Kev Beadle is a name synonymous with all things Jazz and more. His wide array of compilations over the years has always been an education. His Inside Out and Free Soul compilations on Cadet still rank amongst my favourite compilations of all time.

As well as this Kev has supplied the good groove on radio and is a formidable club DJ. Founding legendary nights like Talking Loud at Dingwalls alongside Bob Jones and Gilles Peterson.
If that’s not enough he is a long time resident at the Southport Weekender and Suncebeat. All that and I have only scratched the surface of Kev’s contribution to the UK music scene.
With all this in mind I was very excited to hear BBE are releasing a new compilation of Jazz called private collection.

Kev states

The music on this compilation is for me a very personal journey tracing back to my earliest experiences as both a DJ and collector on the jazz dance scene.
The on going friendly DJ competitiveness to break and play recently discovered ‘old tunes’ like Reverie ‘In Every Way’, Irakere’s ‘Chekere Son’ and Olli Ahvenlahti’s dancefloor fusion classic ‘Grandma’s Rocking Chair’ was all part of the appeal.

When Gilles Peterson, Bob Jones and myself originally started the Talkin Loud Sunday Afternoon at Dingwalls sessions little did we know what a major part that would play in the history of jazz dance culture. Again it became a ‘one-stop’ to hear exciting and up until then undiscovered gems from both the jazz and soul scene. Tunes like Kamal Abdul Alim’s head nodding funk ‘Brotherhood’, The Pharoah’s ‘Freedom Road’ and Roy Porter’s ‘Jessica’ all became ‘Camden anthems’ mainly because of the open-mindedness of both the DJs and the Sunday afternoon regulars as well as the hunger to hear new music.

If you like Jazz in anyway at all this is set to be an essential purchase and will no doubt be added to my timeless favorites list for years to come.

Watch out for the release on BBE due on 18th March 2013