Soul Jazz Records" new Miami Sound 2 is a superlative collection of 70s soul, funk, disco and boogie featuring tracks from legendary artists such as Betty Wright, Timmy Thomas, Gwen McRae, Milton Wright, T-Connection and many more, all released on the mighty TK Records musical empire based in Miami, Florida. More

Soul Jazz Records are releasing flautist Lloyd McNeill's album 'Elegia' (1980). Originally released on the artists' own private press Baobab label in New York, the album is a serious collectors' piece, a heavyweight and fascinating fusion of deep spiritual jazz with Brazilian rhythms and melodies. The album has been out of print for nearly 40 years. This groundbreaking album is the culmination of Lloyd McNeill's many years involved with Brazilian musicians and features the great percussionist Nana Vasconcelos alongside fellow Brazilians Portinho and Dom Salvador, and US jazz musicians including bassist Cecil McBee. In a 50-year musical career, McNeill has worked with many artists including Nina Simone, Eric Dolphy, Mulatu Asatke and Sabu Martinez. This is the fifth Lloyd McNeill album that Soul Jazz Records have released and follows on from the recent release of 'Treasures' (1976) and the earlier albums 'Asha' (1969), 'Tanner Suite' (1969) and 'Washington Suite' (1970), all of which are being re-pressed to coincide with this new release. More

Repress!

18 years on from its original release Studio One Dub remains super-hard hitting featuring classic + rare Dub tracks from Studio One, many available on vinyl for the first time in over thirty years.

Studio One Dub includes the dubs of many classic tracks such as Horace Andy’s “Skylarkin”, Johnny Osbourne’s “Truth and Rights”, John Holt’s “Hooligan”, Freddie McGregor’s “Bobby Bobylon” plus many more rare tracks.

The album also comes with two rare interviews - one with Clement 'Sir Coxsone' Dodd about dub and dubplates and one with the sound engineer Sylvan Morris, talking about his groundbreaking period at Studio One and his many innovations that he evolved there.

In short, this is a 100% essential album!




REVIEWS:

"Almighty slab of dub featuring loads of rare and classic dub versions of Studio One's foundation tracks." Rough Trade

“Quite a treat awaiting here for the unsuspecting reggae faithful - as always with Soul jazz chock full of a bunch of big tunes - but here in version form lies some of the freshest rhythms and most radical revisions of some of the greatest Studio One music. The darkest and the absolute deepest in the series - naturally essential”. Boomkat

"Continuing the Studio 1 Series this album features classic and rare Dub tracks from Studio One, many available for the first time in over thirty years. Studio One Dub includes the dubs of many classic tracks such as Horace Andy’s “Skylarkin”, Johnny Osbourne’s “Truth and Rights”, John Holt’s “Hooligan”, Freddie McGregor’s “Bobby Bobylon” plus many more rare tracks. In short, this is an essential album!" Wax Museum

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Soul Jazz’s Studio One Dub collection, cannot help but to serve as loving tribute to Sir Coxsone Dodd. This giant of a man not only defined popular music for the isle of Jamaica, but for the world over, his innovations laying the foundations for hip-hop, dance and post-rock.”

“Dodd's dubs drew on such a fertile ground of classic Jamaican rhythms that he rarely missed. As such, it's difficult to find fault with the versions presented here and many of these cuts are ridiculously rare.”

“This burning set celebrates Dodd's extraordinary life by mashing time and space until it's joyfully suspended. What better tribute could there be?” Pitchfork More

Repress!

Studio One's music in the 1970s took the label to new heights. The new style of Disco Mix brought many areas of Reggae together ­ Roots, Lovers, Disco and Dub all came together in extended form, re-versioning classic hits, experimenting with new studio technology, over-dubbing, syn-drums and more producing what many fans describe as the most creative and innovative phase in the history of the legendary Studio One Records.

This Studio One Disco Mix album includes many sought after classic tunes only ever released in very small quantities (on Studio One's very first 12" records as well as it's infamous Music Lab 10"s out of New York) and consequently many of these track s have been unavailable since their day of release. Studio One Disco Mix features many of the classic Studio One artists such as Alton Ellis, Sugar Minott, Jackie Mittoo and Willie Williams (with his classic re-versioning of his own "Armigideon Time") alongside less well artists such as Doreen Schaeffer, Judah Eskender Tafari and George Dudley and many more. More

Repress!

Lovingly compiled, this album features only the finest Lovers from Jamaica’s finest label. From Blues parties in London, Birmingham, Bristol etc Lovers Rock quickly became one of the UK’s finest-ever musical movements.

