Various Artists – Soul Jazz Records presents LONDON JAZZ CLASSICS

Description

London Jazz Classics originally came out in 1993 – the firstalbum ever to be released on Soul Jazz Records. The albumbrought together rare and obscure dance tracks in a unique mixof jazz dance and fusion, funk, Brazilian and Latin grooves.

The album was ironically titled – none of the music was fromLondon, none of the music was traditionally classified as jazz,and all of the tracks were at the time practically unknown tomost people. Instead, these were tracks that were fillingdancefloors in a nascent jazz dance scene in London being created by a small group of DJs – Paul Murphy, Gilles Peterson,Sylvester, Patrick Forge and a few others.

As demand for these rare groove jazz tracks grew, previouslyunknown records such as Alive!s Skindo Le Le, DougRichardsons Salsa Mama, Carlos Franzettis Cocoa Funkand Emilio Santiagos Bananeira became sort after and even-harder-to-find items with original copies going for 100s ofpounds.

These tracks became part of the soundtrack to this jazz dancescene which has now spread across the world. This musicpaved the way for the arrival of many of the UKs new wave ofcurrent artists such as Shabaka Hutchings, Nubya Garcia andEzra Collective, who today offer a uniquely London sensibility offusing jazz with wide-ranging cultural influences – everythingfrom Afrobeat to soul.

London Jazz Classics was the first album to bring the jazzdance music featured here to a wider audience. More than 30years since its initial release, Soul Jazz Records release thisnew 2026 edition, bringing the music to a new generation oflisteners once more.

LP pressed onto Orange vinyl.

Tracklist

Alive! – Skindo Le Le
Emilio Santiago -Bananeira
Carlos Franzetti – CocoaFunk
The Robin Jones Seven -Atlas
Airto Moreira – Jump
Antonio Adolfo – Cascavel
Hannibal – Mothers Land
Doug Richardson – SalsaMama