Album releases
In 2007 Alan decided to once again 'step into the limelight'. He formed his own record label, Slim Chance Recordings and released his third album ‘Slim Chance and the Groove Enigma’ on that label. With the advent of iTunes and digital online distribution, Alan found that the timing was right for this venture. The single "Give it Up" from the "Slim Chance and the Groove Enigma" album was well received in the danceclubs and received worldwide airplay.
In 2008, Alan's fourth album, "The Jazz Masters" was released. A slight departure from Alan's trademark world-fusion electronica sound, the Jazz fusion album "The Jazz Masters" showcases the more jazzy side of Alan Steward, the kind of music he usually writes for movie and TV soundtracks. The album turned out to be his most successful album to date, being very popular on Smooth jazz radio stations in Europe.
Alan's major release for 2008 however was the album "Pop Icon". "Pop Icon" showed off Alan's talent as the master of the funky grooves. The single off the album was "Underdog" which Alan calls an ‘anthem for the anti-heroes’. "Underdog" is dedicated to all the independent musicians pursuing their dreams. "Pop Icon" also featured the vocal talents of Caribbean Soul Vocalist Tricia Hamilton on "Bad Boy Style" and UK House Diva Diane Gordon on a track called "Pfunked Up", a tribute to George Clinton and P-Funk.
Alan's 2009 album release is entitled "Licensed to Chill". This World fusion music album features vocals in five different languages and dialects and a great mix of exotic sounds and grooves ranging from 'jazzy' and 'esoteric' to 'very danceable"
In 2011, he released the album ""The Temple of Boom"", similar in style to ""Licensed to Chill"", this album also features a variety of musical styles and exotic voices but also a forays into electronic dance, reggae and drum and bass. The album also features a new version of his song "Dream come true" from the Slim Chance album.
The 2013 album release "The very best of Alan Steward" features 21 songs in total from his last 5 album releases.
In 2018, the long-awaited album "Rise Up" is released. On this album that features mainly Reggae music, Alan takes a very different musical direction. This is also Alan's first album that features Alan's vocals on every single track.
Trip hop is a musical genre that originated in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom, especially Bristol. It has been described as "a fusion of hip hop and electronica until neither genre is recognizable", and may incorporate a range of styles, including funk, dub, soul, psychedelia, R&B, and house, as well as other forms of electronic music. Trip hop can be highly experimental.
Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In United States, the term is mostly used to refer electronic music generally.
Acid jazz, also known as club jazz, is a music genre that combines elements of funk, soul, hip hop, as well as jazz and disco. Acid jazz originated in clubs in London during the 1980s with the rare groove movement and spread to the United States, Japan, Eastern Europe, and Brazil. Acts included the Brand New Heavies, D'Influence, Incognito, Us3, and Jamiroquai from the UK and Buckshot LeFonque and Digable Planets from the U.S. The rise of electronic club music in the middle to late 1990s led to a decline in interest, and in the twenty-first century, the movement became indistinct as a genre. Many acts that might have been defined as acid jazz are seen as jazz-funk, neo soul, or jazz rap.
Nu jazz, also known as jazztronica, is a genre of jazz and electronic music. The term was coined in the late 1990s to refer to music that blends jazz elements with other musical styles, such as funk, soul, electronic music, and free improvisation.
Third World is a Jamaican reggae fusion band formed in 1973. Their sound is influenced by soul, funk and disco. Although it has undergone several line-up changes, Stephen "Cat" Coore and Richard Daley have been constant members.
On the Corner is a studio album by American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer Miles Davis. It was recorded in June and July 1972 and released on October 11 of the same year by Columbia Records. The album continued Davis's exploration of jazz fusion, and explicitly drew on the influence of funk musicians Sly Stone and James Brown, the experimental music of Karlheinz Stockhausen, ideas by composer Paul Buckmaster, and the free jazz of Ornette Coleman.
Shapeshifter are a live drum and bass act from New Zealand. They are known for their live shows and blend of heavy soul with drum and bass. They have made appearances at Glastonbury, The Big Chill, Big Day Out, Parklife plus sold-out performances across Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
Ulrich Schröder, known under the pseudonym Praful, is an acid jazz artist who performs on several instruments including tenor and soprano saxophones, Indian bamboo flutes, pandeiros, Fender Rhodes and many electronic effects. Two of his CDs One Day Deep and Pyramid in Your Backyard have won many awards and worldwide recognition. "Sigh", included in the One Day Deep CD and as a single, had stayed in the Billboards for over 70 weeks.