Sweet harmonies, soulful reggae, love songs – the key ingredients of Lovers Rock - were all based on the revival of many of the classic Rocksteady harmony groups of the late 60s and early 70s, such as The Heptones, Carlton and The Shoes, Larry & Alvin, The Paragons, that Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd’s Studio One and rival Duke Reid’s Treasure Isle label produced hit after hit with as they fought for dominance in the dancehalls of Kingston.

As well as these classic harmony groups, this album also features fine contributions from many of the reggae greats – Horace Andy, Alton Ellis, Bob Marley and The Wailers, Delroy Wilson – All artists who became stars at the legendary Studio One Records which Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records, describes as "The University of Reggae". More

Reissue!

For this Studio One release we return to the roots of Reggae music-The Soundsystem. Throughout the late 1950s and 1960s Soundsystems played throughout the city of Kingston, Jamaica. As well as Sir Coxsone's Downbeat Soundsystem other famous Soundsystem operators included Duke Reid (the Trojan), Prince Buster, Tom the Great and King Edwards.

These Soundystems were the birthplace of much of Jamaica's musical culture ­ Soundclashes, Dancehall and the idea of the Toaster who sang over records- theDJ. As ever Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd led the field and so for this release the focus is on DJ's at Studio One and features legendary toasters such as Denis Alcapone, Dillinger and Prince Far I as well as a host of rare material by lesser known artists. Also included is Count Machuki ­ the original DJ- the first man ever to speak over the mic-at Sir Coxsone¹s Downbeat Sound System- from where it all began.

As Steve Barrow (author of The Rough Guide to Reggae/Blood and Fire Records) writes in the sleevenotes, Jamaican deejay music is the source for all Rap music: From Count Machuki talking over records on Sir Coxsone's legendary Downbeat Sound System this style would eventually travel to America when the Jamaican-born Kool Herc began playing at Block parties (a version of the Kingston Soundsystem parties) in the Bronx. Cutting up rare-groove classics for the first B-Boys to rap over, Hip-Hop was born and theDJ music that had started on the early Soundsystems of Kingston would go on to conquer the world!

Studio One Records is the original Jamaican record label. Studio One Records started the career of hundreds of Jamaican artists from Bob Marley to The Skatalites, from Horace Andy to The Heptones. Studio One DJs (compiled by Mark Ainley) is the next in the series of releases where Soul Jazz Records are showcasing the music of Studio One, the label that literally defines Reggae. More

VINYL ALBUM ONLY REPRESS (COMES WITHOUT DVD/CD)!

Soul Jazz Records’ feature-length documentary/CD/Book ‘Studio One Story’ is being re-released on 1 August 2011, and is also available for the first time as a stand alone DVD.
The DVD is being issued as a prelude to the forthcoming deluxe-hardback book ‘Original Cover Art of Studio One Records’ released this autumn by Soul Jazz Records as well as a new Studio One album compilation on Soul Jazz to coincide with the new book.


Studio One Story is a documentary this is both a staggering slice of musical history and a definitive guide to Studio One, Jamaica’s greatest ever record company, and its legendary founder, Clement ‘Coxsone’ Dodd. ‘Studio One Story’ was filmed in 2002, two years before the death of the legendary Clement ‘Sir Coxsone’ Dodd, a man famously reticent of being interviewed - until the making of this film. Described by Chris Blackwell as the Motown of Jamaica, or ‘The University of Reggae’, Studio One is where the careers of literally hundreds of reggae artists began: Bob Marley and the Wailers, Alton Ellis, The Heptones, Ken Boothe, The Skatalites, Burning Spear and Sugar Minott, to name but a few! Studio One is the ‘foundation’ label of Jamaican Reggae and Clement ‘Sir Coxsone’ Dodd is seen by many as its father.

One and a half years in the making, Studio One Story is a truly unique documentary in which the late Clement Dodd gave unprecedented personal access to tell the previously untold story of how he and the many artists and musicians at Studio One literally shaped the rise of Reggae music from the 1950s onwards through to the late 1970s. This is the true story of reggae music and its Jamaican roots told from the inside: From the rise of Kington’s sound systems in the 1940s and 1950s, through to the evolution of a Jamaican music industry (and Studio One’s dominance) in the 1960s and the worldwide success of reggae in the 1970s.

