Mark Sampson - or Prezident Markon as he is known to a discerning minority of listeners in France - is a writer, journalist, intermittent radio DJ and straw-bale builder (once featured on Channel 4's Grand Designs Abroad). He lives in SW France with a tolerant wife, an affectionate dog, 'two cats in the yard' and more music than you can shake a baguette at.
Website: mtsampson.com
The flies, the damnable flies! It’s too darn hot here in rural France – but at least I can take myself off to the nearby river with a good book and an MP3 player primed with promos. There’s... Read Article
Forever famous for its canal and straw hats, Panama could be creating some kind of drumming legacy: Billy Cobham, of course, and now Daniel Villareal, a celebrated sticks-man on the Chicago jazz and Latin scenes who was born... Read Article
It’s curious that two separate German labels should release two albums by Brazilian singers on the same day, seemingly quite independently of each other. “Curiouser and curiouser” that the two singers in question – the illustrious Flora Purim... Read Article
Ever since Coleman Hawkins forged the template for the tenor saxophone in jazz, the instrument has been synonymous with the male sex: the classic silhouette of the tall hombre wielding the big brass horn. Things are changing a... Read Article
If there’s one thing in life more thrilling to a music lover than discovering a new artist, it’s surely the discovery of a whole new genre. The Analog Africa label seems to make a habit of unearthing them.... Read Article
What was that I was saying in my February round-up about an apparent dearth of post-Christmas releases? I’ve been truly hoist by my own petard, because there’s now such a rich variety of singles arriving from all over... Read Article
Blessed be the crate-diggers, for they shall inherit the airwaves. Vampisoul of Madrid have been rummaging around the vaults of South American labels like Colombia’s Disco Fuentes and Peru’s MAG for quite a few years, regularly rescuing dance-floor... Read Article
José Roberto Bertrami – Os Tatuís (1965) / José Roberto Trio (1966)*** Lest anyone might imagine that Azymuth sprung into the world of Brazilian samba-jazz fully-formed and ready to lay a seemingly endless supply of slickly performed albums... Read Article
This is the first round-up of new singles since November of last year, which just goes to show that even musicians and producers wind down for Christmas. The studios are starting to spawn again, so here’s an initial... Read Article
Bonne année one and all. This is my last New Year’s Honours list before I seek re-election in May, and I hope my selections won’t “piss you off”. I’ve avoided any reference to the big hitters flagged up... Read Article
It’s been aeons since I’ve done one of these retro round-ups, as I call them, but then I’ve only recently become acquainted with Altercat Records from that hippest of hip European cities, Berlin. So I, in my turn,... Read Article
While the Masters of the Universe were wheeling and dealing in Glasgow, Mother Nature was showing off her true colours here: a magnificent autumn made glorious by a steady flow of edifying new singles. Black Uhuru “Jamaica to... Read Article
