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Originally recorded on 78 rpm discs during the 1920’s, this collection of pre-war Japanese jazz contains some of the earliest recordings of jazz from Japan. Inspired by records brought into the country by US soldiers, Japanese musicians attempted to emulate the then hitherto unheard sounds of New Orleans - with varying degrees of success. Yet many of these records would be distributed, sold, and played at night clubs across the country; serving as the soundtrack to the early years of Japan’s Showa-era. These recordings certainly have historical significance, and as outdated as they may be, you won’t be able to stop yourself from tapping your foot. It’s no wonder that Haruomi Hosono has expressed his love for these records! Album opener “Sing me a Song of Araby” is a Japanese cover of the theme song from 1927’s The Garden of Allah. The song failed to chart in its native United States, but is perhaps one of the first examples of a song being ‘big in Japan’; quickly becoming a standard in musicians’ repertoires, with one record of the song selling over two-hundred thousand copies. In comparison, “My Blue Heaven” (written by Walter Donaldson) is a well established part of the American Songbook, and on this recording, an unnamed singer croons over a lopsided swing, interspersed with drum and out-of-tune piano breaks. These are classic songs of the Jazz age as you’ve never heard them before, but perfect if you want to transport yourself back to 1930’s Japan. Across 12 tracks, big bands play on cheap drums, and tinny horns, sounding like they could fall apart at any moment, but never doing so. These arrangements are charming in their simplicity, and with the limited recording technology that was available at the time, it’s better that way! You may not find any Ellingtons, Armstrongs, or Mortons on this album, but the love that these musicians had for the music is infectious, and you’ll find yourself smiling and nodding your head by the end of each song. Pressed on vinyl for the first time ever (records at the time were pressed on shellac), with modern remastering technology, this is as good as these records have ever sounded!

2lpcd 2LP, gatefold, black vinyl.

Svart Records proudly presents Sonny Rollins with the Heikki Sarmanto trio, in an extremely rare live performance at Finland Festival in the summer of 1972. Available for the first time, fifty years after it was initially recorded, this incredible show features Sarmanto on the Fender Rhodes electric piano, his brother Pekka Sarmanto on bass and Esko Rosnell on drums. Legend of American Jazz, “Saxophone Colossus” Sonny Rollins hand-picked Heikki Sarmanto and his Finnish trio for this night of improvisation and mutual respect that culminated in years of collaboration after.

The music conjured throughout this live extravaganza is everything a jazz aficionado could have hoped for, with extensive improvisations and incredible soloing by the musicians. Two standards and one original by Rollins, which last between sixteen and twenty-four minutes, illustrate both the quartet’s vibe and supreme virtuosity. Taking place at the magnificent Finlandia Hall, an architectural marvel, which was completed only a few months earlier, and recorded by the YLE (The Finnish Broadcasting Company), this legendary concert has been expertly mastered by Pauli Saastamoinen at the infamous Finnvox Studios in 2022 to perfectly highlight the magic that was in the air all those years ago.

Rollins seems to be especially in high spirits throughout the show and his powerful and expressive playing, full of humor, is simply marvelous. He even manages to quote some hints of Jean Sibelius’ “Finlandia” tone poem as a tribute to the venue.

Through our tireless efforts at Svart Records to preserve our musical culture, you can now be re-introduced to an important piece in the jigsaw of Finnish Jazz history, immortalised on double vinyl gatefold and CD and both limited to only 1000 copies.

