Jazz & Improvisation / Afro-Funk

The second album by Kio Amachree in Afro Boogie Funk style recorded in Lagos Nigerian in early 80s. Limited Edition.

Afro7 returns with the third Scorpios album, Lemon Barah — a vibrant fusion of Sudanese traditional rhythms, psychedelic funk and jazz. Born in London and shaped by musicians from Sudan, Jamaica, Japan and beyond, Scorpios have spent 13 years building a reputation for powerful live performances across England and Europe. Featuring rich percussion, analogue synths, horns, guitars and soulful vocals.

“This is the time that we, who have benefited from the Last Poets should be able to say, ‘it’s the Last Poets. It’s them we should be honouring, because we did not honour them for so many years…” KRS One wasn’t just addressing the hip hop fraternity when he uttered those words by way of introducing the video for Invocation – a poem written thirty years ago, around the time of the Last Poets’ last significant comeback. He was speaking to everyone who’s been affected by the word, sound and power i…

*2025 stock* Since 2013 label founders and musicians Neil Innes & Pete Williams have been tirelessly fulfilling their shared dream of making the records they weren’t hearing. Having spent years working in various bands both players felt the desire to break free of the constraints of working within another band and started on the slow path to creative autonomy by starting to work on the 12 tracks presented on this compilation. While deliberating their next steps they were approached by Here & Now…

2024 stock. Alèmayèhu Eshèté is no less than one of the great voices of the heyday of modern Ethiopian music, the swinging sixties which, in this country, went on until the fall of the Emperor Haile Sellassie 1 in 1974. On a par with Tlahoun Gèssèssè, Bzunèsh Bèqèlè or Mahmoud Ahmed, Alèmayèhu is a star at the top level of the constellation that once lit up the wild nights in the capital.

Founded in the vibrant musical haven of Brussels in 2015, Azmari have been crafting a truly unique tapestry of musical exploration. Melding intricate jazz textures with intoxicating oriental influences, mesmerizing ethio grooves, enigmatic dark funk, and the pulsating beats of dub music, Azmari defies conventional labels to weave a narrative of sonic innovation and artistic liberation. Influences range from an eclectic array of artists, including Okay Temiz, Heliocentrics, Whitefield Brothers, S…

An electrified meeting of minds, Candy Girl is a lost 1975 session by jazz pianist Mal Waldron, recorded in Paris with core members of the mighty Lafayette Afro Rock Band, the American funk unit who had made France their home and whose deep grooves would later be mined by generations of hip-hop producers. By 1975, Waldron was a decade into his self-imposed exile from the United States—a transformed musician who had reassembled his sound in Europe and Japan after a devastating breakdown in the ea…

Tip! **2025 Stock** The Chisa Years: 1965–1975 (Rare and Unreleased) gathers the most exploratory moments from a vital era in Hugh Masekela’s career, collected on BBE as part of the label’s Masterclass Series. As co-founder of Chisa Records with Stewart Levine, Masekela set out to document the crossflow between African musical idioms and the currents of soul, jazz, and R&B pulsing through the United States and beyond. The result is an archive alive with the friction and joy of experimentation—a …

This is the fourth, and until now, unreleased album by Kapingbdi, a six-piece band from West Africa, which billed itself as “African Jazz-Funk-Rock from Liberia”. It is a skilful mix of African and Western elements, with a spiritual heart and dynamic grooves. In January 1985 and shortly before the group disbanded, they recorded nine tracks for an aborted LP project at Masterpiece studio in Detroit, U.S.A. In 2019 the music was carefully remastered from the original 24-track master tape. For Kapi…

The album delivers masterful arrangements, inventive rhythms, rich harmonies, and a perfect balance of flute and saxophone interplay. Funk, Jazz, Gospel, Afro, and traditional elements all merge seamlessly into something unique and timeless.Joshua Sithole (1947–1999) was a self-taught multi-instrumentalist and vocalist from South Africa who first started busking with the Kwela kids in 1959 and then went solo in 1978. He became popular in the 80’s, performing widely in Durban and Cape Town. Origi…

