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A new album from Eric Roberson HEAR FROM HERE, started on March 5, completed on March 30 and released on April 3. Recorded at his home studio in New Jersey, while in lockdown with all his touring postponed, Eric has contributions from Josh Milan, Avery Sunshine producer-writer Dana Johnson, DJ Kemit and various of his band members past and present.

Says Eric:

“I started recording four weeks ago and the songs came pouring out of me.  I knew the coronavirus had arrived in the States but, like many, I had no idea it would spread and affect our culture so fast.  As shows were cancelled and I was forced to stay home, I found comfort in the ideas I was hearing.  As I began sharing those ideas I realised I was also passing along comforting feelings as well.  I have learned from past experiences to trust the process and look for the purpose.  I found it in this album, Hear From Here -  10 songs I heard when the world was quiet.  I pray they reach you in a safe place and help you as they have helped me”. 

Available now to download or stream.

“If you look at Incognito as being the flagship of my career, consider Citrus Sun as being the indulgent - and for fun only - speedboat that rides alongside her”

That’s Bluey explaining his love for Citrus Sun, as they release their fourth album Expansions and Visions on Dome Records (Worldwide release on August 28).  “This band is our getaway, our live-for-the-moment statement”, he says.    And for the second album running, the band did literally get away - to Krabi on southern Thailand’s West coast, where they enjoyed a life of beach and boat trips by day and writing and recording by night.   

A gritty reworking of the Ashford-Simpson classic “California Soul” features Noel McKoy, with background vocals from Jamiroquai’s Valerie Etienne and Hazel Fernandes.   

Valerie takes the lead on a blistering version of Lonnie Liston Smith’s “Expansions”, described by Bluey as “a pivotal song in the soundtrack of our lives – a song most of us used to dance to in the London clubs”.

Legendary UK guitarist Jim Mullen returns to the line-up for the third time on “Expansions”, “Stay You” (a Seventies-styled tribute to the late Leon Ware) and a driving, funky instrumental “Hard Boiled”.  

Featured on much of the album is the youngest addition to the band, 22-year-old Indonesian harmonica sensation Rega Dauna.

It was 20 years ago that HIL ST SOUL released their groundbreaking debut album SOUL ORGANIC.  The team of Zambian-born vocalist Hilary Mwelwa and producer Victor Redwood-Sawyerr (VRS) had been working away in a North London studio creating a unique blend of neo soul, jazz and R&B that impressed critics on both sides of the Atlantic.

And now, to coincide with a September show at London’s Jazz Cafe, where Hil first appeared in 2000, Dome are releasing a 20th Anniversary Edition of the vinyl album - now in a gatefold sleeve and with three additional tracks.

The 16 tracks in the 2LP set include “Strictly A Vibe Thang”, which charted on the Billboard R&B Singles chart, “For Your Love” and Hil’s acoustic version of “Until You Come Back To Me”, which ended 2000 as the most-played vocal track of the year across US Smooth Jazz radio stations.  In the ensuing two decades it has been Dome’s most downloaded - and one of the most streamed - tracks.

Billboard magazine enthused: “Brimming with R&B/hip-hop/jazz-flavoured rhythms and image-rich lyrics….Even Aretha’s ‘Until You Come Back To Me’ glows again under Hil’s touch”.  And talking about lead single Strictly A Vibe Thang, US magazine Radio & Records  wrote: “You can’t sit still on this one.   While listening to this infectious tune you got to move something – even if it’s just your big toe!”    

The bonus tracks on the new release are the acoustic version of “Until You Come Back To Me”, the VRS remix of “Just A Matter Of Time” and “Down To Business”.

The first ever collection of remixes from DOWN TO THE BONE.  This album of dancefloor and Latin-oriented remixes and reworks opens with DJ Spinna’s take on “Electric Vibes” with guest Roy Ayers, while the Agent K (alias Kaidi Tatham) mix of “The Flow” features Brazilian jazz vocalist Flora Purim.  Other key cuts include Speedometer’s rework of “Funkin’ Around”, the Afro Elements remix of “Wildfire Woman” and Daz-I-Kue’s remixes of “Angel Baby” with Mark de Clive Lowe and US vocalist N’Dambi, the remix of “Right On Baby Yeah” by Hoops Havona (alias Ceri Evans,former Brand New Heavies keyboardist) and German act Beanfield’s rework of “Black Choice”.   Several of these mixes have only been previously released on vinyl or on promotion-only releases.

The 15-track album is available digitally or as a 2CD package, from October 4 2019.

The band, who perform regularly in the US and Europe, have played dates in more than 30 cities in the US, where their festival appearances have included Capital Jazz Festival, The Hampton Jazz Festival, Pasadena Jazz Festival, Newport Beach Jazz Festival, Las Vegas City of Lights Jazz Festival, and the Capital Jazz Supercruise, among many others.   In the UK their most recent appearance was at London’s Roundhouse as special guests of Maceo Parker.

‘I didn’t want to do straightforward covers. I wanted to change the arrangements, be it from a rhythmic or harmonic aspect, sometimes both, while always keeping a soul/jazz flavour. Give the songs a new lease of life rather than just a fresh lick of paint’ - Rico Garofalo

LASPERANZA is the brainchild of UK producer/musician Rico Garofalo, with the debut album SEEDS a May 2019 release.   Ever since he became a professional sax player he has dreamed of making an album of inventively reimagined versions of songs from back in the day.   

Lead single is a sultry mid-tempo treatment of Gwen Guthrie’s disco era It Should Have Been You, featuring the delicious vocals of IZZY CHASE.   The single has been setting the UK’s soul radio alight - spins from Jeff Young at Jazz FM, a “Mi-Afternoon Delight” for Mark Smedley at London’s Mi-Soul, playlisted at Delite Radio and support from John Leech on his networked BBC soul show..

Justin Kantor at America’s Soultracks.com is full of praise for this new take on the song:

“What really makes this new incarnation of It Should Have Been You so special is that neither Garofalo or Chase have tried to emulate or duplicate Guthrie’s original. While Chase vocally maintains the sort of subtlety that Guthrie was such a pro at, she offers up new phrasing and melodic embellishments which take Garofalo’s surprisingly slowed-down, rearranged interpretation into a different sort of space..… It seems likely that the ever-prolific Guthrie and songwriter Darryl Thompson might be smiling down from above at such a well curated treatment of their timeless work”.

Down To The Bone present a seriously funky all-instrumental 3CD collection of their first three albums, which have been unavailable in physical format for several years.

The UK’s leading jazz groove band debuted with “From Manhattan To Staten”, which went to No 2 on Billboard’s Jazz Albums chart on its original release in the Nineties, while one of the key cuts, the Grammy-nominated “Brooklyn Heights”, hit No 2 on Billboard’s Jazz airplay chart.   Both these tunes also feature as 2019 bonus tracks, recorded live in the studio by the band’s current line-up.

Second CD “The Urban Grooves” also has a newly recorded bonus track, a cover of Willie “Beaver” Hale’s “Concrete Jungle”, long a favourite in their live set. Third CD “Spread The Word” features a new recording – available for the first time – a cover of Beyonce’s 2006 hit “Déjà Vu”.

The 3CD package is available to pre-order now on Amazon - release: 22 March 2019

Dome presents a Spotify playlist of relaxing, mellow music from some of the finest classic soul voices – Aretha, Whitney, Gladys, Deniece, Randy, Dionne, Brenda, Nina, Dinah, Sade, Stevie, Luther, Marvin, Bobby, and present day talents like Avery*Sunshine, Lalah Hathaway, Hil St Soul and Maysa. Join the growing followers now.