Donald Byrd – Stepping into Tomorrow

Today feels like a proper spring day. With the windows open and coffee brewing I can enjoy my first Saturday coffee and tunes for a while. The title of this album feels very apt with a sense of relief in the air. For 2 weeks I was stuck in what felt like an eternal argument with the bank. Amongst other issues I uncovered a cluster fuck IT issues with their E-Contract system that broke them – haha. So after multiple complaints and 2 weeks of what felt like groundhog day listening to the hold music of Mitch Tambo First Nations artist covering John Farnham’s Your the Voice and then Savage Garden’s To the Moon and Back I finally got it resolved and my loan approved. Huzzah! It’s refreshing to be listening to some other tunes quite frankly. I thought I was going a little insane.

This is another Mizell Brothers production where they do their magic with a stack of guests. I love the guest vocals by Kay Haith on Think Twice. Google tells me she didn’t release her own material and remained a long term guest vocalist with Byrd. The only track I find hard work on this is Rock n Roll Again – it just goes on a bit with the doo wop vocals and feels kind of outta place…

I really love the cover art of this (painting by Greg Edwards) and the photography on Places and Spaces. They both feel timeless.

For a fancy Blue Note pressing with all the tick box criteria, I picked this up for a very reasonable price at Plug Seven recently.

#nowplaying #nowspinning #vinyl #records #DonaldByrd #SteppingintoTomorrow #bluenote #jazzfunk #fuckbanks

Pleasure - Joyous

This is one of those records I'd keep picking up and then putting down cos I knew nothing about it but was drawn to the cover. I love the design of this album art!

I'd first seen it at a record fair years ago and the guy next to me digging said "ohhh that's great album you should get it" when I was checking it out. I didn't have enough money then to take a punt as it wasn't cheap and also wasn't sure about this random advice.

For the last few months I discovered it had been tucked away in one of our local stores which is more known for punk/metal/indie but has a small soul and jazz section. I finally gave it a listen the other week and it's tops! It brings the same "joyous" vibe that Donald Byrds Places and Spaces gives. It has a cast of thousands on it. Starts with an instant party mood lifter and ends with the track Selim which has crazy bass lines. 

This is a rerelease by Jazz Dispensary and one for the We Buy Records podcast bingo- mixed by Kevin Gray, proper inner sleeve, quality pressing, good price point etc.

#nowplaying #nowspinning #vinyl #records #pleasure #jazzfunk #soul #jazz

Hailu Mergia & The Walias - Tche Belew

I have a bad habit of thinking I've heard something and if I'm not into it then rule chunks of albums /artists out. It's a flaw I've been trying hard to avoid over the years. Now I love the Awesome Tapes from Africa label. I thought I'd heard the releases by Hailu Mergia and whilst cool, his covers are amazing, and politically taking risks at the time, the albums seemed a lot for one sitting. I mean they are taken from tapes so it's going to be mixed...

Yesterday I was watching an interview with Max Richter spinning records and he picked a track by Mergia to play. My ears pricked up cos it sounded great. That night I went back to listen and realised the first two records were with the Walias band. They sounded completely different to what I remembered hearing. Mind blown. They were so good! So good I went and bought one today.

This has a great funk / jazz sound mixed with Mergia on keys bringing a blend of jazz funk and 70s Ethiopia sounds. The sound quality is great. 11 years later I'm glad I eventually realised this and didn't remain an ignorant twit.

#HailuMergia #Ethiopia #ethiopianmusic #Africa #awesometapesfromafrica #vinyl #nowplaying #nowspinning #expandyourmusic #africantapes #70s #jazzfunk