South-african jazz-rock worshippers alert ! Assagai was an Afro-rock band, active in the early 1970s in London, whose relatively short career produced two albums recorded in 1971. It has been described as "the second best-known African group of the late 60s/early 70s in Britain" after Osibisa. The original band consisted of five members, three from South Africa and two from Nigeria: drummer Louis Moholo, trumpeter/flautist Mongezi Feza, alto saxophonist Dudu Pukwana, tenor saxophonist Bizo Mngqi…

*2024 stock* Girma Bèyènè is a true legend of Ethiopian music. After an exile in the United States and a silence that lasted 25 years, he jubilantly accepted the invitation of the group Akalé Wubé to return to the front of the stage. The comeback was held last September at a memorable concert with Akalé Wubé in Paris. The adventure could not stop in such a good way ...Under the direction of Francis Falceto (director of the famous Ethiopiques series) Girma and Akalé Wubé recorded this album to im…

Belgium, not the first place you’d think of when it comes to Latin or Afro funk. Yet one of the greatest records to blend both styles came from the small northern European country, masterminded by Nico Gomez and his Afro Percussion Inc. Ritual was originally released in 1971 on the Dutch label Omega International (Gomez was born in Holland before moving to Belgium in the late 40s) and is being reissued by Mr Bongo in 2013, bringing its blazing funk grooves to both new ears and those already tune…

In November 2022 world-renowned kora player Ballaké Sissoko and acclaimed guitarist Derek Gripper spend just three hours recording a wordless album together. The kora and guitar in the hands of masters - a session where New Ancient Strings meets One Night On Earth. “Musically we tested each other,” says Sissoko, explaining that the most magical aspect of their initial encounter was the spontaneity of the whole thing. “We have the mastery of our instruments, the technique and a good ear. Derek is…

Kapingbdi came together in Liberia, West Africa, during the late 1970’s and had their own unique style. This six to seven-piece band played original compositions in a vibrant mix of African Rhythms, Soul, Spiritual Jazz, Funk and Rock. Led by Kojo Samuels on sax, flute and vocals “Born in The Night” presents the essential tracks from their rare studio LPs produced between 1978-1981, carefully remastered in 2019 for vinyl LP and a 6-Page Digipack CD, which includes two additional recordings. Kapi…

Following the success of ‘The Original Sound of Mali’ compilation, we return with another explorative delve into the wonders of Malian music compiled by French writer, journalist and Grammy-nominated compiler Florent Mazzoleni and Mr Bongo’s very own David Buttle. Restoring, reissuing and contextualising iconic tracks from Ousmane Kouyaté & Ambassadeurs Internationaux, Rail Band, Les Messagers du Mali, Mystère Jazz de Tombouctou and many more, the second compilation in this series dives ever fur…

The Beaters – Harari was released in 1975. After changing their name, Harari went into the studio late in 1976 to record their follow-up, Rufaro / Happiness. In 1976 they were voted South Africa’s top instrumental group and were in high demand at concert venues across the country. Comprising former schoolmates guitarist and singer Selby Ntuli, bassist Alec Khaoli, lead guitarist Monty Ndimande and drummer Sipho Mabuse, the group had come a long way from playing American-styled instrumental soul …

A night-time haunt in the backstreets of Soweto run by a well-known bootlegger should have been a prime zone for nefarious underworld activities. Instead, it nurtured an underground of a different kind. Soon after its opening in 1973, Club Pelican became a spot where musicians steeped in the tradition of South African jazz began to cook up experimental sounds inspired by communion, competition and the movements in funk and soul blowing in from the West. Located in an industrial park on the weste…

*2022 stock. In process of stocking* Strut present a definitive vinyl edition of the groundbreaking compilation 'Nigeria 70'. Originally released in 2001, the collection set the benchmark for a new generation of archive labels and releases mining the vaults for rare Afro funk and Afro jazz fusions and helped to paint the wider picture of the 1970s Lagos scene beyond Fela Kuti's catalogue for a legion of soul, funk and dance music enthusiasts. Check!

