Press Release :
Conceived by label owner Adrian Gibson and implemented and produced by The Bamboos' Lance Ferguson, the Black Feeling project is all about taking it back to the source – to the music that has inspired, instigated and accompanied many a musical journey over the years. Following a sell out gig at the Jazz Café last year, band leader Lance rounded up a bunch of fellow minded musicians from the Aussie funk scene to collaborate on a covers album. Consisting of members of The Bamboos, Cookin On 3 Burners and many more guest musicians, the tracks are presented under pseudonyms to give the impression of an album you would find whilst digging in a Caribbean record shop or American thrift strore. There is a full length album in the pipeline, but to whet the appetite we have these 2 tasty morsels for you...

Kicking things off is The Shirley Eubank Ensemble's take on Michael White's "The Blessing Song". A classic on the jazz scene, this track featured on the "Pure Fire" compilation on Impulse (put together by Gilles Peterson). Stripping the track back to the basics and ditching the violin and vocal parts, this is now a jazz-dance dancefloor bomb already road tested to whoops and hollers at the legendary Messin' Around club session in London. Over on the flip we find Rusty Bryant's Dingwalls classic "Fire Eater" given an afro-cuban shake up by Sexteto Excelencio. Renowned for packing dancefloors, here the pace is picked up by a latin-eque piano line, complemented by the ubiquitous horns.

Reviews :
A great take on Michael White's Impulse classic "Blessing Song" -- one that grooves the tune up a lot more than the original, but still keeps most of its most spiritual elements! Fast congas and keyboards set up the groove beautifully -- soaring the rhythms to the skies in a nicely building style -- as piano, flute, and other jazzy elements do some wonderful things over the top! "Fire Eater" is another early 70s remake -- this time of Rusty Bryant's Prestige-era classic -- done here in a completely different mode by Sexteto Excelencio, who bring plenty of Latin piano and percussion into play with the horns! - Dustygroove