DE LA STUFF

A few bits & pieces from the late 80's featuring De La Soul.
The ad at the top is from a 1989 issue of Soul Underground magazine and is for the release of their "Eye Know" single.
Underneath it is the cover of the record from my shelves at home. This one being the 7" version.
Next up is a rather bizarre advert that cropped up in a 1989 issue of Hip Hop Connection magazine.
For those who weren't around at the time, the guy holding up the briefcase is Nigel Lawson, who was UK's Chancellor Of The Exchequer, a position in life that was a million miles away from De La Soul!
Anyway, on the briefcase are two products I also have, their debut album and their video.
After that, and also from Hip Hop Connection magazine, is an item that featured in their January 1990 issue when the magazine's contributors compiled their best hip hop records of the 80's, and on the Richard Reyes example above, you'll be able to see that De La Souls' debut album "3 Feet High And Rising" was top of his list.
Finally, I have accompanied the items with my own LP sleeve that I bought when it came out.

POLISH JAZZ

The ad at the top is from a Straight No Chaser magazine dated 1999 and is for a series of records that were compiled from obscure East European jazz releases that originally came out in the 60's & 70's.
1 from East Germany and 3 from Poland made up the foursome.
Under the ad is a review of the Polish set, and this was published in Milesahead magazine in 1999.
I have put up my CD of the "Go Right" album cover which is a compilation of the other Polish pair - and all 4 in the series were released on Jazzanova Compost Records.

GLUCKLICH

In 1994, Compost Records in Germany started up a compilation series called "Glucklich" featuring a variety of Brazilian themed jazz grooves.
The item at the top is an early sighting of the first volume, cropping up in a Crazy Beat Records ad published in Acid Jazz News magazine in 1994.
Next is a review of the album from Birmingham Vibe magazine, also from 1994.
Accompanying these is my vinyl copy of the LP.
Following on from the 94 items are 3 articles that all come from a 1999 Straight No Chaser magazine.
First is an ad featuring 3 volumes of Glucklich.
Under it is a review of volume 3.
The Jazzin 10 chart was compiled by the UFO crew in Japan who were dipping into Glucklich 3 for their club nights and radio show.
Lastly, I have vol 3 on CD so have put the cover up to go along with the 1999 stuff.
Compost kept the series going up to volume 5 in 2002.

LEXOLEUM

Warp Records started up Lex in 2001 as a showcase for experimental independent hip hop and released this album in 2003, a compilation called "Lexoleum" which combines their EP releases up to that time, in with some newer material.
The item at the top is a review of the album published in Breakin' Point magazine in July 2003.
Under it is the CD from my shelves at home, a very nice package presentation with an embossed cover - the artwork done by Ehquestionmark.
The last item is from inside the CD sleeve - the tracklist containing a variety of leftfield goodies, from Madlib to Mummy Fortuna's Theatre Company.

EARLY ROOTS

The top 3 items were all published in Straight No Chaser magazine at various stages during 1994 and are early examples of The Roots starting to be known when they first hit the music scene.
The top article is a news item from Spring '94 passing on details about their forthcoming mini album called "From The Ground Up".
Then in summer that year, the review of the album itself cropped up in the magazine.
Following that, in Autumn, we can see from the chart above that the album was being dipped into by Dubfire, who was playing it at various clubs around Washington.
Finally, I have put up my copy of the CD to go along with the items, this being released on Talkin Loud.

DIG! ALLIANCE

"Dig" started around the early 90's in Leeds - a club night that featured jazz and its associated music such as Latin, funk, hip hop and soul.
It was run by a team called the Dig! Alliance who also organised other projects connected to it.
The top item is from a 1992 issue of DJ magazine, displaying a typical list of events that were going on at Dig back then and is accompanied by one of the Dig graphics.
Next up is an article featured in Straight No Chaser magazine in 1993, this being just a snippet of a longer piece they did about Dig.
In 1994, the Dig nights closed for a period, then transformed under a different name, The Yardbird Suite Jazz Club, and the 3rd item above is from a 1996 issue of UK Vibe magazine, giving a bit of information about what was going on behind the scenes, as well a supplying details of their recorded output.
Underneath that is an ad also from UK Vibe in 1996 and is for The Yardbird Suite Jazz Club.
Finally, I have put up my copy of the Dig! Alliance debut recording released on Clean Up Records in 1994 - a 12 inch slice of vinyl called the "Turntable Jazz EP".

THE HI-HAT

The Hi-Hat was a monthly club night that started up in the mid 1990's at the Jazz Cafe in London.
Main DJ's were Snowboy and Phil Levene, with the music a mix of Latin, jazz and Afrobeat in the main.
The place was so good that not only did it attract clubbers from all over the UK, it even had a devotee from America who flew over from the States to get his regular monthly dose of sounds! This was Professor Robert Farris Thompson, a lecturer of Afro-Cuban culture at Yale University.
A club to be taken seriously.
So the top item is an ad for The Hi-Hat that appeared in Big Daddy magazine in 2002.
Under it is a playlist also from Big Daddy but from a year earlier and shows some of the tracks that were being played on the dancefloor in 2001.
In 2001 Snowboy compiled an album featuring a selection of tracks that were doing the business at The Hi-Hat and the ad for the album was published in Straight No Chaser magazine that same year.
Underneath it is a review of the album also from SNC.
Lastly, I have put my CD up to go with the items - the album's full title being "Snowboy presents the return of The Hi-Hat - Essential Cuban, Brazilian, Hard Bop + Fusion  from the true jazz-dance session" - which was released on Ocho.

GROOVE OIL

All of the stuff above are dated 1994.
Starting off with Straight No Chaser magazine's review of the featured album, "Groove Oil", a compilation of funky grooves from London on Boogie Back Records.
Below that is another review of the album, this time from San Francisco's On The One magazine.
Next up is a playlist put together by Andrew Jervis who not only edited On The One, but was a DJ too, and the Groove Oil album was one of the records he was giving a spin during his live sets back then.
Finally, I raided my own racks at home and have put up the LP sleeve to accompany the magazine items.

JERU THE DAMAJA

A couple of items on display here that were published when Jeru The Damaja's album "Wrath Of The Math" came out at the tail end of 1996.
The top article is a review of the album that cropped up in DJ magazine in November 96, a release they say was not to be missed!
Underneath it is a playlist from a Winter 96 issue of Straight No Chaser magazine, the chart compiled by Greyboy who was dipping into the album as part of his live DJ sets around the USA.
Lastly, I've put up a copy of the LP cover from my collection to go with the feature, a double vinyl package on ffrr/Payday.