Azymuth: Pure, The Best of Far Out Years 1995-2006 (Far Out/Southbound)

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Azymuth: Amazon Adventure (Jazzanova Remix)
Azymuth: Pure, The Best of Far Out Years 1995-2006 (Far Out/Southbound)

The Brazilian trio at the core of Azymuth have been together since Adam was a young man: they started playing together in the 60s, named themselves Azymuth in the early 70s, and are still going today.

Their blend of funky electric jazz and Brazilian sounds has been intermittently popular (they were very cool in the mid 70s for example, and had a minor hit with Jazz Carnival in 1980), and for most of the 80s were on the creditable Milestone jazz label.

Since the mid 90s however their releases have come through London's Far Out Recordings and this album is a 14 track collection taken from those years.

It captures the band's sense of Latin cool and lounge-like funk, is slightly sassy, and has just enough jazz and samba elements to keep it always interesting.

The bonus on this compilation however -- which will doubtless irritate purists -- is the thoroughly enjoyable remix disc of half a dozen tracks where Azymuth's grooves get a right old going over by cool folks like Roni Size, Jazzanova, Mark Pritchard and others.

Definitely one to be accompanied by martinis.

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