The Last Poets
Understand What Black Is

Ridiculously rare vinyl, superb musicianship, and a Playboy club are ingredients that make the Don Cunningham Quartet's "Something For Everyone" album so tasty. Luv N'Haight is proud to preserve and re-issue one of the most collectible and highly sought-after jazz-dance records."Bunnies plus food and drink equals good time."The Quartet's unique blend of exotica, Latin and Brazilian rhythms, jazz and easy listening was a perfect fit for the Playboy club."I was influenced by having seen Arthur Lyman, Cal Tjader, Willie Bobo, Mongo Santamaria, and Harry Belafonte play live. Not to mention that I was buying all the Les Baxter I could get!" adds Cunningham. The band's sound caught the attention of Bob Webb, a wealthy local businessman. As a friend of piano player Marion Miller he'd learned of the Quartets popularity."I don't want to work, you work, I'll put up the money," Miller recalls Webb 's words.Webb fronted the funds for Miller to create Exclusive records, releasing three albums and two 45rpm singles, including the "Something For Everyone" LP."The music was only sold locally. We never looked up a distributor and we really didn't have a regular record deal," says Miller.Don Cunningham only remembers selling and giving-away the album at Playboy appearances and to a few friends outside of club hours. Only 500 copies were ever printed, some mono, some stereo, it's not known how many of each format."It's great that the album is being re-issued. There's truly a quality of music on it that has been missed for so long. In a way it's world music - Polynesian, samba, Brazil, jazz, West Indian. It has the energy of Latin and funk records. It's inspired by - but is not really - easy listening, you couldn't exactly sleep in our "Quiet Village!"" says Cunningham.

Hopestreet Recordings: ...From the first few notes, it sounds like the real thing. Piano and bass riff hard. Percussion enters. ¡Oiga Papa! Listen up! The trombones come in thick and strong. Fantasía, the first song on Quarter Street’s self-titled LP is authentic ‘salsa dura’ from the old school. Hard salsa. It’s not shiny, it’s not clean and poppy or unduly jazzy. It’s tough, it’s gritty and ballsy, and in terms of musicianship, writing and production, it straight up cooks.

Mekbuda, translated from Arabic is the "lion's folded paw" as well as a star in the constellation of Gemini and in this case Russia's preeminent entry into the burgeoning contemporary jazz scene with their debut album Convincing Delusional. Residing on the spacier and cosmic side of the jazz spectrum, the quartet consists of Roman Zyryanov on drums, Dmitry Rubanov on bass, Alex Petrov on Rhodes and keys, rounded out by Igor Shilov on trumpet. Informed by the UK's jazz and electronic scene, spiritual and modal jazz, along with ambient and a tinge of hip-hop, Mekbuda's sound is a heady brew of instrumental soundscapes. The 6-track album seamlessly crescendoes from uptempo drum and bass to dubbed out rhythmic excursions, all layered within a brooding and hypnotic atmosphere.

After meeting and working with Janko Nilovic - the extraordinary French library maestro - on a new album, while traveling and performing together around the world for almost 10 years, Igor Zhukovsky & Romeo Miussky - the multi-instrumentalist production duo, and rhythm core of The Soul Surfers - were inspired to make a record of free, spiritual, esoteric sounds which blended together on tape and made Sound Excitement happen.Drawing on their experience as soundtrack composers and using heavyweight Soviet analog equipment, including a few vintage personal instruments belonging to some legends of the Soviet leftfield music scene, Igor & Romeo started experimenting with genre-blending music. The outcome of their recordings are a mixed bag of different moods and genres.“It's something similar to a library record or more like a compilation of many different library records on one LP for a good decade if you know what I mean? It's the work which we're really excited about and excited to share with you! ...oh that's hell of a wordplay!"- I. Zhukovsky