Takuya Kuroda
Rising Son

Strut is proud to announce the new album by UK jazz pianist, Greg Foat, ‘Symphonie Pacifique’, released on 3rd July 2020.Foat has become a versatile mainstay in UK jazz through an acclaimed series of albums on Jazzman and Athens Of The North, moving from soul-jazz workouts to library music to cinematic, haunting compositions and pastoral acid folk. ‘Symphonie Pacifique’ goes expansive and widescreen, building a lush soundscape using choral textures, harp and tubular bells. “It has been a hallmark of my previous albums to use choral voices and tubular bells to sound more like chordal instruments,” explains Foat. “I used pedal steel for the first time on these tracks.” All are showcased on the atmospheric ‘After The Storm’. “This piece was completely improvised during our last day of studio time,” continues Foat. “The assistant engineer had set up an arpeggio on the synthesizer as a metronome; the harp and guitar created an ostinato, myself and others soloed over it and we later added choir and strings. Eventually, we took the arpeggio off to leave a calm, serene piece of music.”Upping the tempo, Foat brings in sensual groove-based tracks like the undulating ‘Anticipation’, the album title track and Groove Merchant-channelling ‘Nikinakinu’. “This was one for my stepson Nicky,” explains Foat. “I worked up this idea with him and my Zimbabwean drummer friend Sam Chagumachinyi so it has a slightly African feel to it and uses pentatonic scales.”Other tracks include the languid, simmering ‘Island Life’ and a moving tribute to KPM library legend Duncan Lamont on the reflective ‘Lament For Lamont’. “Duncan was one of the unsung heroes of British jazz. He played with Sinatra, composed some incredible library music and his 1970 album ‘Best Of The Bossa Novas’ was one of the biggest selling UK jazz albums of all time. I recorded with him for my album ‘The Mage’ a few years ago and he was genuinely the nicest guy I have ever played with. He was looking forward to working on this album but sadly passed away a couple of months before the sessions, so we really wanted to record this tribute to him.”The album is a truly international collaboration, recorded analogue and produced by Greg Foat at London’s Fish Factory studios with strings recorded in Edinburgh and choir in Gothenburg. The album was mixed by Mattias Glava at Kungsten Studios in Gothenburg. Cover artwork is based on a painting by early 20th Century Algerian / Parisian artist Henry Valensi.

Ghent based psych jazz collective Compro Oro, are set to release new album ‘Buy The Dip’ on the 2nd September via the groove-obsessed Sdban Ultra label. Having received critical acclaim for their 2020 album ‘Simurg’ – a collaboration with Murat Ertel, co-founder and frontman of Istanbul's cult psychedelic folk band BaBa ZuLa and his singer partner Esma Ertel – the band’s fifth album is less ethno- and more techno-logy, both on a musical and conceptual level.With tastemaker fans including BBC 6 Music’s Gilles Peterson and Stuart Maconie alongside Jazz FM’s Jez Nelson, the band’s spontaneous quest for psychedelic sounds and jazz grooves has not stopped expanding since their formation in 2014.After imaginative musical trips to Havana, Mogadishu and Istanbul for previous releases, Compro Oro went looking for sounds and inspirations from other corners of the globe for ‘Buy The Dip’. Synthesizers and electronic effects spice up Compro Oro’s distinctive musical marriage of vibraphones, electric guitars, jazzfunk rhythms, exotic percussions and dubby bass patterns. Band leader and composer Wim Segers created these new compositions often on piano or vibes in a more analogue way, leaving enough room for his band mates to colour each track when fine tuning the song.Segers was inspired by the world of crypto markets and the specific concept of ‘buying the dip’: bitcoin diggers who play the markets at specific ‘low’ moments to gain higher profits when prices go up again. Are we all reduced to consuming creatures, seeking for nothing more than the thrill of pointless spending and endless profits? It’s a fairly philosophical question – especially for an instrumental album – but it’s key for the punchy and eclectic sounds on ‘Ben Hur’ and ‘Bitcoins’.Apart from those synths and fx, a fair bunch of neo-noir western vibes sprout up on this album as well – think detuned piano’s, flamenco-like guitars, rattling snare drums, and imminent whistles. Add to that some laid back sunny pop sounds (‘Kayak’), off-hook and swaying Turkish psychedelica (‘Karsilama’) and even some haunted, kraut-ish vocal parts (‘Dungeon’), it’s evident Compro Oro has a musical voice without any equal in Belgium and beyond.Compro Oro released their first album ‘Transatlantic’ in 2015, an ode to jazz vibraphonist Cal Tjader, an icon of the 1950’s Latin jazz movement. The release received critical acclaim back home, lauded in the press as a drunken mix of Buena Vista Social Club and guitarist Marc Ribot’s, Cubanos Postizos. Subsequent live shows have been called a celebration for the hips, the ear and the soul.2017 saw the release of ‘Bombarda’, a bold EP that sailed South and East of Cuba, incorporating different ethnic rhythms and melodies in elaborate jams. No palm trees and cocktails in Havana this time, but instead dingy basements and LSD in West African cities. The critically acclaimed ‘Suburban Exotica’ followed in 2019 with ‘Simurg’, released in 2020, earning the band global success.