Published on
February 21, 2025
Category
Features
Essential weekend listening.
This week’s rundown is by VF contributors Annabelle Van Dort, Emily Hill and James Hammond.
Marshall Allen
New Dawn
(Week-End)
Recorded a week after Marshall Allen’s 100th birthday, New Dawn finds the leader of the Sun Ra Arkestra channelling his enduring musical vitality into the first solo record of a 70+ year recording career. Joined by a host of jazz luminaries and members of the Arkestra, New Dawn merges an embrace of Sun Ra’s legacy with a forward-looking gaze. With Allen on tenor sax, kora and wind synthesizer, some careful attention to a seven-piece string section and some suitably charged interplay from all involved ensure this one remains swinging and suitably buoyant effort throughout. – JH
Various Artists / Don Carlos
Echoes Of Italy – Artists In Wonderland – Early 90s House Vibes Vol.1
(Space Echo Records)
Deep house has a place in everyone’s heart at some point, but there is a specifically magical feeling when you think of the classic deep house cuts coming from Italy in the early 90s. Corners of this journey have previously been explored through the work of Young Marco’s Safe Trip Records and more is discovered on this epic collection compiled by revered northern Italian DJ Don Carlos. Across eleven tracks the energy is sustained – electric and charming – getting you suitably into the groove. A hot tip for Chicago house lovers and those wanting to step into this charming world. – EH
Dexter Gordon
Our Man in Paris
(Blue Note)
The latest instalment in Blue Note’s Classic Vinyl Series is a stone-cold masterpiece—Dexter Gordon’s pièce de résistance, 1963’s Our Man in Paris. Recorded at CBS Studios in Paris, the album pulses with the swinging energy and cultural vibrancy of the French capital, capturing the cross-continental exchanges unfolding in the smoky jazz clubs of the Latin Quarter. Featuring fellow bebop luminaries and U.S. expatriates: pianist Bud Powell, drummer Kenny Clarke, and Parisian bassist Pierre Michelot, Our Man in Paris showcases a quartet that infuses their carefully chosen standards with virtuosic bebop tenacity. – AVD
Richard Dawson
End of the Middle
(Domino)
The third of a trilogy of solo records finds Richard Dawson’s songcraft setting sight on “the small scale and very domestic”. Pairing his nimble but never overcluttered finger-picked guitar with subtle percussion, Dawson’s voice and the characters of his songs are at the forefront here. An LP of deceptively simple songs of allotments and routine, school trauma and passages of time; family histories intertwine and deepen within Dawson’s stark approach. – JH
Tee Mango
Longtime Listener, First Time Caller
(Mulemusiq)
Somerset-based producer and Millionhands head honcho Tee Mango makes his highly anticipated label debut with Tokyo’s Mulemusiq. A wonky house tripleheader that fits seamlessly into Mulemusiq’s technicolour universe, Long Time Listener, First Time Caller is a dreamy blend of Balearic groovers (“Longtime Listener”), soulful vocal loops (“Never Leave”), and deeper dancefloor cuts (“First Time Caller”). – AVD
Stevie Cox
My Lover Cindy EP
(Klasse Wrecks)
Manchester-born, Glasgow-based Sub Club resident Stevie Cox steps up to the plate for the iconic Klasse Wrecks imprint with an epic four tracker titled My Lover Cindy. The sensational record is the producer’s second full-length EP after a stellar debut with Expansion on Optimo back in 2024. This latest offering demonstrates the developing talent of the young Ms Cox who doesn’t mess around with this party-centric release. Each track is designed for the dancefloor to keep people wiggling. – EH
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