Afro Arts’ Paul Murphy tells Hectic, “Well, it’s more of a loan situation than a transfer.” To carry on the analogy, this move gives Gerardo some match fitness as last year he was a leading scorer (whilst Conte had at spell at Blue Note). Gerardo gets my player of the year vote for his double strike of ‘African Seeds’ and ‘Latin Seeds’. This remains one of the finest mash-ups we’re likely to get for a while as he ‘blends’ Sahib Shihab’s jazz dance favourite ‘Seeds’ and Sabu Martinez. Prior to that, there was Schema’s double act 12” ‘Two Unreleased Gems From The Freedom Jazz Dance Project’ featuring Nicola Conte, ‘Nefertiti’ and Frisina’s ‘Gica’s Dance’, ‘Cubana’ and LPs Hi Note and Ad Lib are all worthy acquisitions.

No wonder then that Paul says, “We love Gerado’s tunes and finally met him a Festival in Italy”. On the adage, if you don’t ask, you don’t get, “Do a tune for Afro Art?” Better than that, Frisina’s gone and done two.

Gilles favours the steamy Afro-Cuban b-side called ‘Alborado’. Sounds like a long lost Latin crate dig that’ll kill the jazz room as a future classic. In fact, on a little sidetrack, all of the last four tracks that followed the John Arnold/Jeremy Ellis session were worth staying up late for (see below). Gerardo’s other track he played, a cover of Horace Silver’s ‘The Gods of the Yoruba’, is much smoother than the Afro Art 12”.

However, the a-side is favoured by the likes of DJ Jerry (No. 1 in his August playlist!) and it’s like a cross between the rough and smooth mentioned above. Still Latin crazy legged dance room magic that you’re going to love even in this hot spell.

Both tracks come with longevity stickers and are aimed as “DJ Delights for many years to come.”

It’s a busy time for Afro Art at the moment with Chris Thomas King on a loan spell out on the leftwing Latin blues field. Captain Murphy has been gigging all over Europe such that he’s just sent out his first chart of the year (as below) and his album seems to be trickling out to word spreaders such as Zeljko Kerleta’s radio show (see link below). Also, friend of FLY, Glyn Bigga Bush tracked down another future release by some folk calling themselves Peak with a funky tribute to the Brit flick, “Get Carter”. Top quality guaranteed.

If your friendly record store doesn’t stock Afro Art releases, try out Tunes.co.uk (see below) who are very reliable on this sort of thing.

Reviewed: Gerardo Frisina - ‘Congart’ b/w ‘Alborado’ Cat. No. AFR 029 Release Date: September 2005

Paul ‘I don’t do many’ Murphy : First chart of 2005
1. Gerardo Frisina “Alborado” (Afro Art)
2. Paul Murphy “Budapest Chachacha” (Afro Art)
3. The Mohawks “The Champ” (Version) (Sir JJ)
4. Peak “Get Carter” (Afro Art)
5. Jazz Juice “Bugablue” (Freestyle)
6. Future Warriors “Bembe” (Far Out Recordings)
7. Origami “Amarcord” (White).
8. Five Corners Quintet “Straight Up” (Ricky Tick)
9. Juju Orchestra “Kind Of Latin Rhythm (Audiopharm).
10. Menelik et la Tribu “Un Petit Rien de Jazz” (Source).

Links:
Afro Art at Tunes.com
Afro Art www.afroartrecords.com
Schema www.ishtar.it home of The Dining Rooms

Zeljko Kerleta: THE RETURN OF GAGARIN - Live Every first Sunday on B-92 radio 21-23h London time and archived afterwards. All the info and audio at: http://cosmicsounds-london.com/RADIO/radio.html
THE SEPTEMBER TROG PLAYLIST (04 Sep. 2005)
No. 04. PAUL MURPHY - Mr. Cosmic (cdr - afroart)

Gerardo Frisina Blends Sabu Martinez & Sahib Shihab - ‘African Seeds’ & ‘Latin Seeds’ Cat. No. SCEP 381 (Schema)
Gilles Peterson : Tracklisting 21/08/05 : John Arnold & Jeremy Ellis in Session.
26) Soil & Pimp - ‘Wheel Within A Wheel’ (Victor/RCA)
27) SUMO Feat. Rigas - ‘Tribute’ (Heya Hifi)
28) Gerardo Frisina - ‘Alborado’ (Afro Art Rec)
29) Gerardo Frisina - ‘Gods of Yoruba’ (Schema)

DJ Jerry’s TOP5 record bag playlist:
01. Gerardo Frisina - Congart [Afro Art Records]
02. povo - hi fly [raw fusion]
03. ye:solar - hihot (orginal and inverse cinematics “abi 05” remix) [vinylvibes]
04. phil asher - namby it ain’t [restless soul]
05. d’Stephanie feat. philippo - future warrior [sonar kollektiv]