The 4 hour documentary (including over an hour of extras) was filmed on location in Kingston, Jamaica and features interviews with Horace Andy, Alton Ellis, Ken Boothe, Sugar Minott, Denis Alcapone, The Ethiopians, Sylvan Morris, Johnny Moore, Lone Ranger, King Stitt and many others. The DVD also includes rare footage of The Skatalites, Jackie Mittoo, Count Ossie, Marcia Griffiths and others. As well as the stand-alone DVD, Soul Jazz Records are reissuing the original (DVD +CD+Book) original box set. More

Seminal rare groove funk and deep soul album originally released in 1973 on GRC Records now released 50 years later on Soul Jazz Records in this fully remastered edition of this CLASSIC album. The album "Ripple" contains the all-time classic "I Don"t know What It Is, But It Sure Is Funky", one of the most memorable funk tunes of all time and sampled many times over. Ripple"s unique blend of funk, soul, rock, proto-disco and more stood them alongside groups like Funkadelic, Brass Construction, Mandrill, Pleasure, Kool and the Gang and The Blackbyrds, who were all blending these styles while remaining firmly focussed on the dancefloor. Like the group Funkadelic, Ripple hailed from Michigan and in 1976 opened for the group on their Parliament/Funkadelic Mothership Connection tour. This classic album has been out of print for nearly 30 years on vinyl and is now fully remastered and presented here in its original artwork.

Tracklist
1.1You Were Right On Time
1.2Be My Friend
1.3I Don't Know What It Is, But It Sure Is Funky
1.4I'll Be Right There Trying
1.5Get Off
1.6See The Light In The Window
1.7A Funky Song
1.8Willie, Pass The Water
1.9Dance, Lady Dance
1.10Ripplin' More

This is a very special one-off new special edition of one of the most popular of all the Soul Jazz Records" collections that has been out of print for many years! Featuring great new sleeve design as well as a special coloured vinyl pressing, Studio One Kings is a "who"s who" of the world"s greatest reggae artists. Studio One"s list of singers launched at the famous label reads like a roll call of Jamaican music. Horace Andy, Alton Ellis, Ken Boothe, Freddie McGregor, Johnny Osbourne and more. This album features classic and rare tracks that span the breadth of the legendary Studio One catalogue: Ska, Roots, Rocksteady, Lovers and more from the 1960s and 70s. The album also comes with sleeve-notes by the great writer Chris Salewicz, author of books on Reggae Explosion, Rude Boy as well as books on Bob Marley, The Rolling Stones, Jimmy Page, Joe Strummer and more.

Tracklist
1.1Larry Marshall - I've Got To Make It
1.2Horace Andy - Every Tongue Shall Tell
1.3Alton Ellis - The Well Run Dry
1.4Johnny Osbourne - Water More Than Flour
1.5Anthony Rocky Ellis - I'm The Ruler
1.6Cornell Campbell - Pretty Looks Isn't All
1.7Alexander Henry - Please Be True
1.8Burning Spear - The A Come
1.9Joe Higgs - Change Of Plan
1.10Devon Russell - Roots Natty
2.1Ken Boothe - Be Yourself
2.2Freddie McGregor - I Shall Be Released
2.3Freddie McKay - Father Will Cut You Off
2.4The Ethiopian - Locust
2.5George Philip - One On One
2.6John Holt - I Don't Want To See You Cry
2.7Delroy Wilson - Won't You Come Home More

You are about to embark on a new intergalactic journey into black space, fuelled by funk, powered by computers. Soul Jazz Records" new second collection of twisted hyperspace electro/funk "Space Funk 2: Afro Futurist Electro Funk in Space 1976-84", continues its intergalactic journey. Featuring rare and off-the-wall space funk and electro rarities and obscurities, all released on small independent USA record labels in the late 1970s and 1980s. Artists on this release include Alien Starr, Bobby Demo, Maggatron, Mid-City Crew, Tribe, Junie, Rich Cason and the Galactic Orchestra and many more intergalactic space warriors! This is space age bionic funk, programmed to make you dance!!!


TRACKLIST:

A/B
1. Alien Starr - Music-A-Lizer
2. Chance - Master Groove (Instrumental)
3. The Bobby Deemo Band - More Ounce Rap
4. Mack Simmons - Skin Tight
5. Maggotron - Computer Pop
6. Tribe - Vulcan Voyage
7. Command Performance - Breakdance

C/D
1. Junei - Let's Ride
2. The Graingers - Shine Your Light
3. Mid City Crew - Get Right
4. Chapter Three - Smurf Trek
5. X-Ray Vision - Video Control
6. Rich Cason and The Galactic Orchestra - Year 2001 Boogi
7. Frank James and Shadow - Summer Tim More

New 20th anniversary edition of Soul Jazz Records" long out-of-print Miami Sound: Rare Funk and Soul from Miami, Florida, 1967-74. This album had been unavailable for more than 15 years and is newly remastered. Soul Jazz Records Miami Sound features rare and classic Funk and Deep Soul from Miami, Florida between 1968 and 1974. The album brings together million-selling artists such as Gwen McRae, George McRae and Timmy Thomas alongside artists little known outside of the sunshine state such as James Knight and The Butlers, Frank Williams and The Rocketeers and All the People.


