Following the first volume – focused on the Soul Note catalogue, released in April 2022 – the new double gatefold vinyl Hyperituals volume 2 is entirely dedicated to the Black Saint music world.
Entirely curated by Khalab (Raffaele Costantino, HJ’s founder and head of A&R), the selection is focused on rhythms, grooves, and Afrocentric traditions. It blends moments in which the rhythmic aspect is powerfully explicit, with others in which the kinetic aspect dialogues on different levels with African American cultural contexts. There is no shortage of instances where the sound links the present to Africa or references the most ancestral rituals.
Black Saint and Soul Note, two Italian sister labels based in Milan that, since the 1970s and throughout the 1980s, established themselves as two of the most important imprints for international jazz. Founded respectively in 1975 by Giacomo Pellicciotti and in 1979 by Giovanni Bonandrini (to whom Pellicciotti sold Black Saint in 1977), Black Saint and Soul Note have represented a safe haven for incredible and brilliant artists who were unable to find their space elsewhere. By combining jazz tradition with the political vanguard sentiment of the time, the two sister labels were able to press and produce more than five hundred records (still available today – the catalogue is now owned by CAM JAZZ), many of which are by some of the brightest names in creative jazz or the ‘avant-garde’ of the era.
Black Saint and Soul Note always placed the artists, their visions, and their music at the center, giving them total freedom of creative expression. It is thanks to this constant, cutting-edge, and meticulous commitment that today we have some of the shiniest musical gems by Sun Ra, Archie Shepp, Don Cherry, Max Roach, Anthony Braxton, David Murray, and many others.
And it is this long list of jazz gods and idols that led the two labels to be recognized as the best in the world by critics, winning the DownBeat Critics Poll for Best Record Label for six years in a row, from 1984 to 1990, conquering the American market.
Hyperituals’ Black Saint universe is a colorful one, dotted with rhythmic galaxies in constant motion.
Hyperituals is a philological investigation that delves deeply into the musical influences and cultural roots of Italian Hyperjazz Records. The theme that runs through Hyperituals is the exploration of the possibilities of sound, rhythm, remix, and endless sampling. Hyperituals is an exercise in crate-digging that explores the past of some of the most important yet sometimes forgotten record labels and aims to bring to light music that is contemporary both in its sound and its message. Inspiring listening, interpretation, and reinterpretation.
Catalogue number: HJ007LP – NO DIGITAL, ONLY VINYL
Released March 15, 2023
All tracks licensed by Kepach Music S.r.l.
Liner notes by Enrico Bettinello Enrico Bettinello – curator and music critic
Translations by Megan Iacobini de Fazio and Jessica Phelan
Warm thanks to Martel Ollerenshaw for revising the texts