Spiritmuse Records – Music for the Spirit

Spiritmuse Records is an independent recording label unearthing gems from past and future, music for mind & spirit – from spiritual jazz to ancient field recordings, releasing carefully curated quality products for a deep listening, spiritual experience.

MUSIC FOR THE SPIRIT

ETHNIC HERITAGE ENSEMBLE • SPIRIT GATHERER • Tribute to Don Cherry ft Dwight Trible & David Ornette Cherry

NEW ALBUM RELEASED 21 APR 2023

This is the phenomenal new studio recording by spiritual jazz shaman Kahil El’Zabar and his legendary Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, with Corey Wilkes on trumpet, Alex Harding on baritone sax and El’Zabar on multi-percussion. The album is a tribute to the late, great spiritual jazz trumpeter, multi instrumentalist, and composer, Don Cherry and his spiritual path, along with an unwavering conviction towards the betterment of global humanity.

This is a tribute to the great spiritual jazz trumpeter & composer Don Cherry, opening up new connections to the wisdom of then ancestors & new spaces onto promising futures.

Featuring legendary LA vocalist Dwight Trible, together with the eldest son of Don Cherry, the internationally renowned musician David Ornette Cherry, the album consists of new compositions by Kahil El’Zabar in tribute to the great incomparable Don Cherry, together with sketches and re-interpreted classics in true Ethnic Heritage Ensemble style

True, spiritual jazz at it’s finest, dedicated to one of the greatest jazz figures in its history!

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Surya Botofasina Everyone’s Children

NEW ALBUM RELEASED 4 NOV 2022

The stunning debut album of spiritual avant-garde music from keyboardist and composer Surya Botofasina, Everyone’s Children: deep listening excursions with expansive synth passages and intimate piano turns to create a meditative, healing and devotionally expressive suite. Produced by and co-performed with Carlos Niño in Los Angeles, this is a unique masterpiece of spiritual jazz and meditative sounds from a progressive Sonic Artist devoted to “OneLove. Family. Music.”

Botofasina’s enlisted a supremely talented group of musicians incl. major LA mainstays such as multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Carlos Niño -who also produced the album – Dwight Trible and Mia Doi Todd, Nate Mercereau, Pablo Calogero, and Efa Etoroma Jr., alongsideBotofasina’s mother, the harpist Radha Botofasina,a key musical disciple of Alice Coltrane’s during her Ashram years and a hugely formative influence on the keyboardist.

“Each piece feels like an inaugural experience in the most spiritually youthful way. The Divine energy of a new life is within every second of the music.”

This is Medicine for the Soul.

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Spirit of France: obscure, rare spiritual jazz and deep folk sounds from the French ‘70s – ‘80s underground

NEW ALBUM RELEASED 8 JUL 2022

Spirit of France is an anthology celebrating the French artists whose total desire not to belong to a particular trend expanded their horizon by pushing the boundaries of creative music. Recording in caves during the full moon, or in the open air in Ibiza to celebrate the sun – with flutes, cromorne (French woodwind reed), darbouka and hurdy-gurdy, or with fascinating, unusual, artist-build instruments, and with sounds heavily influenced from Indian, African, Arabic, Eastern and Malagasy cultures, this is what makes this compilation so unique.

‘Spirit of France’ – a long project in the making, is dedicated in unearthing more than just curiosities, instead focusing on never been reissued, artist-self-released music. Carefully curated by Spiritmuse Records’ Mark Gallagher and Thea Ioannou, and joined by young French digger Tom Val, ‘Spirit of France’, is a collector’s item, packed with rare gems never reissued before on vinyl. It’s a unique journey of France’s underground melting pot music scene, ft. Jef Gilson, Workshop de Lyon and Ghédalia Tazartès and an ode to the unacknowledged heroes of the French underground, such as L’Empire des Sons, Rémy Couvez, André Fertier, Pân-Râ and many more!

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A Time or Healing - Kahil El'Zabar Quartet

A Time for Healing – Kahil El’Zabar Quartet

NEW ALBUM RELEASED 4 FEB 2022

Chicago’s legendary spiritual jazz shaman Kahil El’Zabar returns, leading an enviable ensemble of young masters from his hometown!

Kahil El’Zabar delivers yet another epic double LP’s worth of ancient/future music for the mind, body and soul. From swinging jazz that sings of his Chicago pedigree, to talking drums and soothing spiritual grooves that reconnect Black Classical Music with its African roots.

A cross-generational collaboration from the jazz luminary whose work spans more than five decades, with an extraordinary lineup that includes Corey Wilkes, long term El’Zabar collaborator (‘America the Beautiful’) and established Ethnic Heritage Ensemble member – one of best trumpeters in the world today. ‘Sonic scientist’ Isaiah Collier shines on saxophone, following his recent acclaimed album ‘Cosmic Transitions’ LP, hailed by many as the new ‘Coltrane’. Keyboard wizard Justin Dillard returns from ‘Spirit Groove’, with his earthy Hammond grooves that simultaneously ground and lift the quartet’s sound.

This is music for the mind, body and soul; earthy yet beautifully elevating; a bridge between the ancient roots of El’Zabar’s infectious groove & the urgency of the modern crisis-riven moment.

What the world needs right now is exactly what El’Zabar and his quartet have on offer: A Time for Healing.