TRACKLIST
1.1 All The People - Cramp Your Style
1.2 Helene Smith - You Got To Be A Man
1.3 George McCrae - I Get Lifted
1.4 James Knight And The Butlers - Funky Cat
1.5 Gwen McCrae - 90% Of Me Is You
1.6 Little Beaver - Funkadelic Sound
1.7 James Knight And The Butlers - Save Me
1.8 Joey Gilmore - Do It To Me One More Time
2.1 Helene Smith - A Woman Will Do Wrong
2.2 James Knight And The Butlers - Fantasy World
2.3 Timmy Thomas - Funky Me
2.4 The New Clarence Reid - Cadillac Annie
2.5 Frank Williams And The Rocketeers - The Spanish Flyer
2.6 Della Humphrey - Don't Make The Good Girls Go Bad
2.7
Frank Williams And The Rocketeers - You Got To Be A
Man
2.8 Joey Gilmore - Somebody Done Took My More

Mind Maze is, amazingly, Trees Speak"s fifth album to be released on Soul Jazz Records in the space of little over two years - an output matched only by the intensity of their music created during this short time. As with all their previous releases, "Mind Maze" is a mind-boggling tightrope walk across an array of musical influences that seamlessly create the unique present-day world of Trees Speak. The band"s sound is characterized by a combination of German krautrock motoric-beat rhythms, angular New York post-punk attitude, 60s spy soundtracks, psych, rock, jazz, and 70s synthesizers and vocoders. There is also a cosmic spatial awareness to their sound; both personal inner space and galactic outer space, as well as a wilful pushing of sonic boundaries. Trees Speak are a musical duo based in Tucson, Arizona, composed of Daniel Martin Diaz and Damian Diaz. Their music is heavily influenced by the cosmic magic of the natural desert landscapes of Arizona, creating a unique and captivating sound that is both experimental and innovative. "Mind Maze" was recorded in Brooklyn, New York with special guests Gabriel Sullivan, Alex Pope, Craig Dreyer, Ben Nisbet and Stephani Guilmette.
Tracklist
1.1Mind Maze
1.2Minotaur
1.3Syndrome
1.4Sospetto
1.5Illusions
1.6Scanner
1.7Burner
1.8Rare Earth
1.9Pathways
1.10Skip Breath
1.11Odyssey
1.12Passage
1.13Signals
1.14Black Phone
1.15Mirror
1.16Stone Tape
2.1Seraphim (Bonus 7Inch)
2.2Orpheus (Bonus 7Inch) More

"There is no Acid in this House" is Hieroglyphic Being"s third solo album on Soul Jazz Records, a resolute and powerful statement of Jamal Moss"s raw, vital, pioneering, Afro-Futurist electronic (dance) music. On his new album Moss once-again draws upon the vast scope of experimentation that has defined Chicago"s musical universe over the last half a century - from the birth of house music with the pioneers Ron Hardy, Marshall Jefferson, Lil Louis and others to the radical avant-garde jazz legacy of the city, The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, The Art Ensemble of Chicago and Sun Ra. Chicago"s musical universe continues to push-further forward today with artists such as Hieroglyphic Being, Angel Bat Dawid, Makaya McCraven, and labels such as International Anthem label and Hieroglyphic Being"s own Mathematics, all continuing to explore radical new music while drawing upon the city"s decidedly Afro-futurist lineage.

Tracklist
1.1Communion Of The Highest Order
1.2We Are The Light Vessels
1.3When Situations Get
1.4Look Over There 9 O'Clock
1.5Beyond The Outrage
1.6Frantic Moments
1.7Mephisto's Pulpit Of Stank
2.1Deconstructing The Path
2.2Nights Under The Nubian Sky
2.3Dark Acidic Organs From The Void
2.4Private Runner
2.5Let Me Know How U Really Feel
2.6There Is No Acid In This House (Just Emotions Remix)
2.7Dogs Don't Wear Pants More

18 years on from its original release Studio One Women remains one of our Studio One releases most in-demand titles and like all our earlier special coloured editions is sure to sell out fast! Ska, rocksteady, funky reggae, roots, dub mixes, disco mixes, they"re all here from the queens of the Jamaican music scene - Studio One Women features a wide mix of classics and obscurities from the finest female voices in reggae.

