Leonardo Pavkovic’s MoonJune Records Keeps Progressive Jazz & Fusion Alive

As legendary composer/musician Frank Zappa once said, “Jazz is not dead, it just smells funny.” That statement could still describe much of the “jazz” music being released today. However, it definitely does not apply to MoonJune Records! Brutally independent MoonJune Records, operated by no more and no less than one person only –  multilingual globetrotter and renaissance man Leonardo Pavkovic (whose main activity consists in USA and international booking of artists not on MoonJune Records, in the genres of jazz, fusion, progressive and classic rock) – has landed at the 4th place in the DownBeat’s 82nd Annual Poll (2017). DownBeat is the most prestigious Jazz magazine in the world. In 2016  MoonJune reached the 7th place in the same poll. It’s an achievement for someone whose main activity is something else, while running label as a labor of love.

In celebration the label is offering FREE DOWNLOAD of MoonJune Jazz Sampler IT MUST BE JAZZ, 25 jazz & beyond jazz tunes chosen from 25 MoonJune Records’ releases between 2001-2017.

To download the sampler, go to the link:
moonjunerecords.bandcamp.com/album/it-must-be-jazz
Enter “0” (zero) to download for free.
Tips and donations are appreciated. And please tell your friends!

SPECIAL OFFER: If You contribute $25 You will receive a complimentary bonus: 5 album downloads. Only album on the Sampler qualify for this offer. You must contact MoonJune via e-mail (noanoamusic@moonjune.com) and make Your selection.

Direct download (in WAV, FLAC, M4A, MP3-320 formats): moonjunerecords.bandcamp.com/album/it-must-be-jazz
All albums available in CD and Download formats, and multiple titles are also available on vinyl.

​​​​​​​MoonJune Records, accidentally established in 2001 by the urge to help an old friend, the legendary late Elton Dean, is an unusual rules-breaking record label, navigating in territories of progressive music exploring and expanding boundaries of Jazz, Rock, Avant, Ethno, The Unknown and Anything in Between and Beyond. Beyond genres but there is always a great dose of Jazz, and as Allan Holdsworth (R.I.P.), Alan Pasqua, Jimmy Haslip and Chad Wackerman stated in their tune on MoonJune’s seminal double live album Blues For Tony, no matter what –  IT MUST BE JAZZ!

​​​​​​​MoonJune Records is named after Soft Machine drummer Robert Wyatt’s famous 1970 epic “The Moon in June,” has already established a name for itself with “in the know” fans. Its focus is to release internationally-situated music by artists exploring the expanding boundaries of genuine, challenging, non-over-produced music that cannot be easily categorized into any specific format. MoonJune Records’ ongoing goal is to support music that transcends stylistic pigeon-holing, but operates within an evolutionary progressive musical continuum that places jazz at one end and rock at the other. The ever-expanding boundaries of these two musical categories have since come to include everything from progressive rock to ethno-jazz, from experimental avant-garde to jazz-rock, and anything in between and beyond.

Quoting Anil Prasad of Innerviews: This is a great overview of the ever-intrepid, genre-bending MoonJune label’s output that points towards, and far beyond, the jazz universe. The price is right. Download this thing and start a journey exploring one of the world’s most interesting catalogs of music.

John Collinge, editor of Progression Magazine says: Leonardo, the owner of the MoonJune Records label, is a guy often seen hobnobbing with the prog-rock and jazz-fusion intelligentsia at festivals and concert events worldwide — the man seems to know everyone, from everywhere. Small wonder that he’s a master at international networking with a globetrotting resume that likely boasts a king’s ransom in bonus miles.

Quoting the most recorded MoonJune artist, Belgian guitarist and composer Michel Delville (10 albums on MJR):  Leonardo Pavkovic is a discoverer of new sonic landscapes and a visionary manager capable of anticipating new developments in jazz and rock while maintaining his focus on the legacy of past revolutions. Because of his vision and erudition know no physical or mental boundaries, MoonJune might seem an oddity founded by a starry-eyed idealist, a rather utopian proposition in our increasingly prefab musical world. MoonJune is not just a record label pushing out alternative music. It feels more like a family of like-minded musicians keen to explore new grounds while collaborating with each other and engaging in a dialogue between the past and the present.

