Snowboy presents... Essential Cuban, Brazilian Hard Bop + Fusion

barabarasounds sez:

Folks over in the UK will know a lot more than me about Snowboy and this album. What I do know is that when he came through Tokyo — it was around the time this album came out — he destroyed the dance floor. The title says it all: a seamless blend of classic and contemporary, jazz and cubano and latin jazz, the insistent rhythms of Rio and Bahia, and even some afrobeat. Needless to say, it's a banger from start to finish!

As a DJ and percussionist, Snowboy's jazz-dance nights in the nineties and noughties are now legendary — as documented in his 2009 book, "From Jazz Funk & Fusion To Acid Jazz: The History Of The UK Jazz Dance Scene" — available here...

an amazon reviewer sez:

I bought this album on a whim,within 20 minutes I was hooked.The brilliant Snowboy has compiled a real foot tapping,hip swinging,sounds of sunny days in Havana type piece. From the flute, bass and piano-driven "(Used to be a) Cha-Cha" to the big-band0era feel of "La Habana Sol"… superb jazz for the soul!!

discogs sez:

As DJ, producer, percussionist and band leader (The Latin Seeds), Snowboy has been spreading the word of Afro-Cuban Jazz for over three decades… He began as a DJ in the 1970's, also learning percussion… He also ran the Hi-Hat Jazz-Dance Club at the Jazz Cafe in Camden Town, London, which has been a cornerstone of the jazz dance scene surviving all other club fads... Considered as one of the most knowledgeable jazz dance DJ's worldwide, he has even showcased UK jazz dance music and dancing, with a troupe of dancers, at Yale University in the USA in 2009.

NME sed (6/30/01):

"...This is mad, effervescent Latin jazz fusion to dance to... filling a tiny weird niche brilliantly…"

There's a good review of Snowboy's book here in Mondomix…

And plenty more on his own web site...

Bheki Mseleku - Celebration

Bheki Mseleku piano, tenor sax, vocals; Eddie Parker flute (tracks: 3, 7); Courtney Pine soprano sax (track 10); Steve Williamson soprano sax (track 4); Jean Toussaint tenor sax (track 5); Michael Bowie bass; Marvin Smith drums; Thebe Lipere percussion (track 10)

barabara sounds sez:
Bheki was a self-taught piano prodigy; diabetic, bipolar and missing some fingers; Mercury Music Prize nominated; recorded with Courtney Pine, Joe Henderson, Abbey Lincoln, Elvin Jones and Pharoah Sanders. An exile, a world citizen. All-time great. Much respect.

Update: nobody seemed to notice when I posted this back in October but never put up a link...

This time round the link will be there :–)

wiki sez:
Bhekumuzi Hyacinth Mseleku, generally known as Bheki Mseleku (3 March 1955 – 9 September 2008) was a jazz musician from South Africa. He was a pianist, saxophonist, guitarist, composer and arranger who was entirely self taught.
Mseleku's father was a musician and teacher, and a Cambridge University music graduate, who had religious beliefs which prevented his children from ready access to the family's upright piano in case any of them should pursue something as "devilish" as music. His mother gave him the keys while his father was away, but the piano ended up as firewood one winters evening. During his childhood, Mseleku suffered the loss of the upper joints of two fingers in his right hand from a go-carting accident. He explained in a 1994 South Bank Show dedicated to him that this was wholly due to the restricted health care available to Black South Africans under Apartheid.

amazon sez:
Born in Durban, South Africa, Bheki Mseleku had worked with musicians such as Don Cherry and had collaborated on the Cry Freedom soundtrack, before he gave up music for several years. The retreat did him a world of good because on his return he recorded Celebration, his debut solo album. Playing piano, tenor sax and singing, Mseleku produced a marvellous mix of African and Western jazz music. Mseleku's piano playing owes a lot to McCoy Tyner and fellow South African, Abdullah Ibrahim, and in his vocals he possesses a decent impassioned rhythm. Many of his solos are outstanding and the length of the record gives him and his fellow musicians a chance to explore the textures of South African jazz. The musicians include British sax players Courtney Pine, Jean Toussant and Steve Williamson and Americans Marvin Smith (drums) and Michael Bowie (bass). The mix of the three continents works well and results in a groove spiritual but never sombre. A celebration indeed.