Håvard Nordberg Funderud - guitar and 12-string guitar Lauritz Heitmann Skeidsvoll - saxophone Martin Heggli Mellem - drums Karl Erik Hornsdalsveen - double bass Henriette Eilertsen - flute Back in 2020, Kafé Hærverk, Oslo's live hotspot for a wide range of jazz and experimental music invited Master Oogway to do monthly concerts from August to December, bringing along a guest for each occasion. Two had to be moved to 2021 due to Covid restrictions, but the other three were recorded for possible use later. Initially we thought about doing a "best of" from all of the recordings, but after further listening it soon dawned on us that the concert with Henriette was nothing less than magical. To make room for the 45 minute vinyl edition, we had to drop one of the five pieces that were played on the night, and also make two minor edits. Other than that, this is what was played, there are no overdubs or cosmetic treatments. The album was brilliantly mixed in Athletic Sound by Dag Erik Johansen. Henriette Eilertsen (28) is part of the fertile and exciting environment around the Motvind label, and a member of Billy Meier and Andreas Roysum Ensemble. She released her solo debut "Poems For Flute" on Motvind in 2021.Håvard Nordberg Funderud (28) finished his bachelor at the Norwegian Academy of Music in 2018 and also studied in Gothenburg and Copenhagen. He is involved in several projects, Master Oogway being his priority. Lauritz Lyster Skeidsvoll (28) and Karl Erik Horndalsveen (27) are both educated from the same academy in Oslo as Håvard, while Martin Heggli Mellem (25) is educated from the jazz program at NTNU in Trondheim."Happy Village" is Master Oogway's third album, their second on Rune Grammofon. The music on the previous outing two years ago ("Earth And Other Worlds") was all written by Håvard, while the music on "Happy Village" is written by Karl Erik, one track co-written with Håvard. "Happy Village" finds the band in a more lyrical and exuberant mood than before, in no small part due to Henriette's b...

Bog Bodies - the band consisting of Robert Stillman, Anders Holst and Seán Carpio delve into deep time to carve sonic abstractions across their self-titled new album on MIC. Navigating the “liminal territory between noise and signal, chaos and control, form and abstraction,” the trio recorded and mixed the album on an 8-track cassette machine. Bog Bodies is a searching inquiry into the mythologies and magical undercurrents that knit together our existence in the information age. Bog Bodies opens with a leftfield homage to Superman III, exploring the mythical qualities of technology through a series of angular horn lines that dissolve into the mire of feedback noise on the album’s raking, anthemic title track. Reverberating in tectonic sheets of sound on ‘One That Is Reflected In The Image Becomes All’ and Bog Bodies reaches its climax on the 11-minute ‘Cave Painting 2019’ - a subterranean epic of mystic force, drawn up from the earth in sweeping drones. Bringing together their combined experiences playing with the likes of Manuel Göttsching, Luke Temple, The Smile and more recently Coby Sey.

Is it a celebration? A reappropriation? A revolution? Symo Reyn has perfectly mastered the qanun, a 78-string zither invented by the Persian philosopher and musician Al Farabi circa 872. A virtuoso, Symo Reyn reinvents this instrument in his work, even revolutionizing it. And how can the sound produced by the only polyphonic instrument in oriental music, the qanun, be approached anew? A new language needs to be conceived for it. its vocabulary needs to be enriched. This process also requires the instrument itself to be transformed: a special sensor manufactured by Symo Reyn himself is attached to the bridge at four points (bass, midrange, treble). It captures the sound waves and converts them into magnetic signals that run through electric wires. A dozen or so pedals control the whole device. This qanun is modified, transfigured. Both on his own and multiplied, Symo Reyn experiments, invents new sound combinations to create a subtle musical tapestry, a tense ow of calm, refined, distended notes. There is a lot of tension in this music that draws from several sources (Henry Purcell, Michael Nyman, Steve Reich, Nils Frahm, Brian Eno, Björk) to be able to tread its own path. It’s quite organic, giving structure to its chaos. Beautiful in its gesture, with rhythmic precision and melodic richness, Symo Reyn’s music is precisely composed and spontaneous, deep and luminous, dense and clear, intense and intimate, delicate and mysterious, unique and familiar. A Time Between Birth and Chaos is as much a statement on the qanun as a purely poetic act. it is a space for possibilities, a place for reinvention. In the aftermath of the founding chaos, now comes the time of metamorphosis, rebirth.Franck Médioni

Stunning european live performance from Miles with his early quintet featuring the magic of a young & talented Trane. Miles Davis (trumpet), John Coltrane (Tenor Saxophone), Wynton Kelly (Piano), Paul Chambers (Bass), Jimmy Cobb (Drums)