Unspooling the Thread // Kevin Martin’s Jazz Satellites Volume 1 & 2

Jazz Satellites, Vol. 1: Electrification is a startling collection of grooves old and new that focus on the extrapolation of jazz from its electric origins in the post-Bitches Brew era of Miles Davis and from the earlier, dizzying spiritual and harmonic influence of Coltrane’s free modal explorations. This compilation examines some of those from past to near-present; and while the choices are eclectic to say the least, the sequencing and selection are impeccable. – AllMusic

Part of the Virgin Ambient Series. Includes the tracks for supposedly planned but never released second volume.

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Besides being a source of toxic behavior and endless trollery of various shapes and forms Twitter occasionally provides a space for very fruitful conversation. Case in point – this morning IHN ended up being involved in a discussion revolving around series of compilations put out by Virgin Records in the early 90s. Further examination of the thread led us to discovery of Jazz Satellites compilation put together by Kevin Richard Martin (aka The Bug). Volume 1 (aka Electrification) came out in 1996 and ended up being the only one in the series (series within series, as it were), but thanks to wonders of technology Volume 2 also materialized on Spotify….

Now bear with me, kids, because this is about to get a bit long-winded and super-nostalgic for the good old days when major labels took risks…something that certainly isn’t happening nowadays. 

Back in the early 90s Virgin Records had an idea of putting a spotlight on ambient music. And no, we’re not just talking luminaries like Eno/Fripp, but also the unsung heroes like David Toop, Scorn, Bark Psychosis, Zoviet France, James Plotkin, A Small Good Thing and countless others.

All of the aforementioned artists ended up on compilations/albums produced by Virgin as part of the said series – starting with 1993 A Brief History Of Ambient Volume 2: Imaginary Landscapes and culminating with 1997 Ocean Of Sound Volume 4 – Guitars On Mars. As the name attests, Jazz Satellites traced the connections between that genre and ambient (of which there are plenty).

Chances of Virgin reissuing Ambient Series today are close to zero for a number of reasons (one could be Richard Branson’s current involvement/obsession with Hyperloop). If what the say about music being the best time machine, then here’s the one you can hop on right now – Bandcamp/Youtube version of Jazz Satellites.  It costs nothing to take this trip (though you’re highly encouraged to pick up the records / buy digital) and your ears will thank you for getting on board too!

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Bandcamp

Bill Laswell / Peter Brötzmann – Death Rattle

Divine Styler – Am I An Epigram For Life

The Pop Group – 3:38

Fat – New Power

Sun Ra – Satellites Are Spinning / Lights on a Satellite

Innerzone Orchestra – Bug In The Bassbin

Sonny Sharrock – Many Mansions

Plus Youtube playlist for everything that didn’t make it onto Bandcamp…

Plus one link from Daddy Kool Records

You can also find material by John Surman on Cuneiform Records and the original version of Tohubohu Pt. 1 by Marc Moluin appears here

Kevin is also responsible for 2 volumes of Macro Dub Infection series – part 1 of which can be found here and part 2 can be found here.