Hank Crawford
Wildflower

French saxophonist Laurent Bardainne summons the spirit of Pharaoh Sanders on this groove-heavy, astral jazz odyssey. Deep, life-affirming, cinematic, funky, soulful, free-flowing... this one has it all.

Brazilian drumming legend Ivan ‘Mamão’ Conti has been experimenting and innovating for the last half a century. As one-third of cult Rio jazz-funk trio Azymuth, Mamão was at the root of the group’s ‘samba doido’ (crazy samba) philosophy, bringing jazz influences and spacey electronics to traditional samba. Poison Fruit is his first album in over twenty years and his first on vinyl since 1984, save for his dope collaborative piece with hip-hop royalty Madlib under the shared moniker ‘Jackson Conti’. Expect rootsy, electronic samba and tripped-out jazz, beats and dance music. Comes on RSD special splattered vinyl with 2 unreleased tracks on a bonus 7"!

Veteran French artist Ramuntcho Matta has plenty of work to explore, so really helps to have the curatorial instincts of a label like Emotional Rescue to guide us. After reissuing Matta's 1986 album Ecoute a few years back, they return to the very same year and another startling work, 24 Hrs. The A side tracks through short and expressive instrumental paths, utlising a snaking tabla, trumpet and accousitc guitar, clearly nodding to Don Cherry's spiritual free-flowing journeys. 'Sunset' on the B side takes things further across 20 transcendental minutes of unbound musical mastery. Wow.