Tracklist
1.1Claudette McLean - Give Love Another Try
1.2Jennifer Lara - My Man
1.3The Soulettes - A Deh Pon Dem
1.4Della Humphrey - Dream Land
1.5Jennifer Lara - Consider Me
1.6Denise Darlington - War No Right
1.7Hortense Ellis - I'm Just A Girl
1.8Angela Prince - No Bother With No Fuss
2.1Jerry Jones - There's A Chance For Me
2.2The Soulettes - King Street
2.3Jennifer Lara - Tell Me Where
2.4The Tonettes - I'll Give It To You
2.5Marcia Griffiths - Tell Me Now
2.6The Jay Tees - Come To Me
2.7Angela Prince - You A Fool Boy
2.8Jennifer Lara - I Am In Love More

Disco Reggae Rockers features wicked reggae disco versions of funk, soul and disco classics! This new album follows on from Soul Jazz Records" earlier highly successful "Hustle: Disco Reggae" and features reggae covers of classic songs by Earth, Wind and Fire, Michael Jackson, The Isley Brothers, Candi Staton, Curtis Mayfield and more as performed by Derrick Harriott, Devon Russell, Hortense Ellis, Glen Adams, Dave Barker and others.

TRACKLIST:

1.1 Devon Russell - Move On Up
1.2 Crashers - Flight To Jamaica
1.3 Valerie Harrison - Fool's Paradise
1.4 Bill Campbell - For The Love Of You
1.5 Risco Connection - It's My House
1.6 Dave Barker - Glow Of Love
1.7 Derrick Harriott - Caught You In A Lie
1.8 Hortense Ellis - Young Hearts Run Free

2.1 Ed Watson and Brass Circle - Wanna Be Startin' Somethin
2.2 Devon Russell - We The People Who Are Darker Than Blue
2.3 Seventh Extension - Reasons
2.4 Derrick Harriott - Brown Baby
2.5 Ed Watson and Brass Circle - Let's Groove
2.6 Pete Campbell & The Sunshine Girls - Don't Let Love Get
2.7 Webby Jay - In The Rain
2.8 Glen Adams Affair - Just A Groove
More

3xLP + 7" SINGLE, DOWNLOADCODE, ART PRINT, MAG/ZINE

Like Sun Ra"s Arkestra and John Coltrane are to jazz, the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari are to reggae - the ultimate expression of roots music and Rastafarian ideology in reggae music, music functioning at a high level of spiritual consciousness combined with an equally avant-garde and forward-looking approach to sound. The group"s stunning, unique and groundbreaking 1973 album "Grounation", a mighty conceptual triplealbum (the first ever reggae triple!) is, similar to Marvin Gaye"s "What"s Goin" On", a definitive allencompassing cultural statement of its time and place. A sprawling album of raw and unique cultural expression that combined Rastafari consciousness with deep spiritual jazz music - an absolute and essential classic of Reggae music. The Mystic Revelation of Rastafari group came into existence at the start of 1970s, the union of two artists (and groups) of equal repute - Count Ossie and his African Drums and saxophonist Cedric "Im" Brooks" and his group, The Mystics. Both Ossie and Brooks were alumni from the great Studio One Records.

TRACKLIST:

1.1 Bongo Man
1.2 Narration
1.3 Narration Continued
1.4 Mabrat (Passin Thru)
1.5 Poem I
1.6 Four Hundred Years
1.7 Poem II

2.1 Song
2.2 Lumba
2.3 Way Back Home
2.4 Ethiopian Serenade

3.1 Oh Carolina
3.2 So Long
3.3 Grounation
3.4 Grounation Continued

4.1 Blacker Black 7" Single
4.2 Grounation (Excerpt) 7" Single More

Like Sun Ra"s Arkestra and John Coltrane are to jazz, the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari are to reggae - the ultimate expression of roots music and Rastafarian ideology in reggae music, music functioning at a high level of spiritual consciousness combined with an equally avant-garde and forward-looking approach to sound. The group"s stunning, unique and groundbreaking 1973 album "Grounation", a mighty conceptual triplealbum (the first ever reggae triple!) is, similar to Marvin Gaye"s "What"s Goin" On", a definitive allencompassing cultural statement of its time and place. A sprawling album of raw and unique cultural expression that combined Rastafari consciousness with deep spiritual jazz music - an absolute and essential classic of Reggae music. The Mystic Revelation of Rastafari group came into existence at the start of 1970s, the union of two artists (and groups) of equal repute - Count Ossie and his African Drums and saxophonist Cedric "Im" Brooks" and his group, The Mystics. Both Ossie and Brooks were alumni from the great Studio One Records.