*2024 stock* Outernational Sounds very proudly presents The Mallory-Hall Band "Song of Soweto" & "The Last Special". Limited, fully licensed digital and vinyl reissues of two crucial South African sessions led by Charles Mallory and Al Hall, Jnr., featuring Kirk Lightsey, Marshall Royal, Rudolph Johnson, Billy Brooks and more! Essential companion pieces to Kirk Lightsey’s legendary ‘Habiba’.  Never released outside South Africa, and out of print since 1974, Outernational Sounds presents two long…

*2024 stock* Available for the first time since its original South African release in 1979, Outernational Sounds presents tenor giant Mike Makhamalele’s monster excursion into funktified disco jazz, Kabuzela. Despite a peerless run of groundbreaking fusion and funk albums through the 1970s, the great South African tenorist Mike Makhamalele has remained somewhat unsung. It’s hard to know why – the music he made at the end of the 1970s is some of the finest jazz fusion made anywhere on the planet.…

The Mapendo album of the Mighty Cavaliers, up to today, has been shrouded in mystery. Why is that, you can find next to nothing about the band and the album. The only song which is maybe well known in the collectors scene is "Dunia Ina Mambo" from the first Release out of 1976. So it was more or less a surprise to get my Hands on the Original Mapendo Release in January 2023 directly from Kenya. I've never seen such a hypnotically good cover and what do could I expect from the Record? Cleaned the…

Strut proudly presents the first official remastered reissue of Lafayette Afro Rock Band's elusive funk/Afro original album, 'Malik,' originally released in 1974.

Strut proudly presents the first official remastered reissue of the funk/Afro classic, Lafayette Afro Rock Band's 'Soul Makossa' from 1973.

Highly recommended, a true Revelation! After a long hiatus since the homonymous 2006 release on Schema Records, The Invisible Session is back with Echoes Of Africa to be released on the newly-launched Space Echo label. Initiated in 2006 by Schema Records’ co-founder and musician Luciano Cantone, The Invisible Session’s influences are rooted in Black music. Written in collaboration with trombonist and multi-instrumentalist Gianluca Petrella, and with lyrics by poet, rapper, and MC Martin Thomas P…

*2023 stock* "Teacher Don’t Teach Me Nonsense: Fela explains the role of the teacher in any society with the concept that: all the things we consider as problems, and all the good things we accept from life as good, begin with what we are taught. The individual teaching begins with when we are children – our mother is our teacher. When we come of school age, our teacher is the school-teacher. At the university, the lecturers and professors are our teachers. After university—when we start to work…

*2023 stock* "Perhaps the distinguishing factors of records like Open & Close and some of Fela Kuti's other '70s releases are that as much as he liked to ride a groove, he also liked to disrupt it, twist it and turn it, reshape it, only to bring it back to its original shape. There was less of that later in his career" - All Music

"Zombie: Fela in his life time was never ‘a good bed-fellow’ of the military institution. As a political activist, he believed the army should operate under the mandate of a civil government. If national interest compels the armed forces to intervene in government, the army is obliged to hand over power to a new civil government elected by the people and enjoying their mandate. To do otherwise is to usurp power particularly since a soldier’s duty is not to seek a political mandate. For emphasis …

*2023 stock* Fela Kuti deplores the fashion among African women for skin-whitening creams, an example of the post-colonial inferiority complex he believed was holding back the country's development. The song addresses the fashion much as 1973’s “Gentleman” berated African men for adopting European suits and ties. Fela explains that if you catch an “original” fever such as jaundice, you will suffer but, with luck, survive, and your symptoms will fade away. But if you catch an “artificial” (self-i…

*2023 stock* "Johnny Just Drop is talking about Africans who travel abroad only to return home with new values and mannerisms. Since the advent of colonialism in Africa, the education system left Black people with an inferior perception of their culture. Those who are Western educated, are in the habit of repeating untruths about African traditions and heritage, because the discipline to think and act big has not yet become a part of Africa’s present day academic and intellectual traditions. For…

New from Strut, a fresh reissue of the classic debut album Try And Love from one of Nigeria’s most celebrated Afro-rock bands, Ofege. Formed by guitarist Melvin Ukachi and bassist Paul Alade while young students at St Gregory’s school in Lagos, Ofege first found their feet borrowing instruments and supporting school band The Groove Makers. Discovering drummer Mike Meme by chance at a school dance and adding Dapo Olumide on keys and Felix Inneh on rhythm guitar, they met EMI’s resident producer /…

A little masterpiece of soul afrofunk with carpets of dreamy keyboards on their swirlingly seductive sound and their really cool voices. The second album of Black Children Sledge Funk released in 1978 is a delight. Repressed for the first time.

