Ganimian, who would later become perhaps the most successful American-born oud player. The band's repertoire included Turkish, Armenian, Arabic and some Greek dances and songs.It’s an amazing LP with superb Middle-Eastern belly-dance vibe, not dry or academic but as real as a hazy party night of spicy food and liquor at the local kebab parlour !

                                                                                Enjoy!

Eric Burdon & War - The Black-Man's Burdon [1970]

Eric Burdon's second and final album with War, Black-Man's Burdon was a double set that could have benefited from quite a bit of judicious editing. Composed mostly of sprawling psychedelic funk jams, it does find War mapping out much of the jazz/Latin/soul grooves that, cut down to much more economical song structures, would shortly bring them success on their own. Highlights include the soulful vamps "Pretty Colors" and "They Can't Take Away Our Music" and the 13-minute "Paint It Black" medley that reflects the height of their eccentricity.
Fantastic album!

                                                                    Enjoy!   Lp1  &  Lp2

Call of the valley [1967]

Call of the Valley is a 1967 Hindustani classical music album by Hariprasad Chaurasia, Brij Bhushan Kabra, and Shivkumar Sharma. It was recorded for the label EMI.

The instrumental album follows a day in the life of an Indian shepherd from Kashmir. It is one of the most successful Indian albums and one that became popular with an international audience. It was very important in introducing Indian music to Western ears and internationally the best selling Indian music record. George Harrison, David Crosby, Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan and Roger McGuinn are fans of the album.

The atmospheric music is traditional, but the innovative use of guitar and flute make the sound more acceptable for Western audiences. Kabra plays slide guitar, Sharma santoor and Chaurasia bansuri. The artists became well known musicians and the instruments they used became acceptable in traditional Indian music. Today Call of the Valley is considered a classic and a milestone in world music. Allmusic advises: "If the newcomer buys only one Indian classical recording, it should be "Call of the Valley"."

The remastered edition has three bonus tracks.

                                                                                Enjoy!