SEALED

Ahmad Jamal is a jazz giant and The Awakening is his iconic masterpiece. The landmark deep trio session - recorded in NYC and released on Impulse! in 1970 - is an essential album and perennially sought-after on vinyl, so Be With Records are delighted to make it available again.As a "Zen master of jazz piano" and one of its greatest innovators, Jamal evolved his elegant sound with this adventurous record. The Awakening showcased his fast, richly melodic chops in remarkable variation. A consummate orchestrator of his own complex arrangements, Jamal was emboldened here by his potent sidemen. Backed by the exquisite timing of bassist Jamil Nasser and the precision of Frank Gant's drumming, he was liberated by the reliability of the trio setup. Free to juggle rhythmic dexterity with harmonic intricacy, Jamal brilliantly performed groove-oriented compositions written by himself, alongside wonderful renditions of tracks by Herbie Hancock, Oliver Nelson and Antonio Carlos Jobim.It is impossible to discuss The Awakening without acknowledging its indelible mark on golden age rap. A defining album of hip-hop culture, producers of the highest calibre have famously sampled elements of this timeless record to lace all-timers with a foundation for their most legendary tracks. Indeed, both the experimental "DJ Premier In Deep Concentration" and Shadez Of Brooklyn's seminal "Change" utilised Jamal's sparse title-track to stunning effect.A melancholy motif from "I Love Music" was employed by Pete Rock for Nas's crucial "The World Is Yours" whilst, over a more abstract refrain from the same track, Jeru memorably delivered his "Me Or The Papes" ultimatum. Over in Chicago, No I.D. elevated Common's peerless "Resurrection" by lifting a precise riff from Jamal's plaintive rendition of "Dolphin Dance" whilst the head-nod quality of All Natural's hypnotic "Renaissance" owes it all to the looped keys of Jamal's take on "You're My Everything".With bold beauty and unhurried grace, Ahmad Jamal plays piano differently from everyone else. He was a huge inspiration to Miles Davis and influential to how Wynton Kelly performed across Kind of Blue. In his autobiography, Miles describes being blown away by Jamal's dynamic "concept of space, his lightness of touch [and] his understatement". It's why The Awakening will always be so revered.In line with the quality of all Be With reissues, the record is presented in a luxurious gatefold sleeve and comes adorned with the original eye-catching artwork throughout, along with the original sleeve notes. Simon Francis' sensitive mastering ensures the sonics are majestic throughout and, for the first time, it has been pressed at a reassuringly weighty 180g.

The Afro-Funk side of the Latin Soul maestro!Born in Gao (Mali), Boncana Maïga is one of the most talented and popular producer of West-African music since the 60's. He studied flute and Latin arrangements in Cuba during the 60's and founded the famous “Les Maravillas du Mali” in 1968.He became orchestra leader for the national Ivorian TV in Abidjan in the mid-seventies, and toured all over the world with the famous Africando band. During his recording sessions in NYC at the beginning of the 80's with a lot of “Latin musicians” from Puerto Rico, Venezuela or Colombia, Boncana Maïga also recorded few rare Funky tracks with heavy breaks!With the artist, we decided to reissue four rare tracks from 1978 to 1982 dedicated to dancefloor, including a really rare soundtrack for the oil company of Ivory Coast called “Petroci”.In 2018, he'll be back on tour with “Les Maravillas du Mali”, still have a weekly TV show on TV5 Monde and with this reissue will continue to warm your Afro-Funk parties!Fully licensed, 12inch vinyl (45 RPM) including interview. Remastered by The Carvery!

Keyboardist Eddie Russ hailed from Pittsburg and played with many of the greats including Sarah Vaughn, Benny Golson, Stan Getz and Dizzy Gillespie. Eddie is somewhat of an enigma, but he has always been held in high regard in the UK, and he finally was able to perform here in London at the Jazz café in the early 90's a few years before his untimely demise.His debut album ‘Fresh Out’ was recorded for the Jazz Masters label and includes the jazz dance classic ‘The Lope Song’, he also contributed heavily to Sonny Stitt’s ‘Tornado’ album on that label. His band The Mixed Bag also made an album for the Detroit Tribe label. In 1976 he signed to John Richbourg’s Sound Stage 7 label and made two great jazz funk albums which were released on the Nashville’s Monument label and like his debut were produced by Bob Crawford.From this first album ‘See The Light’ the title track is a great take on the Earth Wind And Fire song, ‘Poko Nose’ is a great funky groove oriented track, but it is the magical ‘Zaius’ that has become an all time jazz funk classic, a track that has maintained its popularity over the past 40 years.The Monument albums include some great musicians including Marcus Belgrave and Larry Nozero, and on the “Take A Look At Yourself” album Motown’s Eddie Willis, a very young Kenny Garrett and the funk group Quazar.

