Ottowa's finest, afro/jazz/cosimic/funk collective The Souljazz Orchesra are marshaling their troops for a series of North American shows this winter. This will be their first major American tour, and our first chance to see them since releasing their amazing Rising Sun album in 2010. They're going to be joined by some excellent acts on certain dates, including Zongo Junction, The Funk Ark and others. Full info on the band's site. See you at the shows!













January 21st - Ottowa, ON @ Mavericks
February 15th - Providence, RI @ Fete
February 16th - Boston, MA @ Scullers Jazz Club
February 17th - Burlington, VT @ Nectar's
February 18th - New York, NY @ Webster Hall
February 20th - Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live
February 21st - Washington, DC @ Rock N Roll Hotel
February 22nd - Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop
February 23rd - Kalamazoo, MI @ The Strutt
February 24th - Chicago, IL @ Double Door
February 25th - Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock Social Club
April 21st - Ottowa, ON @ Babylon

It's been some time, more than eight years, since we got the Strut crew together in London for an evening of fine music and revelry. The time has come once again, and we're going to do it up in proper style! We'll be taking to the decks on the deck of the Tamesis Dock, moored at Albert Embankment, with a crew of label friends and family, and some special guests. This will our grand re-entrance into the London nightlife, so look for more events on the horizon. Come raise a glass and give summer a final hurrah to the finest sounds in disco, soul, afro-funk, and everything in between!


STRUT RECORDS BOAT PARTY
The Tamesis Boat Dock, Albert Embankment, London SE1 7TP
(between Lambeth Bridge and Vauxhall Bridge)
Sunday 25th September 2011
DJs Duncan Brooker, Toni Rossano, Christine Indigo, & special guest Bill Brewster
4.00pm to 12.00am
Tickets: £5 all night – on the door. Book online at www.ticketweb.co.uk

One of our longest running series returns in May with an edition that digs ever deeper into the seemingly endless field of stunning West African cross pollinations of funk, jazz, rock, soul, and traditional African music. The latter, in the form of Highlife and Juju, is perhaps represented here even more than on previous volumes. But of course there's plenty of heavy funk, lest you think we could ever leave that behind. Nigeria 70 - Sweet Times: Afro-Funk, Highlife & Juju from 1970s Lagos is compiled by Duncan Brooker, as always, and he's truly come up with some gems here, none of which have ever been issued outside of Nigeria. You can preview three of the tunes and plenty of the album art in the video above. Look for Nigeria 70 - Sweet Times on May 10th featuring liner notes by John Collins, author of ‘West African Pop Roots,’ out May 10th on CD, LP & digital download.

It's not every day that we have the opportunity to say that we're about to release the first NEW music in a number of years from some of the world's greatest living artists. It's actually more like every six months! Kidding of course, though the opportunity to work with Mulatu Astatke and Ebo Taylor on their new albums has spoiled us a bit. Well along those lines, let us tell you how beyond thrilled we are to be releasing new material from Benin's Orchestre Poly-Rythmo.

After a year of illustrious comeback live dates including New York’s Lincoln Center, WOMAD festival and Barbican London, the band will release its first studio album in over twenty years, Cotonou Club, on Strut / Sons D’Ailleurs in March 2011.

Produced in Paris entirely on vintage analogue studio equipment, this new album refreshes Poly-Rythmo classics such as "Gbeti Madjro" (featuring Angelique Kidjo) alongside a firing selection of brand new compositions. The album also features a special bonus track, an exclusive collaboration between Poly Rythmo and Franz Ferdinand’s musicians. The mighty orchestre embark on an album launch tour in Europe during April 2011.

Get ready for some fantastic new sound from some of the best to ever do it.

This one is really cool. At the beginning of the year, Afrobeat Academy played a series of shows with Ebo Taylor in his home country of Ghana. Traveling with the group, Tom Bass shot some fantastic footage of the country, the performances, and of Ebo behind the scenes. The pieces with Ebo looking through old memorabilia and records is especially interesting. Hard to imagine traveling with a true legend of African music in his own country! This might be the next best thing.

There's clearly a ground swell happening around African music right now. If you had told us fifteen years ago that not only would musicians like Tony Allen and Mulatu Astatke be performing to enthusiastic crowds worldwide, but that we would be fortunate enough to release brand new material from them on Strut, we might not have believed you. But somehow that seems to be the way it has worked out, and it is with pleasure that we announce that Ghana's Ebo Taylor is joining the ranks of legendary African musicians releasing new material with Strut. Love And Death (his first international solo release) was recorded with the German outfit Afrobeat Academy, a Berlin-based collective featuring members of Poets Of Rhythm, Kabu Kabu (Jimi Tenor collaborators) and Ghanaian legends Marijata.  It's an incredible recording; evidence that Taylor is still smouldering, and we're honored to present it to you.  Love And Death will be out this Fall, with Taylor hitting the road with Afrobeat Academy towards the end of the year.