TRACKLIST:

1.1 Bongo Man
1.2 Narration
1.3 Narration Continued
1.4 Mabrat (Passin Thru)
1.5 Poem I
1.6 Four Hundred Years
1.7 Poem II

2.1 Song
2.2 Lumba
2.3 Way Back Home
2.4 Ethiopian Serenade

3.1 Oh Carolina
3.2 So Long
3.3 Grounation
3.4 Grounation Continued More

Krikor rolls out a bass flexing mutant dancehall rhythm on the a side with some deep hypnosis synth on the flip. Ltd edition 12". Big Tip! More

"Blackmarket Seminar", an album by Kazi and it's entirely produced by Madlib. Guest features by Madlib, MED, Wildchild, Declaime (Dudley Perkins) and Oh No. The album was recorded in 1996, remastered in 2016 and now available on CD and all digital platforms. Message from Kazi: "We recorded this album in the wee hours at CDP studios back in '96. It was pretty much me, Madlib and Declaime in the lab when this album was recorded. I learned so much from Lib cadence, rhyme patterns, timing and how to dig for records. What some people don't know is this cat actually took the time to show me how to make beats. I must say working with Lib was an amazing experience. The "Blackmarket Seminar" is a very raw and dark album. We came up with "Black Market" because at the time we were doing Hip Hop that nobody else was doing and to us you could only get it on the "Black Market". When you first play the album you'll hear characters on a skit in search of the black market seminar. We really tried to make it seem like the characters were outside walking around looking for it." We recorded a new video for the song "To Be Lost" as it is about MCs selling out to remain in the game and still makes perfect sense in the present day. More

Optimo (Espacio) started life as a weekly club night. It was born at The Sub Club in Glasgow on a wet, windy, wintry November Sunday night in 1997. Run by JD Twitch and partner in crime Jonnie Wilkes. Optimo was a reaction against what felt like an increasingly conservative musical soundtrack in clubs here at that time. Clubland felt as if it had become very bland and a bit too serious; it was the era of the dawn of the Superstar DJ. Clubs often felt like bastions of male energy. It seemed dance music and culture was going somewhere far, far away from where it was meant to be. The notion of fun had got lost. It was no longer the world they had devoted ten years of their lives to already, and lots of their friends felt the same. When the opportunity came up to do a Sunday night at The Sub Club it felt like the perfect opportunity to rip it all up and start again. So they did. There was nothing in the city (or possibly anywhere) like it. As the club believed wholeheartedly in what they were doing, there was no pressure from The Sub Club to fill the club. So, they embraced the freedom. Groups of people who had never been in the same room at the same time before came together. A community of kindred spirits started to emerge. Word spread, slowly. Lots of people checked it out. Many loved it, some hated it. The core of the Optimo idea was to embrace music they loved that might work on the dancefloor from whatever era or genre they thought felt right. It might not seem very radical now but at that time it was revolutionary.After about a year and a half, the club went from having 100 people attending most nights to suddenly one week having 500 people turn up. It was very weird. It was as if a collective light bulb went off in people’s heads in Glasgow. From that week on, until the very last weekly Sunday night at the Sub Club, in 2010, over a decade later, it was packed. There were 550 Sunday Optimo nights. A LOT of music was played. So, what was the music? People often find it hard to pin down exactly what Optimo is. This has been a positive but also a negative as we live in a world where people want easily defined “brand identities”. The simplest definition of the music played is “music for dancing”, which of course is a very broad definition. Even better than trying to define it in words, we have these 2 volumes of music that give a hint of what that might be. This is not a “Best of Optimo” or a “Greatest Hits of Optimo” compilation. For people who come to, or used to come to the nights there are of course “Greatest Hits”. But, over such a long timespan they are “hits” belonging to a certain moment in time and space. Someone who came to Optimo in 1997 would have a completely different notion of the big tracks at the club to someone coming in 2003, or 2010, or today. This compilation is just a snap shot missing several genres that might make up the DNA of Optimo. There is though a broad sweep through lots of music Optimo loves, that they believe is amazing. Music that they know will rock a dancefloor, that they have played between 1997 and 2023. Of course Optimo nights were not all about rocking the dancefloor. The first hour was always a time for them to play music they loved that often was far removed from the dance. Side 1, Volume 1 of this compilation is the kind of music one might hear at the very start of an Optimo night. Optimo have always loved a good slogan. The most long lived, and fitting Optimo slogan is "We Love Your Ears", which is in essence what it is all about to them. More

Reissue!

For this Studio One release we return to the roots of Reggae music-The Soundsystem. Throughout the late 1950s and 1960s Soundsystems played throughout the city of Kingston, Jamaica. As well as Sir Coxsone's Downbeat Soundsystem other famous Soundsystem operators included Duke Reid (the Trojan), Prince Buster, Tom the Great and King Edwards.