25 selected tune on IT MUST BE JAZZ sampler include:

1. Dwiki Dharmawan – Pasar Klewer (from the album Pasar Klewer)
2. Dusan Jevtovic – Yo Sin Mi (No Answer)
3. The Wrong Object – Saturn (Stories From The Shed)
4. Soft Works – Baker’s Treat (Abracadabra)
5. Jason Smith – Up, Up And Away (Tipping Point
6. simakDialog – One Has To Be (Patahan)
7. Beledo – Marilyn’s Escapade (Dreamland Mechanism)
8. Mark Wingfield – A Conversation We Had (Proof Of Light)
9. Vasil Hadzimanov Band feat. David Binney – Nocturnal Joy (Alive)
10. Talinka – Talinka (Talinka)
11. Doubt – The Invitation (Mercy Pity Peace & Love)
12. Iron Kim Style – Adrift (Iron Kim Style)
13. Soft Machine Legacy – Kings & Queens (Burden Of Proof)
14. Phil Miller In Cahoots – Press Find Enter (Conspiracy Theories)
15. Dewa Budjana – Erskoman (Joged Kahyagan)
16. Othello Molineaux – Havona (Gospel For J.F.P. III – Tribute To Jaco Pastorius)
17. Slivovitz – Barotrauma (All You Can Eat)
18. Savoldelli Casarano Bardoscia – The Great Gig In The Sky – Money (The Great Jazz Gig In The Sky)
19. Hugh Hopper – Some Other Time (Numero d’Vol)
20. Tesla Manaf – Counting Miles & Smiles (Tesla Manaf)
21. Wingfield Reuter Stavi Sirkis – Fjords de Catalunya (The Stone House)
22. Machine Mass feat. Dave Liebman – Centipede (Inti)
23. XaDu – The Place With A View (Random Abstract)
24. Tohpati Ethnomission – Mata Hati (Mata Hati)
25. Holdsworth Pasqua Haslip Wackerman – It Must Be Jazz (Blues For Tony)

Featuring 86 international musicians from different parts of the world: Abel Pabon, Alan Pasqua, Alex Maguire, Allan Holdsworth, Amy Tata, Aris Daryono, Asaf Sirkis, Beledo, Bill Jones, Bob Mintzer, Bojan Ivkovic, Boris Savoldelli, Branko Trijic, Chad Wackerman, Charles Hayward, Ciro Riccardi, Damien Polard, Dave Carpenter, David Binney, Dave Liebman, Demas Narawangsa, Dennis Rea, Derek Di Peri, Desal Sembada, Dewa Budjana, Diki Suwarjiki, Domenico Angarano, Dusan Jevtovic, Dwiki Dharmawan, Elton Dean, Endang Ramdan, Frank Harrison, Fred Baker, Fred Delplancq, Gary Husband, Gilad Atzmon, Hugh Hopper, Hul Hul, Indro Hardjodikoro, Izaak Mills, Jason Smith, Jay Jaskot, Jean-Paul Estievenart, Jenny Bliss, Jimmy Haslip, Jimmy Johnson, John Etheridge, John Marshall, Jonathan Joseph, Larry Goldings, Laurent Delchambre, Lincoln Goines, Marcello Giannini, Marco Bardoscia, Mark Fletcher, Mark Wingfield, Markus Reuter, Michel Delville, Miroslav Tovirac, Othello Molineaux, Pedja Milutinovic, Pete Lemer, Peter Erskine, Peter Sebastian, Phil Miller, Pietro Santangelo, Raffaele Casarano, Riccardo Villari, Riza Arshad, Robert Thomas, Jr., Roy Babbington, Rudy Zulkarnaen, Ryan Berg, Salvatore Rainone, Simon Fintch, Simon Picard, Steve Franklin, Tali Atzmon, Tesla Manaf, Thaddaeus Brophy, Theo Travis, Tohpati, Tony Bianco, Vasil Hadzimanov, Xavi Reija, Yaron Stavi.

Source: www.moonjune.com