An aura of mystery is hidden on this magnificent album released on EMI Nigeria in 1974 and today a collector’s cult object was the only one named Moonrakers Band.Steve Black tells: “We were the original members of The Moonrakers and were based in Zaria, then in 1972 we left band management and started The Elcados. The original management of The Moonrakers sold the name to his elder brother who had a club in Kano and they brought Prince Bola Agbana to get other musicians to continue The Moonraker…

Bala Miller was famous for pushing boundaries. His first job was selling beer in the Muslim north. And as a musician he'd always try to sneak in 'local' flourishes while playing trumpet with Bobby Benson and Victor Olaiya. It was with his band, the Pirameeds, however, that he was able to realise his dream of incorporating northern tunes into mainstream highlife. Honed razor sharp from a residency at the Costain Club in Kuduna, the band recorded Pyramids, a breathtaking fusion of Hausa rhythms, j…

Akwassa were among the best Afro-Beat bands coming from Nigeria. They released La'ila in 1975 and were one of the early Nigerian Funk bands to get an album out. They were related to the Heads Funk Band and most members were part of both bands. They managed to release two albums as Akwassa. Their debut La'ila came out on a well known Afro-Beat label Afrodisia Records. Akwassa were originally a duo made of Felix Day (guitar and vocals) and Kevin Coburn (organ, synthesizer and vocals). Felix Day is…

Don't let the floppy hat and rolling English countryside on the cover fool you. Harry Mosco's Country Boy is a certified floor-filler, bursting with Studio 54 era disco-funk as well as a token reggae monster, complete with its own dub version. Harry Mosco always had swagger. A founding member of The Funkees, he'd stride out on stage in tight pants and dark sunglasses, commanding the attention of a population distracted by war. When The Funkees split in London, it was clear that his star would ri…

Hard World is the first of three albums released by Heads Funk Band and it's one of the most rare LPs coming from Nigeria. What we have here is a pure, well crafted Afro-Funk. Heads Funk Band is related to Akwassa, where both are two exceptional bands with the same members, but co-existed simultaneously featuring Felix Odey (Feladey) on guitar and Eddie Offeyi on drums. The original forming duo of Akwassa was Felix Day / Feladey (guitar, vocals) and Kevin Coburn (keyboards, synths, vocals), who …

The self-proclaimed funkiest band on the west coast of Africa, the Heads Funk Band, could arguably make that claim for the whole continent. Featuring the slick guitar of Felix ‘Feladey’ Odey, the slinky drumming of Eddie Offeyi and the swirling keyboard chops of Kevin ‘Fortune’ Coburn, nobody was funkier. And that’s not even taking into account the dance floor monsters they were releasing at the same time as Akwassa. Cold Fire was their second album as the Heads Funk Band. Where their first albu…

Everland Jazz have picked a real gem for a reissue here! Originally released in 1980, “A Safe Return” is the second album by the Surinam jazz flutist Ronald Snijders. It is a strong alloy of soul, funk, jazz and smooth disco sounds! Mersmerizing musical craftsmanship! “Lenox” the opening track, has a playful haze escaping from every groove,with a solid hypnotical rhythmical base and haunting flute melodies that have the character of the lead vocals. Despite the slower pace, the jazzy approach of…

In mid-seventies, Nigerian bands came and went with alarming regularity, rising meteorically from the slums to stardom and falling back again just as quickly. Masisi Mass Funk from Anamara State was one such band. But during their brief moment in the stratosphere, they produced a funk gem in I Want You Girl. The band was championed by Ebere Ikoro from the Hygrades. He took them under his wing after an ill-advised collaboration with Soly Dibong. They were originators not imitators, he said. He pr…