These Soundystems were the birthplace of much of Jamaica's musical culture ­ Soundclashes, Dancehall and the idea of the Toaster who sang over records- theDJ. As ever Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd led the field and so for this release the focus is on DJ's at Studio One and features legendary toasters such as Denis Alcapone, Dillinger and Prince Far I as well as a host of rare material by lesser known artists. Also included is Count Machuki ­ the original DJ- the first man ever to speak over the mic-at Sir Coxsone¹s Downbeat Sound System- from where it all began.

As Steve Barrow (author of The Rough Guide to Reggae/Blood and Fire Records) writes in the sleevenotes, Jamaican deejay music is the source for all Rap music: From Count Machuki talking over records on Sir Coxsone's legendary Downbeat Sound System this style would eventually travel to America when the Jamaican-born Kool Herc began playing at Block parties (a version of the Kingston Soundsystem parties) in the Bronx. Cutting up rare-groove classics for the first B-Boys to rap over, Hip-Hop was born and theDJ music that had started on the early Soundsystems of Kingston would go on to conquer the world!

Studio One Records is the original Jamaican record label. Studio One Records started the career of hundreds of Jamaican artists from Bob Marley to The Skatalites, from Horace Andy to The Heptones. Studio One DJs (compiled by Mark Ainley) is the next in the series of releases where Soul Jazz Records are showcasing the music of Studio One, the label that literally defines Reggae. More

Repress!

Studio One's music in the 1970s took the label to new heights. The new style of Disco Mix brought many areas of Reggae together ­ Roots, Lovers, Disco and Dub all came together in extended form, re-versioning classic hits, experimenting with new studio technology, over-dubbing, syn-drums and more producing what many fans describe as the most creative and innovative phase in the history of the legendary Studio One Records.

This Studio One Disco Mix album includes many sought after classic tunes only ever released in very small quantities (on Studio One's very first 12" records as well as it's infamous Music Lab 10"s out of New York) and consequently many of these track s have been unavailable since their day of release. Studio One Disco Mix features many of the classic Studio One artists such as Alton Ellis, Sugar Minott, Jackie Mittoo and Willie Williams (with his classic re-versioning of his own "Armigideon Time") alongside less well artists such as Doreen Schaeffer, Judah Eskender Tafari and George Dudley and many more. More

Colin Curtis is back! with another finely curated selection of the best Jazz Dance Fusion records he could find. Volume 4 reflects a combination of new music unreleased music and tracks that have never been on vinyl before or not attained the recognition they deserve. Packed with great Jazz Dance music from the UK and all around the world. The whole purpose of these compilations is to introduce you to fantastic talent and allow you to then go and explore all their works and keep this movement moving! With brand new & exclusive releases, extremely rare tracks and many only available on Vinyl for the first time from Brazil, Cuba, Japan, Italy, USA, UK and beyond. Showcasing another insight into Colin Curtis"s world of Jazz Dance Fusion and highlighting the sheer diversity & talent on offer from Vocal Jazz, Salsa, Latin Spoken Word to Sambas & Fusion, It"s all Here!

Tracklist
1.1Bill Ortiz - Fusion/Noche Cubana
1.2Born 74 & Onj - Tape Your Beat
1.3GeeW - Still In Love
1.4Mary Greer Mudiku - Happy Sunrise
1.5The Sultan's Swing - 46 To Somewhere
1.6Stefano Di Santis - Unreachable Galaxy
2.1Charro Band De Emilio Guerrero - Movin
2.2Somos Amigos - Pa'gozar
2.3Telmo Fernandez & The Latin Soul Beat - Cuchifrito Pa'
2.4Juju - Cla Samba
2.5Moreen Meriden - Caught In A Fever
2.6Alfredo Dias Gomes - Samba De Negro
2.7Alonso Gonzalez & Jazz Latino - Mr. Fool
More