Adham Shaikh is a composer, record producer and sound designer living near Nelson, British Columbia.
Miguel Steward, better known as Miguel Migs, is an American deep house DJ and producer and founder of Salted Music, an independent electronic dance music record label based in San Francisco, California.
The Peatbog Faeries are a largely instrumental Celtic fusion band. Formed in 1991, they are based in Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye, Scotland.
Celtic fusion is an umbrella term for any modern music which incorporates influences considered "Celtic", or Celtic music which incorporates modern music. It is a syncretic musical tradition which borrows freely from the perceived "Celtic" musical traditions of all the Celtic nations, as well as from all styles of popular music, it is thus sometimes associated with the Pan-Celtic movement. Celtic fusion may or may not include authentic traditional music from any one tradition under the Celtic umbrella, but its common characteristic is the inspiration by Celtic identity.
Mellowosity is the debut studio album by Scottish Celtic fusion group Peatbog Faeries, released in 1996 on Greentrax Recordings. After forming as a vocal-based Celtic rock group in 1994, the duo had settled into becoming an instrumental Celtic fusion group by the release of Mellowosity. The album draws from a wide range of musical styles and influences including jazz, reggae, afrobeat, rock, Eastern music, dub and funk, that are mixed in with the band's traditional Scottish folk/Celtic sound featuring fiddles and bagpipes.
The Rocksteady 7 or "David Hillyard & the Rocksteady Seven", is an American Ska and Jazz band from New York, New York that formed in 1992. Since the early 1990s the group has consisted of tenor saxophonist and band leader Dave Hillyard as well as percussionist Larry McDonald. In live performances, they are supported by a rotating cast of musicians, including drummer Eddie Ocampo and Dave Wake on keys among others.
Novalima is a Peruvian band. Novalima's style blends Afro-Peruvian music with Electronica, Latin American beats and other contemporary genres.
Big beat is an electronic music genre that usually uses heavy breakbeats and synthesizer-generated loops and patterns – common to acid house/techno. The term has been used by the British music industry to describe music by artists such as The Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim, The Crystal Method, Propellerheads, Cut La Roc, Basement Jaxx and Groove Armada.
Daniele Gaudi, better known simply as Gaudi, is an Anglo-Italian musician, solo artist and record producer based in London, specialised in dub music, electronica, reggae and worldbeat. Gaudi's distinctive production sound appears in a number of name act's albums nominated for Awards and prizes such as: Grammy Award 2019 -Best Reggae Album Of The Year- for 'Mass Manipulation' by Steel Pulse and BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music 2008 for the album 'Dub Qawwali' by Gaudi & Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. His music works and contributions have topped international charts such as: Billboard Reggae Chart no.1 with the album 'Heavy Rain' by Lee "Scratch" Perry, Billboard Reggae Chart no.1 with the album 'Mass Manipulation' by Steel Pulse, Billboard Reggae Chart no.1 with the album "Vessel Of Love" by Hollie Cook, Billboard Reggae Chart no.2 with 'Rainford' by Lee "Scratch" Perry, UK Dance Chart no.1 with of 'Jus'Come' Terra Terra remix by Cool Jack.
Martin Stääf, aka Liquid Stranger, is a Swedish-born electronic musician, described by Generation Bass as "the epitome of Transnational Dubstep covering everything from Latin, Asian, Eastern European and Jamaican Dancehall dubs." Martin Stääf is known for his experimental approach to composition where he merges genres to create a unique style of music. Martin Woods of Chillbase describes Liquid Stranger's music as a "unique blend of Ambience, Big Band Jazz, Dubstep and Psychedelica drizzled over electronic Dub Reggae grooves." Stääf lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The Smokering is the Los Angeles, Ca.-based music production duo Ed Vichnick and J Damian K. Their music blends elements of downtempo, chill-out, hip hop, classical, dub, acid jazz, reggae, Indian classical, Middle Eastern, and ambient music.
Rhythm Killers is an album by Jamaican musical duo Sly and Robbie, released in May 1987 by Island Records. By the time of the album's recording, Sly and Robbie had transitioned away from their prolific work in the reggae genre. They spent the 1980s experimenting with electronic sounds and contemporary recording technology on international, cross-genre endeavors, which influenced their direction for Rhythm Killers.