Keyboardist Eddie Russ hailed from Pittsburg and played with many of the greats including Sarah Vaughn, Benny Golson, Stan Getz and Dizzy Gillespie. Eddie is somewhat of an enigma, but he has always been held in high regard in the UK, and he finally was able to perform here in London at the Jazz café in the early 90’s a few years before his untimely demise.His debut album ‘Fresh Out’ was recorded for the Jazz Masters label and includes the jazz dance classic ‘The Lope Song’, he also contributed heavily to Sonny Stitt’s ‘Tornado’ album on that label. His band The Mixed Bag also made an album for the Detroit Tribe label. In 1976 he signed to John Richbourg’s Sound Stage 7 label and made two great jazz funk albums which were released on the Nashville’s Monument label and like his debut were produced by Bob Crawford.From the 1978 album ‘Take A Look At Yourself’ the title track is a monster percussive jazz funker on which Eddie’s keyboards really shine through and Jackie Holiday’s soulful vocals really top it off. She also does a great job of the Emotions ‘Don’t Ask My Neighbours’, and Renee Coles adds her vocals to the infectious rare groove version of Quincy Jones ‘I Heard That’ .The Monument albums include some great musicians including on this album Motown’s Eddie Willis, a very young Kenny Garrett and the funk group Quazar.

During the 1970s, innovative musicians redefined the sound of Jazz, Funk, and Soul music, digging deeper than ever before to unearth powerful new sonic textures. One such pioneer was keyboardist Weldon Irvine, a Jazz-Funk luminary who released some of the most revered recordings of the era. Irvine’s 1975 album “Spirit Man” is a true masterpiece, full of infectious grooves and otherworldly electronic elements. Entirely composed, arranged, conducted, and produced by Irvine himself, the album remains a potent artistic statement, both deeply spiritual and intensely funky. Crate diggers may recognize the opening track “We Gettin’ Down”, which was sampled by A Tribe Called Quest for their classic single “Award Tour”. Now, “Spirit Man” is back in print on limited-edition vinyl, complete with updated artwork. Order this official deluxe reissue now-Classic rare album, highly sought-after by collectors-Official reissue with updated artwork, created using exclusive rare photos from the original album cover shoot-Contains the classic track “We Gettin’ Down,” famously sampled by A Tribe Called Quest for “Award Tour”

18 years on from the release of the very first ‘Disco Spectrum’ LP, Joey Negro and Sean P revisit the project, selecting the finest cuts from this much-loved album series. Three volumes of Disco Spectrum were released on BBE between 1999 and 2002, heralding a disco revival that, almost two decades later, just keeps gaining momentum.Known by a plethora of aliases including Jakatta and Akabu as well as Joey Negro, Isle of White native Dave Lee has been at the epicenter of UK dance music since the late 1980s. One of the first British producers to incorporate disco samples into dance music, he took his favourite genre all the way to the top of the charts in the early 90s when he masterminded Take That’s cover version of ‘Relight My Fire’ by Dan Hartman. Never an artist to rest on his laurels, Dave has remained at the top of his game ever since, producing chart hits and underground club tracks alike, touring the world with live disco act The Sunburst Band and running his own label Z Records.The Best Of Disco Spectrum features a wide-ranging collection of floor-fillers including: Rare Pleasure – ‘Let Me Down Easy’ (infamously sampled by David Morales for 90s club smash ‘Needin U’), Ramona Brooks – ‘IDon’t Want You Back’ (revived by Patrick Forge and Sean P on pirate radio in the late 80s), Bunny Mack - 'Let Me Love You' (an early forerunner of today’s popular afro/house sound) and Syreeta - 'Can't Shake Your Love' (snappy, bass-led funk from the former Mrs Stevie Wonder, mixed by Larry Levan).“Who would have expected the disco revival to be even stronger now than it was then, though looking down the track-listings of the 3 instalments of Disco Spectrum, most of the songs included on those compilations have since been remixed, sampled, bootlegged, covered, reedited, re-compiled and re-issued - often on multiple occasions. Since disco supposedly “died”, dance music has taken many twists and turns through a myriad of styles, moods and tempos - but disco still remains the foundation and lynchpin.” – Dave Lee, 2017

10 years after Blu and Exile released their magnum opus Below the Heavens, the California duo have reunited to release 14 tracks from the original 2007 sessions. In the Beginning: Before the Heavens contains previously heard songs and unreleased gems – the best of the best chosen from over 40 songs in the vault. Their third collaboration follows 2012’s Give Me My Flowers While I Can Still Smell Them, and is slated for an October release.In The Beginning: Before the Heavens is made of up songs that are raw and untouched, keeping the authenticity of Blu and Exile’s creativity at the time. The album has guest appearances from familiar names like Dr. Oop, Donel Smokes, Aloe Blacc, and Blame One. While “Soul Provider,” “Another Day,” and “Party of Two” appeared on Blu’s Lifted EP, the majority of these songs showcase Blu rapping at his peak, maintaining his underground attitude as he dishes on reaching star status (“Constellations”), getting radio play (“On the Radio”), or opposing views in a problem-ridden world (“You’re Gonna Die Someday”). Exile, meanwhile, builds a golden hip-hop era feel with head-nodding samples and DJ scratches.