Optimo (Espacio) started life as a weekly club night. It was born at The Sub Club in Glasgow on a wet, windy, wintry November Sunday night in 1997. Run by JD Twitch and partner in crime Jonnie Wilkes. Optimo was a reaction against what felt like an increasingly conservative musical soundtrack in clubs here at that time. Clubland felt as if it had become very bland and a bit too serious; it was the era of the dawn of the Superstar DJ. Clubs often felt like bastions of male energy. It seemed dance music and culture was going somewhere far, far away from where it was meant to be. The notion of fun had got lost. It was no longer the world they had devoted ten years of their lives to already, and lots of their friends felt the same. When the opportunity came up to do a Sunday night at The Sub Club it felt like the perfect opportunity to rip it all up and start again. So they did. There was nothing in the city (or possibly anywhere) like it. As the club believed wholeheartedly in what they were doing, there was no pressure from The Sub Club to fill the club. So, they embraced the freedom. Groups of people who had never been in the same room at the same time before came together. A community of kindred spirits started to emerge. Word spread, slowly. Lots of people checked it out. Many loved it, some hated it. The core of the Optimo idea was to embrace music they loved that might work on the dancefloor from whatever era or genre they thought felt right. It might not seem very radical now but at that time it was revolutionary.After about a year and a half, the club went from having 100 people attending most nights to suddenly one week having 500 people turn up. It was very weird. It was as if a collective light bulb went off in people’s heads in Glasgow. From that week on, until the very last weekly Sunday night at the Sub Club, in 2010, over a decade later, it was packed. There were 550 Sunday Optimo nights. A LOT of music was played. So, what was the music? People often find it hard to pin down exactly what Optimo is. This has been a positive but also a negative as we live in a world where people want easily defined “brand identities”. The simplest definition of the music played is “music for dancing”, which of course is a very broad definition. Even better than trying to define it in words, we have these 2 volumes of music that give a hint of what that might be. This is not a “Best of Optimo” or a “Greatest Hits of Optimo” compilation. For people who come to, or used to come to the nights there are of course “Greatest Hits”. But, over such a long timespan they are “hits” belonging to a certain moment in time and space. Someone who came to Optimo in 1997 would have a completely different notion of the big tracks at the club to someone coming in 2003, or 2010, or today. This compilation is just a snap shot missing several genres that might make up the DNA of Optimo. There is though a broad sweep through lots of music Optimo loves, that they believe is amazing. Music that they know will rock a dancefloor, that they have played between 1997 and 2023. Of course Optimo nights were not all about rocking the dancefloor. The first hour was always a time for them to play music they loved that often was far removed from the dance. Side 1, Volume 1 of this compilation is the kind of music one might hear at the very start of an Optimo night. Optimo have always loved a good slogan. The most long lived, and fitting Optimo slogan is "We Love Your Ears", which is in essence what it is all about to them. More

VINYL ALBUM ONLY REPRESS (COMES WITHOUT DVD/CD)!

Soul Jazz Records’ feature-length documentary/CD/Book ‘Studio One Story’ is being re-released on 1 August 2011, and is also available for the first time as a stand alone DVD.
The DVD is being issued as a prelude to the forthcoming deluxe-hardback book ‘Original Cover Art of Studio One Records’ released this autumn by Soul Jazz Records as well as a new Studio One album compilation on Soul Jazz to coincide with the new book.


Studio One Story is a documentary this is both a staggering slice of musical history and a definitive guide to Studio One, Jamaica’s greatest ever record company, and its legendary founder, Clement ‘Coxsone’ Dodd. ‘Studio One Story’ was filmed in 2002, two years before the death of the legendary Clement ‘Sir Coxsone’ Dodd, a man famously reticent of being interviewed - until the making of this film. Described by Chris Blackwell as the Motown of Jamaica, or ‘The University of Reggae’, Studio One is where the careers of literally hundreds of reggae artists began: Bob Marley and the Wailers, Alton Ellis, The Heptones, Ken Boothe, The Skatalites, Burning Spear and Sugar Minott, to name but a few! Studio One is the ‘foundation’ label of Jamaican Reggae and Clement ‘Sir Coxsone’ Dodd is seen by many as its father.

One and a half years in the making, Studio One Story is a truly unique documentary in which the late Clement Dodd gave unprecedented personal access to tell the previously untold story of how he and the many artists and musicians at Studio One literally shaped the rise of Reggae music from the 1950s onwards through to the late 1970s. This is the true story of reggae music and its Jamaican roots told from the inside: From the rise of Kington’s sound systems in the 1940s and 1950s, through to the evolution of a Jamaican music industry (and Studio One’s dominance) in the 1960s and the worldwide success of reggae in the 1970s.

The 4 hour documentary (including over an hour of extras) was filmed on location in Kingston, Jamaica and features interviews with Horace Andy, Alton Ellis, Ken Boothe, Sugar Minott, Denis Alcapone, The Ethiopians, Sylvan Morris, Johnny Moore, Lone Ranger, King Stitt and many others. The DVD also includes rare footage of The Skatalites, Jackie Mittoo, Count Ossie, Marcia Griffiths and others. As well as the stand-alone DVD, Soul Jazz Records are reissuing the original (DVD +CD+Book) original box set. More