Earl Klugh
Heart String

The Real ShooBeeDoo (AKA Reggie Fields) has always been a consistent name on the Detroit jazz scene … Fields who played with Pharoah Sanders while he was living in Motor City, worked with Sun Ra in the late 1970s and early 80s and who was also a close associate of the Afro-centric TRIBE label and artist collective, leaving his marks on a few essential TRIBE sessions such as Phil Ranelin’s “The Time Is Now!” as well as Ranelin & Wendell Harrison’s masterpiece “A Message From The Tribe”. It was Wendell Harrison who gave Fields the chance to record a solo album as a leader on his own WENHA imprint where “Reminiscing” found release in 1981. Reggie chose to record under his moniker “The Real ShooBeeDoo” because he built a rock-solid reputation as an internationally acclaimed performer under that name. This can later be heard on his fantastic ‘‘Live at Montreux Jazz Festival, 1982” album. “Reminiscing” is a deep and rewarding spiritual jazz album with bass lines that can blow through walls as if they were made from paper. Foot stomping rhythmic beats and lyrics that are pure poetry, far-out (and less obvious) vocal duties … this all takes the avant-garde approach featured here on his album to new ‘cosmic’ heights. ‘Originality’, ‘unique’ and ‘standing out’ are the main key-words here. Also…a quick closer look at the cast of players is most likely to be enough to get an impression that this is a special record. The album features an all-star line-up that includes Billy McCoy (Pharoah Sanders) on piano, Tani Tabbal (Roscoe Mitchell, Sun Ra) on percussion, Allan Barnes (Nina Simone, Bootsy Collins, Gill Scott-Heron) on saxophone, and Wendell Harrison (Tribe) himself on tenor saxophone/vocals.

Melbourne’s favourite cult jazz band the Rookies return with their 3rd LP, Play Jazz 2, a sequel to their acclaimed debut, Play Jazz. This new collection of reimagined songs from the vast pantheon of jazz standard repertoire features arrangements of music by Eric Dolphy, Charles Mingus, Ron Carter and Ornette Coleman, as well as a post-rock-tinged vision of Juan Tizol’s classic standard (and fan favourite at the Rookies’ regular Wednesday night residency) ‘Caravan’.Following from the philosophical eclecticism of their last release (2019’s ‘Stay Weird’), the Rookies’ latest offering sees them return to their roots, delving deep into the history of jazz to unearth and reimagine hidden treasures by some of their favourite composers. Play Jazz 2 uniquely celebrates the modernism and free-wheeling creativity of the bandleader/composers of the 1950s and 60s.

JK GROUP IS: A collective of forward-thinking "jazz" musicians from Australia. We owe our thanks and gratitude to the founding mothers and fathers of the music people call jazz. We respect and continuously study their legacy whilst embracing our current surroundings in making music that honestly reflects our time and space.THIS RECORD IS: The second batch of tunes we hit record on, though the sessions could not have been more different to the first. Where The Young Ones was meticulously planned, this recording was made on a whim as the busy touring musicians happened to line up their respective touring schedules at the same time. Many of the songs were just sketches, musical experiments that were leaping off out of the territory of the first record and pushing the sound in a number of different directions at once. Some tunes were still in progress right up until the moment of recording, and one was written on the spot in the studio. There was no focus or talk of outcomes for a future release. As with all experiments, some songs did not make the cut. But the selections that have made it onto this vinyl really capture the magic and spontaneous energy of the session with the musicians in full flight, in sync. We welcome Phil Stroud to the collective to offer up a rework of one of these tracks, and further deepen the dialogue between jazz and electronic music.