Baroque Jazz Trio (and Saravah Records)

From 1970, and the tiny French indie label Saravah (the self-styled kings of "Slowbiz", with a few dozen releases in 40 years), comes the Baroque Jazz Trio.


Very hip, adventurous, groove-laden jazz played on harpsichord, cello and percussion (incl. tabla). The album is not widely available commercially but the LP can be found for sale here, and the CD here (expensive Japanese edition via France). Free digital downloads of dubious legality are available at several specialist on-line music blogs...

Saravah's music ranges from dreamy, Brazilian-tinged French pop, to solo (and pretty "out there") Afro-Brazilian percussion work-outs, with plenty of great stuff in between - many of their records are truly unique. They seem to have been pretty slow to get a website up, but here are some helpful resources:

http://digital.othermusic.com/search/lab_desc.php?id=1259 (digital downloads of Saravah artists)

http://digital.othermusic.com/search/full.php?FULL=216580&ALBUM=1 (digital download of a Saravah compilation, incl. sound samples)

EDIT: CD now available via Dusty Groove...

Otramar

For my inaugural post, a real humdinger of a (7 CD) box-set from Compagnie Montanaro, and Nord Sud Records: "Otramar".


Cie Montanaro create "New Traditional Music", breathing new life into sundry musical traditions, and producing something fantastically vital. "Otramar" contains previously-released(?) discs drawing on musical traditions from Colombia, France, India, etc. The set came to my attention by winning a Coup de Coeur from the Academie Charles Cros in 2007.

If you'd rather get a single disc than stump for the whole set, check out "L'Ora Daurada"... discs (and sound samples) available at fnac.