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SPM006-David-Ornette-Cherry-Organic-Nation-Listening-Club-(the-continual)---Album-ArtSPM006 - David Ornette Cherry's Organic Nation Listening Club (the continual)

David Ornette Cherry’s Organic Nation Listening Club (The Continual)

NEW ALBUM RELEASED 15 OCT 2021

The new album by ‘Cosmic Nomad’ David Ornette Cherry following his father’s tradition, the legendary, innovative jazz trumpeter and composer, Don Cherry. This a mosaic of healing soundscapes blending spiritual jazz, leftfield electronica, Eastern & native, indigenous sounds into musical parallels that transport the listener through doorways of ancient pathways to futurist crossroads.

David Ornette Cherry talks about his vision: “When I started my musical journey, my father, Don Cherry, took me under his wings. “To be an Artist/ Musician is a commitment, you must learn the music… own the music you create… and give it back. You must have a vision.”

I compose with the idea that all exist in a world of harmonies which mirror life evolving away from the chaotic (to the positive). There’s not just a co-existence but a melding of forms to produce a single musical expression.”

This is phenomenal music with David Ornette Cherry working with upcoming, talented musicians from across the globe into creating genre-defying, groovy, spiritual organic soundscapes that speak to the soul!

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Kahil El’Zabar’s America the Beautiful

Spiritmuse Records proudly presents ‘Kahil El’Zabar’s America the Beautiful’, a tour de force musical testament that speaks directly to the heart, mind and spirit. Kahil El’Zabar composed, arranged and conducted ‘America the Beautiful’ to speak musically about the turbulent issues in America (and the world) today, as well as his hopes and love for a better tomorrow.

This incredible album features Kahil El’Zabar with an extended ensemble of woodwinds, brass, strings and an array of Afro-percussion, showcasing extraordinary players such as Corey Wilkes, Tomeka Reid, James Sanders, Josh Ramos, Miguel de la Cerna, Ernie Adams and Hamiet Bluiett (to whom this album is dedicated, as this was his last recording).

Kahil El’Zabar’s ‘America the Beautiful’ is an inspirational message channelled through powerful, spiritual music, that speaks with love, urgency and hope to our current times!

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Cosmic Vibrations ft. Dwight Trible – Pathways & Passages

We’re excited to present ‘Nature’s Vision from “Pathways & Passages”, the debut album from “Cosmic Vibrations” – the LA based ensemble led by acclaimed jazz vocalist Dwight Trible, that defines spiritual jazz in the 21st century. A genre-defying amalgamation of divine vocals, soul-stirring jazz, healing poetry, with a rich tapestry of African, Mesoamerican and indigenous North American percussion and instrumentation, taking you on a cosmic journey of spiritual improvisation and beyond.

Cosmic Vibrations is a supergroup of heavyweight musicians with a vast combined experience, an ensemble of 6 souls who approach improvisation full of spirit and without ego. Gathered for this very purpose by Dwight Trible, undoubtedly the most acclaimed vocalist in the realms of spiritual jazz, they’re an incredibly talented and “deeply rooted” group in complete brotherly connection with one another. If you are looking for genuine, soul-enriching spiritual jazz today, look no further than “Pathways & Passages”.

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Kahil El’Zabar’s ‘Spirit Groove’ ft David Murray

Kahil El’Zabar’s ‘Spirit Groove’ on Spiritmuse Records is the latest musical inspiration from Kahil El’Zabar, feat. the legendary tenor sax colossus, David Murray. El’Zabar’s & Murray’s collaborative efforts span over 4 decades of exceptional explorations in the varied realms of spiritual jazz. ’Spirit Groove’ is the defining moment upon their incredible journey to meaningful, spiritual art. They’re joined by two extraordinary talents, Emma Dayhuff on acoustic bass and Justin Dillard on synth, piano & organ. This is a phenomenal album, bringing an entirely new, elevated dimension to the spirit of groove!

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Ethnic Heritage Ensemble – Be Known Ancient/Future/Music

This is the new spiritual jazz album by the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, led by legendary Chicago percussionist Kahil El’Zabar, an artist in a league of his own, acknowledged throughout the world as the leader in the vanguard of spiritual and afro-futuristic jazz.

Alongside El’Zabar on multi-percussion & vocals is Corey Wilkes on trumpet, Alex Harding on baritone sax and Ian Maksin on cello. This is beautiful Afro-centric spiritual jazz on the forefront of the current popular jazz scene.

The Ethnic Heritage Ensemble’s music “seeks to spark a time in which heightened sensibility and higher consciousness will universally be known”.

This is Be Known: Ancient / Future / Music for your mind, body and soul.

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Abdullah Sami – Peace of Time

In recent years, in the world of jazz and spiritual jazz, the phrase ‘holy grail’ has been often used. Once in a while though the phrase is truly justified, such as is the case with this reissue: Abdullah Sami – “Peace Of Time”

Recorded in New York in August 1977 and released in 1978 on Sami’s own label imprint, only 300 copies were ever pressed. Forty years later, such a fabled, rarely seen artefact would garner mythical status amongst spiritual Jazz seekers with original copies selling online for over $2,000.

Long out of print “Peace of Time” is perhaps the only documentation of Mudon Abdullah Sami’s then burgeoning talent. “Peace of Time” would fade into the almost forgotten recesses of the jazz mythos, until a worldwide search for Mudon Abdullah Sami was begun by the London-based label Spiritmuse Records. After over a year their search for the saxist was accomplished.

“Peace Of Time” showed the world the talent and scope of Mudon Abdullah Sami and remains a classic unto this day and beyond. “Peace of Time” and the story of Mudon Abdullah Sami is the true stuff of legend.

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